Monday, June 22, 2020

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance does not speak in riddles when it brings you its weekly roundup of the best blog posts, Tweets, and lefty news from across the Great State.

Stories with the latest COVID 19 updates, Juneteenth celebrations, Black Lives Matter rallies, police and municipal government responses, and the disturbing backlash from the extremist right will be curated in a separate post appearing later.  This Wrangle brings developments on TXGOP foibles, the latest election news, environmental accounts, and some lighter-side items to help keep us sane in these trying times.

Governor Helen Wheels kicks us off.

 
Robert Rivard at his self-titled Report saluted Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff for calling Greg Abbott's bluff on face masks.  SocraticGadfly saw it (complete with quote-Photoshopping) as Gov. Strangeabbott having coronavirus blood on his hands.

Even the goons at EmpT thought Abbott lost his colostomy bag shit.


Abbott is taking his cues from Trump when it comes to dealing with the media.


Look for some live-Tweeting of this presser today (upper right-hand column) and an update as part of tomorrow's -- potentially third this week -- Wrangle.

Kuff enjoyed a bit of schadenfreude at the expense of the good folks at Empower Texans.  The Texas Signal, meanwhile, giggled at the spectacle of Ted Cruz whining about Sesame Street.


Texans (many Texans, that is) joined with all Americans -- well, most Americans -- in celebrating two significant Supreme Court decisions last week.


Continuing to mark Pride Month, Equality Texas introduces us to Elia Chinó, the founder of the Fundación Latinoamericana de Acción Social, Inc. (FLAS).


DosCentavos put the SCOTUS DACA decision into perspective.  The Dallas Observer reported on the celebrations by immigration activists over the ruling.  And Texas Rising Leaders, a project of the Texas Freedom Network, expressed relief.

Early voting in Texas begins a week from today for the July runoff elections.


The Texas Tribune writes about Joe Biden's polling in the Lone Star State, speculating that even if he doesn't win, a close contest could reshape our politics for the next decade -- think: majority in the Texas House, redistricting, etc.  Bonddad Blog did an Electoral College map that reflected all the current state polls to predict an outcome.  By contrast, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, in his weekly White House Update, is skeptical of the early surveys, and Biden's chances here.  But in a more positive take reflecting on the TexTrib's premise, Progressives Everywhere blogged about an under-reported Dallas-area race (HD108) where Joanna Cattanach is taking on Morgan Meyer.

The evolution of racial thought and consideration in the US and Texas seems to be favoring Royce West (and others) as he appears to build momentum in the US Senate runoff.


That's even as Texas Republicans prepare to go to war with each other.


Here's a few state ecological stories from last week.


More on that from Grist.  D Magazine picked up on an account via social media about a chemical spill in a tributary of White Rock Lake.  There is some good news: Houston is investing in nature-based infrastructure for some its bayous and waterways, according to Environment Texas.  And Save Buffalo Bayou is sponsoring an environmental forum between the two Harris County Commissioner Precinct 3 Democrats in the runoff.

Precinct 3 includes Buffalo Bayou west of Loop 610 and many tributaries, as well as other major streams like Cypress and Little Cypress creeks, part of Spring Creek and Brays Bayou, the federal flood-control reservoirs, Addicks and Barker; and much of the Katy Prairie. It also includes parts of Memorial, Spring Branch, Bellaire, West University, and more.

The west-northwest area of the county, once farm and ranch land, has been under heavy development pressure for many years, with resulting controversies over requirements for stormwater detention and preservation of the native prairie.

Nature-based approaches to reducing flood risk—prairie grasses and wetlands, trees, parks, ponds, and gardens—slow rain runoff and absorb stormwater before it even enters and overwhelms our natural (green) and built (gray) drainage systems.  Green flood management is the most practical, beneficial, and cost-effective method of reducing flood risk.

For these reasons, local environmental groups are sponsoring an online forum with the Democratic candidates vying to take the place of retiring Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, a Republican who has represented Precinct 3 since 1989.

The forum, which takes place online June 24 from 7 to 8 p.m., will focus on environmental issues. Advance registration for this event is required. To sign up go here.

The Democratic candidates are Diana Alexander, an educator, and Michael Moore, former chief of staff under Houston Mayor Bill White. The runoff election is July 14, with early voting starting on Monday, June 29 and running through Friday, July 10.

The winner will face Republican candidate Tom Ramsey in the general election on Nov. 3.  Ramsey is a four-term mayor of tiny Spring Valley Village in west Houston, a civil engineer and until 2015, senior vice-president of Klotz and Associates, now RPS Group, a major contractor with Harris County and the Harris County Flood Control District.


Can you believe this is only half of what's been Wrangled from last week?  I've got coronavirus -- stories, that is -- and lots of racial justice/injustice news collated to post later (probably tomorrow, I'm guessing, but check back anyway for updates).

Here's some softer fare to close out.

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Sunday, June 21, 2020

Sunday 'Coronapalooza' Funnies



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Thursday, June 18, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Trump gets booked

By John Bolton and by his niece, Mary.


President Donald Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing new book by former Trump adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions.

Odd how Bolton appears (I've only read an excerpt and some reviews) not to have mentioned some of these things when he was questioned under oath by impeachment managers and attorneys.


Don't know about yours, but my summer reading list is full.

And the hits just keep on comin'.


Now we're in Putin/Kim territory (as if we weren't previously).  With all this depressing news, you can kinda understand why Trump needs a rally right about now.


Masks optional, hand sanitizer available, social distancing not required.

That's the most I've blogged about Shitler in months.  It's been better for my mental health to have muted his Tweets, ignored the most hysterical of Resistance members who lose their minds on a daily basis over him, and generally just avoided getting triggered by his ignorance, his cruelty, his malignant narcissism, his sociopathy, and all the rest.  I spent eight years being mad at Bush Jr., after all, and decided the day after Election Day 2016 that I wasn't going to relive that again.  To be clear: Trump is a symptom of a broken political system.  There are simply no excuses for Hillary Clinton to have lost to him, no matter how many she has made or have been made for her.

And if you should happen to agree that Trump is the product of a dysfunctional America, then you must agree that Joe Biden has been one of the architects of it.



Why can't somebody sneak "I support Medicare for All" onto Joe's teleprompter?


Personally, I blame Obama.


But Joe has had plenty of enablers and gaslighters.


Still he is on his way to a landslide victory.  Not Trump; Biden.




That's Josh Putnam's map.  Here's mine as of today.



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

Yes, I'm of the opinion that Joe is going to make it too close, and that the polling will be as unsound and unpredictable as ever.  There's lots of concerns about voter suppression, faulty voting machines, whether people will be able to vote by mail because of the virus, whether the counties can handle the massive flow of mail ballots regardless, etc.

And if you're voting blue, you're really voting for the person Biden selects as running mate.  That woman is going to be the president of the United States sooner than later.  The public polls remain very favorable to Elizabeth Warren.


Follow the 7-count thread to the link for more.  I'm still thinking Kamala, but reports indicate Val Demings and Keisha Bottoms have moved up into the top four.  Update: Amy pulls the plug, and endorses ... anybody but Warren.  Maybe Joe could still do better.


Doesn't matter to me anyway.  Whoever loses has a base that won't accept the result; Texas won't be close unless it's a landslide, and I'll be voting Green or indy no matter what.


"B-B-B-But the Supreme Court!"


Notoriously bad, Ruth.  "B-B-B-But a vote for ________ is a vote for Trump!"


As it happens, there is but one man standing between Trump and a second term.  And his name is ...

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Tuesday, June 16, 2020

TexProgBlog Wrangle, Defund the PoPo edition

The second edition of the best of the left of Texas from last week contains blog post links, embedded Tweets, and news from mainstream sources that reference the ongoing American crisis of police brutality leveled against police brutality protests.  And the societal aftershocks, reverberating in every direction.  The latest involves the death by public hanging of another man of color -- by most accounts the fourth since George Floyd was murdered -- this time in Houston, yesterday.


Perhaps it was just as Acevedo relates to the Chron's reporter, Gill.  HPD's chief is a pretty accomplished gaslighter, unfortunately.


And he's got friends in high places.


H-Town doesn't have the biggest problem; at least for the moment.  That distinction belongs to the killers of Javier Ambler, also known as the Williamson County Sheriff's Department.


Kuff detailed the state of police reform in Houston and Harris County, with a coda about HISD. DosCentavos had a series on the possible re-hiring of Chauna Thompson. The effort failed. Craig Mills says he should not know the names of George Floyd and so many other black men who are known to him because they were killed by police.

These are not -- as has been made crystal clear to all of us -- isolated incidents.


And there have been attempts in legislative sessions past by some of our lawmakers to codify penalties against bad cops.


But don't count Governor Abbott among them.


It's doubtful he or his acolytes will settle for even the mildest criminal justice reforms.


Still, progress is being made.


And the most progress will keep being made by those who remain courageously in the streets, showing out and speaking up.


(It's important to know who your allies aren't.)


And knowing your history is never a bad thing.


If you can't march, if you can't donate, if your activism is limited to what you can manage online ... there's plenty of those opportunities.


As we close out another Wrangle, here's a couple of quick hits about the virus.

-- Florida and Texas: Please Put Masks On, Or We'll Never Get Out of This



The Houston Sierra Club reports that Harris County is considering releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the environment to see how that goes.

The mosquito species Aedes aegypti, originally from Africa, has been genetically modified by a British biotech company to prevent them from reproducing. The mosquito is one of several species of mosquitoes responsible for the Zika and other viruses in Harris County, according to the Harris County Public Health Department. However, the Aedes aegypti prefers to live near and feed on people.

[...]

Frank Blake of the Sierra Club writes about modified mosquito project that “there are social and environmental justice concerns around the lack of transparency, the release site of the mosquitoes, the fact that Harris County residents cannot consent to essentially being human experiments and the impacts this may have on our local environment.”

He notes that environmental advocates suggest that “there are existing, less risky methods of mosquito control that have documented and demonstrated effectiveness.”

Find out more.


Last, the HouChron marks the 52nd anniversary of the opening of Astroworld, a seminal experience for a generation of Southeast Texans now full-grown and sentimental about it.

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Monday, June 15, 2020

The Weekly Wrangle


The Texas Progressive Alliance's round-up of blog posts, tweets, and lefty news from around and about the Lone Star State opens this morning with election news, followed by the latest coronavirus developments.  A separate post collecting the myriad of reactions from bloggers regarding police response to Black Lives Matter protests will appear later.


George Floyd's death continues to influence the nation; the pandemic had pinched voter registration drives but the rallies and marches for him -- and now Javier Ambler, Rayshard Brooks, and too many more -- have re-surged them.


As PDiddie at Brains and Eggs suggested in last week's 'Race for the White House' update, polling this early is nothing to get excited about.


SocraticGadfly offers a twofer on third party national politics. First, in the wake of a previous post about Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen, he snarks on the party wanting to be "more dramatic and noteworthy."  He also had some Minneapolis-related questions about Cam Gordon, one of the speakers set for Greens' national convention.


Meanwhile, Trump paid a fundraising visit to Dallas, squeezing in a photo-op with some preachers and a slight mention of policing and race relations.  Unsurprisingly, none of the top law enforcement officials of color in DFW were invited to the conversation.

The senior senator from the Great State is not one to be outdone when it comes to incognizance, intended or not.


Clueless John ought to enroll in a demagoguery class taught by his junior partner.


The runoff between the D contenders to take on Cornyn is getting contentious.


And Sema Hernandez endorses.


Finally, though there are -- by all polling indications -- closer US Senate races in November, some conservatives are fearful for Cornyn.


In TX-24, where Candace Valenzuela and Kim Olson are battling to take on superfreak right Irving mayor Beth "Sharia" Van Duyne, a quip about looting may or may not have her in hot water.

Moving on to the coronavirus:


Space City Weather revisits the question of COVID-19 and the Texas weather.

Equality Texas -- and partner organizations Borderland Rainbow Center, BTWI (Black Trans Women Inc), FLAS, The Center (Pride Center San Antonio), STEP (South Texas Equality Project), and Transgender Education Network of Texas -- invite you to watch this webinar to learn more about the 2020 Census, and how ensuring that everyone is counted greatly impacts LGBTQ nonprofit orgs and social services.



PRIDE Houston has announced that this year’s celebration will be a march and rally, held at City Hall on June 27.

And this Wrangle closes out with another Tweet from Traces of Texas.

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