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The best reason for Democrats ending the shutdown: CHIP

Bad day for Democrats yesterday

-- "CAVED".

“Today’s cave by Senate Democrats -- led by weak-kneed, right-of-center Democrats -- is why people don’t believe the Democratic Party stands for anything,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Stephanie Taylor said in a statement. “These weak Democrats hurt the party brand for everyone and make it harder to elect Democrats everywhere in 2018.”

“A lot of Democrats are channeling their inner Marco Rubio today,” tweeted MoveOn Washington Director Ben Wikler, referring to the oft-caving Florida senator. Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, called it a “betrayal.” CREDO labeled Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “the worst negotiator in Washington -- even worse than Trump.”

Much of the criticism came from within the building, too, especially from the House side. “I do not see how a vague promise from the Senate Majority Leader about a vague policy to be voted on in the future helps the Dreamers or maximizes leverage the Democrats and American people have over the Republicans right now,” Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the most vocal advocate for Dreamers in Congress, said in a statement.

Stace seems more irritated than usual.  There's a little spin that Schumer is playing 3D chess while Yertle McConnell is crowning his checkers.  So maybe it's all a ploy to motivate the base, aka make them frothing mad.  At least we finally get a 538 post that isn't sports-related.

Still feels like I've watched this shitshow before.

-- There might not be many Democrats on the ballot in Dallas County.

The Dallas County Republican Party has sued to get over 120 Democratic candidates off the ballot in one of the state's biggest Democratic strongholds.

Republicans argued in a lawsuit filed Friday that the Democrats' county chair, Carol Donovan, did not sign the candidates' ballot applications before submitting them to the secretary of state's office as required by state law. Instead, someone else put her signature on the applications, the lawsuit alleges.

"Laws have consequences and the law is crystal clear, only the county Chair can sign candidate applications, not others purporting to be the county Chair," Missy Shorey, chairwoman of the Dallas County GOP, said in a statement Monday.

The list of 128 Democrats targeted by the GOP includes candidates for U.S. House down to justice of the peace. Among the incumbents named in the lawsuit are state Sen. Royce West as well as state Reps. Eric Johnson, Victoria Neave and Toni Rose.

At least the courts aren't going to let this lawsuit take the scenic route.  We ought to know something pretty quickly, and odds are long that a judge knocks everybody off the ballot on a technicality.  But stranger things ...

-- The Texas AFL-CIO hosted two gubernatorial candidates on Saturday.  They then endorsed one on Monday.  Not the labor activist who worked with Cesar Chavez, either.

These would be the same two candidates who've already been feted by Evan Smith on his TeeTee Events.  Doncha love it when the media and the bosses pick the nominees for the rest of us?  Seems like Gilberto Hinojosa could just save that money he's spending on the primary election.  But then the consultants, the direct mail houses, and the teevee stations wouldn't get paid.  So this farce has to maintain a semblance of democracy.

One personal bright spot was Bobo O'Jerk getting tubed.

COPE, @TexasAFLCIO's political arm, endorses @LupeValdez for governor. Declines to endorse @BetoORourke for U.S. Senate. My story on the Valdez-@randrewwhite "debate" before COPE members Saturday: https://t.co/97QI4LfgZ2 #txpolitics #tx2018 #txlege pic.twitter.com/HR0WdBskcw

— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) January 22, 2018

Nevertheless, what gets puffed up must be deflated.  Valdez is already the subject of one account suggesting that she is not ready for prime time.

Last week, Democrat Lupe Valdez told one interviewer — the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith — that, if elected the state’s next governor, she would not close the door to tax increases if they turn out to be necessary. “We keep the door open to a lot of stuff,” Valdez said. “Come on in.”

Just a few hours later, she told another interviewer — Karina Kling of Spectrum News — that tax hikes are off the table. “No, I would not look at that,” Valdez said. “I’d have to lose a leg before I do that and I certainly don’t want to lose a leg.”

She must’ve seen something scary in between those conversations. Or, more likely, she heard from a herd of handlers.

Others want to de-emphasize the 'vast differences' between her and Andrew White.

"I don't believe they are diametrically at odds with each other the way most people think they are," said Fort Worth-based consultant J.D. Angle, a top strategist in former state Sen. Wendy Davis' unsuccessful 2014 campaign for governor.

Or just gloss over that whole women's reproductive freedoms thing.

But (Wendy Davis) added, “When we’re looking at candidates, we want to know that what we’re hearing from them is true to their beliefs and values and not simply articulated as part of a campaign. I would say that about anyone who doesn’t have a proven track record.”

[...]

... Rosemary Hook, a career coach and recruiter who attended a recent Texas Tribune forum featuring White, said that she is “one of those common-sense Democrats — really, conservative Democrats.”

She appeared to embrace White’s ability to be personally pro-life and pro-choice on policy.

“You can be pro-life and pro-choice. We need to stop acting like that’s not an option. It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” she said.

So if you find yourself wanting to stand over there on the far right with Rosemary Hook and Andrew White ... well, looks like the co-front runner is getting his Christian conservative hypocrisy out there early for all those potential Republican voters.

The church where he is an elder may be steadfastly opposed to gay marriage, and considers homosexuality a sin.

But Andrew White, a Houston entrepreneur running for governor as a Democrat, says it will not affect his decisions as governor in any way.

"It's a church-state issue and there is a separation in my mind," White said. "My personal faith is personal to me, but I will not let it interfere with how I govern."

White's church-and-state position surfaced anew after he Tweeted on Thursday: "I'm for marriage equality and everyone deserves to be treated equally under the law."

For years, Republican leaders in Austin have been often criticized for letting their church-going religious beliefs bleed over into their official state policy on various issues.

The facts: White, 45, is an elder at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, a conservative congregation that is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

In recent days, he has taken heat from other Democrats for being personally against abortion, though he has said he recognizes that abortion remains legal and that he would not try to change that if elected governor.

According to online policy papers, PCA opposes same-sex marriage and "does not regard it to be in keeping with God's intentions for marriage.

"We hope that the recent Supreme Court ruling does not become the occasion for limiting the religious and free-speech rights of believers and churches who, like others for thousands of years, sincerely believe in traditional marriage," states a church statement from 2015.

"The PCA, like other evangelical, conservative, orthodox, and traditional Christians from many denominations, believes that from creation God ordained the marriage covenant to be a bond only between one man and one woman. That understanding is what the Church has always believed, taught, and confessed. It is based upon the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and is clearly stated in the doctrinal standards of the PCA."

On homosexuality, the PCA holds a hard-line position.

"Given the serious threat that sexual perversion generally, and homosexuality in particular, represents to young people in our society, the congregations of PCA are encouraged to study the Scriptures, to pray for God's mercy and truth to triumph in the lives of people involved or affected by homosexuality" . . . and encourage church leaders "to warn parents of the homosexual agenda being promoted through the agency of government schools."

"God has plainly spoken of homosexuality in his Word, denouncing both the act and the desire as a sin, condemning this perversion as unnatural, a degrading passion, an indecent act, an error, an abomination, and hence worthy of death," a scriptural reference that is excerpted in the PCA's position on the 'homosexual agenda' from 1999.

In contrast, the Texas Democratic Party platform calls for Democrats to "denounce efforts to not comply with the U.S Supreme Court court decisions which guaranteed marriage equality to all couples, (and) to support municipal, state, and federal nondiscrimination laws which protect LGBTQ individuals in all aspects of their lives including housing, employment, adoption, education, commerce, and public accommodation." It also calls for Democrats to "support the factual inclusion of the LGBTQ movement and individuals in history and social studies classes."

White said he sees no divergence between his church's polity and how he would govern if elected governor.

An elder in a church that has denounced gays as "worthy of death" doesn't see any conflict in his alleged support of gay marriage and his church's instruction.

Jeebus Kristofferson, that must be one hell of a mote in his eye.

At this point, you might be thinking it would be best if you join that caucus of Democrats who vote in the GOP primary.  This is not a joke.

Most important election in Texas is the #Republican March primary, and people who care about business and the economy to get involved now. "Vote in primaries, or watch extremists destroy Texas' economy" #txlege #tcot #Houston #HouNews https://t.co/NfvRoa4AU6 @HoustonChron pic.twitter.com/azuYpbyGMr

— ChrisTomlinson (@cltomlinson) January 19, 2018

I know people who do this.  Their rationale: it's the only way to moderate the Republicans.  (How's that worked out for ya?)  Another rich excuse: it's the only way their vote actually counts.

Would you like one barf bag or two?

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance marched in solidarity with women over the weekend, and stands shoulder to shoulder with them as the second year of the quest for equal rights, decent treatment, and fair consideration is a clear demonstration that they are twice as pissed off as last year.

Here's the lefty blog post and news round-up from last week.

Michael Li interprets the latest SCOTUS action on Texas redistricting.

G. Elliott Morris gives a short course in poll tracking.

Two weeks after Houston native Nathan Neblett became Tarrant County's elections administrator ... he's out, via PoliTex.  Commissioners will address the vacancy in their meeting this week, but don't expect to tap a replacement before the March 6 primary.

DBC Green blog praised a couple of the Democratic candidates who spoke at Our Revolution Gulf Coast's quarterly meeting.

EgbertoWillies.com said that many Democrats seemed to have believed that because Trump is unpopular they would coast to a blue wave.  Those who warned were attacked as pessimists; not reading the data objectively.  The double-digit Democratic generic polling lead has evaporated.  There is work to be done.

The Lion Star videotaped interviews with Gina Ortiz Jones and Judy Canales, two of the Democrats running in TX-23, and the Lewisville Texan Journal covered the debate between Will Fisher and Linsey Fagan, contending to challenge incumbent Republican Michael Burgess in TX-26.  Here's an excerpt:

Probably the most interesting moment of the debate came much later when they were asked about the other side of the 2016 ticket. Both candidates strongly supported Bernie Sanders in a Democratic primary race that has been called into question by Sanders supporters and some party officials. The issue remained contentious among Democrats nationally right up until the general election. (Ed. note: The issue remains contentious; legally so.)

Fisher said he pivoted, vocally supported Clinton and proudly voted for her. Fagan said she cast a write-in ballot for Sanders. She referred to the DNC as a threat to democracy.

“You guys could boo me, I would want to boo myself,” she said. “But I was part of that group that said, ‘I’m done. I’m done with politics. I don’t trust any of these people. These people don’t care about me. They don’t care about my voice. My voice is being superceded by superdelegates, it doesn’t matter anyway.'”

In These Times observes the pathetic reality of Houston being rebuilt post-Harvey on a foundation of immigrant labor ... and theft of their wages.

jobsanger finds merit-based immigration to be a bad idea, hurting workers by depressing wages, thereby helping corporations.

Texas Standard -- linking to the Statesman -- asks if the state ought to be insuring its $7.4 billion (guesstimated worth) of property, rather than self-insuring it as is currently done.

Michael Barajas of the Texas Observer reports on a lawsuit questioning the conduct of Port Arthur police and the staff of a hospital there after a mentally ill patient wound up dead for refusing to take off his underwear.  And in an ongoing examination of the challenges facing rural Texans, Christopher Collins finds that if they want decent health care, they'd be best off self-deporting to New Hampshire.

(click to enlarge)

Texas and other Southern states are home to small-town doctor shortages, skyrocketing rates of preventable disease among rural residents and some of the highest uninsured rates in the nation, according to a new report that places Texas’ rural health care failings in a national context for the first time.

The “report card,” published last month by researchers at Texas Tech University’s F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, examines each state’s rural health care in terms of mortality, quality of life and access to care. Texas was slapped with a grade of “D-” and ranked 36th out of 47 states (New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island were not included in the analysis for lack of rural counties). Among other factors, Texas was dinged for high rates of death from heart disease and stroke in rural areas.

Better Texas blog has an update on the Lege's efforts to stabilize the individual health insurance market (better known as the Affordable Care Act).

Socratic Gadfly has some thoughts on the nuances of universal healthcare, Medicare for All, co-pays, and the positions on all of those of Beto O'Rourke and Tom Wakely.

Stuart Williams urges Texas Democrats to compete in rural areas.

Neil at All People Have Value shared a picture from the weekly John Cornyn Houston office protest, held each Tuesday at 11:30 am to 1 pm, at 5300 Memorial Drive.

And Harry Hamid has been ill long enough as to be hallucinating.