SocraticGadfly: Progressive bloggers talk about the #txlege, Julian Castro, light rail and more

May 18, 2015

Progressive bloggers talk about the #txlege, Julian Castro, light rail and more

The Texas Progressive Alliance doesn't need hindsight to know that invading Iraq was a tragically stupid decision, and offers its condolences to any innocents affected by the Waco biker shootout, including my deploring of some racist spinning of what actually happened, as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff is pleasantly surprised to hear that the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority and US Rep. John Culberson have reached an accord in their longstanding feud over funding for light rail in Houston.

Letters from Texas provides a step-by-step guide to using your hypocrisy to justify your bigotry.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos calls it as she sees it when the U.S. Congress cut Amtrak's budget within hours of the train wreck outside of Philadelphia last week.  Republican Austerity Kills. Literally.

Nonsequiteuse asks you to consider the long game for progressives in Texas, and explains why she's building progressive infrastructure and working the next generation of leaders through New Leaders Council.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. The GOP's end of session plan for tax cuts is getting near completion, Give It All To Business - The GOP Tax Compromise.

In a roundup of events, Socratic Gadfly says this week in Texas politics was probably even nuttier than normal ó a high bar to clear.

Julian Castro is Hllary Clinton's pick for running mate, according to Henry Cisneros.  That suggests a Latino will also be the vice-presidential nominee of the Republicans.  PDiddie at Brains and Eggs thinks that might be the most interesting thing that could liven up an otherwise completely predictable 2016 presidential season.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is surprised that a Republican was so honest about tax cuts being just for the business cronies.  Who needs roads, schools, or safety inspections.  The rich can buy their own.  But, the shrinking middle class and the poor must pay for what's left.

Neil at All People Have Value posted about 11 pictures he keeps in his phone that involve death. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texas Clean Air Matters examines what Tesla's Powerwall home energy storage battery means for Texas.

Better Texas Blog names the least worst way to under-invest in schools, college access and health care systems.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs documents her efforts to get the Legislature to require insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids for children under 18.

The Lunch Tray calls self-regulation of kids' food advertising a "doomed effort".

Paradise in Hell warns us that the anti-gay crowd isn't going anywhere.

BEYONDBones explains why you should care about endangered species.

The Texas Election Law Blog tracks what has happened to election law-related legislation so far this session.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Gadfly, this is FieldTheorist. I apologize for cluttering up your blog's comment section here:

Thanks for the welcome on ScientiaSalon! I'm responding to you here because I hit my 5 posts of 500 characters pretty quickly, and I didn't have a chance to have a conversation with you.

As for SciSal, I fear that I will only largely post on religious/political or science based articles, as I'm not as interested in as many pure philosophy discussions as I used to be (e.g. I'm not very interested in the philosophy of mind anynmore). Still, it's nice to see other rational intellectuals who post on SciSal, rather that trolls. Overall, I personally must confess that I have quite a few sympathies to Massimo's philosophy, especially his most recent untethering from the New Atheism community. Like I said in my initial post, I really deplore what Skepticism/New Atheism stands for. It feels exactly like the kinds of things that drove me away from religion in the first place: Close-mindedness, anti-intellectualism, we've-to-a-simple-solution-for-life's-big-problems, the insular nature of the "In Group", etc. I have zero patience for this nonsense.