I was ill much of last week, which is my excuse for no new posts since last Monday. The illness started Tuesday morning (actually Monday evening) with my usual queasy stomach and inability to digest anything, continued with the sinus aches that often accompany the stomach problem, progressed into difficulty getting to sleep, then difficulty staying asleep, and eventually difficulty accepting the reality of having to awaken from a deep slumber.
Yes, I went to the doctor; yes, I have a whole new medication regimen. More on that in a separate post later this week. ============ With less than a hundred days remaining before the November election, the Texas Progressive Alliance's blog posts and related news took note of the temperature rising on statewide candidates and debates—or lack thereof. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs watched as Ted Cruz suddenly flinched, probably at his sagging internal polling numbers, and acquiesced to five debates with his surging challenger, Beto O'Rourke. Socratic Gadfly gives his snarky lowdown on the proposed Cruz-O'Rourke face-offs. Justin Miller at the Texas Observer sees Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Mike Collier with a problem: Dan Patrick ain't taking his bait. The following excerpt reveals the reasons: I don't usually copy the graphics from PDiddie's Weekly Wrangle along with the text. This time, I'm making an exception and grabbing the Ted Rall cartoon from the top. Many of my highly intelligent friends accept—yea, even embrace—the scientific fact that gender is not strictly binary in humans and other animals. One wonders, then, why so many of them have such difficulty accepting that political affiliation is also non-binary. Certainly, these friends grasp that one can vote for candidates who do not wear the (R) or (D) party label, and even act as an activist for their non-duopoly party of choice. But they still exhibit great difficulty with certain simple concepts: e.g., despising Hillary Clinton is not the same as admiring Donald Trump, or stating that Trump cannot be proven guilty of treason is not the same as stating that he is innocent of all wrong-doing. I'm a peaceful man, but I hereby declare war on the Fallacy of False Alternatives. I am challenging it to a dualism, as it were. This is where PDiddie takes over. The duopoly cognitive dissonance has been in full flower lately. As Trump becomes more unhinged, as the Bernie Sanders/Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party ascends, the Old Guard feels more threatened, gets more paranoid, and moves closer toward former (?) Republicans like James Comey. (Wasn't Comey the guy who did that thing with the letter that cost Hillary Clinton the election?) ============ Here's the Texas Progressive Alliance's roundup of blog posts and news from the week previous. David Collins strongly advises those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and Russophobia to avoid watering the tree of liberty with hyperbole. Socratic Gadfly offers detailed thoughts on Robert Mueller's indictment of the GRU 12 and what it does and does not say. Somervell County Salon collects a few interesting bits and pieces about the hypocritical servility of John Bolton. France won its second Men's World Cup yesterday, defeating a strong Croatian side 4-2. That's a lot of goals for a World Cup final, and some of them were just weird—especially the last one, with France and Tottehnam goalkeeper Hugo Lloris emulating Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius's boo-boo from the UEFA Champions League final, allowing Mario Mandžukić to make up for his unfortunate own-goal in the first half. (It has since been revealed that Karius was unknowingly playing through a concussion suffered earlier in the match.) The championship adds to the one from 1998, when France hosted the tournament. France will host next year's Women's World Cup, and I hope to travel there with my Francophile ladyfriend to catch the US Women in action (assuming that they qualify). I wasn't actually rooting for France, and I predicted that Belgium would emerge on top. But Kayleen had it right all along, so congratulations to her and Les Bleus. We watched the final yesterday morning, merely talking about making a drinking game out of Fox commentators' constantly reminding us that Kylian Mbappe is a teenager, but not actually drinking anything until we washed down our lunch with snifters of Chambourd. My inspiration for inserting all this France stuff into a Texas-focused weekly blogroll is the historical fact that France was among the few nations to recognize the newly minted Republic of Texas back in the 1830s. The two republics even had constructed makeshift embassies in each other's capitals; Houston was the capital of Texas at that time. Not that the short-lived Republic of Texas—or the way Anglo-Texians fought to make it slave territory—was anything for a Progressive like me to be proud of, but I do love this land that I've called home for most of my life. ============ This week's Texas Progressive Alliance roundup of lefty news and blog posts begin with two things that could happen that would improve the lives of Texans at large, and correspondingly Texas Democrats...which is why they won't. Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer sees one thing Texas Republicans could do that would give more than a million Texans some insurance coverage. Despite their elected officials' position, the majority of Texans support Medicaid expansion, according to a June poll from the same group that published Friday's report, the Kaiser Family Foundation. Sixty-four percent of Texans, according to the poll, believe that the state should accept federal cash to expand the low-income insurance program, with the same percentage agreeing that the state is "not doing enough to help low-income Texas adults get health care." Most of the dust has settled from last week's weirdness from San Antonio (parts one and two, plus link below) involving the Green Party of Texas. I'm hesitant even to mention it again, for fear of kicking up said dust, but I also believe that a brief post-mortem is in order. I'll post that in a bit. Meanwhile... Here's the lefty blog post and news from around the Lone Star State. Listicles were popular this week past; Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer has five reasons why Ken Paxton is the luckiest son of a bitch politician in the state. 5. Straight-ticket voting is here to clean up Paxton's mess. The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on their election victories, and has high hopes that Texas can elect progressives of their kind in the very near future.
Ocasio-Cortez's race will be interesting to watch over the next four mouths. She's running in a traditionally Democratic district in Queens, so victory in the general mostly depends on not doing anything monumentally stupid. Fortunately, she's pretty canny for a novice, and I don't foresee that happening. However, even though outgoing Rep. Joe Crowley has been all sweetness and light in defeat, I wouldn't put monumental stupidity past the DNC establishment, who still might back-door support Republican Anthony Pappas because goddess forbid a self-described "Democratic Socialist" should actually be elected to Congress. Congratulations also to the coalition of groups that put together Satuday's Families Belong Together and Black Lives Matter marches in Houston. This was the most empowering protest I can remember, in any format or on any issue, since the Occupy days. But it's just a start. While the turnout Saturday was impressive for Houston, the numbers still need to increase. Beyond more warm bodies in the streets, demonstrators may have to get a bit less orderly to Make Fascists Afraid Again. ============ Here's the blog post and lefty news roundup from the week just passed. Thousands protested at the Capitol in Austin and at hundreds of rallies across Texas and the nation against Trump's immigration policy that separates children from their parents. As the immigration crisis—not a crisis at all, according to South Texas ranchers--morphs into a national one, even ICE investigation supervisors want to disassociate themselves from child detention and deportation. Paris Johnson at the Houston Press reminds us that the US has a long, ugly history of separating minority children from their families. The US Supreme Court rulings in favor of Trump's Muslim travel ban, the gerrymandering by Texas Republicans, and the Janus decision against public sector unions made news, but it was Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement that abruptly focused Democrats and liberals on their failures in 2016—not just Hillary Clinton's in November, but Barack Obama's and the Senate Democrats' spineless inability to force a vote on Merrick Garland—and in predictable fashion they blamed everyone but themselves (not just Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein in this go-around, but Susan Sarandon). Satire is most wicked when it is closest to the truth. SocraticGadfly talked about the Supreme Court travel ban ruling, along with a bit about the other rulings of last week, and then analyzed Anthony Kennedy's career after he announced his retirement. He'll have a couple of additional Court posts in days and weeks ahead. In politico news, Carlos Uresti went to prison; a freshly-scented Republican douchebag won a special election to replace the bloated, foul-smelling one previously inhabiting #TX27 for a couple of months; and Pages of Victory demonstrates how you should handle a Republican canvasser who comes knocking at your door. Off the Kuff took a closer look at the UT/Trib June poll and thinks he found some good news for Democrats that the pollsters overlooked. In his weekly compendium of criminal justice developments, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast blogged about the federal judge's ruling in Harris County's bail case, the outgoing DA in McClennan County (Waco) firing one of his assistants for cooperating with the FBI, and the DPS conflating traffic stops and immigration enforcement. The Associated Press (via the HouChron) described in detail the course provided for Texas educators that teaches them how to shoot back at school shooters. A pro-gun rally last weekend in Santa Fe (TX), the site of the high school murders just over a month ago, was notable for its anemic turnout. News about the media was news: Jon Tilove at the Statesman chronicled the life of one of the Annapolis Capitol-Gazette's journalists who was shot and killed at the newspaper's office by excerpting some of his columns (and adding his thoughts). And Texas Standard wonders why social media bosses are meeting with GOP leaders. Somervell County Salon wrote about an anti-SLAPP case that prevailed at the Texas Supreme Court. Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer covered the million-gallon sewage spill at White Rock Lake. John Nielson-Gammon at the Texas Living Waters Project would like to see more of that old-fashioned variety in our summer weather. Keep Austin Wonky wants city-owned land to maximize residents' happiness (whatever that means). David Collins remembers Harlan Ellison, the noted sci-fi-author who passed away last week. Harry Hamid notices how angry everyone is, but is working to avoid being that way. And Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly bids adieu to the UT-adjacent location of Conan's Pizza. We're back from our recent sojourn in Oklahoma and Kansas, and gradually getting readjusted to the routine. For me, this routine includes summer schedule: an extra hour Monday through Thursday, and a half-day on Fridays.
It was lovely to see some old friends, meet some new ones, and travel ribbons of highway that each of us had not hitherto explored. Less lovely, however, was the specter of cancer that dogged us: not our own, but the cancers of various friends and relatives there, here, and elsewhere. Please indulge me as I shout "FUCK CANCER!" in this otherwise relatively civil space. One bit of cancer news, received at dinner last Wednesday, was that a longtime member of the Green Parties of Harris County and Texas is ailing. I am not at liberty yet to divulge who, what type, or how advanced. In addition, a recent arrival to the party has died. HCGP Treasurer Rashan Turner, was hospitalized last week and succumbed far too young to coronary difficulties. (Not all the details are available to me yet.) Turner, who just elected treasurer this February, was willing to take over the job and learn the ropes from longtime treasurer David Wager, after Wager had grown understandably weary of the position (and of HCGP, certainly not the only member of that club). Willing and able treasurers are hard to find. It's a risky job, minding the money for a political party, because of the civil penalties involved if you don't keep the fiscal house in order. We don't know yet who will replace Turner. ============ This week's adaptation of Texoblogosphere follows.
Not having Green Party obligations on Monday nights has freed me up to rehearse with International Voices Houston, with whom I have now completed my first weekend of performances. Sadly, I didn't do much promotion of that gig in this blog, preferring to gush about it all over Facebook where a lot more people would see it.
Y'know that old platitude that goes something like we hope you enjoyed our performance as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you? Speaking strictly for myself, I enjoyed the ever-lovin' hell out of performing in this concert, and not just because the director picked me to be in a featured small ensemble. Nevertheless, even without Monday Night Political Football, my heart is heavily invested in the Green Movement, and I follow as much news about it as I can. When I read the Black Agenda Report column from Bruce A. Dixon referred to below, I thought, I'm so proud to be connected with a party and movement that aren't afraid of constructive criticism. But in the next thought, I remembered that plenty of Greens construe the mere suggestion—whether raised from within or elsewhere—that we're doing something that might limit our own effectiveness as an attack on our very existence. Those Greens need to get a friggin' clue. It's certainly true that much of the external criticism and some of the internal comes from people who lack any historical context of how the Green Party US has operated lo these past two decades. If we didn't hear the same uninformed critiques over and over again, it would easier to respond with patience and kindness rather than circling the rhetorical wagons. It's hard work being patient and kind consistently. It's harder work maintaining a party whose ethical core is Compassion for the Planet and its Creatures, human and non-human, embodying that Compassion in a world ruled by crass venality. But we must do that work to the best of our abilities. ============ At the Texas Capitol this afternoon, the Poor People's Campaign rallies for economic, social, and environmental and healthcare justice. The Texas Progressive Alliance respects the sacrifice of those who have died serving their country on this day, but in the words of Redacted Tonight host Lee Camp, would prefer to... (A)ctually respect the lives of our troops and human life in general (by demanding) an end to wars launched on false pretenses. Stop giving war profiteers endless airtime to spout propaganda. Ask why our government always has money for war but never for our homeless veterans. These seem like simple requests and easy things for an allegedly peace-seeking nation—a nation that would have many fewer war dead to memorialize in the future—to accomplish. ============ Here's the roundup. It's been less than a week since Texas primary runoff elections decided our November ballot, and RG Ratcliffe at Texas Monthly details the heavy losses in Lege races that the arch-conservatives at Empower Texans suffered, while Chris Hooks at the Texas Observer takes stock of the Texas Democrats' chances in 2018. (tl,dr: suboptimal.) Jon Tilove at First Reading dives deep into the dynamics of the governor's race, with the answer to the question James Barragán at the DMN is asking--which candidate Latin@s choose--being based on 'no mercy' or 'no más'. John Coby at Bay Area Houston profiles three of the Democrats he likes running in Houston's Clear Lake region, and David Collins analyzes the surprising margin of Lizzie Pannill Fletcher's win in CD-7, and cautions against possible false extrapolations from it. The Lewisville Texan Journal live-posted election results for their area, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs publishes the poll from the Lina Hidalgo campaign showing her leading incumbent Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. In two of the most sickening developments yet in the War on Immigrants, an unarmed woman was shot and killed in Rio Bravo, Texas by a border patrol agent; the incident was videotaped and uploaded to social media, and USCBP changed their story about it. And with the news that HHS officials cannot account for the whereabouts of nearly 1500 immigrant children taken from their parents, placed in foster care, and are now missing, Somervell County Salon has a link to the Pew poll showing that those Americans who care the least about this are Christians. Update: There is a problem with using the word "lost" here; it might even be a good thing that these children cannot be located by the government: Although there are concerns that some undocumented children are trafficked or abused, the ORR claims (paywall) that 85% of kids are placed in the custody of family members. In the wake of the Santa Fe high school murders, Greg Abbott held three conferences, out of which came 22 suggestions for Texas high schools to prevent the shootings of our children and teachers in the future. None of them were "common-sense gun safety legislation." Relative to reducing the number of doors in public schools to cut down on the number of deaths, Harry Hamid has some suggestions on the education of Dan Patrick.
In another takedown of the failure of the War on Drugs, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast points out that making people too scared to call 911 when someone they know overdoses is not going to prevent overdose deaths. As hurricane season 2018 begins, the after-effects of Harvey linger. Texas Standard reports that Fort Bend County commissioners will sue the Army Corp of Engineers over mistakes made in managing the water in that area's Baker reservoir that caused severe flooding. And Texas Vox read the US Chemical Safety Board's analysis that indicated the Arkema plant in Crosby was fully aware of the dangers of flooding prior to the hurricane. SocraticGadfly reviews Amy Chozick's "Chasing Hillary" and one-stars it for several reasons to save you the trouble. Jeff Balke at the Houston Press explains why you're getting all those privacy policy updates in your inbox as well as website cookie notifications. Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer is bemused that the State Fair of Texas got billed over $1200 by their lawyers to read one of his columns. Martha Mercado at The Rag Blog was there as the Poor People's Campaign came to Austin. And Skip Hollandsworth tells us about Jeff Pike, Texas' own Tony Soprano. Dear Politicians:
Please, for the love of all that's good in this world:
In the matter of the Santa Fe High School shooting, current reports indicate yet another alienated suburban white kid on a mission to kill himself and take some teachers and classmates along. But not only did he fail to kill himself, the Galveston County Sheriff's Deputies didn't finish the job for him, even after he shot and wounded one of them. (Yes, little Santa Fe, Texas, has grown into a suburban municipality.) I suppose we can be grateful that this incident did not involve an AR-15, so there will be no inane online debates between "Ban all assault weapons now!" and "The AR is not an assault weapon, duh!" I suppose we can be grateful that the deputies didn't add to the carnage by killing Dimitrios Pagourtzis, and hopeful that law enforcement can show similar restraint when, say, they catch a young black man jaywalking. ============ The Texas Progressive Alliance weeps for the families of the Santa Fe victims, the latest in America's ongoing carnage of gun violence and the predictable aftermath of excuse-making and inaction by our bought-and-paid-for lawmakers. In his Weekly Wrangle posted today, PDiddie buried the lead. He states, quite correctly, that the Texas Women's Voices Project from Texas Monthly is a must-read. But he says so at the bottom of the list. So I'm moving it to the top. These 24 first-person stories, from Texas women of diverse backgrounds in a variety of fields, may not be Pulitzer-level stuff; also, it's arguable whether it (or anything from TM) belongs in an aggregation of progressive blog posts. But this collection is an example of TM at its most vital and ground-breaking. It comes as no surprise at all (to me, anyway) that novelist Sandra Cisneros brings up one of the most important points, especially in relation to all things #MeToo: The most important thing about this whole #MeToo movement is to have people listen. We don’t do very much of it in this age, as a country. Compassionate, present listening is an extraordinary medicine. |
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