Sunday, November 24, 2019

Sunday 'Lyin' Eyes' Funnies

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Friday, November 22, 2019

Houston's runoffs: The alphabet districts

Parts 1 (mayor, council races with technically ineligible participants) and 2 (at-large positions) are linked where you can find them if you need them.


First ...

Early Voting Dates and Times

November 27th: 7 am - 7 pm

December 2nd -7th: 7 am - 7 pm

December 8th: 1pm - 6 pm

December 9th: 7 am - 7 pm


There will be 25+ early voting poll locations and 300+ locations for election day! Click here to find a location for early voting near you or text VOTE to 1-833-YES-0700.



Once more, Part 1 summarized these:

-- District A's runoff between longtime CoS to incumbent Brenda Stardig (who is challenging Harris Commissioner Steve Radack in the GOP primary) Amy Peck and wig store owner George Zoes, who claims that his business is his residence.

Peck was pushed into this runoff by a gentleman that has no primary voting history, no website, and no social media presence (according to Erik Manning), so all I can surmise is that his wigs must have one hell of a satisfied clientele.

The joke is going to be on a lot of people if Zoes pulls this off.  I will predict that he does not.

-- District B has been high drama for the past two weeks.

The runoff in the District B race for Houston City Council will be left off the Dec. 14 ballot and instead will require a special election after the third-place finisher filed a lawsuit contesting the Nov. 5 results.

Renee Jefferson-Smith, who missed the runoff by 168 votes, filed the suit contesting the election in state district court last Friday, forcing officials to delay the runoff, according to Assistant County Attorney Douglas Ray.

Jefferson-Smith’s attorneys filed the contest in a different court after a judge dismissed her earlier request for a ruling declaring candidate Cynthia Bailey ineligible to run for office because she has a felony conviction.

This runoff is likely to be held at the same time as the one for the statehouse.

Both Ray and Nicole Bates, an attorney for Jefferson-Smith, said it is possible the special election could be held Jan. 28, when a runoff for the open House District 148 seat is scheduled to take place, if the lawsuit is resolved by then.

And for clarity, Jefferson-Smith finished third, Bailey second, and Tarsha Jackson first with 21% of the vote, a fairly wide margin considering a 14-person field.  She just wants to get this over with.

Jackson ... has said voters knew about Bailey’s criminal past and said she should be able to continue in the race. Jackson said Wednesday she was disappointed in the delay.

“What’s happening right now is just a prime example of what’s been happening to District B forever. We’re a marginalized and disenfranchised community,” Jackson said. “We have been left behind in this election. The people should be able to go out and vote on the 14th.”

[...]

Jackson (also) said District B voters also will have a diminished voice in the mayoral and at-large races, since fewer people could turn out to vote in the runoffs.

Jefferson-Smith rejected that claim, saying the true disenfranchisement was letting people vote for a candidate that she said would not be able to assume the office.

Lots more at the link above and at HPM if you enjoy reading about the legal ins-and-outs.  Nobody should feel safe making any predictions about judicial decisions, but Jackson surely ought to be favored to take this seat at the horseshoe whenever this election date gets settled.

Update: The latest.


-- District F's runoff is going to be lively.


Huynh also boasts questionable residency qualifications for an area he has served for a lengthy period, as CoS to CM Steve Le.  "I have plans to improve the district" claims for incumbent regimes, especially conservative ones, can be laughable.  Let's hope the far west voters of this district send Ms. Thomas downtown.

Now then, we'll proceed in alpha-order with fresh news.

-- District C defied my early prediction and left the Harris County pachyderms on the sidelines.  This matchup between Abbie Kamin and Shelley Kennedy features big money and establishment connections versus community organizing.  You ought to know by now which of those I favor.  But to illustrate the difference:

One issue that draws a clear contrast between the pair is Prop B, the ballot referendum voters passed last year which requires firefighter pay to be brought in line with police of corresponding rank and seniority.

Kamin said she believes firefighters deserve higher pay, but that outcome should be achieved through negotiations between the city and fire union.

Kennedy supported the ballot initiative. Since a judge has since ruled Prop B unconstitutional, Kennedy said the labor dispute should be resolved by binding arbitration.

Ms. Kennedy is the best choice here.

-- The Chron's Robert Downen says that the D face-off between Carolyn Evans-Shabazz and Brad Jordan is an amicable one.  It does seem so.


Standing beneath a papier-mâché toucan earlier this month, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz told a handful of potential voters about her aspirations to be a bus.

Both she and her Houston City Council District D opponent, Brad “Scarface” Jordan, want to be vessels for change, but understand that doing so requires getting as many perspectives as possible -- hence, Evans-Shabazz’s talk of being a bus.

“A vehicle has more than one passenger,” Evans-Shabazz said. “And I wanna be a bus. I. Want. To. Be. A. Bus.”

Just outside the wood-paneled room, hip-hop icon Jordan sipped soda and munched on finger foods. He had not expected to be there, and was still “stunned” to have made the runoff days earlier.

His stump speech, delivered a few minutes later, reflected that shock. “These are good cookies,” he said before telling the group of mostly senior citizens about the 30 million-plus records he has sold and his desire to better his childhood neighborhood.

“I want to give back to a city that has given so much to me and allowed me to do what I do,” he continued.

Read on and note that departing CM Dwight Boykins has not endorsed his replacement.

“You have to build a coalition of people who are opposite of you,” he said.

Whichever candidate does that will win.  The consensus is that it will be Evans-Shabazz, but I would favor Jordan.

-- District H incumbent Karla Cisneros -- and her consultant Marc Campos -- aren't having the best month.  HD-148 leader Anna Eastman has proved herself worthy of his (still obnoxious) bragging, but not his/our Astros and certainly not Cisneros, who's facing a challenge from Isabel Longoria.


This runoff features the titanic Houston Latinx opposing forces: Congresista Sylvia Garcia versus state Sen. Carol Alvarado and their respective coalitions.  It's the Spanish-speaking Democratic progressives and centrists colliding again.

With early voting days away, Longoria is touting a handful of endorsements from elected officials, including Councilman Robert Gallegos and her former bosses, U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, and former state Rep. Jessica Farrar. And Longoria, who is Latina and openly lesbian, also is backed by several influential Hispanic and LGBTQ-focused groups, including the GLBT Political Caucus.

Cisneros, meanwhile, is backed by Democratic state Sen. Carol Alvarado and state Rep. Christina Morales.

I hope Longoria pulls this out.

-- But in District J, Las Dos Reinas are working together to get Sandra Rodriguez to City Hall over Edward Pollard.  Campos:

There is a fundraiser (November 19) in downtown Houston for H-Town City Council District J candidate Sandra Rodriguez. The fundraiser is co-hosted by Cong. Sylvia Garcia, State Sen. Carol Alvarado, State Reps. Armando Walle and Gene Wu, H-Town Council Member Robert Gallegos and other prominent folks.

Oddly enough, the best analysis of the J race remains this piece from Greg Degeyter at Big Jolly's from September, which calls Pollard the top choice followed by Rodriguez.  That's how I would vote if I lived in the district.

Get ready to do that ballot thing you do starting next week.
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Thursday, November 21, 2019

#DemDebate: The Aftermath


We're covering only the most important topics in this analysis.

-- Yangbangers waking up still mad about their bro not getting to talk.


-- Sure hope CloudButcher put on a sweater ... or took her Inderall.



Okay, seriously.

BobbleHeads Consensus: BootEdgeEdge won, Biden lost again.

At one point in the second hour, the moderators teed up Harris to hit Buttigieg on his lack of appeal with black voters. But she said she agreed with him! Buttigieg came across a bit too rote and programmatic for me -- at times it felt as though he was reciting a speech he memorized -- but his campaign will be thrilled that he walks away from this debate without a scratch on him. Plus, you will hear this line from Buttigieg a whole lot in the analysis of the debate: "I know that from the perspective of Washington, what goes on in my city might look small, but frankly, where we live, the infighting on Capitol Hill is what looks small."

The donor class is over the moon with the guy, but black voters aren't buying his con.  They're still willing to be swindled by Goofy Uncle Joe.

One awkward moment came when Booker called Biden out for his opposition to marijuana legalization -- a position that makes Biden more conservative than the median Republican on this issue, based on recent polls. In explaining his political appeal, Biden responded, “I’m part of that Obama coalition. I come out of a black community in terms of my support” -- a weird claim for a white candidate. He then suggested that the “only” black woman elected to the US Senate endorsed him, ignoring that one of the black women elected to the Senate, Harris, was right there on stage literally debating him. The whole moment drew laughter from the crowd and candidates.

The awkwardness came through even when Biden should have had good moments. He was asked in the debate about what he will do about the Me Too movement, and started talking about domestic violence — an obvious pivot for someone who helped pass the original Violence Against Women Act in the 1990s. Biden at first gave a solid answer on his record. Then he went with an unfortunate metaphor: “So we have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it and punching at it.” That was ... not the best choice of words for this issue.

Why do we have to keep reminding the Boomer African Americans propping up this zombie of his psychological infirmities?  Because once they get the message, his support scatters and we have a true picture of where this race is.

And it ain't with Pete Buttigieg as a contender.

Booker maybe did himself some good, and not just when he cracked jokes at the sundowning polling leader's expense.  Klobuchar's supporters think she did okay despite her onset of Parkinson's.  Liz Warren was rated both winner and loser on official scorecards; her foreign policy was the loser compared to Bernie's.  But the biggest losers were the debate moderators, who were heavily promoted despite their employers ignoring the sexual abuse elephant in the room.


As for the other gotchas, Gabbard wasn't owned by Pete and Booty didn't get punked by Gabby; that was a draw.  Harris didn't score on the major, either despite what the K-Hive is spinning.

This "debate" started late because of the impeachment hearings (nobody who has the time could possibly watch this much teevee about politics in one day without losing their mind), was frighteningly boring, and is already being drowned by today's hearings.  As a result it won't move anybody's needle.  There was a lot of pining for Julian Castro, which -- besides Bernie being right about everything -- was the most correct thing said or Tweeted about the evening.

No 2020 Update tomorrow but I will have the final installment of Houston city council district races previewed for the runoff now that the B lawsuit has settled that matter for the time being.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Fight Night Five preview


No longer is there a clear front-runner. The fight for African American voters is raging. And there are growing concerns that impeachment may become a distraction from the primary. Those issues and more will play out Wednesday night when the Democratic Party’s top 10 face off in Atlanta just 75 days before primary voting begins.

I'll narrow the seven questions that the AP poses down to these four that I'll be listening for the answers to:

-- Who gets bashed besides Mayo Pete for lying about his non-existent black support, the billionaires in the race (and not), and Medicare for All by the shitty centrists?  Barack Obama perhaps?

(Obama), the most popular Democrat in America, inserted himself into the 2020 primary in recent days by warning candidates against moving too far to the left.  His comments create a challenge for Warren and Sanders and an opening for moderates Buttigieg, Biden and Amy Klobuchar to attack.  At the same time, Obama’s involvement offers a powerful reminder of the massive role African Americans will play in the presidential nomination process.  As we know, all candidates not named Biden have serious work to do when it comes to winning over the black vote.  Race and Obama’s legacy could play a major role in shaping the action.

-- Impeachment, baby?

(I)t’s noteworthy that five of the 10 Democrats onstage will serve as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial should the House vote to impeach President Donald Trump.  It’s a complicated topic for Democrats.  Some senators worry that a prospective impeachment trial will interfere with their ability to court voters early next year.  Others fear that impeachment could hurt their party’s more vulnerable candidates in down-ballot elections next year.  Either way, what the prospective jurors do or don’t say on the debate stage could be relevant if and when the Senate holds an impeachment trial, which is increasingly likely.

Bet heavily on Mitch McConnell fucking with the impeachment trial once he gets his hands on it.  It's what he does.  That's a concern for next year, though.

-- Does Warren have a better plan for avoiding the scalding she got on funding her (Bernie's) healthcare plan, aka M4A, than she did in the fourth debate?

No single issue has dominated the initial Democratic primary debates more than health care, and it’s safe to assume that will be the case again Wednesday night.  And no one has more riding on that specific debate than Warren, who hurt herself last month by stumbling through questions about the cost of her single-payer health care plan.  Given that policy specifics make up the backbone of her candidacy, she can’t afford another underwhelming performance on the defining policy debate of the primary season.  Expect the policy-minded senator to have a new strategy this time around.

-- Can one of the trailers bust out?

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and businessmen Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer are under enormous pressure to break out given their status as the only candidates onstage who haven’t yet qualified for the December debate.  They likely won’t have the same number of opportunities to speak as their higher-polling rivals, but these are dire times for the underdogs.  They need to do something if they expect to stay relevant in the 2020 conversation.

I am counting on a killshot from Major Gabbard at one or more of the crappy neoliberals.  It's a target-rich environment.

Tweeting tonight during, and a post tomorrow with as little spinning as can be found.
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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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