Monday, November 18, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

With the weekly round-up of blog posts, Tweets, and news from around and about our Great State, the Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you not to use your official letterhead envelopes to hold your cocaine.  Just in case you lose one at the airport.


The execution of Rodney Reed was stayed by court order.


As Democratic presidential candidates prepare to debate on Wednesday in Atlanta, neither of the two Texans will be on stage.  Beto O'Rourke's exit and Julián Castro's inability to meet the polling qualification leaves the Latinx vote in flux, both nationally and in the Lone Star State.


More immediate election news is also occupying Texas writers' interest.



Kuff did a series on who's filing to run in 2020: for Congress, statewide, and SBOE, Senate, and the Lege.  The filing deadline is December 10.

With the impeachment hearings taking center stage, a handful of Texas bloggers focused on the president.  G. Elliott Morris found some data that caught the cultural wave flipping Obama supporters to Trump (hint: for those about to rock, we don't salute you).  Paradise in Hell is trying to learn the lessons of the Trump regime.  Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer noted the local connection to Trump minion Mina Chang.  And the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding Trump's ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy.



In other state capital news, the Texas Signal reminds us that redistricting technology does not have to be used for evil purposes, and the TSTA Blog explores the myth of the Texas Lottery.



Egberto Willies blogged about the National Organization for Women's rally in Houston, "Unlock the Future for Women and Girls", and has some video of the fireside chat ahead of it: "Organizing in the Face of Resistance".  The Rivard Report covers the Texas Mobility Summit in San Antonio.

Kanye West's appearance at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church created something of a frenzy.





SocraticGadfly looks at the growing number of "Nones" and ponders the possible First Amendment implications, along with offering his own hopes.

Time to wrap up another Wrangle with some lighter news from last week.




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Sunday, November 17, 2019

Sunday Funnies








White has long been a key spiritual adviser to Trump who believes that she makes the White House “holy ground” simply by her presence.





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Friday, November 15, 2019

The Weekly Twenty Twenty Non-Impeachment Update

All you could ever want right over there. --->>>

Here, it's The Billionaires Strike Back Week.  First things first, though.


Candidates who met the polling and fundraising requirements set by the Democratic National Committee are former Vice President Joe Biden; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; California Sen. Kamala Harris; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; billionaire businessman and activist Tom Steyer; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Regrettably, IMO, no Julián Castro.

Last week the Democratic former San Antonio mayor’s team slashed staff in two early states. Last month he threatened to end his White House bid if he didn’t raise $800,000 in the final 10 days of October -- a goal he narrowly hit.

His campaign insists he’s not exiting the race now, but staying afloat with months to go before February’s Iowa caucus will be a tall task. The debates, in a sense, have been one of the few places for Castro to make his mark on the national stage in an attempt to boost his campaign’s poll numbers and fundraising.

Now with that no longer an option, his campaign is suggesting that it no longer sees having a national platform as a must. Instead, it’s staking its hopes on a strong finish in Iowa, Nevada, and his home state of Texas.

His voice -- and notably his debate points scored against rivals -- will be sorely missed.

While Castro has targeted Nevada and Texas in large part because he hopes he can appeal to their diverse populations, Iowa’s Democratic electorate is overwhelmingly white. And if Castro were to finish in a strong position in Iowa, he’d need to quickly pivot to New Hampshire, the second primary state, which is also disproportionately white and where he recently shuttered his campaign.

[...]

Perhaps in a nod to the challenges he has faced as a candidate of color in the first two primary states, Castro said over the weekend that the order of the primaries should change.


This was in stark contrast to his good friend Liz Warren's "I'm just a player in the game" retort to Amy Goodman, at the Environmental Justice forum last week.  Plenty of people were quick to play the race card; Castro, in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Democrats' primary schedule, just exposed the party's unawakened bias.  That's too much to unpack there for this blog post, however, so I'll leave it to further rumination on your part, reader,  and that of others.

W/r/t to Castro: if Michael Bloomberg or Deval Patrick or, for that matter, any of Bennet or Bullock or Delaney or Messam or Sestak or Williamson actually believe they have a path to -- or even a perceivable mathematical chance at reaching -- the White House, then round those percentages up to the nearest whole number, add them together, give them all to Julián, and he'd have a rightful, righteous shot at being the first Latino president.  Ifs and buts, candy and nuts, Merry Xmas.

I still say he's Warren's veep if she wins the nom.  Biden or Sanders will tap a woman of color.

-- Nowhere is the pale alabaster blandness of the Hawkeye State more evident than in the 'surge' of BootEdgeEdge.  "The strong vanilla flavor of his political porridge".  I just threw up, and not a little, and not just in my mouth.

-- Since we're taking our Zofran, let's check in with Hillary Clinton at the funny farm.

“I will certainly tell you, I’m under enormous pressure from many, many, many people to think about (running for president in 2020)”.

"Doctor, I recommend increasing her dosage of tiapride."




-- Jokes aside, let's get Hillary in the hot tub with Bloomberg and Patrick.  It's not as if they're taking any votes away from Bernie, after all.


Now with all of these new shitlibs crowding in to replace the ones that are dropping out, there are some Berners fretting about super delegates and second ballots at the convention and Bernie getting robbed again.  I can all but guarantee if that happens, then what is happening in Hong Kong right now -- and for that matter Bolivia, and France, and Chile, and a few other places  -- will look like a Gay Pride parade compared to the streets of Milwaukee next summer.

-- I really do like North Korea's way with words.  A 'rabid dog' that needs to be 'beaten to death with a stick'.  I wouldn't go that far -- I like dogs -- but Biden is surely a 'doddering old mummy with a skull full of dumpster juice'.


--Once again wrapping a snarky Update with good news from the best candidate.

Bernie's immigration plan: Abolish ICE, make DACA recipients legal

Bernie's Green New public housing plan:

Dubbed the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, the proposal aims to transform the entire stock of public housing in the US, 1.2 million units, into energy-efficient homes powered by onsite renewable energy. Authors say the bill would create about 240,000 jobs per year and reduce greenhouse emissions equivalent to taking 1.2 million cars off the road.

Corporate media can black him out all they like.  His message is getting through anyway, and it is resonating with people.

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Monday, November 11, 2019

The 'Winter is Coming' Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly round-up of the best lefty blog posts, news, and Tweets about and around the Great State is woefully late -- and abbreviated -- today due to doctors' appointments and preparations for the incoming cold front.  (Will be adding to this post tomorrow.)


The battle between the state of Texas and the parents of Luna Younger, first reported in last week's Wrangle, has become a national story.

Amber Briggle, writing for TIME, excoriates Ken Paxton for being a hypocrite and violating the "privacy and safety" of a trans child.


In another case that has received nationwide attention, the fate of Rodney Reed still lies in the hands of a mute Greg Abbott.  Reed's growing support network has been anything but silent. 



Houston's muni elections shift into runoff overdrive, and Kuff gave his initial thoughts.  PDiddie at Brains and Eggs made predictions in the races in three separate posts, with a fourth on the alphabet districts still to come.

With some 2020 presidential developments, SocraticGadfly offers a trifecta of Green Party stories. First, he talks about the big hot mess the nomination process has become and why.  Second, he says Jill Stein is slouching further toward Gomorrah with her apparent support for one ticket.  Third, he looks at the financial and ballot difficulties in running as a Green.  And PDiddie also had his weekly update, with Beto out and Bloomberg in, a new Libertarian declaring, and an early preview of the next Democratic debate on November 20.




In the wake of the state's takeover of HISD, the TEA has scheduled community hearings this week to explain what's happened, and what happens next.

Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly adds some context to that Atlantic story about Texas secessionists.


Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher takes a break from documenting all things impeachment to highlight the appearance of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-Fox News girlfriend on The View.

Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer reminds us that our old pal Rick Perry is now a key figure in the whole Ukraine debacle.



TransGriot looks forward to the 20th anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

And the TPA is saddened by news of the death of transgender activist Nikki Araguz Loyd.


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