Monday, July 27, 2020

The TexProgBlog Wrangle: Fascism Rising

The round-up of blog posts and Tweets and links to news from the best of the left of, about, and around Deep-In-The-Hearta begins today with reports of Trump's fascist supporters surging in Austin, Tyler, and Weatherford over the weekend.


Shell Seas, blogging at Living Blue in Texas, has more.

In northeast Texas the Democratic challenger to Louie Gohmert tried to hold a rally to protest Louie's latest effort to cancel the Democratic Party.  Hank Gilbert was shouted down by Republicans who scared off most of his supporters, then fought with the few who remained.


Gilbert's Twitter feed has three links to East Texas media accounts of the skirmish, all with video.

And from the state capital, Saturday night:


I'll save the political and corona-related posts for a later Wrangle (most of the pandemic-related ones I've been holding are too dated to use anyway; last week's news ages pretty fast these days).  Here I'll keep going with the theme of lives lost and threatened due to the spread of corporatism, militarism, and fascism in our still-beloved Texas.


And last:


Much more Wrangled -- and to be posted -- shortly.
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Saturday, July 25, 2020

Sunday 'Cognitively Fascist' Funnies

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Thursday, July 23, 2020

White House Update: Leave Kanye Alone

-- He really needs to spend more time in his basement.

Kim Kardashian West has shared a message about her husband Kanye West and mental health.

In an Instagram Stories post on Wednesday, Kardashian West acknowledged that West has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and said it's "incredibly complicated and painful" for many to understand.

It's not easy to have empathy for a man who has been given every single material thing life could possibly offer ... who also seems to be trying very hard to throw it all away.  So we'll hope everything turns out okay for him, he gets the help he needs, takes his meds, and never hear any more about his presidential aspirations ever again.

-- I'd very much like to say the same of Joe Biden.  But part of his strategy, as we know, is to stay quiet and out of sight, and for reasons so painfully obvious by now you can almost predict them.



This is one of those off-the-cuff gaffes Biden is renowned for.  His staff -- in this case, the obnoxious Symone Sanders -- nearly always gets to clean up his mess.  Bless their shitty, dark little hearts; they can't stop him.  They've kept him from wandering off camera, (now you know why he's always sitting down) but they can't do anything about him wandering off script, and that's on his good days, when the Aricept is working.

-- Still, 'Muricans trust Old Joe's cognition more than do Trump's, and with damn good reason.


And this is the man with the nuclear codes.


Yeah, he's leaving.  Like it or not, wants to or not.  It's just a crine-ass shame Biden will be the one replacing him, for however long that happens to be.  Yes, we're all on tenterhooks for another week or so.  Still no promises as to whether a woman of color is the choice, either.

“I am not committed to naming any but the people I have named, and among them are four Black women. So that decision is underway right now. And by the way, Black women have supported me my entire career. You all act like all of the sudden there was an epiphany in South Carolina.”

[...]

“We have gone through about four candidates so far in the two-hour vetting, and we will get all the vetting done of all the candidates, and then I am going to narrow the list, and then I will have personal discussions with each of the candidates who are left,” Biden said.

He has indicated that he expects to name a running mate around Aug. 1, which is next week.


Getting a little bored of this game, personally.  I just don't think it's him making the final call.

-- So while I have Tweeted more than enough this week about Trump's fascism in Portland, it's creeping into other cities now.  This will be the worst, most dangerous legacy of this president.


It's not, naturally, the only destabilization effort Trump is making.  I have zero doubt he would like to get an actual war started in order to declare himself an actual wartime president ...


... especially since he's gotten bored with the coronavirus wars that he and the Republican governors have so abjectly lost.

Update: The convention celebration he moved from Charlotte to Jacksonville, FL because North Carolina was restricting indoor gatherings?  Yeah, he had to cancel that because Florida is aflame with the 'rona.  Or maybe because of this.

-- All this cheery news might make a person feel that it would be really important to vote for Biden as the only realistic option to eject Trump from the White House. 

That would be a hard NO from me.


Whole lotta BS lately about how great Biden's climate plan is.


Congratulations to Jef Rouner; he's the the first "Daily Jackass" of 2020.  It's almost like a record skipping on Joe Biden's turntable.


-- I should wrap this up with some thoughts about John Kasich speaking at the convention.


Not the Unity Strategy I can get on board with.


-- Are we all in agreement, finally, that Russiagate was bullshit?


-- Rest in peace, Michael Brooks.

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Monday, July 20, 2020

The Weekly Fa versus Antifa Wrangle *with updates*

Update: I'm having a little trouble keeping up with everything that's happening this week, so a fresh Wrangle and a White house Update are still in the works.  Keep an eye on my Twitter feed to the right ---> for the very latest.

Along with the best of the left from around our Great State over the past several days, the Texas Progressive Alliance wishes we were on the ramparts of democracy with the Portland Moms.


We'll open with the Pachyderms; the Republican Party of Texas elected a new leader.


The TXGOP's convention went virtual at the end of last week after Houston's mayor, Sylvester Turner, shut them down due to the COVID-19 outbreak inflaming the city.  But federal judge Lynn Hughes overrode Turner's authority to block them from meeting in person, and then a hastily-assembled Fifth Circuit panel overturned Hughes.  The Repubs chose to go on with their conclave online, but encountered technical difficulties of all kinds; unforced errors as well as DDS attacks.  They still have some unfinished party business remaining -- for a second convention.

West's victory is also a win for the Dan Patrick/Trump wing.  It assures that their candidates on the 2020 ballot must align with the president or face scorn and retribution, a tactic that will surely cost them votes in the suburbs of the state's major metros.  Whether that can be offset by ginning up turnout in rural strongholds -- and places like Midland/Odessa, the deepest portions of East Texas, exurban counties such as Montgomery, Williamson, Hays, Denton, and Collin -- is the electoral battle all of us pundits will be watching over the next 3.5 months.

Looking past November -- and if Trump is not blown out here in the Lone Star State -- all of this grumbling from the base suggests there will be a significant primary challenge to Governor Greg Abbott from his right.  I would be inclined to believe that Abbott has enough money and political savvy to win easily, probably against anyone except Dan Patrick, whom he currently leads by more than 2-1 in fundraising dollars.  Would Patrick vacate the state's most powerful post in order to take a shot at Abbott?  That's a very interesting question, isn't it?

Update: It's not worth speculating (to me) at this time whether Beto or one of the Castro brothers deigns to challenge Abbott in 2022.  Either should be strong enough and have enough support to get the job done, after Lupe Valdez -- who had neither -- ran better than expected in 2018.

I have enough COVID-19 posts for its own Wrangle, which will appear later.  Sticking to politics ...


Kuff had the goods on two more polls of Texas.  Ted Cruz warned his brethren that this year is indeed going to be a race.  And Jeremy Blackman breaks down Greg Abbott's strategy for staying above the fray even as he gets pulled down into it: stick to the local news.


SD14 special: Former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt remains below 50% following the release of what we expect to be final unofficial results from Travis and Bastrop Cos. Eckhardt sits at 49.75%, which puts her in a runoff against Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, who finished with 33.9% of the vote.


Go to the link for more on this quirk of the Texas Election Code.


Some environmental posts:

Downwinders at Risk seems encouraged by the opportunity for real reform in the wake of the departure of Dallas' director of environmental quality.  Save Buffalo Bayou blogs about a Plastic Free July.  Rebecca Elliott writes for the WSJ that this -- right here -- is what it looks like when a Texas oil boom goes bust.  And Gadfly called out Texas Monthly for naively accepting at face value the "poor me" story of a major fracking company's head.

Update: DISD has asked DaR to help re-write their environmental policies.

Some NBA players and alumni keep track of current events ...


... and some apparently don't.


Grits for Breakfast sees the coming sunset review of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement as an opportunity to limit police forces in the state.  Victoria Guerrero at Progress Texas examined the data that concluded that many county district attorneys are under-prosecuting abusive cops.

Black Restaurant Week ended on Sunday -- there are still many who need your support -- and the eagerly-anticipated Houston Restaurant Weeks begins shortly.

This year the motto "Dine Out and Do Good" has been revised to "Take Out and Do Good."  One dollar from each meal purchased will be donated to the Houston Food Bank.  The donation amount is smaller than in past years, but it allows more establishments to participate and helps support workers in the hard-hit restaurant industry.

HRW founder Cleverley Stone passed away earlier this year.  Her daughter, Katie, is continuing the fundraiser in her name.  Houston Restaurant Weeks will run from Aug. 1 to Sept. 7.

Shari Biedinger at The Rivard Report attended the 50th anniversary re-enactment of the Great Brackenridge Park Train Robbery. 


Last, here's a Twitter thread that details some of the internal thoughts of residents of various Texas cities that strikes this Texan as stereotypical and maybe not so funny.  YMMV.
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Sunday, July 19, 2020

Sunday "Feeling Safe" Funnies

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