Since adopting the habit of reposting Texoblogosphere entries, I haven't left the intro intact until this week:
With this week's lefty blog post and news roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance urges our government to attend to the much-needed care of our American brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico.
Amen. However, I couldn't leave it uncommented upon, especially after hearing the relevant facts on Democracy Now! yesterday and this morning. On Puerto Rico alone, there are about 3.5 million American citizens without electricity, potentially for four to six months after Hurricane Maria's visit. Fuel, food, and clean water are in short supply. Even those who have generators cannot get gasoline or diesel to run them. We're already looking at more human beings dying from the heat, due to lack of air conditioning and refrigeration and potable water, than from the storm itself.
Meanwhile, our alleged president has his knickers in a twist over NFL players, coaches, and management expressing some solidarity with each other and with the victims of the systemic racism in our law enforcement agencies. The Short-Fingered Tweeter took several days getting around to mention Puerto Rico at all, and then he couldn't help but post some shit about what the territory owes Wall Street. He stopped well short of echoing Rep. Jeb Hensarling's "God is telling you to move" sentiments, mainly because that would likely mean 3.5 million more Puerto Ricans moving onto the mainland.
Oh, and about those NFL owners, cue Shaun King.
With this week's lefty blog post and news roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance urges our government to attend to the much-needed care of our American brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico.
Amen. However, I couldn't leave it uncommented upon, especially after hearing the relevant facts on Democracy Now! yesterday and this morning. On Puerto Rico alone, there are about 3.5 million American citizens without electricity, potentially for four to six months after Hurricane Maria's visit. Fuel, food, and clean water are in short supply. Even those who have generators cannot get gasoline or diesel to run them. We're already looking at more human beings dying from the heat, due to lack of air conditioning and refrigeration and potable water, than from the storm itself.
Meanwhile, our alleged president has his knickers in a twist over NFL players, coaches, and management expressing some solidarity with each other and with the victims of the systemic racism in our law enforcement agencies. The Short-Fingered Tweeter took several days getting around to mention Puerto Rico at all, and then he couldn't help but post some shit about what the territory owes Wall Street. He stopped well short of echoing Rep. Jeb Hensarling's "God is telling you to move" sentiments, mainly because that would likely mean 3.5 million more Puerto Ricans moving onto the mainland.
Oh, and about those NFL owners, cue Shaun King.
Speaking of sports and athletes: Following the recent massive earthquakes in southern Mexico, the Federación Méxicana de Fútbol postponed all soccer matches from the last two weeks, allowing players to visit their homes and assist with cleanup. Liga MX is due to restart today, but the seismic activity has continued in Oaxaca. Our neighbors to the south know that some things take precedence over professional sporting events. This morning, reflecting on that made me wonder whether Major League Baseball will take, or be given, a chance to help Puerto Rico. Over the years, Puerto Rico has furnished hundreds of Major Leaguers, many of them All-Stars. In their tailspin years before moving to Washington DC, the Montréal Expos played about a fourth of their home games in San Juan.
At this very moment, the Houston Astros have three native puertorriqueños on their expanded September roster: DH Carlos Beltran, catcher Juan Centeno, and shortstop Carlos Correa. The Astros have clinched their division. They don't need these guys for the last week of the regular season. Even if MLB isn't willing to postpone the playoffs (constrained as the baseball season is by weather patterns), giving them some time off would be the human thing to do. Indeed, after Harvey, we might say that it's the Houston thing to do.
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Off the Kuff documented the requirements for cities to receive state money from the Rainy Day Fund for Harvey recovery.
SocraticGadfly notes Ken Burns' Vietnam series is online—and, given its degree of faults and weaknesses, offers up a stark in-depth critique of Burns' entire oeuvre of work, capped by the current series.
The latest update on Russia—including Paul Manafort and Facebook--has been posted by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme is upset that GOP legislators will ask Texas drivers to pay for reducing the backlog of rape kits waiting for forensics testing.
Grits for Breakfast suggests that a public defender for criminal appeals cases would reduce waste, increase inefficiency, and protect the civil rights of those enmeshed in the so-called justice system.
jobsanger highlights Trump's racism and disdain for equality.
The Rivard Report announces changes at the top of that publication's editorial leadership.
Houston Matters quotes Dallas Congressman Jeb Hensarling as telling Harvey flood victims that "at some point, God is telling you to move."
Sophie Novack at the Texas Observer asked some Texas congressional Democrats where they stood on single-payer, and the responses were a little dodgy and disconcerting.
The AP, in the Waco Tribune Herald, reports that the EPA has removed several hundred containers of "potentially" hazardous material from toxic waste sites in Texas, but won't say where they came from, what the contaminants might be, or even whether there remains a danger to the public.
The Texas Living Waters Project sees trouble in the decline in wildlife in Texas' rivers.
Scott Braddock calls on Greg Abbott to take the opportunity to act like a leader post-Harvey.
Writing in Wonkette, Respectable Lawyer demonstrates how he got a stripper-beating Republican mega-donor to back off about the mugshots that Juanita Jean had posted.
Beyond Bones welcomes the start of autumn with a little science.
Houston buried Harvey's bad memories with a little help from its New Orleans music-making friends, and John Nova Lomax at Texas Monthly felt the bond between the two Gulf coastal cities grow even stronger as a result.
And Dos Centavos advances the details of two events in Houston: the 38th Annual Festival Chicano at Miller Outdoor Theatre weekend after next, and the retirement party/tour for Americans United president Barry Lynn in mid-October.
At this very moment, the Houston Astros have three native puertorriqueños on their expanded September roster: DH Carlos Beltran, catcher Juan Centeno, and shortstop Carlos Correa. The Astros have clinched their division. They don't need these guys for the last week of the regular season. Even if MLB isn't willing to postpone the playoffs (constrained as the baseball season is by weather patterns), giving them some time off would be the human thing to do. Indeed, after Harvey, we might say that it's the Houston thing to do.
============
Off the Kuff documented the requirements for cities to receive state money from the Rainy Day Fund for Harvey recovery.
SocraticGadfly notes Ken Burns' Vietnam series is online—and, given its degree of faults and weaknesses, offers up a stark in-depth critique of Burns' entire oeuvre of work, capped by the current series.
The latest update on Russia—including Paul Manafort and Facebook--has been posted by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme is upset that GOP legislators will ask Texas drivers to pay for reducing the backlog of rape kits waiting for forensics testing.
Grits for Breakfast suggests that a public defender for criminal appeals cases would reduce waste, increase inefficiency, and protect the civil rights of those enmeshed in the so-called justice system.
jobsanger highlights Trump's racism and disdain for equality.
The Rivard Report announces changes at the top of that publication's editorial leadership.
Houston Matters quotes Dallas Congressman Jeb Hensarling as telling Harvey flood victims that "at some point, God is telling you to move."
Sophie Novack at the Texas Observer asked some Texas congressional Democrats where they stood on single-payer, and the responses were a little dodgy and disconcerting.
The AP, in the Waco Tribune Herald, reports that the EPA has removed several hundred containers of "potentially" hazardous material from toxic waste sites in Texas, but won't say where they came from, what the contaminants might be, or even whether there remains a danger to the public.
The Texas Living Waters Project sees trouble in the decline in wildlife in Texas' rivers.
Scott Braddock calls on Greg Abbott to take the opportunity to act like a leader post-Harvey.
Writing in Wonkette, Respectable Lawyer demonstrates how he got a stripper-beating Republican mega-donor to back off about the mugshots that Juanita Jean had posted.
Beyond Bones welcomes the start of autumn with a little science.
Houston buried Harvey's bad memories with a little help from its New Orleans music-making friends, and John Nova Lomax at Texas Monthly felt the bond between the two Gulf coastal cities grow even stronger as a result.
And Dos Centavos advances the details of two events in Houston: the 38th Annual Festival Chicano at Miller Outdoor Theatre weekend after next, and the retirement party/tour for Americans United president Barry Lynn in mid-October.
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