Texas Progrs talk more on state-level policing, minorities, etc

I have probably stopped splitting off coronavirus news just in time to split off ongoing embers of rage over George Floyd, the police, corporations "blackwashing" when they're not "greenwashing" their environmental image, etc. So, let's dive in!

First, in the wake of Minneapolis PD thuggery, Camden, New Jersey, has been touted as the model for "defunding" and starting a police department over, from scratch. The truth? More complicated. Violent crimes haven't gone away. Gentrification has arrived. The "defunding" was linked to "rebranding." And more. Click that link, and read.

Second, the world of policing attracts bastards. Some ex-cops admit it.

Third, many big cities with policing problems? Either the mayor, the state DA for that county, or both, are ConservaDems, not Republicans. You can make book on that. Both are problems here in Tex-ass; witness ConservaDem DAs in both Travis and Harris counties as I type.

Fourth, besides ConservaDem mayors and elected DAs snuggling up to police unions, even when the cops on the force are majority-minority, white union chiefs are an additional problem — and often throwing fuel on the flames.

With that, and keeping in mind that fourth point as an issue when you here "no votes left of Democrats"-type "pergressuve" bloggers talking about police reform, let's dig in. I'm covering state news about policing issues here, splitting this half of the roundup in two itself.

Texas

Denton County has joined bigger ones in voting to haul down a Confederate memorial. That said, it doesn't memorialize a general, unlike Dallas' infamous old Lee statue. BUT! It, and many like it, were erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy when racist Southern Democrat Woodrow Wilson was president. (And, yes, Southern — ignore his time at Princeton; he was born in Virginia and his family moved to Georgia when he was four. He would have been six when Sherman marched through.)

Racism is at the Dallas Fire Department, in the form of a battalion commander.

Longhorn athletes want THE University of Texas to adopt a number of changes, starting with replacing "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You."

Off the Kuff details the state of police reform in Houston and Harris County, with a coda about HISD.

DosCentavos had a series on the possible re-hiring of Chauna Thompson. The effort failed.

Craig Mills says he should not know the names of George Floyd and so many other black men who are known to him because they were killed by police.

Abby Springs and Wesley Storey explain how Texas laws fail to hold police accountable.