SocraticGadfly: Texas progressives talk Paxton, special session, races

July 12, 2023

Texas progressives talk Paxton, special session, races

Many Texas Senate Rethuglicans are reportedly worried about being primaried over the Paxton impeachment.

Mike Miles is going to can 500 people at Houston ISD. (I wouldn't be surprised if that eventually rises.) Piece is originally from Houston Landing; interesting or "interesting" that the Trib is doing republishing now.

The Lege actually did a bit of good: HOAs can no longer discriminate against Section 8 tenants.

Speaking of, as state House and Senate tussle over property tax issues, and Danny Goeb and will renters get any help? The story notes that some more enlightened states, unlike Tex-ass, give direct pass-through relief to tenants; it also notes that no Rethuglican bill proposes that.

Speaking of that, Chris Hooks once again excoriates Strangeabbott. This is an overview of his eight-plus years as Gov and his relationship with the Lege, starting with how he burned that in his first year, and going on from there to the mule-headed stubbornness that he refuses to relinquish, most notably on vouchers. From there, it's his petulance in calling the first special session for the day after the regular ended.
 
State Sen. Roland Guitierrez has officially thrown his hat in the ring, challenging Colin Allred for the right to run against Havana Ted Cruz. Allred had a big money haul recently, and may have somewhat more name recognition, but I don't see this as that big of an uphill battle.

Strangeabbott is going through interim AGs like he goes through Secretaries of State.

Off the Kuff
 looked at Houston's lawsuit against the Death Star bill, the first of what will surely be many lawsuits filed against far-right legislation.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project says Mayoral candidate Gilbert Garcia's platform is silent on issues of protecting and expanding democracy in Houston.

SocraticGadfly dips into international affairs, with a multi-part look at Russia-Ukraine issues, tied in part to the Prigozhin mutiny. First is his take on the announcement of backdoor US-Russia peace talks, with a sidebar on what such talks might involve, and some Yevgeny Prigozhin issues. Second, he discusses the US mainstream media's problematic analysis of the Prigozhin mutiny. Third, he notes that, per a phrase from Counterpunch's Jeff St. Clair, that "more credulous precincts of the left" still cut Putin blank checks over how he handled that.

A good overview here of the current status of global oil issues and the background geopolitical maneuvers. (The story has one fail: Not mentioning that Iran is now an official member of the Shanghai Cooperative.)

Richard D. Wolff can complain with a straight face about US' China-bashing without once mentioning Uyghurs. "Shock me," unsurprisingly.


Vladeck is unequivocal about the SCOTUS hard right turn. 
 
Speaking of, Sonia Sotomayor just told Clarence Thomas to "Hold my beer (and read about it my my next book)."

Chris Geidner manages to find some reasons to be optimistic despite it all. 

Juanita never has any fun.
 
LA City Council (and city administration staff): hypocrites on homelessness.

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