Thursday, March 10, 2022

The Legal and Social Justice Wrangle from Far Left Texas


Opening today with the growing crusade by Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton to prosecute Texans for raising their children in a manner of their own choosing.  Those efforts have been blocked for now.


Concern for the burden of Texas teachers has also surged.


Brittney Griner becomes a secondary casualty -- or perhaps a prisoner -- of the Russian war on Ukraine.  She may eventually be a bargaining chip.


I may have more about this defamation lawsuit in a subsequent politics Wrangle, or I may just Tweet a few items.  This is the sort of red-blue bantering that simply does not interest me all that much any more, TBH.  I will echo Shells Seas and say that when we start barbecueing the 1%, I'm lining up for a fatty piece of Kelcy Warren's rump.

Let's see what the bad-behaving cops have been up to lately.


(You miss the Jeff Younger talk?  He didn't get to say much actually.)


Both the ACLU of Texas and anti-gun death activist Shannon Watts noticed the Border Patrol's fascist actions at Brownsville's Charro Days weekend-before-last.


Last: H-Town mayor Sly Turner still loves him some po-po.


One conservative who behaved badly got his comeuppance this week.


But the fascists aren't letting up.


A few labor pieces:


Wrapping up this very long Wrangle with some social justice and injustice items.  A couple of people picked up on the irony of renaming SH288 the Barbara Jordan Memorial Parkway.

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Tuesday, March 08, 2022

The Environmental Wrangle from Far Left Texas

Beginning an overdue update on climate developments with last week's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from the UN, which rings the alarms again that there is no time left to waste to cure what ails our planet.


This won't be a long Wrangle but it does have some Tweets that go back to mid-February, and need some categorization.  So this segment concerns water.  First: the Texas Living Waters Project warns that the Hill Country faces numerous threats to its long-term viability, and the window for addressing those threats is closing.  (Keep reading, below, for better news on this topic.)


I'll take that to segue to a few more pollution posts.


Here's a pair of items on wildfires.


The Texas Standard reports that an independent panel comprised of experts from other states investigated the cause of the Texas Parks and Wildlife's prescribed-burn-turned-wildfire that occurred near Bastrop in January, and offered suggestions to prevent it from happening again.

Here's a few more noteworthy developments.


And closing with some more upbeat news.


The San Antonio Report has a link to first-of-its-kind research on the growth and environmental health of the Texas Hill Country.  It calls the San Antonio Edwards Aquifer Protection Program a shining example of conservation efforts in the state, and urges other Texas cities to follow its lead.

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Monday, March 07, 2022

'Help Wanted with Harris County elections' Wrangle


Top position soon available.  Inquiries to County Judge Lina Hidalgo.


In the Democratic race for the seat to represent parts of downtown and northeast Houston in the statehouse, incumbent state Rep. Harold V. Dutton Jr. leads challenger Candis Houston by 136 votes, 50.8% to 49.2%.

And the race to determine the Democratic candidate for attorney general of Texas could also be impacted. Rochelle Garza, a former American Civil Liberties Union lawyer from Brownsville, led a crowded primary field and is already locked into the runoff election, but her Democratic opponent could hinge on the Harris County tally.

Former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski leads civil rights attorney Lee Merritt by 1,418 votes overall.

Isabel Longoria's fate is sealed, but the forensic autopsy of all of the Election Night snafus could reveal that the county's $54 million investment in new black box vote machines from Hart InterCivic has been an unforced error.  And though commissioners court approved the purchase, it will be Hidalgo that faces the music in November.

There's mistakes, there's incompetence, and then there's fraud, and when it comes to Ken Paxton, that means it's just another Monday.


The only thing I could possibly say to the evangelical Christians who keep voting for him is that even their God's patience has limits.  How many times would you expect Paxton to be forgiven for his sins?  Every time?

Wise up, conservatives.  You're not owning anybody but yourselves with this charlatan.

Michelle Davis has a comprehensive listing of every Democrat and Republican in a statewide or statehouse runoff.  Gus Bova at the Texas Observer writes about the shifting political sands in the RGV, where Latinas both blue and red aim to replace the old guard of conservative Latinos (generally Democrats).  And KXAN summarizes the attorney general's races and previews the runoffs.



Still to come: environmental news, cops behaving badly, criminal and social justice updates, and a heaping helping of calm-me-downs.
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