Texas Progressives: Guns and Visa, Beto-Bob, more

Elizabeth Warren asked for it, then got called out as "fascist" for the request, but Visa will start tracking gun sales as a particular category. It should make it easier to track down suspicious sales, which was her whole intent. And, since Visa is the biggest, let us hope, per the story, that it indeed pressures MasterCard and Amex to follow.

We'll also see if Second Amendment absolutist Delilah Barrios, running for gov for the Green Party, says anything about this.

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Off the Kuff analyzes the latest poll of Texas and Harris County. (Note: See my gov, House and Senate polls at right.)

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SocraticGadfly said Beto O'Rourke needs to fire himself as chief campaign strategist.

Related, from Twitter:

Coming next: Greg Abbott uses the Uvalde Park shooting as an excuse to send yet more DPS, Texas National Guard, etc., to the board.
Coming next after that: Pander Bear Beto O'Rourke says he'd send more people to the border, too, but only if they volunteer. https://t.co/UvVczG4gKU

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) September 9, 2022

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I have no idea who Coulda Been Worse is run by. Let's just hope that any new anti-Abbott ads don't engage in child exploitation, unlike Moms Against Greg Abbott. Their first ad is here on Twitter, via Patrick Switek. Not bad, but not great in presentation. The "Coulda Been Worse" needs to be cut in more than just once at the end. A second voice in voiceover, preferably female, should be there.

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DPS head Steve McCraw told CNN he'd resign if it was found that his troopers had any culpability in a delayed response to the Uvalde shooting. He's bullshitting, of course, starting with that he'd set his own parameters on "any culpability."

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Shock me that two North Texas small-town police chiefs belong(ed?) to Oath Keepers. Of course, they, like others statewide and compadres nationally, have spouted the usual bullshit lines like, "I didn't know who they were," or "they changed their mission" or "someone else signed me up."

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Gohmert Pyle reached a new low even for him.

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Per this Tweet:

Glenn Hegar remains full of posturing gasbag shit vis-a-vis Harris County https://t.co/QfdPSNTjTd even after a Travis County district judge TOLD .@Glenn_Hegar he's full of shit. https://t.co/qvVDG01Zov

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) September 9, 2022

Glenn Hegar reached a new low, even for him.

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Danny Goeb is in a pissing match, per his news releases, with the authors of a Texas Monthly semi-gotcha piece that's nonetheless good gotcha. Knowing something about Russell Gold and Dan Soloman's writing for the Monthly (and elsewhere from Gold), I was worried Patrick may be at least half right. I shouldn't have been. An updated version of the article notes Patrick's claims, and does further gotcha on the date of passage of SB 13 vs the date of his BlackRock divestiture. Plus, like Ralph Nader (who I didn't vote for in 2000 cuz I knew this, probably due to Al Gore oppo research) and Jill Stein (who I learned about too late in 2016 cuz Hillary Clinton oppo research forgot to allow for early voting) Patrick and his wife also owned Black Rock mutual funds. (Nader and Stein owned oil and gas, defense and tobacco stocks via mutual funds.)

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MANNUUUUU.

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A restart on the Iran nuclear deal looks to be officially on the rocks. That's from the German Foreign Ministry.

Texas 2036 warns that the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, could happen here.

The Texas Living Waters Project released a study showing how much water we lose in this state due to old infrastructure. Texas Monthly gives a fond final farewell to Paul Burka.

The Texas Signal reports on the first day of school in Uvalde.

The TSTA Blog argues that it's the disrespect for democracy that disqualifies so many Texas Republicans from holding office.

The Dallas Observer notes the Cards Against Humanity protest against anti-abortion laws.

Federal coronavirus bailout money for cities and counties went to ... cops and courts.