National Day of Action—Families Belong Together brings 3,000 to protest outside Sen. Ted Cruz's Houston office.
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.
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.
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