Hagerman NWR is turning 80 in a week, and I'm not going to the celebration

Why not?

Because, as with a year ago with a special presentation by the Friends of Hagerman support group, the national wildlife refuge is whoring itself out to the world of oil and gas. 

Indeed, the Feb. 14 presentation of Hagerman's history sounds very much like what the Friends group did last year, per its monthly e-newsletter from a year ago. (Scroll not quite halfway down.) Then, it was Mary Maddux, then a regional oil and gas specialist with US Fish and Wildlife. I can't find her listed as that in the past year with teh Google. Maybe she retired or got pushed out with Trump's cuts across Department of Interior in general and USFWS in general.

That said, next week is providing essentially the same person:

Step back in time with Mary Istre, Acting Deputy Refuge Manager, as she explores 80 years of conservation at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. Using historic photographs and engaging stories, Mary will bring to life the people, decisions, and defining moments that shaped the refuge’s landscapes and wildlife. You’ll also discover how lessons from the past continue to guide conservation efforts today—and why this history matters more than ever. 

Mary Istre has spent 15 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, serving as the Southwest Region’s regional oil and gas specialist. She is currently the Acting Deputy Refuge Manager at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, bringing extensive experience in energy, conservation, and collaborative resource management.

Hard pass. 

Her predecessor lied about how little or how much oil pumpjacks might have damaged Lake Texoma and the refuge in 2015 flooding, and Istre will probably tell the same lies if asked about last year's flooding.

(Not that I suspect anybody in attendance will.) 

Texas "Progressives" — active on ICE and Hispanics, silent on Gaza

I pulled part of this week's Texas "Progressives" items from the normal weekly Roundup put together by Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff for just that reason.

We start with something I picked up, as, contra former member of the Texas Progressives Alliance Brains, I have long done my own additions (and subtractions) to Kuff's material.

Kuff will surely talk somewhere about Texas public school ICE protest walkouts, even as he remains radio silent on collegiate pro-Palestine protests. Ditto for Neil Aquino, the hypocrites.  

And now, to all of last week's roundup as organized by Kuff. 

The Current catches Greg Abbott trying to squirm out of his ICE fetishism.  

José R. Ralat gave his account of being accosted by ICE.

G. Elliott Morris shows why immigration as an issue has hit a tipping point in public opinion.

Isaiah Martin cheers on the athletes who have called out Alex Pretti's murder by ICE. 

Deceleration gives ten rules of resistance against ICE. Finally, as a public service, the two major immigrant-run organizations who are resisting ICE in Minnesota are Unidos MN and Monarca.

For more specific places to donate to, Stand With Minnesota is a clearinghouse for ways to help.

And now, to Gaza. And the United States ties with the Zionism that continues to kill Gazans. 

Even as Israel continues to break the cease-fire in Gaza, even as Israel and Trump's Peace Force or whatever he calls it plan biometric-controlled gated communities in Gaza that will surely come back to Merikkka, even as Jeffrey Epstein's connection to Mossad in particular and the Zionists running Israel in general becomes ever more clear, even as, as late as the end of last month, people continue to demand the release from ICE detention of Leqaa Kordia — held HERE IN TEXAS — Kuff, Neil Aquino etc remain silent. Maybe it's because the Biden Administration's complicity in genocide becomes ever more clear.

 

 

Texas progressives

Off the Kuff looked at Ken Paxton's latest lawsuit against an out-of-state mifepristone provider.

SocraticGadfly said "GACK" about Suzanne Bellsnyder, and also about "librul" Mother Jones magazine.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project reported on the Houston City Council session where HPD/ICE & giving the public the proper time for Council meetings was discussed.   

Representatives of the Lege promise more action on cannabis next year, and that Congress will reverse a nationwide THC ban set to start in November. 

At the Monthly, CD Hooks has a long longform about Texas A&M, both its history and its current discombobulation, and the legends going back and forth between the two. 

Data centers are bringing gas-power plant ginormity, along with its air pollution and climate change, to West Texas. 

Your Local Epidemiologist took a moment to cope and talk about community.

"Librul" justices further hate the poor

"Librulz" Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the six conservative Supreme Court justices to further limit avenues for relief to impoverished inmates. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter.

Pre-primary election briefs

A lot of Texas Dems are NOT fired up about either Choir Boy James Talarico OR Training Wheels Jasmine Crockett. Shock me. A fair chunk of both candidates' active supporters say flipping Trump supporters is big, along with "electability." (Gazans, you just got thrown further under the bus.)

G. Elliott Morris, in the wake of Rehmet beating Wambsganss, speculates the U.S Senate seat will be in play if One-Eyed Spavined Mule Kenny Boy Paxton gets the GOP nod. Color me skeptical. 

Special elections briefs

First, Taylor Rehmet kicked Leigh Wambsganss' ass in Tarrant County to fill Kelly Hancock's Texas Senate seat. And, the Lege can't redistrict this. That said, given Tex-ass banana republic part-time Lege, it means not a lot. The pair face again in November for the spot's full term.

Sidebar: This once again underscores how Beto-Bob O'Rourke fucked up in 2022 by campaigning too much in Muleshoe, not enough in Cowtown suburbs, thus not having coattails, thus letting Christofascist Tim O'Hare get elected county judge. This again needs to be repeated not just to kick Beto-Bob's butt but to also try to warn off new Texas Democrap head Kendall Scudder from similar stupidities, since he's already shown himself doing other stupidities, and he's a Beto-Bob bird-dogger.

Second, Christian Menafee defeated Amanda Edwards to fill the remainder of the term for the late Sly Turner's 18th Congressional District. Both are facing 9th District incumbent Al Green in the March primary for a redrawn 18th.