Thursday, July 01, 2021

"Another Prick at the Wall" Round-Up


Four, actually.


WESLACO, Texas (CN) -- As Texas Governor Greg Abbott floats plans to finish building a border wall, former President Donald Trump visited the Lone Star State on Wednesday to, as he put, “admire the wall and how it works.” But the real show came earlier, at a so-called border security briefing in the South Texas city of Weslaco.

There, at a Texas Department of Public Safety building, the purpose of Trump’s border visit came into focus. State Republican leaders like Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton displayed their pro-Trump bona fides, beaming as Trump noted that he had given Abbott his “highest and best endorsement” and hinted he would be making an endorsement in the 2022 Texas attorney general race “in the very near future.”

Meanwhile, the former president -- who has been banned from virtually every social-media platform as a result of his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol -- got a platform to speak to journalists who have largely ignored him since he left office. Much of what he said had nothing to do with the border at all.

Instead, Trump discussed the years-old investigation into his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, his cognitive abilities and his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen ...

“Everyone said, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’” Trump said at the border security briefing. “Well, that’s been proven false. Not only false, it was them that were associated with Russia. It was them, the Democrats and Hillary [Clinton].”


Snark aside, the "boarder", as so many MAGAts spell it, will be the rally cry for 2022, and I would guess two years after as well.  The governors of Florida and some other Republican states have answered Abbott's call, sending their National Guards to South Texas.  Noteworthy for trying to avoid the "taxpayer dollars' waste" problem is South Dakota's Kristi Noem, who got crony-creative.


And there won't be one single red county judge that gets left out.


All for a stunt.


A stunt, to be clear, that is widely supported by those who vote in the TXGOP primary (who are the only people who matter in this state).


It takes a special kind of stupid to keep falling -- and paying -- for this shit.  Then again, these are the folks who mustered forces to keep Ted Cruz in the Senate.


They're also the people, by and large, being arrested for insurrection in D.C. on January 6th.


And, paraphrasing Jon Lovett as Michael Dukakis, Texas Democrats are still losing to these guys.

More on COVID, social justice, and that long-delayed enviro-post coming.  Here's my soothers.


Correction: White women.
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Monday, June 28, 2021

The Tardy, Brief, Ketchup Wrangle from Far Left Texas

Not as long as you or I feared.  First, let's load the chuck wagons and pluck the cockleburrs out of our saddle blankets and rest up this long weekend ahead before the Legislature's new/old business comes due.


Some lawmakers -- particularly Democrats -- seem less than thrilled about it.


Governor Fish Lips (what? you hadn't noticed?) thinks he's being tricky.


Texas Dems have asked the SCOTX to decide whether his veto of Article X -- which funds the Lege's staff -- is constitutional.


In other dictatorial developments:


Wrong disaster.


The worm may have finally turned against Abbott and Ken Paxton last week; some things that happened were suggestive.


Indiana won their lawsuit just last week.  Kuff also weighed in on a couple of polls that show no great love for what the Repubs have been doing lately, and Grits for Breakfast called Abbott's vetoes "a final punch in the nose for the bipartisan criminal justice reform movement".

Honestly though, in a state unplagued with Trump Syndrome, a Democratic Party with some cojones and a plan might stand a chance of flipping something in 2022.


The vice president didn't help the cause in her visit last week.


When all else fails, send in the doctor.


The local Donks have a new chair.  According to former precinct chair J.R. Behrman, he's Nigerian.  They also censured a state representative for his conduct.


I'll wrap this Wrangle with a few things worth celebrating.


And also, as mentioned, my mother Jean, marking her 95th year (and amazing us all)!
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