Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Justin Amash and Jesse Ventura

-- Conventional wisdom (sic) holds that this is bad news for Joe Biden, not Trump.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Tuesday that he is launching an exploratory committee for the 2020 Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.

The Republican-turned-independent said on Twitter that the U.S. was ready for new leadership. He also posted a link to a new campaign website.

“Americans are ready for practical approaches based in humility and trust of the people,” Amash said. “We’re ready for a presidency that will restore respect for our Constitution and bring people together.

Amash announced last July that he was leaving the Republican Party, saying he had become disenchanted with partisan politics and “frightened by what I see from it.” He drew ire from President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans when he said the president had engaged in impeachable conduct as described in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

I don't see it ...


But the polling shows it.


Do click on that Bulwark link (even though it's The Bulwark; the conservative perspective is important in this calculus).  Amash's bid explains why Gretchen Whitmer (the governor of Michigan) is a finalist in the veepstakes, though she doesn't seem to want the job as much as Stacey Abrams.

It's amusing that #NeverTrump Republicans are already calling Amash the "new Ralph Nader".  He inspires the regularly scheduled fear and loathing among neoliberals as a result.


HuffPo has more detail on the constituencies Amash might draw votes from.

-- So if that's not enough November fun for you ...

Jesse Ventura, who served as Minnesota governor as a member of the Reform Party, said Monday that he is "testing the waters" for a potential 2020 run for president on the Green Party ticket.

In a pair of tweets, the former wrestling star, who has repeatedly floated a White House bid, said he endorses the Green Party's platform and had authorized a letter to the party signaling his interest in running for its presidential nomination.


In my WH Update last week -- and in IPR's account on Monday -- both of us indicated skepticism about Ventura throwing in.  So while we wait for my humble crow pie to come out of the oven, let me reiterate my personal objection to voting for Jesse unless he can clear up a few things about his platform, specifically his lack of support for Medicare for All.

Jonathan Bernstein probably has the right take as of today.  I still see the Green Party nomination going to Howie Hawkins, though I wish Dario Hunter was running stronger.

-- Bernie Sanders thanked his supporters yesterday in an online chat.  He did not release his delegates, as some feared, following the cancellation of the New York primary.  He also did not acknowledge pleadings to unsuspend his campaign or withdraw his endorsement of Biden due to the bubbling scandal related to Tara Reade's rape allegations.

A handful of his top campaign aides started a SuperPAC to support Joe Biden.


"Ye shall know them by their fruits."

-- Hillary Clinton endorsed Joe yesterday.



Don't think for minute that both Trump and the rest of the GOP are beyond making hay out of this "whistling past the graveyard" business on the part of the Democratic establishment.


Posted by at No comments:

Monday, April 27, 2020

Wrangle II, "May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor"







It's difficult not to cheer observe that the vast majority of those who will place themselves in the greatest danger are the same people Trump and down-ballot Republicans are depending on for votes in November.  These are still our neighbors, family, and friends, however, and all of us -- of all political persuasions -- run the risk of contracting the deadly COVID-19 by virtue of a group who will throw caution to the wind.

There's a few bad apples in every barrel.



Just as there are some good ones.

N-95 model face masks have been in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, but thanks to a Black chief executive nurse at the University of Texas Health System, a new and even more efficient model is now on the horizon.

According to a local ABC affiliate, when nurse Tommye Austin saw on the news how COVID-19 was infecting communities all over the country, she made the decision to proactively create masks for her own colleagues.



"We had this AC filter material we purchased from Houston ..."

[...]

(W)hen they tested their design, they were stunned to find out the new masks’ filtration rates were at a stunning 99.5 percent with one material and 97.8 percent filtration with another. Both were more efficient than the current model which eliminates 95 percent of the virus or bacteria that tries to get through.


Some Texas Democrats doing good ...


Some not.



Some recent court victories include:



And some court cases worth keeping an eye on.



There are two cases.

https://www.txcourts.gov/ (select courts and then 14th Court of Appeals. Select Case Search. Make sure 14th Court of Appeals is selected and enter the Style: Hughs (no ‘E’) v. Dikeman.)

14-19-00969-CV is the state’s appeal of the TRO against imposing the filing fee on applicants for consideration for nomination. Before the appeals court stayed the TRO, most Libertarian applicants had filed.

14-20-00078-CV is the state’s appeal of whether the district court could even consider the case, given state immunity from some lawsuits. There are exceptions. The state can not act in a unconstitutional manner. The law and its implementation is collection of equal protection and due process violations. The SOS can not exercise authority outside the law. The law imposed a filing fee on a specific class of individuals. The SOS is attempting to impose the fee on additional persons.

If the plaintiffs win their case before the Court of Appeals, the case would return to the district court for trial on the merits. At that time (July or later) I assume a court would grant a temporary injunction placing candidates on general election ballot.

An update to this morning's Wrangle article on the Austin PD's ongoing problems.


Without much fanfare, Houston announced the city's Climate Action Plan.


In San Antonio, there has been much quarreling over the plan to relocate the Cenotaph at the Alamo as the first phase of a $450 million renovation of the plaza.  Here's the latest development.


Stormy weather in East Texas made life a little rougher there.


Texas Muslims began their holy celebration of Ramadan.


And Luis Guerra's "Ceremony at San Pedro Springs", posted earlier in the month by LareDOS, is republished by The Rag Blog.  It is a story he wrote nearly ten years ago, inspired by the environmental calamity of Deepwater Horizon, the memories echoing in the time of coronavirus.



Posted by at No comments:

The Post- (or perhaps still Pre-) Apocalypse Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance has treated this week's roundup of the best blog posts, Tweets, and lefty news about and from around the Great State with Clorox and UV radiation, but that isn't going to save the oil bidness from dying of COVID-19.


Some -- among them, the nation's cartoonists -- don't have much pity.


And why should they, after all?  With men like this funding people like Abbott and Patrick ...


... our beloved Texas has become a national laughingstock.


Because there's always a conservatard watching who says, "hold my beer".


The good news is that the toonmeisters have plenty of inspiration.


There is some election news to post!


Kuff looked at the ways that election officials across the state are preparing for the July runoffs and the November general.


Unfortunately some Texas Democrats are also behaving badly:



The O&G industry -- perhaps even more than the cruise industry -- needs an enforced DNR.



SocraticGadfly had a trio of posts for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The first, with photos, looked at the past fifty years of wildlife preservation efforts — the good, the bad, the ugly.  The second said that King Hubbert was correct, using his parameters of rational, profitable exploration, that the US hit Peak Oil in 1970.  The third, per the Daniel Day-Lewis movie, said there will continue to be blood for oil.


With some criminal justice developments ...


Grits for Breakfast interprets the bizarre state Supreme Court ruling on Abbott's executive order regarding the release of non-felon violators from jail.


Food supply issues were reported in last week's Wrangle but intensified with news closer to home.



Happening today:



And on the lighter side ...

Dos Centavos is making tortillas, as we all should be right now.




Greg Abbott's press conference on restarting the state's retail economy is scheduled for this afternoon, and there are plenty more Tweets to add for a second Wrangle later this evening.
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Sunday 'Live Free or Die' Funnies










Posted by at No comments:

Friday, April 24, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Governor Body says he isn't running as a Green *updates



Elaborating, Ventura stated the Green Party aligns with his views more than other parties and that it has “earned his vote.”  He expresses concerns about climate change.

Ventura, who was elected governor as a member of the Minnesota affiliate of the Reform Party in 1998 and encouraged Donald Trump’s 2000 run for the Reform Party presidential nomination, holds a general disdain for political parties overall ...

Voting for Ventura on any line would be -- personally -- a hard no.  Since primaries are well under way, Jesse has some ground to make up if he's being coy here (and I don't think he is).  File this under "non-sensical", along with stories you may have previously read about presumptive Green nominee Howie Hawkins handing the emerald standard to Bernie Sanders.  That's not his to give even if/when he accrues enough delegates; and whether the GP -- at their Detroit* meeting this summer -- would do so is doubtful, and Bernie is disinclined to accept it anyway.

Bernie Sanders is an establishment Democrat.  Pretty much always has been, no matter what anybody has ever said about him.  (Judge people by their actions and all that.)

*Update:


-- Libertarian front-runner Jacob Hornberger has trashed Congressman Justin Amash several times of late.  Amash, as reported in the last WH Update, may get in the scrum for the Lib nom.  And could likely win it.

The Kentucky Libertarian Party held a debate for presidential candidates Hornberger, Jim Gray, Jo Jorgensen, Mark Whitney*, and Adam Kokesh this week, and the whole thing is here.

Update*:

Comedian Mark Whitney withdrew yesterday from the 2020 Libertarian Party presidential race, via Facebook, and endorsed the ticket of Judge Jim Gray for president and Larry Sharpe for vice president.  This comes after Whitney finished in fifth place in a straw poll after Wednesday’s Libertarian presidential debate in Kentucky.

This is the second time Whitney, a convicted felon and podcaster, has suspended his campaign.  He withdrew briefly in January after claiming to have received death threats following a Libertarian presidential debate.  According to IPR commenter Jim, Whitney “made an ass of himself” during the debate.

In addition, Whitney says he will start an exploratory committee to prepare for a run for U.S. Senate in California in 2022.

Whitney’s withdrawal leaves Gray, Future of Freedom Foundation president Jacob Hornberger, 1996 vice presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen, antiwar activist Adam Kokesh, former Libertarian National Committee vice chair Arvin Vohra, performance artist Vermin Supreme, software engineer Dan Behrman, former Coast Guard officer Ken Armstrong, and former Grady County (Georgia) NAACP president John Monds as the remaining candidates. Independent Congressman Justin Amash is reportedly close to announcing a run.

A quick word about my interest in the Libs: I've applied for a media credential to their convention.  I find them endlessly entertaining.  They need some encouragement as an opposition party to the Republicans, and an easier path to defeating people like Trump, Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, etc., is to enable -- in whatever fashion you choose -- the Libertarians to peel away disenchanted conservative votes.  To that end, you'll read some here about their eventual nominee as well as people like Brad Barron in KY and Texas Lib Senate candidates Wes Benedict and Kerry McKinnon.

Remember that the Libs are convening in Austin in less than a month, and given the recent protests among the Spit Cloud Caucus of the GOP, probably won't show great concern for doing so in person.  Although they're taking it day by day.

-- So the last time I did an Electoral College map was when it looked like Bernie Sanders was going to run away with the Dem nom.  My, how things change.  Let's get a little goofy with this one.


Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

I put New York into the "Tossup" category.  Between Sanders leading the last poll taken in February, the chance that the state commission removes him from the ballot on Monday, that Cuomo and de Blasio have been at loggerheads over the coronavirus response, that only people outside of New York who watch MSNBC think the governor is doing a good job, and that there are a lot of sick and dead people in the Big Apple, the base of Democratic support in the Empire State ... maybe there's a chance Howie Hawkins, who's been on the NY ballot a few times in recent years, breaks through and denies Biden the electors.

If he doesn't, then Joementia is still one EC vote short, and needs to win PA (or FL or NC or urban NE) to be the 46th POTUS.  After all, it's possible that the pandemic keeps the Greens and the Libs from qualifying for the ballot in some important states.

Update: Trump and Biden are deadlocked in six key 2020 election states, CNBC/Change Research poll finds (the states are Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.)

-- Tara Reade's allegations are finally beginning to see daylight in the corporate media.


This case represents the worst double standard by Democratic activists and their media sycophants that I can ever recall witnessing.

Update:

Well, that escalated quickly.



-- Is it possible that Donald Trump can tell his voters to drink bleach, gather together at rallies, and do everything that doctors and scientists say don't do at this time, and still have enough support -- living or otherwise -- to be re-elected in November?

Apparently so.  Thanks Obama!

Update: New shooter coming out.

Kingwood resident Jade Simmons has carved out a career as a pianist -- with performances at Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the White House -- and a motivational speaker for companies, such as Royal Bank of Canada, Pfizer and Nationwide.

But now she has her sights on an even loftier goal: Simmons kicked off a campaign to run for president on Feb. 28. She will run as an independent, a theme that is central to her campaign.

-- And the very centrist Alliance Party held its national convention online on April 25 and nominated Rocky de la Fuente.  The party is ballot-qualified in two states and a third is pending.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)