Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Whataburger vs. White Castle tonight

In San Antonio, or on your teevee (or laptop, or tablet, or cellphone).



This was to be the third debate in the closely watched race, but the second debate, scheduled for Sept. 30 in Houston, was canceled because of Cruz's participation in the Senate's confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. While the first debate in Dallas was focused on domestic policy, this one is expected to cover domestic and foreign policy.

All the same advice I gave Beto for Thursday night's CNN townhall solo (so far) applies to this evening's debate.  Whether he takes my advice or not, for the sake of Texas Democratic fortunes down the ballot and across the Lone Star, let's hope he has upped hs game.  This is still too weak, IMO, to cut the mustard.  Don't bring a pillow to a gunfight, Bob.

W/r/t Thursday night ... this message is approved (and maybe even paid for) by Ted Cruz.

In what he is calling the largest single campaign complaint in history, Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Neal Dikeman is alleging that a planned town hall meeting by CNN amounts to an illegal $10 million in-kind campaign contribution to Democrat Beto O’Rourke.

Dikeman filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission on the heels of news last week that O’Rourke shattered fundraising records with a $38.1 million take in the final quarter before the November 6 election. Dikeman alleges in his complaint that a town hall scheduled for Thursday in McAllen violates federal election law because it will give O’Rourke an hour-long prime time forum worth millions of advertising dollars.

“Politics should not be about money, and corporations should not be funding politicians,” Dikeman said in a prepared statement. “Particularly in this race as Congressman O’Rourke is running fundraising campaigns touting his exclusion of special interest money. Excluding a Libertarian nominee from the debates because you think I’ll take more votes from you than the other guy is one thing, politics is politics. But violating campaign finance laws, especially on this scale is much bigger than that. The scope of this violation should give every American pause.”

Neither the O’Rourke or Cruz campaigns responded to a Texas Monthly request for comment.

That's one way to get the publicity you seek.

Third-party nominees being left out of the conversation is, as everyone already knows, a chronic condition in our so-called democracy.  Just can't have the duopoly questioned, challenged, or so much as casually intimidated.  Texas is one of the worst states in the Union at this shitty disenfranchisement game.  Texas Democrats, with a helpful assist from the TXGOP in the state Lege via the Election Code, are the primary reason you don't have any Texas Greens on your ballot this season.  But the corporate media, which is making millions upon millions of dollars in advertising revenue this autumn -- at a time when they cannot lose or squander so much as a dime -- is the two-party systems' partner in these electoral crimes.  If you'd like to suggest some other reasons for the traditional electoral blackout of any party other than the two that can afford wall-to-wall television advertising, I'll advance your premise here or feature it in a follow-up post (your choice).  Because try as I might, I have not been able to come up with any good ones myself.

So best of luck to Mr. Dikeman in his legal challenge.  I suspect it may become moot, as I'm betting Poop Cruz winds up on stage in McAllen Thursday night with Beto and Dana Bash.

Somebody order a bag of White Castles delivered to the debate hall, please?

Monday, October 15, 2018

The Weekly Wrangle

As Pages of Victory noted last Thursday, his mail ballot is already in the can, no doubt alongside thousands of others across the state.  That's right; many Texans are voting at this moment, and the rest of us still have to wait one more week before we can cast an early ballot in person.  The Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly roundup of lefty blog posts and news collects the final arguments from the candidates -- and the opinions from the poiliticos -- as the end of the 2018 midterm cycle draws near.  You'll still have to look at Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott way too much on your teevee, unless you're better than Quick Draw McGraw with your remote than he was with his gun.



The McAllen Monitor caught up with Beto O'Rourke as he made his latest swing through the RGV, this trip with Rep. Joe Kennedy III, which prompted a predictably shitty joke from Ted Cruz.

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had some unsolicited advice for O'Rourke on how he should be counter-punching the Zodiac Killer.

The San Antonio Express News joined the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News in endorsing Kim Olson for Agriculture Commissioner over the incumbent, Sid Miller.  (This is a low bar, considering Miller is hot garbage as both elected official and human being.)

DNC chief Tom Perez comes to Houston this afternoon for a schedule of events.


Stace at Dos Centavos was at the GOTV rally/concert with Little Joe y La Familia, hosted by Sylvia Garcia and attended by Lupe Valdez, Lina Hidalgo, Adrian Garcia, a throng of other Harris County candidates and electeds and about 200 voters and activists.  (Photo slideshow at the link.)

Progrexas links to Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib for his ten hottest state races.


After the clusterf in Waller County last week regarding voter registrations and an arrest of Mike Siegel's campaign employee for complaining about it, everything turned out well in the end.


The debate between John Culberson and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, originally slated for this evening, has been rescheduled for October 21 -- the night before early voting begins.

NYT's Upshot poll is back in the field surveying TX-23 (Will Hurd vs. Gina Ortiz Jones) and the early results are predicting a walk-off for the Republican incumbent.

After a two-week hiatus, Off the Kuff comes back to the Wrangle with a pair of interviews: Attorney General candidate Justin Nelson and Harris County Judge candidate Lina Hidalgo.

SocraticGadfly was at an education-related campaign forum for a group of statewide and Northeast Texas regional candidates and offers a few takes.

Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer sees that with Dwain Caraway off to prison, the Dallas City Council is once again up for sale to the highest bidder.

Texas Vox blogged about the shocking news from the International Panel on Climate Change.  The Texas Tribune's collaboration with ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, and others was a long and disturbing read about the Permian Basin's contributions to the problem.  And the Houston Chronicle's piece about surging wind power generation forcing coal plants in Texas to close is a bright spot among the dark clouds.

Grits for Breakfast collated criminal justice developments for the week and led with the story from Huntsville about a prison guard who murdered a handcuffed inmate.  The correctional officer has been charged only with aggravated assault to this point.

The (guard) had been ordered by a supervisor to stay away from the inmate after a confrontation earlier in the day, but he allegedly violated orders, took the inmate into an empty shower area, and beat him to death.

Five death row exonerees will speak at this Saturday's March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin, reports the Texas Moratorium Network.


David Collins wrote about Facebook and Twitter's censoring of progressive and anti-war websites.

Harry Hamid blogged about what he did on his summer vacation.

The San Antonio Current saluted Texas sorta-legend Joe Bob Briggs.

Finally, the TPA wishes Texas Leftist all the best as it transitions from blogging to podcasting.