Monday, August 31, 2020

The Once-Again Weekly Wrangle


Back after a week's break!  Let's open with a lame joke.


Ha. Ha. Ha. But seriously ...


Our fellow Texans in Beaumont and Port Arthur, mostly spared the worst of Laura, evacuated to Austin but still found a reason to fight about something.


And our neighbors in Orange and Lake Charles probably aren't feeling the joke or the lessening, so if you're feeling charitable ...


There's still 42 days remaining before the start of early voting for the November elections, but Greg Abbott is giving SD-30 a head start on replacing Pat Fallon, who replaced John Ratcliffe in TX4 when he joined the Trump administration as DNI. (You may have heard Ratcliffe's name taken in vain over the weekend.)


Luther is the beauty shop owner who defied Greg Abbott and re-opened her salon while the COVID ban was still in effect, drawing headlines, armed supporters, and a brief stint in the pokey.  Springer is the Texas House representative for HD68, and the establishment choice to thwart Luther's bid to join the anti-Abbott Caucus in the Texas Senate.  The other Republicans -- Carter, Hopper, and Watts -- and Democrat Minter are mentioned in this TexTrib piece.

Expect a runoff, with the D and one of the Rs advancing.  The game to watch is whether Dan Patrick -- or acolytes of his that may want to cause trouble for Abbott -- come out publicly for Luther, work behind the scenes, or stay on the sidelines.  Activity like this signals the intensity of GOP primary scuffling in 2022, which the Govnuh is keen to avoid but won't shy away from.

If Springer wins the primary or the runoff, there'll be yet another special election to fill his Texas House seat at some point, in December or January.

Socratic Gadfly also blogged about Abbott, Fallon, and Springer and had some prognostications on the SD-30 race.

TXElects has analyzed Central Texas and Harris County statehouse races.


Who do the newly homeless plan on voting for? Do you think there will be poll watchers challenging their registrations, who've been keeping an eye on the public eviction records?


We know that they -- and everybody else who gets to vote -- won't be able to vote for many Green candidates, thanks to Texas Democrats.


But it's not like the TXGOP is making sure that everyone who wants to vote can do so.


This must be that "lesser evil" stuff I keep hearing about. Remind me again which is which? Oh yeah; I remember now.


There's cruel, and then there's just plain stupid.


Glenn Melancon at Living Blue in Texas points out that some have wasted their entire summer chasing conservative conspiracy theories. (Not this blogger.)

"Cops Behaving Badly" is still news in Texas.


Perhaps there's going to be some room made for improvement.


Here's some environmental headlines over the past week.


With a couple of educational updates:

Dos Centavos points you to a post by researcher Angela Gutierrez regarding a Latino Decisions survey of Latino parents and the challenges they face as schools reopen.


Should I wrap this Wrangle here? Yes, I should. Let's rock (in remembrance).

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Sunday, August 30, 2020

Sunday "Right to Remain Silent" Funnies


(Ed. note: My, what a relaxing week off.  Regular posting to resume in course.  If you missed anything over the past week, Matthew Dessem at Salon has a nice summary.  I must admit that finding humor in this environment is more than the usual challenge.)


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Sunday, August 23, 2020

Sunday "The Choice" Funnies

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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

TexProg Blog Wrangle, Hump Day edition


Ed. note: Looks like the left hip is due for a replacement.  When and how long blogging becomes more sporadic than it is currently is still to be determined.  It's probably for the best; I feel so radicalized by the gaslighters in the Democratic Party that I'm ready to join the revolution, if not start it.  Tweeting and reTweeting will continue at the regular pace, so those BidenTimers among my remaining readers and followers might not want their hopes and dreams punctured with the increasingly acidic truth coming down the pike.  You've been warned. -- PD

Catching up with a few things about the Latinx bloc in Texas.  We might be waiting awhile longer for them to save the Donks from the eevil GOP.


The community may have even bigger problems than not being motivated to turn out for Biden and the Democrats in November, if you can imagine.


On a brighter note, the AAPI electorate is highly charged following the selection of Kamala Harris as VP, and that likely bodes well for Sri Preston Kulkarni in TX-22.


Mustafa Tameez interviewed Ilhan Omar after she won her primary last week.

In yet another threat against local control, Greg Abbott said he would support laws in the next legislative session that would limit the raising of property taxes by budget-strapped communities that defund their police departments.



Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast was among the many bloggers who weighed in.


... I thought conservatives believed revenue caps were a good thing, not a sanction applied to liberal cities for doing something they don't like.

Indeed, I'm old enough to remember when conservatives favored less spending and smaller government. Now the governor wants to punish cities that reduce spending. We've passed all the way through the looking glass, it seems.

Austin cut its police budget by less than five percent. By contrast, Gov. Abbott, the Lt. Governor and the House Speaker recently told state agencies they all must cut their budgets by 5% because of declining tax revenue in the COVID era. Isn't what's good for the goose good for the gander?

Finally, cities around the state face budget shortfalls because of COVID combined with revenue caps the Legislature already approved. "Austin bashing" is one thing -- folks in the capital city have come to expect that -- but are you really going to punish every small town that must cut its police budget because tax revenue declined thanks to the virus?

Ten years ago, Texas Republicans were all about "less government" and "local control." Now Abbott wants to micromanage municipal budgets to keep spending high. This debate is becoming downright surreal.


D Magazine summarizes and links to the DMN's report on the City Council's loss of confidence in the leadership of their police department.

It's not just local cops, as we know.


And because so many of these issues are being managed by Democrats in big cities, the question is begged: what good is voting for them actually doing?


Democrats are busy removing any options to their left from your ballot.


Is that democratic? Is it progressive?


More later (possibly).
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