TX Progressives critique bullet trains, wingnuts, conspiracy theorists, Ross is Boss

The Texas Progressives hope no readers blew off fingers or other things last week, while helping George Washington fight The Battle of Dulles Airport.

Now that special Fourth of July political mayhem is over, we return you to regular political mayhem, of which Donald Trump still delivers.

State politics

ConservaDem Chris Bell is officially running for the Democratic nomination to challenge John Cornyn for the Senate. I think he brings little to the table, especially after his Bill King endorsement in the last Houston mayoral election. Kuff gushes over him, even though a week later he points out the latest Helltown craptaculartude of said Bill King, starting with the unwarranted assumption that the Democratic primary, up to this point, looked uncompetitive, and moving from there to the point that with Bell in, it’s now competitive. Of course, Kuff is aided in his gushing by the dean of Dallas political conventional wisdom, Gromer Jeffers (now that Robert Garrett is retired) ignoring the name of Sema Hernandez, as well as that of Michael Cooper and other announced and semi-serious to serious candidates. (Note to Kuff and Gromer: In mid-May, when the Bell speculation started, there were four declared candidates.)


Dallas

Jim Schutze talks the future of South Dallas, especially vis-a-vis the bullet train, which in Dallas he says will be a land deal first, transportation deal second.


Houston

David Bruce Collins discusses getting the Houston Green Party going, and working to avoid pitfalls that plagued Harris County Greens.


Dallas-Houston

Homelessness is up in Big D but down in Helltown. The Trib explains why.


Texana

RIP Ross Perot.

While everybody focuses on Ill Eagles, plus their sickening concentration camp confinement under Trump (which also happened, albeit less severely, under Dear Leader), legal immigrants on guest visas continue to get exploited in agricultural work in Texas and elsewhere.

A woman licking a pint of Blue Bell in a Lufkin WallyWorld could get 20 years in the Texas slammer, but as a juvenile, may not be prosecuted as an adult. OTOH, this is surely no more unsanitary than the multiple rounds of listeria Blue Bell willingly inflicted on nearly all 50 of our states. Gov. Strangeabbott has since weightlessly weighed in.

Grits hands out his summer reading list.

Utah recently lowered its blood-alcohol content level to determine DWI from 0.08 to 0.05. Could Texas follow suit?


National, with Texas twists

Brains has his weekly update on Democratic candidates.

Ten of those Dems came to Houston; Bob O'Rourke and Julián Castro played reasonably nice in English and none of them said anything bigly new.

Dos Centavos was impressed by Julian Castro's Houston appearance.

Progress Texas picks out its top ten moments from the two Democratic Presidential debates.

Off the Kuff tells of the off-again, on-again Census citizenship question litigation.

Stephen Young lists Texas' biggest presidential flameouts.


National

Socratic Gadfly says that, regarding some actions of the so-called "antifa," violence is not the answer.

Russia's foreign intelligence service was reportedly behind Seth Rich conspiracy theory mongering all along, according to Michael Isikoff. See all my major Seth Rich reporting at this tag.

Think Progress is up for sale. The New Republic semi-connected to think tank Center for American Progress is almost certainly not worth whatever asking price Neera Tanden will spew out.

Therese Odell catches up on the E. Jean Carroll accusation.

RIP Mad Magazine; here's a good take.

Transgriot rewrites Frederick Douglass' speech about the meaning of the Fourth of July for trans people.

Leah Binkovitz follows the numbers on cyclist and pedestrian deaths around the country.

World

Per Trump and Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador cutting a deal on Central American immigrants, the "remain in Mexico" is raising tensions and problems there. More on the issues here.