Wednesday, June 10, 2020

TexProgBlog Wrangle, midweek edition

With a few updates and some new developments since Monday, here's the second post of the best blogs, tweets, and lefty news from around and about our Great State.


As the TPA feared, COVID 19 is making a comeback.



And while Greg Abbott would rather ignore the contagion's spread, others aren't.


Update: The city of Dallas' last council meeting broke down in a wave of insults and recriminations over recent allegations of police abuse of force, but CMs there voted today to put off a decision regarding a police department budget increase.  Houston's leaders, meanwhile, passed a raise despite serious disagreements.





Updates:



The TexTrib also updated on the latest from Dallas, Austin, and Houston, which Grits for Breakfast had posted about earlier today.  San Antonio is still talking about what they might do.

The July runoff elections are moving into tighter focus.





Last night in Arlington, environmentalists scored a win.


The TPA's Sharon Wilson had the live-Tweeting.

Some good legal news on the protest front:


But some bad also; another officer-involved choke-out came to light, and the reality show "Live PD" may suffer the same fate as "Cops".



And PRIDE Month converges with coronavirus, with adversities for the trans community.


The Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee has some really cool T-shirts for sale.


And to fade out this Wrangle ... Traces of Texas.

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Monday, June 08, 2020

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance mourns with George Floyd's family as they prepare to lay him to rest, and joins the millions of Americans who cry out for justice for his murder, and for too many others at the hands of those who swore 'to protect and serve'.


The justice system is overdue for an overhaul, or a dismantling.

Here's this week’s roundup of the best of the left of the Lone Star State from last week.


As the week went on, the marches seemed to get a bit more relaxed, even as they rippled out from the urban areas to the more suburban and exurban ones.


Egberto Willies was in very red Kingwood and shot some video of that city's silent protest.


Several bloggers issued support: Texas Freedom Network stands with the protesters and calls for an end to police brutality and racism.  DosCentavos wrote about where the conversation on police reform needs to begin, based on the #8CantWait campaign.  Angie Bado, the Democratic candidate in HD-70, declares, "Let Justice Begin With Me", at Living Blue in TX. 


Metro police chiefs Art Acevedo in Houston, Reneé Hall in Dallas, William McManus in San Antonio, and Brian Manley in Austin have all come under withering criticism for their handling of the protests in their cities over the past few weeks, as well as long records of police abuse of minorities.


Increased accountability, transparency, and other systemic changes will happen.

Now for some election news.

Joe Biden spoke at the Texas Democratic Party's virtual convention, by pre-recorded video, the day after he secured the necessary delegates to become the party's presidential nominee in November.


The convention wrapped with a debate between the two finalists for the right to challenge John Cornyn in the fall.  You can still watch it at the link below.


Recent polling in the Great State reveals a presidential race too close to call.

A new survey from Public Policy Polling, a firm mostly aligned with Democrats, found President Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden tied, 48%-48%, with just 4% unsure five months before the general election. Independents favored Trump, 52%-42%. Interestingly, Biden was stronger among Democrats (88%-8%) than Trump was among Republicans (83%-14%).

An April poll from the firm had Biden leading Trump, 47%-46%. In that survey, independents favored Biden, 50%-34%, and only 6% of Republicans indicated they would vote for Biden.

Trump’s job performance approval rating was 46/50. Anglos were more than twice as likely to approve than disapprove (67/32) but Hispanic/Latino (18/73) and African-American (2/97) voters were decidedly disapproving. His approval rating among voters aged 18 to 45 was 38/56. He was less underwater among voters aged 46 to 65, and his rating among voters over 65 was 58/39. The poll did not include a question about Biden’s favorability.


Kuff analyzed two more polls showing the tight prez tilt in Texas.  In his regular White House update, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs focused on Biden clinching and the latest shuffle in the veepstakes.

The Texas Signal reported on the Travis County DA primary runoff and how it relates to the wider criminal justice reform debate.

Several of the state's Republicans let their racist slips show on social media last week, and that was another hot topic among Texas bloggers.  Progrexas, John Coby at Bay Area Houston, and Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune all had a take.

Via Out in SA, Equality Texas vows to do better at every level of their organization to help dismantle systems of oppression against Black Americans.

Christoph Spieler tweets two lessons for transit agencies during times of crisis.

And let's close out this Wrangle for now -- there will be updates here or a fresh post later -- with another blast from the past via Traces of Texas.

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Sunday, June 07, 2020

Sunday "Lawn Odor" Funnies


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Saturday, June 06, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Joe clinches


Nation grimaces.


You ought to be able to win in November too, Joe.  Just stop talking.

Former vice president Joe Biden on Thursday said that 10 to 15 percent of "people out there" are just "not very good people.”

Speaking during a virtual town hall with young Americans, Biden discussed the importance of a president setting an example for the country on issues of race during a conversation moderated by actor Don Cheadle.


Stop posing for pictures like this.


Let Trump do the pandering, make the gaffes, look like the bigger fool, and you've got this.  Don't screw it up by speaking or showing your face, mask or no, for a few months.


*facepalm*

Oh well, it ought to be pre-recorded for TDP delegates this evening, so there shouldn't be any unintended insults or televised flatulence.

Meanwhile, current events have pushed Kamala Harris back into the pole position for the veep.  I'm not the only one who thinks so (again), Cillizza at CNN sees it too.  Amy Klobuchar is over.

It will be tough on Kamala -- and the other two African American women Cillizza favors; Keisha Lance Bottoms, mayor of Atlanta, and US Rep. Val Demings of FL -- because all three women have prosecutorial careers.  (That's another strike against Amy, by the way.)  But the others don't have the KHive, and Harris has been vetted on the issue during primary season.  Berners did that, and she was forced out of the race without winning a single delegate.  Fortunes change quickly, though, and the progressive left appears to this blogger to have stronger options outside the duopoly than ever, which translates into Ds shoring up the base, not just the black vote but the CA electorate as well.  Bernie Sanders won big there, you will recall.

But if Old Uncle Joe just can't get comfortable with a black woman, there's always Elizabeth Warren, who met some favor in the Af-Am community in the South during her campaign.  Unfortunately for her, she's considered a progressive (sic) by the neoliberals, and that might be worse than being black from Biden's -- and those doing the real vetting inside the camp's -- POV.

Some unnamed Dem insider is already on record/off the record as saying Demings doesn't have a chance because Florida isn't really in play, despite what the polls say.  I believe that, and I also believe the same regarding Texas.

Even in the middle of PRIDE month, I just cannot see a "Biden-Bottoms" ticket.

It was hard enough composing this while studiously ignoring Trump's daily atrocities this past week, and with Bernie back in his own basement, and the minor parties' standard-bearers -- the Greens' Howie Hawkins, presumptively, and newly-crowned Jo Jorgensen of the Libertarians -- also reaching the historical summer lull in the four-year cycle ... well, just no urgency or much breaking news beyond the Donks' developments.

The country has bigger problems than choosing between Trump or Biden for the next four years. There's a sentence I never thought I would write.  Two addled geriatrics completely out of touch with the wants and needs of a nation in crisis, with voting suppressed from various sources like never before, and the electorate terrified of a host of ills, to be left unresolved in the near term.

Fun.

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