Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Taco Tuesday Wrangle from Far Left Texas


Tacos at the end.  Updates to yesterday's Beto/redistricting post and a few new developments make for your early-week reading.


Governor Fish Lips used the invisible hand of the free market to kill the Lincoln Project's ad, scheduled to air during Saturday's UT football game.


And there's an election to fill another open seat in the statehouse going on.


Certain to become a 2022 campaign issue, the Haitian immigrant crisis at the Del Rio border crossing has exploded onto the national scene, and in the worst possible way for Joe Biden.


Lots more on this to come, separately.  At the Lege, as the third special session gets going ...


Note the Confederate flag and the "Pray to End Abortion" sign.  Some of these things are not like the other, except in the Q-hive mind.  Regarding new maps:


And the latest on women's reproductive (severely restricted) rights.


And here is some criminal and social justice news.

The Texas Observer, KXAN's investigative unit, KTEP, and the Fort Worth Report are collaborating on an accounting of the Texas Rangers' failings in prosecuting corruption by public officials (perhaps a result of there being too much on their plate).



And Techdirt references D Magazine's story last month about the Dallas PD's accidental deletion of data, which they kept hidden from the DA's office and City Council for months.

Some climate items.


Formosa Plastics, the Taiwan-based chemical giant, will pay nearly $3 million in fines for violating the Clean Air Act at its Matagorda Bay facility.  The Texas Signal reports that Congressional Democrats from the Lone Star State want federal subsidies for Big Oil and Gas to stay in the Build Back Better Act, the $3.5 trillion spending bill.  And they're catching some deserved hell for it.

“Unlike previous administrations, I don’t think the federal government should give handouts to big oil,” (President Joe) Biden said in January. “And I’m going to be going to the Congress asking them to eliminate those subsidies. We’re going to take money and invest it in clean energy jobs in America -- millions of jobs in wind, solar, and carbon capture.”

[...]

But this week the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee released the latest draft of the tax plan to fund the major spending bill that shows the subsidies for oil & gas companies largely intact.

The move comes after industry lobbying as well as a letter written by seven House Democrats from Texas in support of the subsidies [...] Reps. Henry Cuellar (Laredo), Vicente Gonzalez (McAllen), Lizzie Fletcher (Houston), Marc Veasey (Fort Worth), Filemon Vela (Brownsville), and Sylvia Garcia (Houston).


Biden, as close watchers know, is duplicitous about his green energy commitments.  What's refreshing here is that the Signal goes where other Dem blogs *cough*Kuff*cough* don't (i.e. criticizing Democrats for being hypocrites and sell-outs).  Our Revolution Texas piled on hard.

They had the gall to suggest that not subsidizing obscenely profitable oil and gas corporations with public money constitutes “punitive practices” which would somehow “impede the transition to a low carbon future.” This abused protest by these pro-oil politicians and clearly shows they’re shilling for Big Oil.
And last: as promised at the top ... your lunch and/or dinner suggestion.

Monday, September 20, 2021

The Beto/redistricting Wrangle

Tex Donks are orgasmic, but the scoop from Axios has them jumping the gun.

According to David Wysong, O’Rourke’s former House chief of staff, no decision has been made yet. “He has been making and receiving calls with people from all over the state,” Wysong said.

“We hope that he’s going to run,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, the state chair of the Democratic Party. “We think he’ll be our strongest candidate. We think he can beat Abbott because he’s vulnerable.”

Polling reveals that Hinojosa is the blind hog who found a truffle.


Also the Texas 2036 poll, showing widespread dissatisfaction with the state's direction.


"Inching closer".  Calves are already cramping across the Lone Star State.  I saw nothing referenced anywhere about Beto's previous condition that voting rights legislation pass the Congress before he jumps in.  And speaking of snark, I saw a lot more than I expected.


This tweet, and the subsequent argument about whether he took O&G money or didn't, illustrates the leftist/liberal divide better than any.


The good news is that this will at least quiet the talk of Joe Straus coming out of retirement.


Redistricting is a bigger topic; the first maps for Senate Districts dropped over the weekend, and Fort Worth's purple SD-10 (held by Beverly Powell) is a goner.  Republicans Donna Campbell (SD-25) and Dawn Buckingham (SD-24) would have to square off, which must be why Buckingham is running for Land Commissioner and not re-election.  Expect more and worse from Joan Huffman's committee.


Katya Ehresman shows us how to get involved in the redistricting fight.


I have a few more posts regarding the abortion law.


Read here at KXAN if the WaPo's paywall is a problem for you.


Obviously not the accomplishment he thinks it is.


Last:


Julie Cloud and David Currie at the San Antonio Report underscore that.  I'm not in the habit of posting rebuttals that make sense from Pastor Jeffress; it's been a strange week just passed.  After all, last Monday we were bracing for a hurricane.  Have you forgotten?


Two more environmental things.


The Texas Living Waters Project sees the American Rescue Plan Act as a historic opportunity to invest in our water infrastructure.

And some criminal and social justice posts.


This CBS Sunday Morning piece ...


... and Koppel's discussion with some of the tourists ...


... is the perfect lead-in to Jen Rice's thread about the eviction crisis.


A long read and worth every minute of your time.

Here's some more items to close today.


The Great God Pan Is Dead is looking forward to fall art season.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

The Calm After (Nicholas) and Before (87-3) the Storm Wrangle From Far Left Texas


Past storms first.


“10-20 inches of rainfall came offshore”.  “A track even 40 or 50 miles inland would have set up those heaviest rains directly across the Houston metro area”.  *shudder*

An Ike Dike isn't going to stop the wind, which causes the power outages.  Louisiana is still suffering from those two weeks after Ida.

Imagine it’s 90 degrees outside, your wall-to-wall carpet is fully soaked in flood water and it’s starting to mold. Your power is out so you have no air conditioning, not even a fan, and your phone has been dead for days. Everything in your fridge is rotten, but the grocery store doesn’t have power so they’re cash only, but you don’t have any cash. You don’t have a car, so your options are to keep your family inside the house, breathing in spores, or stay outside in flooded streets and unlivable heat.

This is the basic state of existence for millions of people in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf Coast. Sadly, the misery and desperation was not contained. 1,300 miles away, 44 people died from the very same storm as it pummeled New York and New Jersey.

Of the 14 deaths attributable to Ida, nine are estimated to have been caused by electricity outage-related heat exhaustion.  Yeah, we got lucky here in Texas, if you want to call it that.


Though this report seems hyperbolic after reading Centerpoint Energy's account on power restoration from last night.


We can all remember things being worse.


We'd just rather not relive them for a barely-Cat 1 storm.

Let me catch up on the latest regarding the court battles getting under way on the womens' rights law and the voting rights law.


Democrats are encouraged by the most recent development in Washington; the Freedom to Vote Act revises the For The People Act just enough to get President Manchin on board.


And that's my segue to the redistricting battle gearing up for the start of next week's special session of the Texas Lege.


This piece from Slate provides a good summary of the strategy of the TXGOP regarding voting rights, womens' rights, and redistricting.


Here's a bit of the latest in election news.


Until the Donks get a gubernatorial candidate that suits the establishment, this is the most important race on the ballot.  And with the latest entry in the GOP primary, the Repubes are publicly acknowledging it; getting rid of Ken Paxton themselves makes all of the reasons for replacing him go away for the Blues.  And they have the usual headwinds, plus a few new ones.  For one example:


Dems still see hopeful signs that they can turn back the red tide.


A local update: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has had a bumpy ride of late.  She was forced to cave on that contract to Felicity Pereyra, the Democratic consultant I used to know well who almost hit the big time before the commissioners made a stink about it.  The Chron's op-ed board piled on.  (Another story I don't recall reading on Off the Kuff.  Maybe I just missed it.)  Now this.


Hidalgo has a Green challenger named Joe McElligott, who's run for various offices a few times before.  Flies mostly under the radar.


I don't really want to register a protest vote against Hidalgo next year, but I'm still bothered by her -- and her team's -- ignoring my repeated questions about the county's new voting machines back in March.  So I'd like to see more and better out of both Hidalgo and McElligott before choosing between them.  Moving on to criminal and social justice headlines ...


They were met by armed counter-protesters, a new wrinkle of the state's relaxed gun laws.


It seems like good news that Miami has sniffed out Art Acevedo early.


And to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, LareDOS reports that Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) has a full offering of engaging lectures, presentations, and activities.
The month-long celebration will launch with a traditional El Grito, Thursday, Sept. 16, from 7-9 p.m. in the Student Center Green at an event organized by the student organization Campus Activities Board.