Saturday, April 16, 2022
Easter Egg Wrangle
Click the tweet for the full view.
She is Risen! #HappyEaster (from your atheist friend) https://t.co/kdezdiGhYn
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) April 15, 2022
Greg "Abbott is The Crisis" decided -- in what he believes was a demonstration of his foreign policy skilz -- to resolve himself after the week of domestic terrorism he inflicted on the nation's economy. Let's survey the damage.
"This is not a localized issue. It's going to hit you in St. Louis or up in Seattle.
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) April 16, 2022
"It's a bad time to be adding this to consumers' pockets to pay out." https://t.co/qWLOwZv3G3 #TXLege #AbbottIsTheCrisis #ASStax
Savage.
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) April 15, 2022
The American Trucking Association left ZERO doubt about how they feel about Gov. Greg Abbott's "wholly flawed" border-clogging inspection "scheme."
In one page statement they called it flawed, senseless and misguided. pic.twitter.com/cUBDBf3Fns
'It's a train wreck' | Houston's largest produce company @BrothersProduce warns of higher prices due to Abbott's border inspections, @KHOUmelissa reports
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) April 14, 2022
https://t.co/umLWfKQQFO pic.twitter.com/PgwA4FJDyP
Abbott's Debacle
— RA News (@RANewsTX) April 14, 2022
By @Nick_Anderson_ for @RANewsTX #txlege #txgov #GregAbbott #BorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/6DuM1EQGwe
No shortage of disaster-related adjectives. There remains, astonishingly, some question as to whether Governor Helen Wheels will pay a political price.
Why don't Texas business leaders support Democrats?
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) April 15, 2022
Why don't Texas Democrats show up to talk to Texas business leaders? Ever?
It's a two way street and @GregAbbott_TX has created opportunities#txlege
After everything that's happened this year (the erosion of women's rights, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, children's reading rights, etc. ad nauseum) that Texas businesses large and small have voiced both loud and mumbled objection to, on which side of the fence will Lone Star corporate leaders and their PACs be dumping fertilizer? We all know that ATT hasn't changed their plans.
Sidebar: after I kicked Kuffner in the shins for lazy-ass blogging, he came back with a respectable post. Although "I'm at a loss here" and "I don't know what else to say" is more of his -- and Texas' and all Democrats' -- by-now-predictable weakness in confronting fascism, "it's a start" (another of his go-to tropes).
I'm not through with ASStax Abbott yet.
Desantis can now thank Abbott! 10 of the migrants bussed to DC by Abbott are from Venezuela. They said they knew they were being used as a political prop but said they didn’t care because they are on their way to Miami, and it will be easier to get there from DC than the border. pic.twitter.com/IcrZHfapEr
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) April 13, 2022
.@GovAbbott is the hardest working political hoo-ah in the nation #TXLege #TX2022 #TXGov #AbbottFailedTexasAgain #ASStax https://t.co/vGnT7LMd0t
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) April 14, 2022
Okay, that's enough for today. It's a holiday weekend, after all. Let's turn to some other dumbasses in the news.
Rep. Chip Roy text right after the 2020 election: “We need ammo. We need fraud examples.”
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) April 15, 2022
Roy text two months later: “The President should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be."https://t.co/OB6nWfnomL
The seditionist calls are coming from inside the House (and Senate). And apparently the Democrats on the January 6th committee are just too scared to do anything about it.
A high-speed train between Houston and Dallas would allow travelers to avoid costly and time-consuming freeway traffic. But before it can deliver that relief, the company behind the project will have to stop avoiding its own costly property tax bills. https://t.co/SMfnTUdRx8
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) April 13, 2022
Not a good look for the Texas Central folks when the project still has public disapproval in the Republican hinterlands to overcome. Maybe they can join the chorus of whining on the Right about onerous property tax burdens and garner some sympathy.
Elon Musk has said he might launch rockets from Florida if the FAA does not approve expansion of aerospace operations in Brownsville. https://t.co/CDYx0nKEX7 via @RioGGuardian
— Rio Grande Guardian (@RioGGuardian) April 13, 2022
A commercial threat by Mr. Tesla that slipped under the radar this week, what with all of his -- and everybody else's -- histrionics.
Twenty-two years ago, America asked itself, in the undying words of George W. Bush: “Is our children learning?” Now we ask ourselves: Is our children learning . . . too much?
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) April 15, 2022
On the moral panic over sex and race education in schools: https://t.co/dB2lv0ZMLs
Fucking W Bush.
Off-duty Pasadena police officer crashes into Houston cop investigating passed-out driver https://t.co/FuKgHVMNLn
— Laredo Morning Times (@lmtnews) April 14, 2022
Tempted to go with a Kuffner quote, but I'll pass.
The Patriots for America answered Kinney County's call for help cracking down on immigration. Now, some officials have grown weary of their methods, which include highly visible armed daytime reconnaissance and stealthy nighttime tracking.https://t.co/KyP7F4EpMG
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) April 9, 2022
The southern border, as we should all know by now, is not being invaded. The people who are seeking asylum there are fleeing for their lives.
Here are your organizing/action items.
#RiseUp4AbortionRights
— Refuse Fascism (@RefuseFascism) April 15, 2022
National Organizing Zoom Summit
Saturday, April 16 3PM ET
Register now & invite your friends: https://t.co/6wQP10s37T https://t.co/zkRPqiFy30
Good news: Texas can eliminate carbon pollution in less than 30 years. Better news: we’d likely be better off economically. #txlege #txenergy #EVs https://t.co/NwzgSUHO9N
— Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance (@TxETRA_TX) April 14, 2022
One calm-me-down.
🙌🙌🙌 Juneteenth icon and Fort Worth resident Opal Lee threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Friday night's Texas Rangers game to celebrate #JackieRobinsonDay!
— WFAA (@wfaa) April 16, 2022
More: https://t.co/B9Pn70MmWI pic.twitter.com/Ps6lizZXQO
Thursday, April 14, 2022
The Political Stunt Express Wrangle from Far Left Texas
All Aboard Greg Abbott's *Political Stunt Express* ! pic.twitter.com/XYeqAbMVrz
— Truth by Texas (@TruthxTexas) April 8, 2022
Let's do a duopoly politics update. We have to start with Governor Border Crisis, because he's all the rage this week.
A gimmick. Stuck on stupid. A clog in the drain.
— Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (@SergioMarBel) April 13, 2022
Those are some of the phrases Republicans are using to describe Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest border security initiatives. Here’s my story on the backlash Abbott has received: https://t.co/xIUJuMH7K7 #txlege #Title42
Based on everything I'm hearing, the degree to which Texas business interests are angry with Gov @GregAbbott_TX cannot be overstated. @DanPatrick messed with Disney, but that doesn't matter here. Abbott's border antics are messing with Toyota, HEB, GM, etc #TxLege
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) April 13, 2022
Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller calls on Abbott to end ‘catastrophic’ border inspections. The ‘misguided’ safety checks of commercial vehicles could ‘quickly lead to $2 lemons and $5 avocados, Miller warns. Via @MorrisReports & @ajcorchado #txlege #TxGov https://t.co/dmFjtTwsKE
— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) April 12, 2022
Face saving "compromise" in the face of near open rebellion in the national business community. As one reporter asked, "did this blow up in your face" Tries to shift focus to Biden but damage done https://t.co/2Fpsj06dII
— harvey kronberg (@HKronberg) April 13, 2022
As has been the case for the past 25 years, the Republican goober's Democratic opponent is failing to capitalize on the mistakes and meanness of the incumbent.
This is a good point: The cartoonish agriculture commissioner, fondly nicknamed “Yosemite Sid” @MillerForTexas, got more attention for his comments than Democratic gubernatorial challenger @BetoORourke. #txgov #tx2022 https://t.co/kj9biJiI7W
— Bud Kennedy / #ReadLocal (@BudKennedy) April 13, 2022
Beto and his people are useless. "Touring an empty warehouse" -- that'll really draw the cameras -- while Abbott bused asylum-seekers halfway across the country for a publicity ruse after creating miles-long truck traffic jams at border entries, aggravating the nation's inflation crisis. The man in the wheelchair has yuge Trump energy. (Clue: This is how you do it. I predict a staff shakeup soon.)
Here's a polling round-up. I see that Chuckles hasn't gotten to them yet, probably because he's busy with those community college candidate interviews and bicycle trail updates and scolding the media for noting Ted Cruz's latest culture skirmish.
More statewide runoff polling from @TexHPF (likely voters):
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) April 13, 2022
Buckingham 29
Westley 18
Undecided 53
Christian 44
Stogner 18
Undecided 38
Martinez 41
Kleberg 25
Undecided 34
Dudding 32
Vega 29
Undecided 39https://t.co/ps1M7Ddbtc
In #SouthTX & #SATX @AOC is viewed Favorably by 78% of the most likely Democratic Primary Runoff Voters & Unfavorably by only 12% (18% DK). Very good news for @JCisnerosTX in the #TX28 (running from Laredo to SA) #TX2022 Democratic primary runoff #txlegehttps://t.co/M78zmERKAJ
— Mark P. Jones (@MarkPJonesTX) April 13, 2022
BTW, regarding Cuellar...
Lawyer: US Rep. Cuellar not the target of FBI investigation (from @AP) with @JZBleiberg https://t.co/S6Ym9bvgLA
— Eric Tucker (@etuckerAP) April 13, 2022
A new @TexHPF poll out tomorrow shows Lina Hidalgo's net favorability among Harris County voters has dropped 15% since October, before the DA's investigation became public. https://t.co/kvS2BB84N4 pic.twitter.com/CW9zjdM3ml
— Zach Despart (@zachdespart) April 12, 2022
Hidalgo is pushing back defiantly against the charges leveled against her staff. (One more example for O'Rourke in how to fight back.)
“Hidalgo is taking an unequivocal stance in defense of the current and former aides in the midst of a tough re-election campaign. No bets are hedged, no equivocation is offered. That sure is striking.” https://t.co/aNkvpTu8iq
— glennwsmith (@glennwsmith) April 13, 2022
But she and all the rest of Team Blue have enormous headwinds.
Via @andrewczhang @TexasTribAbby:
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) April 14, 2022
Democrats are confronting a mind-numbing set of complications in their fight to hold on to three seats in South Texas. “For Democrats, there may simply be too many fires to put out at once" — @Redistrict https://t.co/DfkLApDzML #TXLege #TX2022
Not the least of which is Joe Biden's albatross around their necks.
One more thing before moving on: the story of Pee Bush's -- and by extension his family's -- pending political demise is officially overtold. These fetishes by the state's media are reminiscent of the way they fawned over Matthew McConaughey last year, and before him the Castro brothers for numerous cycles. Get over yourselves, starfuckers. Even Texas Republicans don't care about the Bushes any more. Once he's defeated, we'd all like to see you write about the people who are running for office who aren't corrupt, or pandering, or demonstrably ignorant and stupid.
.@DelilahforTexas (🌻G) is running for Governor of #Texas ‘22 against @GovAbbott! She supports #MedicareForAll #GreenNewDeal #UBI etc! #NotMeUs #GreenTwitter
— Marisa #NoWarWithRussia🏴☠️✨ (@OzbatRisa) April 5, 2022
📌Donate: https://t.co/vvVrw1p7My
📌Volunteer: https://t.co/9utrmt5MH8
📌Website: https://t.co/qZQa7wmXYg pic.twitter.com/Od8yoY9UjP
Hunter Crow for Texas Railroad Commissioner https://t.co/mvIPQOrZNF via @GreenPartyUS
— Hunter wayne crow (@timelordcrow) April 7, 2022
Here's the environmental news.
Houston and Dallas may soon be named "severe" violators of federal smog rules — a designation that would likely impose increased pollution controls. https://t.co/AW0asl8TxK
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) April 13, 2022
The US will start selling corn-based fuel usually banned by the EPA for how pollutant it is.
— peter (@96fps) April 12, 2022
Keep in mind: the US does not face a fuel shortage. Oil price is largely unchanged, the gas prices are caused by speculators in the under-regulated fuel markets.https://t.co/P3fL2meXbF https://t.co/hdnYsaSu5n
NEW REPORT 📚📚 @Earthworks “Tricks of the Trade” report reveals how #oilandgas companies like @shell @bp_plc @equinor @chevron @exxonmobil @TotalEnergies @WeAreOxy & @conocophillips are overstating GHG reductions. Don’t be fooled, read the report https://t.co/Tr9nvfOJyR pic.twitter.com/Rd8RI2XeYU
— Earthworks (@Earthworks) April 12, 2022
Update on The Dead Sea of Texas Getting Deadlier...
— Russell Gold (@russellgold) April 12, 2022
I got the hydro report. Not only is it leaking 14,428 ppm hydrogen sulfide (!!), there is arsenic, radium (10x drinking water standard) and trace amounts of hydrocarbons. https://t.co/auhELVE81l
🧵 I want to tell you about concrete and how making it can be harmful to people nearby.
— Emily Foxhall (@emfoxhall) April 11, 2022
If you live in Houston, you know there's concrete all around. Depending on what neighborhood you live in, you might know there's facilities that make concrete all around too. pic.twitter.com/JGoEb00ile
And as typical, a lot of social injustice developments. Guns up first.
Angry Drivers, Lots of Guns: An Explosion in Road Rage Shootings via @jdavidgoodman https://t.co/7D6G5AKZl9
— Jim Henson (@jamesrhenson) April 12, 2022
Public opinion context from Texas: Responses to "Would the US. be safer or less safe with more guns?" (April 2021) https://t.co/afbNpA0Br1 via @TxPolProject #txlege pic.twitter.com/J6u9d847nK
In a matter of five days, La Marque and Texas City have seen five different incidents involving gunfire that have left six people either injured or dead. https://t.co/sbob7CXVZ2
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) April 13, 2022
The homicide detective whose use of deception and hypnosis I wrote about earlier this year is now a CBS News consultant: https://t.co/GnsmFwBURB
— Maurice Chammah (@MauriceChammah) April 11, 2022
My @MarshallProj story: https://t.co/M2K0ZnXOZy
A Mexican truck driver spent nearly six weeks in a Texas jail because faulty drug field tests used by Pharr police and the DEA indicated he was carrying 700 gallons of meth. It was diesel.https://t.co/XEjswr1pUF
— Jolie McCullough (@jsmccullou) April 12, 2022
Yes, 26 states will ban abortion almost immediately after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade this summer.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 13, 2022
But it is a naive fantasy to assume they'll stop there.https://t.co/JbVQVte8M9 @Slate
From the "frivolous lawsuit" crowd. "Yes, dear Texans, the courthouse doors are wide open to you when it is time to fight the culture wars. In fact, our state leaders are counting on your litigious spirit!" https://t.co/4xMF3Oxp4h @bgrumet @statesman #txlege
— Donna Howard (@DonnaHowardTX) April 13, 2022
“There’s a great risk in a case like this where a court seems to be saying there appears to be maybe an innocent person about to be executed, and we can’t do anything about it.”
— Jolie McCullough (@jsmccullou) April 13, 2022
— Rob Owen, a #deathpenalty law expert, on Melissa Lucio's failed appeals.https://t.co/s8bs33mFYC
Rising food insecurity, rising food prices and the trucker protest on the US-Mexican border are putting pressure on Texas food banks. @TimiaCobb: https://t.co/I7igzwnpwT
— Sewell Chan (@sewellchan) April 13, 2022
I am in dire need of some pleasantry.
Buzz off, 🦟! Anderson HS student Aseel Rawashdeh discovered a cheap way to kill mosquito larvae & won Best of Texas in Physical Sciences, the top award at the Texas Science & Engineering Fair. Her research netted Aseel an $80,000 prize, which she'll use for college. WTG, Aseel! pic.twitter.com/xSQn8sB8uw
— Austin Energy (@austinenergy) April 13, 2022
'From the Alamo to the capitol' | New project will connect San Antonio and Austin with 100+ miles of trail https://t.co/V9kwHUVi0k
— KVUE News (@KVUE) April 13, 2022
Nolan Ryan documentary, ‘Facing Nolan,’ headed to theaters nationwide in limited one-day screenings https://t.co/NZ5xlTZXtm
— SportsDay Rangers (@dmn_rangers) April 13, 2022
4/12/65 The first Opening Day as the Houston Astros. pic.twitter.com/4cUPHJKxBU
— Mike Acosta (@AstrosTalk) April 13, 2022