SocraticGadfly: TX Progressives tackle gunz and Greens

June 05, 2018

TX Progressives tackle gunz and Greens

The Texas Progressive Alliance wonders, with the start of a new hurricane season, if anyone will ever be held accountable for the tragedy in Puerto Rico, or if anyone will hold John Cornyn responsible for a Corps of Engineers Ike Dike boondoggle attempt, as it brings you this week's roundup.

Meanwhile, Abbott on gunz in schools, and several takes on the Green Party and organization, and related lefty political issues, top this week’s issue.

Gunz

Grits for Breakfast looks at Greg Abbott’s new pandora’s box from raising the age of accountability to 18 on gun owning but keeping it 17 elsewhere.

Texas Monthly calls Abbott’s gun “safety” plan “regressive.” (Editor’s note: Even many small-town school districts in red-meat red-voting areas are rejecting armed teachers.)

RG Ratcliffe at the same mag criticizes Greg Abbott's "too little, too late" response to school shootings.

Sanford Nowlin collects a list of things other than guns that Republicans blame for school shootings.

Texas Observer decries the over-militarization of the border. The additional gunz, along with drones and other things, actually makes many residents feel less safe.

Greens and related

SocraticGadfly analyzes a Daily Beast story about Jill Stein's post-recount transparency issues while speculating that she may have some sort of end game for this.

David Bruce Collins links to Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report to note how the Green Party still struggles to get traction, including failing on its ballot access petition drive in Texas. (Like David, I largely agree with Bruce.) And so does The North Star. (I will have a future blog post about this.)

Pages of Victory calls for an authentic left.

Brains and Eggs discusses how many Democrats don’t want to discuss party disharmony.

The rest

Off the Kuff interprets an optimistic poll of Harris County.

The StartleGram details how former fetus Jonathan Stickland and his money Texas Observer decries could push the Texas House further right.

In the face of pushback from doctors, Blue Cross / Blue Shield held up on a proposed controversial elimination of out-of-network ER payments.

G. Elliott Morris ponders the effect of candidate quality on quantitative election forecasting.

Space City Weather answers your early-season hurricane questions.

Therese Odell grapples with the Samantha Bee controversy.

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