Sunday, January 10, 2021
"Death to America" Toons
Please read this essay by Jack Reilly about the slow demise of political cartooning. And support the craft if you can.
Thursday, January 07, 2021
RU!N
...I couldn’t help but see it as something more ominous -- a blunt declaration about the state of the country or perhaps a warning or, even worse, a prediction of what’s barreling down on us like a runaway train: RU!N.
I know a bit about ruin. Like most people my age, images of national ruin are burned into my memory: the Challenger rising into a blue sky and then breaking up in an orange ball of fire; Los Angeles burning after the Rodney King verdict; the Twin Towers collapsing and sending a shockwave of smoke, debris and sorrow through Manhattan’s canyons and across the country; and puddles of blood on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel in LA, on a balcony in Memphis, on Jackie Kennedy’s dress, on a classroom floor in Newtown, CT, on the sidewalk outside a Manhattan apartment building forty years ago last month. There’s no end, it seems, to the ruin people inflict on people, only brief reprieves between catastrophes. Of course, it can be tough to recall those reprieves when we’re in the midst of a pandemic with no clear end in sight and we’re bombarded with news of the endless litigation that encourages a large part of the population to deny the clear and inevitable result of the election.
Recap of the carnage of Trump's insurrection and riots
— John Anzalone (@JohnAnzo) January 7, 2021
14 officers injured & two hospitalized from the riots
A woman shot and killed in the Capitol
Two pipe bombs discovered at the party committees
Molotov cocktails and a long gun found on the Capitol grounds
Trump's legacy pic.twitter.com/SFwVBShTF9
But we’re all human, which is what we should remember. Human, first and foremost, and both capable of wondrous kindness and invention and prone to despicable wrongs and violence. We’re also bound to one another by blood and providence as parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, partners and friends. And we devote ourselves daily not just to being but to becoming: teachers and preachers; nurses and artists; plumbers, farmers, fire fighters, and writers. And finally, beyond all that and whether we want to admit it or not, we are Americans. And it’s this part of our identity and the impossibly complicated and contradictory perceptions of what “American” means and includes that has set us against one another, that has put us on the track to this ruin, the scale of which is yet to be determined.
Monday, January 04, 2021
The Weekly Wrangle from Far Left Texas
You don’t expect the top executives in the state attorney general’s office to turn on their boss, telling the agency and law enforcement that Ken Paxton has been doing favors for a political donor that have crossed the line into bribery and abuse of office. But it happened in 2020.
You wouldn’t expect the most popular politician in the state’s majority party to get in trouble with members of his own party’s self-styled liberty wing. But Greg Abbott is in fact out of tune with that bunch, including the Texas GOP’s chairman. And 2020 brought some non-political news with it too, finally bringing some light to Texans who, for reasons of technology and money, don’t have access to the high-speed internet they need to go to school, to work and even to the doctor during a pandemic.
Read more from the TexTrib's Ross Ramsey at the link above about the things he -- and the rest of us sane Texans -- did not anticipate in 2020, not including the coronavirus (generallly). Or look forward to the convening of the 87th Legislative Session ... and secession, among the many other lunatic-fringe bills to come.
Texas stayed red in 2020. It didn’t lose any Republican Congress members, in spite of a huge and costly push by Democrats. And in a critical year, Republicans held on to a majority in their state legislature, ensuring control over redistricting in 2021.
So what the heck has gotten into the Texas GOP? In the span of one week, the attorney general filed a seditious lawsuit with the Supreme Court and state GOP leaders are announcing they think it’s time Texas secedes from the nation.
[...]
And Paxton isn’t the only Texan willing to sink to new political lows. Recently, Republican state Rep. Kyle Biedermann announced that he will introduce legislation to allow Texas to secede from the nation. His reason? “The federal government is out of control and does not represent the values of Texans.”
There is no chance that Texas will secede from the United States. Just as with Paxton’s Supreme Court ploy, the law is not on Texas’ side. Secession is simply not legal, and Biedermann should know that.
But also like Paxton, Biedermann’s real goal may be more personal. Perhaps he is looking to raise his profile with a new speaker of the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives. Moreover, earlier this year he resigned from the Texas Freedom Caucus, citing backroom deals and a lack of transparency surrounding who would become the next speaker of the Texas House. By introducing legislation with such fanfare, he further shores up his conservative credentials, which could help him secure more influence in the state Capitol. Then again, he may just be trying to bury all of the Google search results of him dressed as “gay Hitler.”
Reform Austin looks ahead to education-related bills in the Legislature. The Statesman will run down its ten legislative points of focus with a series starting today on the Confederacy. And Jasper Scherer at the HouChron writes about the contentious issue of local control that the Lege and muni governments will be grappling with.
The 2021 redistricting cycle may mark the first time in nearly 50 years that Texas can create new legislative and congressional districts without having to prove that the maps don't undermine voters of color. Reporting by @TexasTribune via @VotebeatUS.https://t.co/McAf6xBmUt
— Scalawag (@scalawagmag) January 4, 2021
Longshot legislation: Some Texas lawmakers have high aspirations as they seek to push state toward marijuana decriminalization, legalization in 2021, @alex__briseno reports. #txlege #marijuana #decriminalization https://t.co/HwepuTJSdP
— John Gravois (@Grav1) December 29, 2020
Last year, a 61-year-old woman standing in her Houston driveway with family and friends was killed by celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve. A state bill to criminalize celebratory gunfire died in a Texas legislative committee. #txlege
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 29, 2020
https://t.co/PVuiRR9k0Z
Since I mentioned Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert in the Saturday edition, I'd like to skip them for now and wait for what will surely be the midweek episode of "Lifestyles of the Ignorant and Seditious".
No? Okay then.
WATCH: Radical extremist Republican @replouiegohmert calls for “violence in the streets” after his absurd lawsuit to overturn the election gets thrown out. pic.twitter.com/K3nqtd0M8p
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 2, 2021
Notice the wording:
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) January 2, 2021
Cruz does not even allege that voting fraud happened, only that U.S. democracy can be upended if enough people make those “allegations,” however meritless. https://t.co/IaNJN8kFuN
When I repeatedly asked about reports that President Trump called Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State yesterday to ask him to find more than 11k votes to reverse election results, @SenTedCruz repeatedly declined to comment and insisted he’d only talk about the #GArunoffs. pic.twitter.com/Yidp6Kzd0T
— Sarah McCammon📻 (@sarahmccammon) January 3, 2021
Enough. Please. And no Greg Abbott.
*Sweet Baby Jeebus on a Xmas tree crutch*
Gov. Abbott says a "significant portion" of vaccines in Texas might be sitting on hospital shelves.@TexasDSHS vaccine dash shows that 163,700 doses have been administered out of 611,850 doses received by providers: https://t.co/Q0duPKFGeE https://t.co/ogvzB7KpXy
— Nicole Cobler (@nicolecobler) December 29, 2020
Government has maxed out? Between a river of executive orders, AG Lawsuits, different plans at every county line, and the current vaccine distribution disaster, we were probably maxed out before we got started. With all due respect what a clusterf$%k! #epicfail https://t.co/kD6cXCuVlj
— Terry Canales (@TerryCanales40) December 31, 2020
Captain Obvious Kuffner observes that the COVID vaccine rollout is pretty bumpy so far. The SAEN op-ed board pointedly advised the governor to slow his roll; the city of Austin isn't a war zone, and Texas is not a police state.
Could we please talk about some of the other TXGOP lowlifes now?
Please sign up for an Intro Economics course at your local community college, @RepKevinBrady.
— Scap 🌹 left turn at Albuquerque (@scapelliti) December 29, 2020
You have no understanding of the subject. https://t.co/toAZzNzgZD
Mask protest melee at Texas mall yields one arrest https://t.co/JEPMYORr1O #KHOU
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) December 29, 2020
#ResignGreg #ByeGreg look at this misogynistic racist go... 👀 https://t.co/ASM108nC57
— Ashton P. Woods (@AshtonPWoods) December 31, 2020
Here comes a bunch of social and criminal justice updates:
The Root has the story of the 30-year-old Black woman, a Fort Sam Houston drill sergeant, found dead of multiple gunshot wounds on New Year's Day. Grits for Breakfast posts about the stunning allegations of hazing at the Austin police academy. Liberation News details the state of Texas prisons, where some of the worst negligence associated with COVID-19 is occurring. Living Blue in Texas wants to know if slaves are still buried under the Parker County courthouse. And Reese Oxner at NPR wonders why there are so many places in the Lone Star State with the word "Negro" in their names, despite there being a law against that.
Each year, thousands of Texas children are placed in residential treatment centers, or RTCs. According to former foster youth and attorneys, Texas children have been repeatedly retraumatized by behavior at the hands of RTC staff. https://t.co/RSCSVDQmD8
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) January 2, 2021
Note: This is the entire state, not just the city. (And the bill is not signed yet).
— Sarah Smith (@sarahesmith23) December 28, 2020
Texas has a few jurisdictions (like Austin) that have enacted an eviction grace period. Despite advocates' efforts, Houston has not https://t.co/5iUDmeSdQ9 https://t.co/jMbhyoaFd2
PROBLEM: of 607 TX cops dishonorably discharged last year from various police agencies, 170 got new jobs at other agencies. SOLUTION: give @TCOLE power to take licenses from bad cops. Good to see @whitmire_john favors reform. #txlege ACT! https://t.co/QlQ9l3qgGM
— Josh Schaffer (@JoshSchafferLaw) January 2, 2021
The family of Mike Ramos, a Black and Latino man who was killed by an @Austin_Police officer in April, is suing the City of Austin, the Austin Police Department and the officer responsible in federal court. https://t.co/kOcfZMe7uM
— KUT Austin (@KUT) January 1, 2021
After years of building political inroads, Chas Moore and the @AtxJustice are converting city-wide protests into generational policy reform.https://t.co/68XkeaCSc2
— austin_monthly (@Austin_Monthly) December 29, 2020
Black family works to restore roughly 200-year-old cemetery in Texas to reclaim legacy, honor ancestors https://t.co/5ZcFqWMtaW pic.twitter.com/EU7dwNASDz
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) December 30, 2020
And a few environment pieces.
Inside Climate News has a map of the Eagle Ford shale graphing citizens' complaints about their pollution woes. Oilprice.com posts the industry's POV on why nobody can solve Texas' flaring crisis (it's illuminating, pun intended.) And James Osborne for the Chron asks if the state could become an electric vehicle hub.
Texas is close to finalizing a years-long effort to wrangle control of coal ash pollution from the EPA, a move that could, for a time, keep coal companies insulated from tougher rules expected from the Biden administration. https://t.co/lw6wBN0GHu
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) January 3, 2021
Sixteen-year-old climate organizer Chanté Davis on how change could start with young people in Texas.https://t.co/u2zUkNTNvd
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) January 4, 2021
And to end today ... a few of the news items on the lighter side.
The NYT profiles The 830 Times; a 16-page, ad-supported weekly tabloid launched in Del Rio in November by a PR veteran after the city's last paper shut down. And for you fans of old-school blogging, Vagabond Scholar presents the Jon Swift Roundup for 2020.
Why do conservatives keep posting pictures of awful food? https://t.co/PYbxEfORtz
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) December 31, 2020
"If the smell of the brisket in the oven was the $2,000 stimulus check you were hoping for, the flavor of the finished product was the $600 you’re really getting."
— Lara Korte (@lara_korte) December 31, 2020
Long live @TexasMonthly https://t.co/w1y9kxlN9T
Everything is bigger in Texas, even the challenges! Think you can complete this almost 15 mile route? https://t.co/Bizqby0sAY
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) January 1, 2021
On this day 99 years ago, E. King Gill stood on the sidelines ready to serve if his team needed him. And with that, the tradition of the #12thMan was born! https://t.co/rUrMtDCtPT 👍 #tamu pic.twitter.com/7RsL3gw49W
— Texas A&M University (@TAMU) January 2, 2021
LBJ howls with his dog Yuki as his grandson looks on in befuddled wonder. Taken at the ranch near Stonewall, Texas. pic.twitter.com/QvJlaZXSRS
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) January 3, 2021
Sunday, January 03, 2021
"Hindsight is ..." Funnies
How did you toast the New Year?
Mike Peterson at the Daily Cartoonist has updated this list of cartoons, cartoonists and their Patreon and other support pages. You don’t have to support them all, of course, but if you enjoy my weekly aggregation, please choose your favorite artists and back them up!
Saturday, January 02, 2021
A week-ending, year-beginning Lone Star Round-up *updated with Ted Cruz's latest folly
A tide-us-over in order for the regular Monday Wrangle to keep from going long.
Opening with the predictable bad-behaving leaders of our Great State: Greg Abbott, with the assist from Ken Paxton, has decided he's just going to take over running the city of Austin from its duly-elected mayor and city council.
Austin-area residents will be allowed to dine-in at restaurants this weekend, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.https://t.co/z0D8s1bepl
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) January 2, 2021
"Local declarations cannot order needless shutdowns in conflict with the governor’s order, and these orders demonstrated blatant contempt for the citizens and businesses of our great state,” Texas AG Paxton says. #TexasCOVID #txlege #ATX #Austin #COVID19 https://t.co/9fseLibaLP
— John Gravois (@Grav1) January 2, 2021
They had lost in court before appealing to the SCOTX, but that didn't stop them from telling everyone in Travis County to just ignore that.
NEW: Despite a judge’s ruling to the contrary, Texas @GovAbbott and AG @KenPaxtonTX encourage restaurants to defy local order to close dine-in services between 10:30pm and 6am over the next few days. pic.twitter.com/9MeLD7lLgJ
— Matt Largey (@mattlargey) January 1, 2021
Texas @GovAbbott suing to let bars stay open for indoor events on New Years Eve while the state has a botched vaccine rollout - and is running low on ICU beds - is peak Gov. COVID.
— Ed Espinoza (@EdEspinoza) January 1, 2021
"Botched vaccine rollout", you say? Tell me no.
THE COVID VACCINE ROLLOUT in TEXAS has been marred by poor messaging from state officials, technical errors, logistical delays and supply shortages—@GovAbbott, what have you, @SenTedCruz and @JohnCornyn done with the VACCINES?👇https://t.co/tAuLz5EltA via @TexasTribune
— AMHotFlash (@AMHotFlash) January 1, 2021
In a private conversation with county judges, a top Texas health official said "government has reached the limits of what it regulates and controls.” DSHS Commissioner Hellerstedt said the fight against covid is now about persuasion: "Politics is not a four-letter word." #TxLege https://t.co/RaxrzxtlpX
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) December 31, 2020
The epitome of "markets work; governments don't", I suppose. With all of these VIPs calling for grocer HEB to take over, it's just a matter of time before Ted Cruz or John Cornyn ask Jeff Bezos to assume control of the federal vaccine distribution effort.
While Americans go hungry and grow more desperate for assistance, Cornyn votes 'no' and then posts more pictures of food they cannot afford.
Fresh off of helping to torpedo #StimulusChecks in the Senate, John Cornyn helps himself to a $150 hunk of cow. https://t.co/lYCHoDCze7
— Kurt Hackbarth 🌹 (@KurtHackbarth) December 31, 2020
Meanwhile, Cruz defies Trump and mobilizes the GOP vote in Georgia this morning.
In Georgia, Ted Cruz warns a GOP crowd that the battle for the Senate is “a dogfight” and “the Democrats are turning out their voters.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 2, 2021
“Dead or alive!” yells one attendee.
“Legal or illegal!” shouts another. pic.twitter.com/lNVVEOIC6o
I wonder if he called for donations.
LMAO @TedCruz pocketing money he’s raising for #GArunoffs https://t.co/pmAiZD9HAe #TXLege
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) December 30, 2020
Update:
11 More Republican Senators Say They Will Vote Against Certifying Joe Biden's Electoral College Win https://t.co/SBSW5m0o8h via @clarissajanlim Enjoying your democracy, everyone?
— Bunkunin (@bunkybun) January 2, 2021
And Louie Gohmert took one last shot at trying to keep Trump president by suing Mike Pence (don't ask). He missed. I just don't know how much of this lunacy I will have the patience to report on in 2021. Here's more listicles; some looking forward, some back.
Texas’ Biggest Political Surprises in 2020 https://t.co/O7YLfXzbEu via @ReformAustin
— RA News (@RANewsTX) January 1, 2021
Texas Freedom Network pointed out that there some good things that happened last year.
While this round up of off-the-beaten-path news items won’t undo the shittiness of 2020, we hope these moments will help you enter 2021 with a tiny bit of levity.https://t.co/SJ2C2IMQdG
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) December 29, 2020
Happy New Year!
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) January 1, 2021
Eight inspirational Texans share their honest advice for a strong start to 2021: https://t.co/fBwY8Jr0Rd
And stopping here with these until Monday.
This weekend catch ACL Hall of Fame: The First 6 Years on @PBS. Enjoy select cuts from the first six years of Austin City Limits’ Hall of Fame celebrations. Performers include @WillieNelson, @therealBuddyGuy, @TheBonnieRaitt, @LosLobos, @rosannecash and more. #acltv #aclhof https://t.co/svhihEACvu
— Austin City Limits (@acltv) December 30, 2020
Businesses at Four Corners in Sabine Pass, 1940. Love the signage. Grand Prize Beer was, at one point, the best-selling beer in Texas. It was brewed by Gulf Brewing, which also brewed Southern Select and which was owned by Howard Hughes at one time. pic.twitter.com/OpXMt1oerT
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) December 28, 2020