Butterfly refuge in south Texas files restraining order to stop border wall construction
Abuse of Faith: Investigation reveals 700 victims of Southern Baptist sexual abuse over 20 years
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Sunday Funnies
Butterfly refuge in south Texas files restraining order to stop border wall construction
Abuse of Faith: Investigation reveals 700 victims of Southern Baptist sexual abuse over 20 years
Friday, February 15, 2019
The Weekly Twenty Twenty Update
It's quite thin, as nobody jumped in or dropped out and those who were in -- or not in yet -- had little but stumbles and speculation for the media, corporate and social, to report and feud over.
-- Let's note that with a very large field of candidates, the DNC is already laying down debate rules well in advance of the first scheduled tilt, in June.
-- After launching her campaign during a blizzard, Amy Klobuchar had to speak to allegations about bullying her Senate staff.
The matter seems quelled, but look for questions about it during the next CNN townhall on Monday.
-- Speaking of Howard Schultz, his was a complete faceplant. But guess what? In our gloriousdemocracy oligarchy/idiocracy, it doesn't matter.
This, as everyone with a functioning brain understands, is exactly how Donald Trump came to be the 45th POTUS. What's unfortunate is that many of those who voted for him -- unlike those in the executive offices of our corporate media, which just needs to cash the checks -- do not have functioning brains. Zombies vote, y'all, and they vote a straight GOP ticket.
-- Turns out Kamala Harris is a Rap Genius.
Yeah, my favorite rap song from Fresh Prince was Purple Rain.
Quickly recovering, Senator Copmala announced the endorsement of progressive lioness Barbara Lee, which instantly became a bone of contention for the Berners.
-- Beto O'Rourke trumped Trump's rally in El Paso and then fueled speculation about a potential US Senate race by meeting with Chuck Schumer this week. Politico also quoted someone anonymously saying that US Rep. Joaquin Castro would run against John Cornyn if Beto decided not to.
This smells like twin peaks of Castro bullshit to me. Here's a few reasons why.
1. Beto hasn't even decided whether to jump in the presidential scrum, yet he's polling considerably stronger than Julián, and will move into the top five front-runners when he announces.
O'Rourke's e-mail network of small donors, at 743,000, is only one-third that of Bernie Sanders' -- whose 2.1 million base is larger than all other Democrats in the hunt -- but is still double that of his closest rivals (Warren, Gillibrand, Harris). Castro has fewer than 900.
2. It's Julián who is more likely to drop out and run against Cornyn, because he's not currently employed in government like Joaquin, his campaign is unlikely to gain traction among so many other cautious centrists, and he doesn't want to be anybody's running mate this time around. He said so just last week (scroll to the end).
3. Joaquin not only has some tenure in the D caucus -- he's already been a deputy whip and a chair of the Hispanic Caucus -- he sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which is a plum job for anybody with a base of representation that includes so many service members and veterans, like San Antonio's 20th District. (Candidly, he or his brother could have defeated both Beto and Ted Cruz in 2018 if they hadn't been too fucking scared of losing. Their reticence let Beto zoom right past them. Don't take my word for it; read the third graf at Joaquin's Wiki.)
There's no good reason for Joaquin to give up all he's earned in a Dem majority in the House to shoot for a seat in the minority in the Senate. Julián, on the other hand, has nothing left to wait around for if -- when -- his 2020 bid peters out. Governor in 2022? Not a chance if he's at 1% or less in the presidential polls in December.
And by the way: either Castro scares Wendy Davis and MJ Hegar right out of the Senate race, because even white centrist Democratic women can't compete with a Latinx of the same ideological stripe. If neither Castro runs and one of Hegar or Davis does, look for Sema Hernandez to win the primary on the strength of the Latinx effect in statewide Donkey primaries. She got 24% of the vote against Beto in 2018 spending just $5K, and similar to Maria Luisa Alvarado in 2006 and Linda Chavez-Thompson in 2010 -- who mashed their Caucasian establishment counterparts -- Hernandez can win the Senate primary with some reasonable fundraising even as the corporate media pretends she doesn't exist.
Beto's running for the White House in 2020, and when he comes up short will gladly be somebody's running mate. Julián Castro could -- perhaps even should, but may still be too afraid to -- run against Cornyn in 2020. Joaquin Castro needs to stay in Congress.
That's my reading of the cabrito entrails this week.
-- Let's note that with a very large field of candidates, the DNC is already laying down debate rules well in advance of the first scheduled tilt, in June.
“As many as 20 Democratic presidential candidates will be invited to the party’s first sanctioned debates this summer if they can meet new polling or grass-roots fundraising thresholds to qualify,” the Washington Post reports.
“Candidates can qualify either by attracting campaign donations from at least 65,000 people, including at least 200 people from at least 20 states, or by registering at least 1 percent in three state or national polls from a list of surveys approved by the party.”
-- After launching her campaign during a blizzard, Amy Klobuchar had to speak to allegations about bullying her Senate staff.
“Yes, I can be tough, and yes I can push people. I have high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for the people that work for me, but I have high expectations for this country.”
The matter seems quelled, but look for questions about it during the next CNN townhall on Monday.
-- Speaking of Howard Schultz, his was a complete faceplant. But guess what? In our glorious
On Tuesday night, CNN hosted a live town hall with former Starbucks CEO and potential presidential candidate Howard Schultz. It didn’t go particularly well. Schultz’s answers were largely vague, with occasional lapses into absurdity (“I didn’t see color as a young boy and I honestly don’t see color now,” Schultz said when asked about race).
But more interesting than the town hall’s content was its existence. Lots of people with no base of political support would like to run for president, but they can’t, because the media wouldn’t take their candidacies seriously. So why is Schultz, a political newcomer who “had the worst numbers of any potential candidate tested” in CNN’s own poll, getting such red-carpet treatment?
The answer, of course, is money. Schultz is a billionaire, and in American politics, money is a shortcut to legitimacy.
“Schultz doesn’t have to do the hard work of building a mass movement or representing a genuine constituency to get attention in our politics, because the media uses ability to spend money as a proxy for seriousness of campaign,” says Lee Drutman, a political scientist at New America. “And when the media bestows seriousness on a candidate, the public follows along.”
This, as everyone with a functioning brain understands, is exactly how Donald Trump came to be the 45th POTUS. What's unfortunate is that many of those who voted for him -- unlike those in the executive offices of our corporate media, which just needs to cash the checks -- do not have functioning brains. Zombies vote, y'all, and they vote a straight GOP ticket.
-- Turns out Kamala Harris is a Rap Genius.
Imagine being so high you listened to music that didn't exist yet. #KamalaHarrisRapGenius https://t.co/MwnWQfhxQk— Adam Ullian (@adamullian) February 13, 2019
Charlemagne: you like Eminem?— DKT (@darleneturner53) February 13, 2019
Kalmala: yea my favorite ones are the Green#KamalaHarrisRapGenius pic.twitter.com/Kf8xBwvxfv
Yeah, my favorite rap song from Fresh Prince was Purple Rain.
Quickly recovering, Senator Copmala announced the endorsement of progressive lioness Barbara Lee, which instantly became a bone of contention for the Berners.
-- Beto O'Rourke trumped Trump's rally in El Paso and then fueled speculation about a potential US Senate race by meeting with Chuck Schumer this week. Politico also quoted someone anonymously saying that US Rep. Joaquin Castro would run against John Cornyn if Beto decided not to.
"Joaquin believes Beto could beat John in 2020, and if Beto decides to see this thing through and do that, then Joaquin will give him his full support, just like he did against Ted Cruz,” a source close to Castro told POLITICO. “Otherwise, Joaquin will absolutely consider jumping in and finishing the job."
This smells like twin peaks of Castro bullshit to me. Here's a few reasons why.
1. Beto hasn't even decided whether to jump in the presidential scrum, yet he's polling considerably stronger than Julián, and will move into the top five front-runners when he announces.
O'Rourke's e-mail network of small donors, at 743,000, is only one-third that of Bernie Sanders' -- whose 2.1 million base is larger than all other Democrats in the hunt -- but is still double that of his closest rivals (Warren, Gillibrand, Harris). Castro has fewer than 900.
2. It's Julián who is more likely to drop out and run against Cornyn, because he's not currently employed in government like Joaquin, his campaign is unlikely to gain traction among so many other cautious centrists, and he doesn't want to be anybody's running mate this time around. He said so just last week (scroll to the end).
3. Joaquin not only has some tenure in the D caucus -- he's already been a deputy whip and a chair of the Hispanic Caucus -- he sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which is a plum job for anybody with a base of representation that includes so many service members and veterans, like San Antonio's 20th District. (Candidly, he or his brother could have defeated both Beto and Ted Cruz in 2018 if they hadn't been too fucking scared of losing. Their reticence let Beto zoom right past them. Don't take my word for it; read the third graf at Joaquin's Wiki.)
There's no good reason for Joaquin to give up all he's earned in a Dem majority in the House to shoot for a seat in the minority in the Senate. Julián, on the other hand, has nothing left to wait around for if -- when -- his 2020 bid peters out. Governor in 2022? Not a chance if he's at 1% or less in the presidential polls in December.
And by the way: either Castro scares Wendy Davis and MJ Hegar right out of the Senate race, because even white centrist Democratic women can't compete with a Latinx of the same ideological stripe. If neither Castro runs and one of Hegar or Davis does, look for Sema Hernandez to win the primary on the strength of the Latinx effect in statewide Donkey primaries. She got 24% of the vote against Beto in 2018 spending just $5K, and similar to Maria Luisa Alvarado in 2006 and Linda Chavez-Thompson in 2010 -- who mashed their Caucasian establishment counterparts -- Hernandez can win the Senate primary with some reasonable fundraising even as the corporate media pretends she doesn't exist.
Beto's running for the White House in 2020, and when he comes up short will gladly be somebody's running mate. Julián Castro could -- perhaps even should, but may still be too afraid to -- run against Cornyn in 2020. Joaquin Castro needs to stay in Congress.
That's my reading of the cabrito entrails this week.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Nina Turner, Jim Hightower at St. Arnold's this weekend
Take care of your Valentine before Saturday night because the Revolution needs some planning.
Get your tickets here.
Get your tickets here.
Monday, February 11, 2019
The Weekly Wrangle
The Texas Seemingly-Progressive (But-on-Closer-Inspection-is-Just-Plain-Vanilla-Democrat) Alliance wants to be in El Paso today, but too much 'executive time' last week means we're on the sidelines, aka online (virtual reality) and not offline (reality).
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Trump's rally this evening in Las Ciudades de Paso del Norte, or the conurbation of communities where the Franklin Mountains meet the Rio Grande, will occupy (sorry) a large part of the corporate media's attention. The history of humans in the region is long, much of it economic, only a small part conflict-centered; read an overview here. What a small-minded US president would wish in order to divide people that have lived for centuries in relative harmony is, quite simply, unlikely to happen.
A variety of groups are organizing to more clearly communicate that to him today. Potential presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke will speak at the competing counter-protest, creating the kind of "us versus them" narrative the media thrives on.
In Lege developments, the confirmation of Texas Secretary of State nominee David Whitley hit rocky shoals as senators grilled him over a voter roll released to county election administrators described as identifying non-citizens. The list of 95,000 voters has shown to have been poorly vetted, and state officials who initially gave it their approval, including Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton, have been accused of employing a time-honored GOP tactic of voter suppression and intimidation. Latinx civil rights organizations have already filed suit.
Several reports on the state Senate's property tax plan found it lacking; the TSTA Blog was notably unimpressed. Justin Miller at the Texas Observer.
Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib, via Progrexas, can be summarized thusly:
Raise Your Hand Texas advocates for separating school funding from high-stakes testing, and Gizmodo reports on legislation that would prevent the telecoms from throttling wireless access during a natural disaster.
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had the weekly 2020 Democratic presidential candidate update, with both Liz Warren and Amy Klobuchar making their White House bids official. (Trump kept up the 'Pocahontas' smear.) Some Texas Democrats want Beto to run for the US Senate again instead of the White House. And Howard Schultz's CNN townhall is broadcasting from Houston tomorrow night.
Off the Kuff considers John Cornyn's campaign strategy and what it says about how Texas Republicans are looking at 2020.
Somervell County Salon blogged about the Houston Chronicle's investigation into the sexual abuse cases of the Southern Baptist Convention's pastors and preachers.
The Green New Deal, and Speaker Pelosi's objections to it, was duly noted by David Collins.
SocraticGadfly read Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht's lament about some of the judges unseated in November and had a two-pronged response. Hecht squeezed a bunch of political sour grapes, but Texas could adopt specific ideas from other states on better judicial selection.
In his weekly statewide roundup of criminal justice news, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast joined others in dismissing the request by Kim Ogg of hiring more criminal prosecutors in order to "advance the docket".
Better Texas Blog warns about undercounting Latinx children in the Census.
Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer thinks the end may finally be near for Dallas' downtown Confederate memorial.
Max Concrete at Houston Strategies collects ridership figures from the Dallas light rail system and analyzes it as a cautionary tale for Houston's MetroNext plans.
The Lunch Tray updates on 'lean finely textured ground beef', otherwise known as pink slime.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub posts this month's dates to fly your flag.
And Harry Hamid is Trigger's broom.
Trump's rally this evening in Las Ciudades de Paso del Norte, or the conurbation of communities where the Franklin Mountains meet the Rio Grande, will occupy (sorry) a large part of the corporate media's attention. The history of humans in the region is long, much of it economic, only a small part conflict-centered; read an overview here. What a small-minded US president would wish in order to divide people that have lived for centuries in relative harmony is, quite simply, unlikely to happen.
A variety of groups are organizing to more clearly communicate that to him today. Potential presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke will speak at the competing counter-protest, creating the kind of "us versus them" narrative the media thrives on.
In Lege developments, the confirmation of Texas Secretary of State nominee David Whitley hit rocky shoals as senators grilled him over a voter roll released to county election administrators described as identifying non-citizens. The list of 95,000 voters has shown to have been poorly vetted, and state officials who initially gave it their approval, including Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton, have been accused of employing a time-honored GOP tactic of voter suppression and intimidation. Latinx civil rights organizations have already filed suit.
"Are you familiar with the concept of #votersuppression?" @SenRoyceWest asked @TXSecofState -designate David Whitley. "Anecdotally, I've heard voter suppression talked about," Whitley replied. https://t.co/Sz58vdyljB What an unctuous @GovAbbott lickspittle. #TXLege #PurgeWhitley— More Powerful Than Putin (@PDiddie) February 8, 2019
Several reports on the state Senate's property tax plan found it lacking; the TSTA Blog was notably unimpressed. Justin Miller at the Texas Observer.
Critics of the GOP’s property tax cap have blasted it as a cynical, unserious attempt at reform — and one that likely won’t even provide much in the way of relief, especially if the Legislature doesn’t inject millions of new dollars in public school funding, which is mostly paid for through local property taxes. As the Dallas Morning News reported, more than half of the state’s 254 counties and the vast majority of its cities will be exempt from the GOP’s current 2.5 percent property tax cap proposal. This is a clear ploy to ensure rural Republican support in the House and Senate, Democrats say.“That’s the only way they know they can get this to the floor. That is just not good governing,” Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston, said at a press conference.
Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib, via Progrexas, can be summarized thusly:
The state government wouldn’t survive its own proposal.
Raise Your Hand Texas advocates for separating school funding from high-stakes testing, and Gizmodo reports on legislation that would prevent the telecoms from throttling wireless access during a natural disaster.
A version of the bill, which has been brought before the Texas House of Representatives, amends Texas law to state: “A mobile Internet service provider may not impair or degrade lawful mobile Internet service access in an area subject to a declared state of disaster.” [...] Per KUT News, it’s one of more than 100 state bills aimed at protecting internet access introduced since the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission and its telecom-friendly chief Ajit Pai gutted Barack Obama-era net neutrality rules in a 2017 vote.
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had the weekly 2020 Democratic presidential candidate update, with both Liz Warren and Amy Klobuchar making their White House bids official. (Trump kept up the 'Pocahontas' smear.) Some Texas Democrats want Beto to run for the US Senate again instead of the White House. And Howard Schultz's CNN townhall is broadcasting from Houston tomorrow night.
Off the Kuff considers John Cornyn's campaign strategy and what it says about how Texas Republicans are looking at 2020.
Somervell County Salon blogged about the Houston Chronicle's investigation into the sexual abuse cases of the Southern Baptist Convention's pastors and preachers.
The Green New Deal, and Speaker Pelosi's objections to it, was duly noted by David Collins.
SocraticGadfly read Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht's lament about some of the judges unseated in November and had a two-pronged response. Hecht squeezed a bunch of political sour grapes, but Texas could adopt specific ideas from other states on better judicial selection.
In the 5th Circuit today, Judge James Ho wrote a concurring opinion to his own majority opinion in order to opine (unnecessarily to the ruling) on why he thinks LGBT people should not be protected by existing federal sex discrimination bans. https://t.co/UlN0PthPxw pic.twitter.com/COSivo4BfP— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) February 6, 2019
In his weekly statewide roundup of criminal justice news, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast joined others in dismissing the request by Kim Ogg of hiring more criminal prosecutors in order to "advance the docket".
The Harris County DA's request for 102 new prosecutors is meeting with spirited opposition from local reform groups. Grits opposes such an expansion unless 1) the county approves commensurate, new resources for indigent defense, and 2) the funding pays for caseload reduction, not filing new cases. (The HouChron's) Keri Blakinger elaborated on the story in her Twitter feed.
Better Texas Blog warns about undercounting Latinx children in the Census.
Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer thinks the end may finally be near for Dallas' downtown Confederate memorial.
Max Concrete at Houston Strategies collects ridership figures from the Dallas light rail system and analyzes it as a cautionary tale for Houston's MetroNext plans.
The Lunch Tray updates on 'lean finely textured ground beef', otherwise known as pink slime.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub posts this month's dates to fly your flag.
And Harry Hamid is Trigger's broom.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
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