This past weekend was rather expensive for your old comrade dbc. Among other splurging, I purchased three tickets for Small Ball, the Catastrophic Theatre's latest original production. Before the show, I also treated Kayleen and my son Paxton to lunch at the new revolving sushi joint across from the Midtown Arts & Theatre Center, Houston.
Both lunch and the play were Worth. Every. Penny. Especially the play, which has an official ticket price of Pay What You Can. Get thee to this show. It's a sentimental celebration of basketball, set on the island of Lilliput, assembled by some big fans of the game—but it's so much more than that. Rest assured that you don't have to like basketball, or even know much about it, to appreciate it. The Texas Progressive Alliance will pay for Ted Cruz's DNA test...that is, if he is willing to undergo one. His response to the Austin woman who inquired if he would appears to be "no comment." Eric Bradner at CNN's recent account of the Texas Seventh Congressional runoff leads with the observation that Democrats across the country are paying close attention. Brains and Eggs posted the latest on CD-7 (anecdotally; with a wish that he might be mistaken) and the special election for the vacancy on Houston City Council, District K (and a caution for the next representative). Disgraced Congressman Blake Farenthold abruptly resigned late last Friday afternoon, but still has not refunded taxpayers the $84,000 he used to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit from his former communications director. Patrick Svitek at the TexTrib notes that scheduling a special election to replace him has a few considerations for Greg Abbott. On one hand, a pre-Nov. 6 special could turn #TX27 into something of a national spectacle with Dems energized. On the other hand, a bit hard to argue Coastal Bend doesn't need representation ASAP, post-#Harvey. Meanwhile, Svitek took note of Speaker Paul Ryan dragging his purse through Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi, collecting four million bucks for Team Ryan's PAC, and the Trib's Abby Livingston saw the GOP runoff for Farenthold's seat tightening. (The Democrats in CD-27's May 22 runoff are Eric Holguin and Raul 'Roy' Barrera.) Off the Kuff noted that Texas lost another federal lawsuit about voting rights. Socratic Gadfly, seeing the latest anti-Palestinian violence by Israelis, looks at myth vs. reality in a major piece of Jewish history. Jef Rouner writes in the Houston Press about the urgent need white men have for gun control. The Population Research Bureau found that white men over the age of 65 are almost three times more likely to die by their own hands as the general population. Middle aged white people, both men and women, are seeing increased mortality rates even as other groups are seeing down turns. Suicides are becoming more common, especially in men in this group, as are substance abuse problems, which a lecturer joked to me recently was “suicide on the installment plan.” The Lewisville Texan Journal covered the announcement that the city, together with Farmer's Branch, Carrollton, and the waste disposal company Republic Services, have agreed to combine two landfills into one giant 832-acre garbage dump spanning the Elm Fork of the Trinity River.
The Texas Standard talks to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who doesn't think Trump's tariffs are a big deal for Texas farmers, but does think that restricting H-2A and H-2B visas (for foreign workers, ag and non-ag) are. Cheerleader Alert: After more than a generation of one-party dominance, it’s tough for any Texas Democrat to predict what a winning statewide campaign would actually look like. But if Texas Leftist had to take guess, it would come pretty close to the Beto O’Rourke campaign thus far. After a massive fundraising haul, Beto is showing that he means business in this race. And speaking of winning, more great news for Texas’ classical music community as the Houston Chamber Choir receives a very prestigious national honor. /pom poms Stace at Dos Centavos writes about Tex-Mex Grammy winners Los Texmaniacs' new album, Cruzando Borders, which will touch on border and Mexican American themes. It's quite timely during this era of Trumpismo. Stan Spinner, Lindy McGee, and Julie Boom in the Texas Tribune's TribTalk urge Texans to not politicize vaccinations, Better Texas Blog explains why a property-tax-for-sales-tax swap is a bad idea, and Deborah Beck at the Rivard Report urges elected leaders to have in-person meetings with their constituents. Elise Hu remembers her first mentor and his warning about Sinclair Broadcasting, and Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher grapples with the politics of Roseanne. Neil at All People Have Value attended, as he does each week, the John Cornyn Houston office protest. In other Captain Obvious blog posts, Ted at jobsanger has some mono-chromatic polling bars that reveal (!) that blacks and whites differ sharply on issues of race. And Harry Hamid, a blind priest, and a first-year medical student have a free-wheeling discussion/argument out in the front yard.
The Texas Progressive Alliance is packing some extra antihistamines in addition to bringing you the best of the left of Texas from last week. Scroll to the end to see more about the Battle of the Beans.
US Senate candidates Beto O'Rourke and Sema Hernandez met for the first time in the wake of the Democratic primary almost a month ago, and Geoff Campbell interviewed Hernandez afterwards for Progressive Army. The face-to-face seemed more than a little stand-offish, but O'Rourke appears to have won Hernandez's vote—if not her endorsement—in the 2018 general election. Socratic Gadfly has an update to a previous post on what clearly appears to be a weird triangle in Marlin between Houston real estate "flippers," a former VA hospital building, and the General Land Office and P. Bush. Ethan Couch—he was the Brains and Eggs' 2015 Texan of the Year for being responsible (a thinly relative term when referring to Couch) for the word "affluenza"—is leaving jail this morning and beginning his ten-year-probationary sentence. Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer has the details. Also blogged here a couple of weeks before Couch's award: a disease associated with affluenza is...gulliblemia.
What an up-and-down weekend. On a beautiful Easter Fools' Day afternoon, I got together with some beautiful friends for an Alice in Wonderland–inspired tea party amid the painted trees at Spotts Park. It's always uplifting when free spirits of various ages, ethnicities, and orientations can create and enjoy such harmonious vibes. It was one of those moments that make me reflect on why I am proud to call myself a Burner.
I went from that to Rudyard's, where several dozen friends joined Angie Hayes of Clinic Access Support Network on her first evening as Angie Hayes-Yousif. Yes, she and her beloved Amar got married on April Fools' Day, with her brother David officiating in a shall-we-say non-traditional ceremony. Monday morning...back to depressing reality. The news from Gaza is depressing even for Gaza, reminding us that the real Axis of Evil consists of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the good ol' US of A. Today's Democracy Now! headlines also included an incident in which a sheriff's deputy drove his vehicle into a woman protesting against Stephon Clarke's murder-by-cop in Sacramento. It was not a love tap: Wanda Cleveland had to be taken to a hospital for treatment. If you think that there's no connection between cops shooting an unarmed man in the back in his grandmother's back yard in Sacramento and Israeli soldiers shooting unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the back, or that it's strictly coincidental...well, think again, my friend. He Always Plays "Saint Patrick Battalion" in Texas David Rovics, aka "the musical version of Democracy Now!" appeared at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar Friday night. The last time I saw Rovics perform, at a fundraiser for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016, I left the event profoundly depressed; this time he wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs, but the songs he chose and his presentation were more inspiring and upbeat. Torry Mercer's Deconstruction Crew also turned it a pretty good set. Still, there were two intensely disappointing facts to relate about Friday night's event:
Consolation: I scored an Everything Ever Recorded by David Rovics flash drive for $30. Soccer and Stainless Steel Sculpture Even Saturday night's Dynamo match was depressing. Kayleen and I watched the Orange get dismembered by a relatively weak New England Revolution. USMNT left back Damarcus Beasley took a red card for the team, knocking down a Revs attacker to stop a clear scoring opportunity in the 35th minute. Four games into the season, this team has already lost more MLS home games than in all of 2017. The Dash played a scoreless draw with the Utah Royals, the team that replaced the now-defunct FC Kansas City. Two home games, two points. The consolation there is that USWNT goalkeeper Jane Campbell continues to impress. Meanwhile, echoing my post last week about the Dash's no-show Christen Press, Houston and Chicago find themselves in a good-natured war of words over who's giant stainless steel bean is more awesome. Well, it's mostly good-natured: Gray Matters blogger Cort McMurray, when he doesn't have anything nice to say, can be counted on to say whatever's on his mind. (NOTE: You may need a digital subscription to read the Chronicle online.) McMurray is also quite conscious of—and comfortable with—Houston's renowned inferiority complex. |
Blogging Sporadically since 2014Here you will find political campaign-related entries, as well as some about my literature, Houston underground arts, peace & justice, urban cycling, soccer, alt-religion, and other topics. Categories
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