John Cornyn postmortem roundup

At the Monthly, not only is there not a CD Hooks piece fellating Cornyn one last time, but Ben Rowan offers a skeptic's guide to November, while getting people like Strangeabbott his own self to do some pearl-clutching. He offers this,  halfway through:

Everyone I spoke to, in both parties, believes that the national environment is better for Democrats this year than in 2018—Trump is even more unpopular, facing inflation and the Iran war. And they believe Talarico is a better statewide candidate than O’Rourke. At roughly this point in 2018, O’Rourke trailed Cruz in the polls by 5 points. The polling aggregate currently finds Talarico running 1.5 points ahead of Paxton (he leads by as much as 8 in one survey and trails by as much as 2 in another). As one longtime GOP strategist, who requested anonymity given their current position, told me: “This is not a made-up race. You are covering a real race.”

I'm still more skeptical. We'll see. One reason for skepticism is most those polls had Talarico vs a generic Republican, before the runoff. That always favors a "name." Rowan notes that himself, later on.

And, he concludes with:

Even if Ken isn’t actually all that good, most everyone I talked to believed Democrats could still find a way to blow their advantage. After laying out his fantasy of exactly one GOP statewide candidate losing, and explaining how this year there really were signs a Democrat could win, the former Republican legislator caught himself mid-reverie. “Democrats are killing us now,” he started, “but—and I’m going to use a naughty word here, don’t hold it against me—Democrats can f— up a one-car parade.”

Bingo. 

Kuff peddles some Kool-Aid on possible GOP defections. I'm not drinking.

Nate Cohn at the NYT talks about Hispanic numbers, ignores the Tex-ass reputation as a nonvoting state. 

The Trib fellating John Cornyn? Not surprised. 

At the Observer, Justin Miller doesn't fellate him, but does think Kenny Boy Paxton's win is "judgment day" for the Texas GOP. I shall officially laugh on Election Day.

Gus Bova there also salutes James Talarico's chances while noting the Anglo-ness of Dems' top candidates in general. 

My initial guess? Talarico runs as close as Beto-Bob vs Havana Ted, 2018, but no closer.

No Green in the race? As I told Kuff, I'm undervoting for sure unless Talarico has a real, full-bore, statement about Gaza. That's at minimum and I'm not holding my breath on that. 

Texas primary runoffs hot take: "The Art of No Deal"

Boy, did Cornyn get smoked. No two ways about it.

The Bulwark's piece notes how much of a Pander Bear he had become, complete with Shit from Shitter, on Big John's own account, with the photo. And, that's a full year ago!

Why didn't Trump endorse earlier? Beyond the Bulwark talking about him having bigger fish to fry, I think maybe he thought Paxton didn't need an endorsement.

There's also a third reason. And a fourth reason.

Third? Trump's a frontrunner; he probably read the March primary tea leaves, or had it done for him.

Fourth? Trump likes to see people grovel. And, this runoff election was perfectly teed up for him to make both Cornyn and Paxton "twist slowly in the wind" like Pat Gray at Nixon's hands.

As for Cornyn, and that Pander Bear photo? Call it "The Art of the No Deal."

The Times has more. Beyond Cornyn's race, it notes the Super PAC backing nutter Democrat Congressional candidate Maureen Galindo had GOP ties. If you're a super PAC, you're supposed to cover your tracks better than that.

Just about everybody is talking about how lame-duck GOP senators may stand up more to Trump. Except around the margins, don't hold your breath. It may not even happen that much with the likes of Thomas Massie in the House.

Don't believe me? Believe this piece linked off the Bulwark, titled "Weep Not for Cornyn":

Maybe a grudging, strange new respect will form for Cornyn over the coming months as he joins Senators Cassidy and Tillis in offering the most modest pushback imaginable against our Nero-in-Chief. And then John Cornyn will be forgotten, and to the extent that he is remembered he will vaguely be thought of as that one Texas senator who wasn’t as bad as the other one: not as sleazy as Cruz, not as corrupt as Paxton, etc. 

But I don’t think he should get away that easily. 

No, it is as important to call out our gutless elected officials as it is to celebrate the brave ones. I hope John Cornyn is remembered for what he is: an incompetent and cowardly senator who put himself before his country. 

I texted a politico friend about Cornyn’s coming defeat, and the friend replied that, yes, Cornyn is a victim of the disease that has infected one of our country’s two major parties. 

Victim? Oh no. John Cornyn is not and never was a victim. Actually, he has had more agency in our country’s existential fight against Trumpism than roughly 99.999% of Americans. In 2021 there were exactly 100 people who could have put this sad and sorry chapter of American history behind us for good, and in that moment John Cornyn hid behind Mitch McConnell’s skirt, who was himself hiding behind a completely contrived constitutional justification for letting Trump get away with an attempted coup—as if McConnell himself wasn’t the reason the Senate trial was delayed until after January 20. 

Fifty-seven United States senators were able to do the right and obvious thing and voted to convict and bar that evil man from ever holding public office again, including seven Republican senators. John Cornyn, however, could not do what his oath of office required.

That's about right. (Added emphasis mine.)

As for James Talarico? I'll give you 94 percent odds, right now, that he doesn't win. That's even with him doing his own Pander Bear to the degree of trying to normalize Cornyn. Anybody who claims the Magnificat in Luke supports reproductive choice will pander about anything.

The only other questions I have are, first, will Talarico lean into, or run away from, already clearly being standard neolib Democrat, and second, will he actually say something on Gaza? I'm pretty sure I already know the answers, and that he'll lose to Paxton in Cornyn style rather than with principles.

Trump endorses Paxton; bad framing by the Texas Tribune; stupidity by Talarico camp

Yes, the first two days of early voting are in the can, but Rethuglicans still like day-of election day voting more than Democraps, so Trump's endorsement of Kenny Boy over Big John Cornyn has plenty of potential election effect.

And, it really does, as his Pure Gall cutout from the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ world just beat Thomas Massie by 10 percentage points in Kentucky tonight, after toppling Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy a week earlier.

Per the Trib at the top link:

In teasing the endorsement Tuesday morning, Trump said he’s “had my mind made up for a long time.”

Typical Trump bullshit, of course. The easy refudiation then is, "Then why didn't you make the endorsement a long time ago?" 

Trump probably got showed some Kentucky 4th District polling that showed Gallrein was up on Massie and so Trump figured he could look like kingmaker in the Texas Senate race now. 

The Trib then claims that Trump is making the endorsement now because he thinks Dem nominee James Talarico is a weak candidate. Only problem is that the quote of Trump's they cite is from March.

They're not the only ones screwing up.

A Talarico spox said:

“With all the baggage, it’s no wonder that one-in-four John Cornyn voters say they’ll vote for James Talarico if Paxton is the nominee,” SMP spokesperson Lauren French said.

In reality, the poll said 4 percent, not 1-in-4, and that's actually lower than with Paxton backers. The poll also said Paxton was comfortably ahead, as of a month ago. And, that's not just one poll. See here.

Frankly, I can see how this plays out. Paxton gets the nomination, Talarico and campaign team think this gives them an edge, and instead, they get their ass kicked in November. 

Meanwhile, Kenny Boy has another office scandal, this one over a plea deal giving a child sex abuser a misdemeanor. 

Paxton vs Cornyn: Is it close to being officially on?

One event from last week bumps the odds to 90 percent that it's on. 

Another bit of news drops that to 70 percent.

The bump up is related to what looks like bad news for Kenny Boy.

Paxton, per a NYT interview in Dallas, has already talked to people close to The Donald about getting his kiss of anointment. In fact, he had to be reminded by a "campaign" advisor that he hasn't officially announced his campaign yet.

The bad news?

Paxton's aides get $6.6 million in whistleblower suit is the story. Of course, he's appealing it. It wouldn't really hurt him in a 2026 U.S. Senate general election, but in a primary against Big John Cornyn, it will be a lead anchor. Maybe.

That said, per The Barbed Wire, if NYT's grab of internal GOP polling is accurate, will Cornyn even run? 

It puts Paxton ahead of Cornyn right now. 

Given the change in administration, Cornyn's early 2024 jibe to Paxton about running from jail is now moot. And mute.

Cornyn will be 76 years old next year. That's actually not old by the standards of the gerontocracy of the current US Senate. But, he's watched Mitch McConnell fall apart over the past 12 months. Betty Crocker Diane Feinstein die in office. Other members age out more and more.

So, given those polling numbers, it drops back to 70 percent.

If Big John pulls out early enough, does anybody else major jump in? Sid Miller might. Former Land Commish Jerry Patterson might pull a contrarian run. Bushies in Texas, whether family members or otherwise? Not a chance.

And then, who runs to replace Kenny Boy?

Not major, but John Bash has announced his candidacy for AG.

Texas Progressives are eyeballing the election run-up

With early voting now more than halfway done, it's time to take stock of election issues in Texas and beyond as well as other things happening in the area.

So, with that, the Texas Progressives digs in to this week's roundup.

Houston regional

Schaefer Edwards looks at a Houston plan to fight flooding and climate change by planting a ton of trees.

Jen Rice categorizes Harris County drive-through voting locations by their fast food counterpart.

Texana

The Texas Observer is trumping the Texas Tribune in helping out Texas newspapers. It's starting an Indigenous Affairs desk, edited by nationally known American Indian journalist Tristan Ahtone. The helping local newspapers part? Its stories will be available for free to Texas papers.

Somebody call Greg Abbott. Texas is No. 1 and not Californicated — in medium and large city residents lacking health insurance. Somebody call Joebamacare Biden, too.

Texas politics

Via David Bruce Collins, the Dallas Snooze actually gets third parties and candidates basically right! Interviewing an actual third party candidate helped a lot.

ConservaDem Lulu Seikaly (she IS, Texas Observer, per your own story) hopes to flip CD4 in Collin County from smiley-faced wingnut Van Taylor. Sadly, she might win where Lorie Burch didn't win 2 years ago, and become another Colin Allred.

Off the Kuff interviewed Rep. Lizzie Fletcher about her action-packed first term in office.

Speaking of Colin Allred? Shock me that his opponent this year, Genevieve Collins, is as semi-clueless as Daddy Dick Collins, with whose Park Cities silver spoon she was born with in her mouth.

Chris Hooks looks at some Texas House races that are key to Dems' hopes to flipping it.

Ed Espinoza shows how Texas added nearly two million registered voters since 2016.

John Cornyn claims he disagreed with Trump "in private." That drew much laughter on Twitter, including my evocation of his old Corona comments:

.@JohnCornyn Did you and best bud Trump have a Corona together so "you'd all get through it together" even as he told Bob Woodward he kept his real worries on #Coronavirus private? John Cornyn, when you're a bigger lying sack of shit than Havana Ted Cruz, it's pretty bad. https://t.co/OmABTkYt2r

— The Notorious Roy G. Biv, GSNRF* 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) October 18, 2020

In reality, he's far from alone. GOP Senate candidates are scurrying to flee the Trump Deck as the ship looks more and more likely to go under. That includes Mitch McConnell's ship as well as Trump's, as pundits currently offer odds-on chances of the Dems making McConnell minority leader again. Speaking of ...

National, political

Dems will need to flip three of those Senate seats if Biden wins — four if Alabama's Doug Jones loses as expected. Here's the likely ones, with my personal take. Collins? Toast. McSally? Toast. Gardner? Likely toast. Tillis? Possible toast.  Ernst? Bread is in the toaster slots. Graham? Likely to stay on. Both Georgia races could go to runoffs. Even without either one of them, Dems have two definite pickups and a likely. Surely one of the possibles will be the fourth they need.

Meanwhile, Biden has more and more money to spend on national teevee. How long will his coattails be in some states?

But, who really cares? My Twitter take on Sunday:

We have current prez lying abt everything as Senate lackeys pander to QAnon while ...
Dem half of duopoly has Biden lying abt national health care, and now this #BidenBelieves hashtag despite the Constitution explicitly noting "NO RELIGIOUS TEST."
Worst election in a century

— The Notorious Roy G. Biv, GSNRF* 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) October 18, 2020

And, for a variety of reasons, I chose not to register to vote at my current address, so, per Timothy Leary, I have "tuned in, turned on, and dropped out," that last being hinted at by me four weeks ago. That includes you, Howie Hawkins, as a variety of micro- and mesoaggressions or whatever coming a bit from him, but more, his campaign and advisors and GP national have just left me uninterested. Sorry to David Bruce Collins and Kat Gruene, the other two statewide GP candidates, but if Ruth Hughs and SOS career staff hadn't screwed the pooch, you wouldn't be on the ballot anyway, and reading between the lines on the state Supremes, if you won, it might be all in vain anyway. (It is true I could have written in Gloria la Riva among alternatives. That said, I don't know the details of her stances vis a vis China, either, but I can take a guess.)

Otherwise, Democrats? I mean it all on that tweet. And, while Biden is targeting older voters, how many younger "Nones" will this new #BidenBelieves finish turning off if they were already kind of cold?

Michael Arceneaux explores the visceral loathing that older Black folks have for Donald Trump.

Paradise in Hell once again channels Donald Trump.

National, non-political

MUST READ: Andrew Cockburn details the decades of accumulation of presidential emergency powers, and the winks and nods Congress has engaged in since the 1970s to enable their continued expansion. No wonder Nixon said, "It's not illegal if the president does it." In many cases, already then, he was technically correct.

Is the surge in gender self-identification really driven by capitalism at end? This piece argues yes, and I'll have a breakout on it later. (Short version: I generally agree, though with some nuances versus the story. And, per my support of the Georgia Green Party, while I'm not "gender critical," I am "gender skeptical," and note that sex is not gender. Period.

What happens when you try calling most the people in Jeffrey Epstein's not-so-little black book? This.

Global

Don't look now, but for better or (more likely) for worse, Evo Morales is back, at least in the background.

Texas progressives talk coronavirus

As I did a couple of weeks ago, because the amount of political news running up to Super Tuesday was so heavy, this corner of the Texas Progressives is splitting the weekly Roundup into two parts this week. Part 2 is here.

(Update: For the March 23 week, the same split is in effect. More coronavirus news here. And ditto for the March 30 week; COVID news here. And for April 7 week, here. Week 5 is here. Ditto for Week 6. Here's Week 7, and Week 8.)

Part 1, per the header, is obvious. We're talking what's real, what's over-reacting and what's just  plain stupid. Remember, this is coming from Tex-ass. Sadly, we gots us some Democrat Dum Fuq overreacting as a major player this week.

MAIN POINT: CDC is still, as of yesterday, at 50 on recommendation for maximum public gathering size. But Panicky Don said 10, and hence the overreaction. Plus, the CDC recommendations specifically exempted businesses. (And schools.)

1. Here, the Gadfly offered up four pieces. The first was on how the coronavirus was the biggest puncturing of the eggshell of American exceptionalism since 9/11. The second was about how the coronavirus highlighted the need for science and math literacy, and among public health experts, the need for precise and detailed communication. The third was about what he totally agreed with, partially agreed with, and more disagreed with than agreed with on sports closures. The fourth was about the ugly nationalism and PR lies emanating from Beijing.

2. One of the nuttier parts of the coronavirus panic was/is the run on toilet paper. Folks, this is a flu-like virus, not Montezuma's revenge. (Or Corona-virus, in another world, if you will.)

Besides, we don't need no steenkin toilet paper!

WHAT #toiletpapercrisis or #ToiletPaperApocalypse or #ToiletPaperEmergency?

Here in Tex-ass, I use Dan Patrick's press releases. They're pre-shitted, after all.

— American Exceptionalism, meet coronavirus 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) March 13, 2020

That said, Dan Patrick's paper, like Dan Patrick himself, is pretty coarse.

3. #Schadenfreude is a bitch, and sometimes a bitch-slapper. Mexico wants to close the border because of all the dirty coronavirus infected Yanqui gringos. (Guatemala has already done so.)

4. Speaking of that? John Cornyn, a month behind the curve, made a "Corona" joke that was weak a month ago and is reprehensible now.

Be smart; don’t panic. We will get us through this #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/SyvOAWXItK

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 14, 2020

And, even as John Cornyn's pisswater swilling ass was joking and lazing around, the latest Trump clusterfuck? Not having DFW Airport and  others of the 13 airports officially permitted to receive returning US travelers ready for the massive onslaught.

So? I kicked Cornyn's ass:

John Cornyn? .@JohnCornyn

Get off your fucking Corona-swilling ass and get your feudal master Trump to fix the real coronavirus problem at DFW Airport. https://t.co/srE6YJPHPz

— American Exceptionalism, meet coronavirus 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) March 15, 2020

5. Ted Cruz seemed better when he self-quarantined, responsibly. Unfortunately, he wingnutted from there.

6. Speaking of, if there's a Typhoid Mary in all of this, it may be Trump himself.

7. Also on the more serious side? Not panic, but yes, IMO overreaction, and from the CDC. I think its call to ban gatherings of 50 or more, and for eight weeks, is overkill. Fauci's indication that he would, beyond that, favor a 14-day national shutdown? Ridiculous. China didn't do that. But now, Dum Fuq leaders in Texas are actually doing a local version of this.

8. Gov. Strangeabbott (haven't used that one in a while) proclaimed a state-level state of emergency and talked about drive-through testing in San Antonio. Too bad he didn't mention that one wasn't open to the general public.

That said, as of now, Abbott is less panicky than Harris County and the City of Dallas, both run by Democrats.

Bullshit. Even the CDC's latest recommendation was no crowds bigger than 50. Houston and Dallas are fucking panicking.

AND ... don't even fucking go there. I'm not a Rethuglican of ANY sort.

— American Exceptionalism, meet coronavirus 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) March 17, 2020

And, I will mute or block Dems who can't read.

9. Too bad in 2015 wingnuts in the Lege killed a bill to stockpile emergency medical supplies. Also too bad that nobody brought it back in 2017 or 2019 and that Strangeabbott and Danny Goeb didn't make it a priority.

10. Speaking of wingnuts, Gohmert Pyle remains stupider than Strangeabbott on a daily basis, and on a House coronavirus bill.

11. The closure of more and more rural hospitals (including one 30 or so miles southwest of my current newspaper locale) could make treating coronavirus in Texas even harder. OTOH, in my opinion, this article is an overreaction and we're not going to have 500 cases of coronavirus in Texas counties under 30,000 and west of I-35 (that paramenter excluding most rural folks who went to the Houston Livestock Show cookoff).

12. Alex Jones is hawking nanosilver toothpaste as an alleged coronavirus fighter. NY State's AG has already filed a cease and desist order, and Missouri's AG sued Jim Bakker for similar grifting. Kenny Boy Paxton? AWOL, as usual.

13. On the more serious side? If you actually want some science? Here's how these zoonotic viruses are causing epidemics and pandemics, and why they're more likely to happen in the future. (If the link isn't loading, it's a Nautilus issue, not a bad link or your computer. The gist is population growth, increasing affluence in some parts of the developing world and ultimately, from this and more, an increasingly dense urban-wildland interface. A second Nautilus piece, near the end, also talks about disturbed ecosystems.) After reading the article? I'm surprised that something like the white nose disease among bats here in the USofA hasn't made the "necesssary" mutations to jump. Fortunately, it's fungal, not viral.

14. Terese Odell talked about the effect coronavirus was having on TV production.

15. Paradise in Hell translates Trump's coronavirus speech.

Texas Progressives say Who's Your Halloween Daddy?

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that Halloween is Friday. The two scariest costumes available are Michael Quinn Sullivan and Dennis Bonnen, with either one trying to look sympathetic.

Even better, since both are two-faced, you just use the same mask and flip it inside out and back again.

Stay warm after that chilling thought if you, like yours truly, is up in North Texas and enjoy this week’s roundup, and our sympathies to students at A-M Commerce. Speaking of ...

Greenville-Commerce shooting

This shooting shows a lot of societal issues beyond two obvious ones. ALL of these need to be addressed, starting with gun control. The rise of the Nones will address the #ThoughtsAndPrayers vacuous piety.


Texas politics

At the Dallas Observer, Stephen Young reports that Gohmert Pyle claims to know who the Ukraine whistleblower is. Young adds that Gohmert, who he says would be Reddit's r/TheDonald if it were a living thing, was among the Spartans under Matt Gaetz who charged the House's secure hearing room — and later ordered pizza.

In a trifecta, Young notes that Big John Cornyn's ideas for gun control don't actually include guns.

Off the Kuff says farewell to soon to be former state House Speaker Bonnen, brought low by his dumb decision to trust "Mucus" Sullivan and his own trash mouth.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban supports the third-party and independent candidates lawsuit over HB 2504. A federal judge's hearing on the plaintiff's move to enjoin the state from collecting filing fees from candidates for third-party nominations is Oct. 31. I'll have an update, probably with some sort of analysis.



Dallas

Big D and suburbs continue to recover from 10 tornadoes.


Texana

Yours truly reviews "Big Wonderful Thing" and finds that, while it's big, it ain't so much wonderful as it is kind of boring.

When it comes to things like re-routing petroleum pipelines, the Observer shows that the final privilege is that of capitalism.

The Trib reports on senior citizens facing college student debt.

The TPA congratulates Noah Horwitz for passing his bar exam.

The Texas Signal reads the Census report on income inequality in Texas. 

Nonsequiteuse reviews the Astros front office debacle.

The Daily Texan decries UT's lack of action against professors who have been accused of sexual misconduct with students.

Juanita finds new reasons to dislike Sen. John Cornyn.

 Sanford Nowlin is right there with her. 

Their dual losses mean Oklahoma and Texas can both say sayonara to the College Football Playoff even as Austin disgruntlement with Tom Herman increases.

National

On his weekly 2020, Brains writes about Greens and other third parties' kerfuffles.  That's as Green candidate Howie Hawkins gets the SPUSA nomination.

SocraticGadfly does his alt-history schtick again and says imagine a world that never had American Indians. (Contra Brains, there's no reason to be so PC as to cross out "American Indians and replace that with "Indigenous Americans."A plurality of the people prefer American Indian, including activists like Russell Means, a former leader of the ... American Indian Movement.)

G. Elliott Morris examines the value of 2020 general election polls at this time.

Jared Beck's nutter DNC fraud lawsuit is officially dead by appellate court. I've updated my old blog post.

Texas progressives clean out their Mucus, talk the reality of El Paso and borders

The Texas Progressives hopes that if you have children starting school, they're in a district without armed gunmen providing safety from possible outside armed gunmen, and that state GOP wingnuts would get a clue about gun control and student mental health

It also wishes we'd go to a 200-day school year, like other developed nations.


Texas politics

There are now officially THREE Hispanic Democrats who want to replace John Cornyn and two of them who are at least halfway officially for #MedicareForAll. Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez brings not only that but a history of union organizing and more to the race. OTOH, Ramirez did say she would be OK with starting with the old bugaboo of the "public option." I guess Sema Hernandez is going to have to stop relying on air-kissing Bob the Knob O'Rourke, bragging about how well she did in 2018 and coasting on her name to get $5,000 in campaign cash and actually have to file an FEC report before primary time. She also has Sema's "story," being the daughter of an immigrant mother. And, people connected to Bob the Knob have actually not air-kissed but made real contact with her; a lot of them are going to be working her campaign. More at the Chronic.

With perfect, or perfectly bad, timing, Nonsequiteuse beseeches Beto to come back to Texas and run for Senate again. Juanita is singing from the same hymnal. Nancy Ohanian, the biggest nutter among the group that runs the allegedly pergressuve blog Down With Tyranny, even mentioned Tzintzún and STILL wants Beto back. And people wonder why I'm not a Democrat, and at more and more races below the presidential level.

Socratic Gadfly offers an up-to-date analysis of where we're at on Dennis Bonnen vs. Michael Quinn Sullivan, along with guesstimates of what led to the crash and burn between them.

Off the Kuff looks at some finance reports from State Rep incumbents and candidates.

G. Elliott Morris looks at the battle lines for 2020.

Rey Saldana has a San Antonio lesson on climate change.


El Paso and the border

Patrick Crusius is no anomaly. Dan Patrick, at the state level, Gus Bova says, has been blathering anti-immigrant toxicity longer than Trump. Behind that, in turn, is a long Texas history of anti-Mexican border violence, documented by the Observer. Behind THAT, in turn, is 100 years of the Border Patrol and immigration control legislation, documented by LobeLog. As the Observer notes, the eugenics movement, which also caught fire in the US with World War I, the first Red Scare, etc., is wrapped up with this. That includes Zyklon B's use as a delousing agent at the US border. Connect the dots from there.

In related demographic issues, Jim Schutze ruminates at length about fitting in and the changing nature of our suburbs.


Dallas

Karl Richter favorably reviews "Texas Flood," the new bio of Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Former Dallas County Schools head Rick Sorrells gets seven years in the federal pokey for his part in the laundry list of fiscal shenanigans there. I'm still surprised that John Wiley Price's name isn't attached to this. Did Dwaine Caraway's involvement drive him off? Did Sorrells mention something or another but it wasn't enough? Did Our Man Downtown think the scam was too transparent from the start and stayed away?


National

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a federal district court and ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act, which has an Indian-preference rule for adoption of American Indian children, was constitutional. Score this as another loss for AG Kenny Boy Paxton, who like his predecessor, Greg Abbott, bats well below .500 against the feds.


World

SocraticGadfly used the most recent anniversary of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) to give his most detailed refutation yet to some leftist and liberal claims about WWII in the Pacific and the use of the atomic bomb.

Texas Progressives tell Texas wingnuts: Climate change is still very real

Texas Progressives remind the climate change skeptics and denialists inside the Pointy Abandoned Object State™ that just because Texas has been missing its usual midsummer heat wave this year, that doesn't refute that July globally is on pace for a new all-time record. If there were a hell, you folks could bake there instead.

And with that, here's this week's roundup.

Global

SocraticGadfly invites you to be Simon and Garfunkel and picture the sounds of silence that a truly Green, Green New Deal on climate change would bring.

Dallas

Just who is Robert Jeffress, anyway, besides the Trump-fellating pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas? Despite my joke about Trump having nudies of him, a longform piece at Texas Monthly says that while he IS a "roast in hell you sinners" fundamentalist nutty enough to claim the Bible doesn't fully have anything to say about particular economic systems (truth is, Bob, it has NOTHING to say there), and he won't apologize for supporting Trump, he's not a wingnut in every way. Interestingly, he doesn't like the GOP on gunz, AND without saying "single payer," he thinks we need something better than Obamacare.

Well, Rev. Bob, meet Rev. Deanna Hollis, just named by the Presbyterian Church USA as its first national minister of gun violence prevention. All you have to do is drive up the road to Richardson and be as non-partisanly ecumenical as you claim.

Jim Schutze explains why the Red Bird Mall area won't be redeveloped anytime soon.


Houston

David Bruce Collins is upset enough to have not one but two posts about North Houston highway development bloated widening ideas.

Speaking from Houston, but really speaking to all Texas cities eyeing endless rounds of lane widening, Chris Tomlinson says this on Twitter:

Cities will always need cars for the disabled and other special purposes. But the idea that driving alone to work on a public-funded road is a birthright has got to end. Scooters will solve more problems than they cause.

— ChrisTomlinson (@cltomlinson) July 29, 2019

Well put.

Mean Green Cougar Red mourns the demolition of the First Pasadena Bank.

John Coby says good-bye to his Congressman, Pete Olson.


Texas Lege and Texas Politics

Intra-GOP scuffles have Republican activists like "Mucus" Sullivan claiming Speaker Dennis Bonnen has it out for them. He's now firing back.

Telling Greg Abbott to shut up about his call for tough enforcement of state pot laws, a group of central Texas Dems says the laws themselves remain the problem — laws they tried to change.

Stephen Young notices how one-note the Republican response to Democratic Senate candidates is.

Off the Kuff looks at the July campaign finance reports from Congressional candidates.

The Texas Observer reminds us that a lot of people die on the job in Texas.

A three-judge federal panel, sounding like the state supreme court on school finance four years ago, wagged their collective finger at the state but they refused to put it back under Voting Rights Act preclearance.

The rural hospital closure crisis continues.

National

Donald Trump named 1st District wingnut and hack Congresscritter John Ratcliffe — who I personally know is a wingnut and a hack — as his director of national intelligence nominee.

Bob the Knob O'Rourke asks an Obama veteran to bail out his failing and flailing prez campaign.

Brains previewed this week's Dem debate round in his Weekly 2020.

Louie Gohmert once again was Gohmert Pyle.

Better Texas Blog decries the proposals to gut SNAP.

Paradise in Hell interprets Donald Trump's interpretation of the Constitution.

The NOT "battle-tested" Royce West jumps in Cornyn race

Texas State Sen. Royce West has jumped in the race to face John Cornyn, months after Julian Castro did his own Hamlet, while more candidates entered the race in the meantime.

Don't forget to tip the multiple Pullman folks who will be handling your baggage, Royce. And, that Dallas Inland Port and other John Wiley Price baggage doesn't even include the baggage of lobbyists which I didn't mention in the original. Nor does it include the baggage of grifting on your legal contracts with Dallas ISD, which I did belatedly add.

I wonder how much the fake "Mr. Ethics," Chris Bell, will jump on this. After all, he needs a signature issue to boost his viability and visibility, and this is tailor made for the person he once presented himself as being in the Lege.

Besides that past "baggage," it's time to critique what West said today.

First, you're NOT "battle tested." Your past election history is full of cakewalks. You faced a token Republican in 2012, a re-run of him plus a Libertarian in 2014, and NOBODY in the 2018 general election. Let's go back further. Un-primaried and un-generaled in 2002. Ditto in 2004.

In fact, you've NEVER been primaried. "Battle tested" my ass.

Second, "affordable universal health care" could mean all sorts of shit, as Beto O'Rourke used similar language. Unless you explicitly say "single payer" or "Medicare for all," smart minds can only assume you're against it, Royce. That squares with Mark Jones of Rice saying that West will be looking for Biden voters.

Let's also note that he will be the oldest candidate in the primary. Given that many Texas Dems are following the national trend of looking for younger, fresher voices, this isn't such a good thing.

I will credit West for everything he's done in the Texas Senate on the issue of racial profiling. But I'm not going to let pass his history of grifting off his law office, his ties to John Wiley Price — especially over the Dallas Inland Port — and other issues.

And, contra my initial prediction, maybe the age issue has something to do with him running. He's 66, and so what if he has baggage. If he loses here, he's not up for re-election on his state senatecritter seat for three more years. And, he's never been primaried.

With that, I don't know which is sadder — the number of Lege seats the Dems haven't even tried to contest in past elections, or the number of their own seats where incumbents have never, ever been primaried.

From outsider insurgent to Just.Another.Politician.™? The odyssey of Sema Hernandez for Senate from Texas

Sema Hernandez, the chief Democratic primary challenger to Beto O'Rourke, was the first announced candidate for the 2020 Senate nomination. But, she's been getting very little Texas MSM support so far. And, per the header, I have one eyebrow raised over her actions since losing the primary in 2018.

Make that two, with TruthOut's great Aug. 29 story that explicitly notes how Bob on a Knob's downtown El Paso gentrification push specifically targeted, and hit hard, working-class Mexican-American homeowners. Enough had been blogged about (and linked by Brains) on O'Rourke's real estate grifting during the election that this is definitely (as I have just tweeted) yet another weak spot for Sema in bromancing Bob on a Knob.

On Senate runs, and people like Brains (and once, me) attacking Kuff for not naming her more? Well, as of early July, she still hadn't filed an FEC financial report, even though being officially in the race for months, per her FEC filing statement. In case we have any whataboutism, M.J. Hegar already has done just that, among others. (There is a Sema for Texas committee listed, but no money there, either, per the FEC in early August.)

She also didn't file at all in 2018, which means she didn't get $5K then. But, she's filed WELL in advance of the 2020 primary. As in Dec. 26, 2018. And she's still not at $5K? Well, there's "insurgent," and there's "not getting much money love." Sema, in imitation of presidential candidates, did an official campaign kickoff on June 8, six months after putting herself officially in the race. We'll see how much she draws, as presumably this will boost her over the $5K limit.

And, as of July 20, Open Secrets agrees: still not $5K. And the FEC also doesn't even list an "elect Sema" type committee, unlike with Michael Cooper, who ran for the Lite Guv nomination in 2018 and is also in this year's Senate race. Also, per Kuff, with whom I don't agree on a lot of things, she has an Act Blue donation link and isn't getting love there, either, I guess. So, Brains, Scap, etc.? Don't blame Kuff, or others, for them not talking about her more. Blame her. Announced nearly 7 months ago, kissed Beto's ass hard even before that, has an Act Blue link, and still hasn't raised $5,000? And, not with Nina Turner's endorsement, either?

And, the $5,000 is a threshold for filing. Doesn't mean you can't do an FED financial report with less than $5K. Michael Cooper's only raised $3K, or a bit less, and he's done a filing.

Kuff is right on this. Given that a seeming top tier of West, Bell, Edwards and Hegar are sure to each haul in $1 million by the primary date, not yet having $5,000 has to indicate that Sema isn't a serious candidate. Relying on an appearance two years ago and one-way butt-kissing of Bob the Knob O'Rourke won't help.

Aug. 5: I mentioned all of the above, with a callout of sorts to Sema as part of a five-person Tweet response to a Tweet from a friend. We'll see what she says about the fundraising.

And a name probably won't help either.

SKILL OR NAME?

As for how well she did in 2018? Well ... maybe it was insurgency ... and maybe it was her last name. Whether one likes to hear it or not, Sema's 2018 performance was generally no different than other Hispanic Democrats of the past 25-30 years running for statewide office in a Democratic primary.

"Just saying."

(Ray Madrigal ran for land commissioner 12 years prior and since 2014, has threatened to become a perpetual candidate. Gary Espinosa, AFAIK, ran for nothing either before or after challenging Ann Richards. Rick Noriega has shown that a Hispanic can win a statewide nomination; that said, he was already a state senator. Victor Morales, in his long-ago 1996 upset showed that even a low-spending Hispanic can win a primary, and against Democrats with as much name recognition as O'Rourke, or two of them, to be precise. And Hernandez has gotten lucky that Joaquin Castro is taking a powder. But, there IS a second Hispanic also already declared.)

But ... if you're going to pander to Beto, pander to the Texas Democratic Party poo-bahs, etc., and run a second time for the same race, shouldn't you have raised $5,000 for that run four or five months after filing? Note: None of the other Hispanics mentioned in that Trib piece ran for a statewide office a second time.

And, speaking of Hispanics, we have one other one already in this race, which wasn't the case in 2018, and activists urging on another. We have two African-Americans in Cooper and West. And, we have one other Houstonian besides Hernandez. Penny-ante fundraising won't get you anywhere in campaign competitiveness.

Correct that!

As of Aug. 12, there are now officially THREE Hispanic Democrats who want to replace John Cornyn and TWO of them who are, at least halfway, officially for #MedicareForAll. Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez brings not only that but a history of union organizing and more to the race, though she did say she was open to starting with "the public option." (Bell, West, Hegar won't even go that far.) I guess Sema is going to have to stop relying on air-kissing Bob the Knob, bragging about how well she did in 2018 and coasting on her name to get $5,000 in campaign cash and actually have to file an FEC report before primary time. Ramirez also has Sema's "story," being the daughter of immigrants. And, people connected to Bob the Knob have actually not air-kissed but made real contact with her; a lot of them are going to be working her campaign. More at the Chronic.

Further indicating Sema 2018 may have gotten votes on name or heritage as much as anything? African American Kesha Rogers, notorious LaRouche candidate, was second in the 2014 Democratic Senate primary, with 22 percent in the first round and 28 percent in runoff.


SPECIAL UPDATES RELATED TO THE 2018 TEXAS U.S. SENATE RACE

Meanwhile, back to Sema endorsing Beto a year ago and not apologizing for that, pulling primarily from my long “Is Beto a ConservaDem?” post.

As Beto continued to get hammered by David Sirota, Norman Solomon, Elizabeth Breunig, Zaid Jilani and others (with me adding my own tidbits) over his Congressional voting record after his Senate run was done but before he entered the 2020 prez race, taking money from the oil and gas industry for that, taking money from the FIRE sector for that, refusing to walk the walk on marijuana reform laws (I checked; that blog post of mine was before Sema officially endorsed Beto) and more, the following questions arise about her endorsement:

1. Did Sema Hernandez know all that? (She should have; she saw the first version of this ConservaDem piece as it was updated at that time, without the oil and gas info, before her endorsement, if I recall my Twitter timeline correctly.)

2. Why did she make that endorsement, other than moving into Just.Another.Politician.™ territory?

3. Will she own up to being, in any way, Just.Another.Politician.™?

4. Will she, if worried about fellow Roses or about the Our Revolution folks in Houston and DFW and elsewhere who refused to endorse Beto, try to rescind her endorsement?

Answers:

1. Yes, as noted.

2. For that reason, as noted.

3. No, because that would undercut 1 and 2, IMO.

4. Call me back in about 12 months.

These are all issues that hold true whether or not Beto allegedly gave an explicit promise to back single-payer (not the "universal health care" fudge) after she endorsed him. (BTW, based on his actual 2018 history with Sanders' bill, I don't believe such an explicit promise was made. I already told you that, Scap.) Beyond THAT, both Sema and Scap know that "universal health care" 10 seconds past the cue-in spot of a Beto interview that Scap claimed refudiated me is a fudge.

Heck, it's arguable that Sema gave herself an early start on drinking that Beto2020 Kool-Aid that I recently blogged about. And that's despite other reasons for her not to have guzzled.

As a first-generation Mexican-American, she might at least be concerned about his gentrification pushing on the El Paso City Council. I mean, I am voting strongly on single-payer, but, I'm aware of other stuff, some of which is semi-litmus-test level itself.

And, now that she's attacking Cornyn for talking fossil fuel money, will she repudiate her endorsement of Beto since he did the same?

Nope. In fact, she doubled down on the suck-up after O'Rourke announced his Prez run.

I wish you good luck, @BetoORourke.
While you run for President, I'll take on Sen. John Cornyn.
Thanks for your kind words of support for our 2020 grassroots U.S. Senate campaign.

Let's turn Texas Blue ➡ https://t.co/jrd4l4rgbR ⬅#Sema2020 #TXSen#BetoORourke @Sema4Texas

— Sema 🌹 (@_SemaHernandez_) March 14, 2019

Shock me.

And, what actually were those kind words of support? Were they anything beyond pro forma stuff?

Also "shock me" that as of March 14, 2019, Beto is STILL SCHWAFFLING on supporting single payer, per a transcript of a radio interview in Iowa.

And yes, Point No. 4 is true. Our Revolution's Harris County branch refused to endorse Beto, as David Bruce Collins noted. Remember, Sema lives in Houston, and she surely knows about this non-endorsement, which makes her look more conservative than at least some other Texas Dems. The state Our Revolution also did not endorse Beto, if I read between the lines of its website putting an asterisk with his endorsement that stresses this was straight from national. That would seem to be confirmed by the North Texas chapter also NOT endorsing Beto.

And, B-and-E as recently as mid-March gave Sema a pass on her Just.Another.Politician.™ endorsement of R.F. O'Rourke last fall.

I also see that Sema is taking a Kool Kids of Politics social media page from Beto and upping the ante by now creating an Instagram account. (And, no, I'm not linking. I'm just asking that we don't get video of Sema going to the dentist.)

See, too me, that's a wrong move politically.

If you really want to be cool, AND smart as a politician? Snapchat. No electronic paper trail remains after those snaps dissolve, right? Can't be quoted on what you say there unless somebody does a screengrab.

If Sema wants to boost her chance of getting my support in the 2020 primary, per my Beto Kool-Aid piece, she could start by repudiating her endorsement of him last year, since he never did unequivocally back single-payer and since he had other problems as well.

Is Sema totally Just.Another.Politician.™? No, not totally. But, IMO, she has one foot clearly there, and as with some AOC stuff, having one foot there is also an "eyeballs" problem, given the nature of her 2018 Senate primary run.

MY 2020 CHOICES?

So far, with Drew Springer getting Greens back on the ballot while also opening the state of Texas to being sued (and, HB 2504 WAS a "wedge," Drew), any Green who's not a yellow dog or a blue dog is my first choice.

Then, we go to Democrats.

Michael Cooper is my No. 1 as of right now. Hernandez is a fairly distant No. 2 and remains there until she apologizes for her putting one foot, at least, into the Just.Another.Politician.™ world. And, I'm not holding my breath right now about that.

Amanda Edwards might be No. 3?

Hegar? Yet more distant No. 4 as a military ConservaDem who as of now has nothing on policy on her website. Shades of Wendy Davis, but Hegar's been in the race a couple of months.

West No. 5?

Minor candidates more minor than Sema? No. 6.

Chris Bell will remain in last, and so much in last that if the Greens don't run anybody, rather than undervote him as I did Beto in 2018 I might vote Libertarian as a message.

TX Progressives look harder at the Lege while wondering what Strangeabbott will still veto

Gov. Greg Abbott has until June 16 to sign bills, veto them, or let them become law without his signature. Among the things he can do nothing about, short of a special session is the non-law that did not address sunset issues and keep state plumbers' regs in place.

So, the Lege doesn't give a shit about shit, even as a protest of licensed plumbers is reportedly headed to Austin. And with that, here's the Roundup.

The Lege

Justin Miller at the Observer reports that Dennis Bonnen pulled some short-term punches as first-term speaker with an eye on longer-termGOP power, starting with 2020 Census redistricting.  At the same time, Vicky Camarillo notes the Lege refused to spend money to help the Census in its counting, which could cost the state big time. 

Sexual harassment fared poorly in the Lege even as it addressed sexual assault. Details here. 

The Lege joined 18 other states in the newest War on Drugs stupidity, thinking “robotripping” is a threat to our way of life as we know it and banning minors from buying NyQuil.

It also made pipeline protesting a felony.

Better Texas Blog has three Top Fives from the legislative session.

Stephen Young has his own Best and Worst list from the session.

Texana

Rural East Texas has pockets with some of the higher suicide rates in the nation. The Observer has details. Although it’s not part of the West, it mirrors in some degree the West’s sociological profile — and that area leads the nation in suicides, especially of older white men. 

Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico could seriously ding the Texas economy.

SocraticGadfly looked at a key period of early Anglo-Texas history to discuss how much of northern Mexico President Polk wanted, when and why, and connected this to the Compromise of 1850.

Off the Kuff was all over the reports of Republican Census rigging that emerged from the computer files of a deceased redistricting guru.

Benjamin Collinger warns that exposure to lead-based paint is still a big health risk for children.

Sunland Park, New Mexico, sadly caved to Kris Kobach et al on a privately built strip of border wall.

Royce West continues to "do his due diligence" about running in the Dem primary to face John Cornyn. Royce is taking about as long to shit or get off the pot on this decision as Joaquin Castro, and having lived in his state senate district most the previous decade, say he'll probably get off the pot. He's got too much of a black eye potential from old Dallas Inland Port shenanigans, as both I and Jim Schutze know. He also was MIA on some south Dallas development issues next to his beloved UNT-Dallas. Beyond that, he and former Houston black state senate peer Rodney Ellis both have taken powders in the past on statewide runs. Read everything with my Royce West tag for more.

Houston

David Bruce Collins documents the newest implosion of the Harris County Green Party. 

Dallas area

Stephen Young documents that the old Dallas business coalition still considers itself in the business of mayor-picking. D Magazine also got the secret recording, and also blasts the Dallas old guard for untruthfulness.  In a related matter, Jim Schutze tells Dallasites to vote for Scott Griggs because that's a vote against the Morning Snooze; Schutze shows how its op-eds have actually gone backwards under its current op-ed head.

(Please, activist investors, force Belo to privatize this POS, and put up a higher paywall for the online version so that few people other than that Dallas Old Guard read it.)

Young also gets emails about his piece about the city of Dallas' old Confederate statues. Great laughs.

Jim Schutze takes the Catholic Diocese of Dallas to the woodshed over its response to a Dallas PD raid for material related to allegedly child-abusing priests and kicks it hard in the ass. 

National

Iowans have more opportunities than ever to get sick of Robert Francis O’Rourke.

Rick Perry's back pain meds must be acting up, as the Department of Energy talks about "molecules of freedom." Juanita weighs in, getting high on Freedom Gas.

Brains has a Dems 2020 update, with a climate change scorecard.

Mean Green Cougar Red touts the virtues of less-visited countries.

Sarah Martinez reports on a fake Buc-ee's spotted in the country of Jordan.

==

Sneak peek at next week's Roundup: We'll have an update on what Strangeabbott has sined and what he has made die on bills the Lege passed, a look at not-so-progressive librul Supreme Court justices and more. Last week's issue is here.