SocraticGadfly: Texas Progressives take first look at 2022

January 06, 2022

Texas Progressives take first look at 2022

Welcome to the first Roundup of this year by Texas Progressives, with a mix of members' blogging from last week and the best of news from around the state and beyond.

Texas school districts are rethinking dress codes as gender issues lead to discrimination questions. And, note to some gender-critical radical feminists and fellow travelers, as I also distinguish gender and sex but don't go down your road? This is an issue where "gender" not "sex" is the appropriate discussion.

The Monthly has a roundup of Texas stories it didn't run last year but wish it had written itself.

At the Observer, Justin Miller talks about how retirements in the Lege will likely push it even redder, especially in the House. Unanswered: How will Rethugs that are wingnuts, but not Dan Patrick or even further right wingnuts squared, lament the loss of a state House quasi-cushion?

The first phase of Secretary of State John Scott's much-hyped election audit in four urban counties has found few problems and none even close to serious. Now, let's see if he, Strangeabbott et al, in the next round of audits, do as promised and look at other counties, including smaller red ones.

Off the Kuff looked at the motion filed by Harris County to stop the part of the voter suppression law that criminalizes the encouragement of voting by mail.

Well, the lights have "stayed on," it seems, through the first really big norther; will they do so again after today's Round 2? We'll see how Abbott's boast, and yes, it's election-driven, play out. (We'll also see how much, in addition to his "Abbott tax," Beto says that the only reason ERCOT and PUC pushed for weatherization is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dropped hints of banhammers if the state didn't adopt policies FERC suggested after a 2009 storm.)

SocraticGadfly had a three-parter on coronavirus issues last week. First was that some people's claims that autoimmune disorders preclude vaccination are largely BS. Second was whether Fauci's words about COVID moving from pandemic to endemic will come back to haunt him with wingnuts, and if Biden will face some problems with words and non-actions. Third, he took a nuanced look at vax mandates in the bigger picture of a spectrum of COVID public health actions.

John Coby summarizes 2021.

Juanita scoffs at Alex Jones' latest ravings.

The Dallas Observer introduces us to Ted Cruz's very online daughter

The Current notes that Texas doesn't score all that well on some metrics for personal liberties.

Jef Rouner tells you why you're just wrong.

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