Turn for Home Wrangle from Far Left Texas

Employing a horse racing analogy in the headline because, ya know, t'is the season.  And as a reminder to beleaguered Donkeys ... long-shot upsets are possible.

So close... #txlege
(Artwork by @Posey_ATX) pic.twitter.com/oRqbNuyEk9

— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) May 14, 2021

“Long in tooth and soul. Longing for another win. Lurch into the fray. Weapon out and belly in.” - @Tool #txlege

— Joe Moody (@moodyforelpaso) May 14, 2021

I can't help but love a Speaker pro tem that quotes Tool.  For those of you who need a refresher on last week, here's Bob Garrett at the DMN.

What has the Texas Legislature checked off its list of conservative priority bills? W/just over 2 wks left, I catch you up on GOP bills targeting:

Elections
Guns
Abortion
Transgender children
Taxpayer-paid lobbying

That, abbreviated, is EGATT!#txlege https://t.co/Xbhg93iTi5

— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) May 14, 2021

There's also an eventful and ominous week ahead.

📣📣Y'all- keep an eye on these bills.📣📣

Aimed at stifling the voices of educators in teaching their content, students when expressing their gender identity, and silencing districts when at odds with TEA, HB3979, SB29, and SB1365, respectively, need to be SHUT DOWN. pic.twitter.com/FXgWJZAy7p

— Chingona Power (she/her) (@DmShredder) May 16, 2021

Update: @DanPatrick just sent two of these House bills to the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.

HB 829 (on officer disciplinary schedules) and HB 830 (barring arrests for fine-only traffic offenses).

He also moved some other CJ bills that had been idling. #txlege https://t.co/oDXPCxZIGB

— Jolie McCullough (@jsmccullou) May 14, 2021

Rick Casey at the San Antonio Report calls the anti-trans bills in the Lege the real child abuse.  And Houstonia Magazine clarifies what the new booze-to-go law will mean.

Come to Texas, our rehab is now Alcohol to Go... c/o https://t.co/7usmDlsXZ8 and #txlege and where DUI is applauded. So y'all know - it's open carry and open container season all year round. https://t.co/13psZWPRr2 pic.twitter.com/QmagrvtEob

— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) May 13, 2021

In criminal and social justice news, Houston turned out on Saturday afternoon at Discovery Green to stand up for Palestinians in Gaza.

Houston’s #FreePalestine rally pic.twitter.com/RUY34kbkv1

— 🇵🇸 ♥️ ṘḕḊ ṠṏṆjḀ ♥️👽 (@ssotwelltx) May 15, 2021

pic.twitter.com/zKGc4Tjn8z

— 🇵🇸 ♥️ ṘḕḊ ṠṏṆjḀ ♥️👽 (@ssotwelltx) May 16, 2021

By some accounts, the newspaper of record was nowhere in sight.

Everyone who sees this should end their membership to the @HoustonChron until they take Palestinian youth organizers’ press releases seriously. pic.twitter.com/1ccw0kwrHX

— Uyiosa “Unbow Your Head” Elegon (@uyive_) May 17, 2021

Dallas and Austin held marches as well.

#FreePalaestine Protest in Dallas pic.twitter.com/tvmRo9tPtd

— 알리~ 😜 (@AllyElizabeth98) May 15, 2021

March at Texas Capitol raises awareness of Israel-Palestine unrest https://t.co/ANHpXadCv2

— KVUE News (@KVUE) May 16, 2021

Back to the Lege again for more.

Ending 'Qualified Immunity' For Police Was Key To Texas' George Floyd Act. It Went Nowhere In The Legislature #txlege https://t.co/BojDIDtNRD

— Andrew Schneider (@ASchneider_HPM) May 17, 2021

"The law is very deficient and the serial harassers go from place to place and are not stopped:" How a Texas cop with sexual misconduct allegations kept getting hired. @James_Barragan has the story. #txlege #txpolice #police #sexualmisconduct #harassment https://t.co/WLAupqHrY1

— John Gravois (@Grav1) May 14, 2021

Reformers get elected and suddenly the absolute prosecutorial discretion we were told for decades was sacrosanct when it was a one-way upward ratchet comes under fire. Seeing it at the #txlege on #HB1925. https://t.co/dbZgumMyru

— Grits for Breakfast (@Grits4Breakfast) May 14, 2021

Smugglers are exploiting the policy confusion at the border to manipulate vulnerable migrants into making the journey north, adding to the sustained influx at the border: https://t.co/AX1lwH37hN Some needed clarity from the incomparable @lomikriel

— Jeremy Schwartz (@JinATX) May 14, 2021

And some environmental updates (and action items).

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️Texas lawmakers move to raise penalties on owners of Teslas and other electric vehicles | Texas wants to tax EV drivers because they don’t pay taxes on gas. The people who sponsored the Senate Bill have received donations from gas utility companies. https://t.co/cnJS0tQZUQ

— Laffy (@GottaLaff) May 15, 2021

I just joined with @JoltInitiative and @texrising for the #GenteFirstPledge: Texans Over Fossil Fuel Bailouts, because we need investment in the health of our communities, not more bailouts for the fossil fuel industry. Join us: https://t.co/XGq2tcucoF https://t.co/XGq2tcucoF

— Pro Leftist Movement (@ProMovement1) May 16, 2021

Tell @FERC: Protect us from "CP2 LNG" -- a new fracked gas terminal that puts the Gulf Coast at risk. #stopcp2lng https://t.co/PAcCBwCGdg

— XR Houston (@XR_HOUSTON) May 14, 2021

With a sports report ...

WITH 16 SECONDS LEFT SAM HOUSTON TAKES THE LEAD 😱😱😱😱😱

📺 @ABC#FCSChampionship x @BearkatsFB pic.twitter.com/ak3nIwrrCv

— NCAA FCS Football (@NCAA_FCS) May 16, 2021

Tim Duncan thanks Gregg Popovich for the impact he had on his life, on and off the court. #20HoopClass pic.twitter.com/guhsWazCk9

— NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2021

More on COVID, the dropping of masks, some politics news (Matthew McConaghey, George Pee Bush), Republicans behaving badly (the usual suspects: Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, and Dan Crenshaw, back from his eye surgery on the Sunday Talking Heads) and a few other things coming later.  Closing with these.

Sanford Nowlin at the San Antonio Current informs us of a saga involving Cruz, Joe Biden, and Chick-Fil-a dipping sauce.

The Houston Art Car Parade was stationary this year due to lingering cornavirus protocols, but that didn't mean everybody missed out.

The Suffers and Los Skarnales close out the Art Car Experience this weekend. https://t.co/r48uAEmzp1

— Houston Press (@HoustonPress) May 16, 2021

Sunday Explosive Funnies

India the tiger located, turned over to HPD

RIP to Bills Good and Bad Wrangle *updated

That would be "rest in peace" to the good and "rest in pieces" to the bad.

UPDATE: In the final minutes before a midnight deadline, the Texas House erupted into a chaotic, almost party-like atmosphere, as onlookers in the gallery boo’d and cheered and lawmakers struggled to hear each other on the floor.

More: https://t.co/G8C0zMQILH #txlege

— Lauren “Vaxxed to the Max” McGaughy 🌟 (@lmcgaughy) May 14, 2021

A lot of good election bills died at #txlege tonight. May they rest in peace and return in 2023.
A lot of racist, ableist, terrible, evil election bills also died tonight, and pic.twitter.com/9B8ZAmkFuv

— Emily Eby (@emilyebytx) May 14, 2021

Don't forget about HB 2438 and HB 1950, two (more) bills that would punish cities for reducing police budgets. #txlege https://t.co/OyayTnLaQDhttps://t.co/JeHRvON53X https://t.co/mhjFMw29W2

— Cynthia Van Maanen (@cynthiavanm) May 14, 2021

More good, bad, and ugly:

Texas House passes Botham Jean Act, sending the bill focusing on police body cameras to Senate, @alex__briseno reports. #txlege https://t.co/c4W3pImF5I

— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) May 14, 2021

Republicans in the #txlege (except one) are so hostile to expanding Medicaid they wouldn’t even vote on an amendment to *study* how it could impact Texas. This is why our state has the highest rate of uninsured ⬇️ https://t.co/1NQoHByHvz

— Jessica Montoya Coggins (@JessicaMCoggins) May 14, 2021

Today, the #TxLege gave their final approval of the most extreme and cruel abortion ban in the United States. The Forced Pregnancy Act is an extreme attack on our Constitution, on medicine and science, and on the integrity of our judicial system. Here's our statement: pic.twitter.com/aWwL4B4cEX

— Texas Women's Health Caucus (@TXHouseWHC) May 13, 2021

And then there are the zombie bills.

Almost done with this nonsense “Time runs out on Texas House bill banning gender confirmation health care for kids, but another attempt lives on in the Senate” https://t.co/Fka42FTGdc #txlege #sb1311

— Christopher Hamilton (@CHamiltonTHA) May 14, 2021

(I planned on a longer post but Blogger ate this one's updates twice, so this is all until I have some assurance that I won't be rebuilding it a third time.)

New Mexico Republicans are convening in Amarillo this weekend to dodge the Enchanted State's stricter COVID protocols.  And the CDC has beaten Greg Abbott and everybody else to the punch -- I'll call it Kool-Aid -- on ending the mask mandate.

I think this is remarkably foolish.  I'll go on wearing my mask despite having gotten my two Moderna shots, probably for the rest of my life when I'm out in public.  If for no other reason ... because Texas is full of idiots and assholes.

Polling suggests that vaccine-resistant Texans were jumping the gun before masking & social distancing recommendations were lifted yesterday. W/ @JoshuaMBlank via @TexasTribune https://t.co/BX37Eo9B2Z #COVID19 #txlege

— Jim Henson (@jamesrhenson) May 14, 2021

Here's my post on the Texas Green Party's state meeting in June.  And here's the soothers to close.

“We did have an influence, and we did have an effect, and we did do something that had never happened before,” Kathy Valentine said.

The Go-Go's will be inducted into the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. https://t.co/eFQw1x65F7

— Austin 360 (@austin360) May 12, 2021

Texas YouTuber Who Allegedly Trespassed at SpaceX Facility for More Views Is Now a ‘Wanted Fugitive’ https://t.co/JQkGlHpBwE

— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) May 13, 2021

Last chance to see @Werkin_Artist painting live at SAMA this Saturday at 11 a.m.! Visit us, watch Raul in action, ask questions, and get a free art kit to do your own painting. https://t.co/kVF2wlKGqx pic.twitter.com/ByUhfGwQoO

— San Antonio Museum of Art (@SAMAart) May 12, 2021