Texas Progressives talk this and that

Off the Kuff has some initial election analysis and some good news from the school board races.

SocraticGadfly notes that the push to revive uranium mining could have environmental consequences in South Texas as well as the Desert Southwest original mining homeland.

Bari Weiss is a scab, and a promoter of her own legend vs reality, as well as a Zionist genocidalist, per Mike Elk. 

Kenny Boy is suing Galveston ISD for not posting the Ten Commandments. GISD, while not part of any current lawsuits, has cited them for not posting the Divarim. Guess it's part of a lawsuit now.

Dannie Goeb wants St. Charlie of Kirk in Texas high schools and colleges statewide. 

The Barbed Wire notes that TSA staffers as well as air traffic controllers are doing shutdown sickouts. SIX hours through security. Shock me that the major airlines, per the piece, are backing a GOP continuing resolution that won't address why we're in this shutdown in the first place. 

Texas Christian University is private, but not public, but it still appears to be caving to Strangeabbott on DEI issues, per a faculty member.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said so-called union friendly Mayor Whitmire blamed TSA workers for not coming to work for no pay for delays at Houston airports, rather than the right wing thugs running the country.

The TSTA Blog rightfully calls Christian nationalism un-American, and opposing it patriotic.

The Barbed Wire tells Greg Abbott he's not nearly as funny as he thinks he is.

Texas Progressives — climate change, SNAP, Palestinians

SocraticGadfly noted that there are no magic silver bullets on climate change and agriculture. (But, contra ignoring or denialism by the likes of Suzanne Bellsnyder, there is the need to do something.)

Off the Kuff rounded up the latest finance reports from the CD18 special election. 

Strangeabbott sloughed off pressure to do something about SNAP.  (The federal judge's ruling was relevant only to states that sued Trump.) 

In Texas Progressives news that the Palestinian-hating, tacitly Zionism-backing Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff won't tell you, ONE pro-Palestinian protestor from Columbia University remains in ICE detention — here in Texas. 

Jeffrey Nall reminds us that true humanism includes some sort of conscientious disobedience at times, and that, (contra Ed Buckner) this includes support for Gaza. 

El Paso Matters talks to several high school students who have been negatively affected by recent legislation.

G. Elliott Morris rebuts some claims about the value of political moderation.

Israeli organized crime operating in the US is a big deal — even officially tied to leaders of Israel's Likud party. 

Olivia Messer reminds us that Texas is a lot more queer than you might think.

Deceleration is tracking an upward trend in San Antonio's carbon emissions.

Miranda Williamson and other students like her will suffer greatly if SNAP benefits are turned off.

Alice Linahan warns that the state's literacy plan is not what it's cracked up to be.

Alison Cook wished you a happy Cabbage Night. 

Neil Aquino wrote about the Metro's erasure of the Pride sidewalk and No Kings in Houston. 

TX Progressives salute airport workers for shutdown end and offer this week's roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance salutes Speaker Nancy Pelosi (or "Speaker Pelosi", as we call her) airport workers using their labor powers for getting Donald Trump to fold in the shutdown fight as it brings you this week's roundup. (This outpost already called bullshit on “Pelosi did it” on Friday evening, Mr. Kuff. Sorry.*)

Off the Kuff kept up with the Census lawsuit news, now being fought in two courts.

SocraticGadfly had two different pieces on just how real and how strong the national "jobs miracle" is. First, if as much as half of Internet traffic is fake and bots, then how "real" are many Internet-driven jobs such as SEO marketing? Second, he advised people not to believe semi-legend pieces about the ease of job-hopping. The reality is different; it's driven by IT-tech jobs, followed by sales, and doesn't apply if you're over a certain age.

And here are some posts of interest from other news sites and blogs.

Raise Your Hand Texas highlights some of the many public school choice options available to Texas students and families.

TJ Mayes argues for a smoke-free policy in San Antonio's parks.

John Coby has some advice for would-be office seekers.

Therese Odell celebrates the long-overdue arrest of Roger Stone.

Stephen Young invites you to watch Ted Cruz get called out by a fellow Senator for his hypocrisy on government shutdowns.

The Texas Living Waters Project writes about reforesting stream banks.

On Twitter, the Texas Trib calls bullshit on the Texas Secretary of State’s insinuations about vote fraud.

The Texas Observer links Congresscritter Louie Gohmert and state Sen. Bob Hall to the same white nationalist types that Iowa Congresscritter Steve King loves.

The Texas Observer also also talks to border-county sheriffs about border security and immigration issues.

Jim Schuetze profiles the nutters opposing Dallas police reform, but also questions agenda-pushers on the other side who aren't accepting empirical evidence.

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Kuff's work on the roundup is appreciated, and I often go with his intro. I have edited it at times in the past, but always quietly. This was simply too egregious, though; it is a verbatim repeat of centrist Dem blogs and online news sites.

As the government shutdown continues: Playing 'gotcha' with Dems on wall votes

The likes of Brie Brie Joy, writing for The Intercept, and Lee Camp, among others, last week played "gotcha" with national Democrats, claiming that then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, along with current Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in 2006, had no problem voting for a wall.

Politifact rates that half-true, and I agree.

Politifact describes several ways in which the Secure Fence Act was different from Trump.

First, it was for sections of the border as a stand-alone item. It was not to fund part of a barrier for the entire border.

Second, as the word "fence" in the bill's name indicates, it was NOT for a wall. And, although Trump, in his semi-dotage, has slipped at times on Twitter, it's clear he wants a wall.

Indeed, Politifact notes that Trump has called what was approved in 2006 too weak.

Politifact has a related piece from Obama's presidency here.

It's not a totally false claim, whether out of the mouth of wingnuts trying to score purity points or from alleged leftists looking for another "gotcha" on Democrats.

Since, at the level of national politics, I long ago did my duopoly exit, I don't normally feel the need for such gotcha.

So far, only the wingers are saying, "But Dems voted for $25 billion for the wall a year ago." They did. But, for Democrats, that was for a 10-year payout, not one year, it was tied to DACA renewal, and even more, to a better process for legal immigration and other issues, and Trump rejected that.

Besides, as Shep Smith said Jan. 18 in owning Chris Wallace, current House Dems campaigned on not giving Trump more wall money. And took back the House.

Again, so far, only wingers are saying that. Stay tuned, as the shutdown continues.

And, per David Bruce Collins, the Dems themselves, after the disastrous Pelosi-Schumer response to Trump (contra Bernie Sanders' much better personal one), need to up their storytelling and narrative game. (That then said, George Lakoff isn't a perfect adviser on such things.)

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That said, as Eoin Higgins notes, on things like reauthorizing federal flood insurance just before the shutdown, there ARE things on which to play gotcha on Dems.

Ocasio-Cortez has another unforced error: This time, she botches government shutdown info

Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, red rose Congressional queen of the House of Lancaster, I mean, the Democratic Socialists of America, has had several unforced errors since beating Joe Crowley to essentially win election to her 14th Congressional District.

First and most notable for people like me who bat outside the duopoly on foreign as well as domestic policy, was her retreat from words of support for BDS.

Second and related was her gushing over the Schmuck Talk Express™,  John McCain, when he died.

Well, now, she's shown that she should tweet less, research more, including knowing some basic constitutional facts, on the government shutdown.

AOC has a set of tweets that The Hill "reported" into a story, and oh, there's so much wrong.

First, she says Congresscritters should have salary cut off, after decrying partisan nature of shutdown (yet being already bipartisan enough to not call out Freedom Fries Caucus head Jim Jordan by name).

Second, she ignores a problem (which The Hill itself gets wrong as to the "why"). You can't cut Congressional salaries.

That relates to her not even mentioning the president's salary during the shutdown. Which, yes, also falls under the same rubric as that of Congresscritters, which The Hill got wrong.

It's not just illegal, which The Hill claims; it is unconstitutional, which is an entirely different kettle of fish. Explicitly so with the president. And for good reason. Although the president wound up much stronger than most members of Team Philadelphia 1787 not named Hamilton intended, the founders didn't want Congress forcing a president to their will by hacking his pay. (Of course, they objected when George III tried to insulate colonial governors from colonial legislative control, so, and far from the only time in America's founding, hypocrisy was at play.)

As for Congress, per the same link, in the current Congress, it's illegal to cut their pay, explicitly, by the 27th Amendment, which The Hill also gets wrong. When the new Congress starts, AOC could push a bill on the first day of the session that they don't get paid until the shutdown ends. She could also ask for it to be part of the standing rules in House and Senate. If I am engaging in correct constitutional interpretation, that could pass muster. But, short of an amendment, she still can't do anything about the president's salary.

Finally, if we're going to criticize Beltway stenos for "reporting" on Trump's tweets, should we not hold the stenos to the same standard re Ocasio-Cortez? I say yes. That piece had no actual reporting and was inaccurate. I've already Tweeted to the particular Beltway steno who "reported" this, specifically on the error, and got no response.

Update, Feb. 20, 2018: She's had other unforced errors, like throwing Rep. Omar halfway under the bus on Israel-Palestine issues.

TX Progressives scattershoot #shithole worlds and more

The Texas Progressive Alliance remembers the just-passed 45th anniversary of Roe v Wade while admitting your guess is as good as its on shutdown issues.

 Off the Kuff expresses skepticism about a "loose coalition" of business and education interests aiming to weaken Dan Patrick by aiming at his Senate enablers.

SocraticGadfly talks baseball. With Cardinals icon Yadier Molina announcing he'll retire when his current contract ends, is he a Hall of Famer or not?

EgbertoWillies.com said that many Democrats seemed to have believed that because Trump is unpopular they would coast to a Blue Wave. Those who warned were attacked as pessimists not reading the data objectively. The double-digit Democratic generic poll lead evaporated. There is work to be done.

Neil at All People Have Value shared a picture from the weekly John Cornyn Houston Office Protest held each Tuesday 11:30 AM to 1 PM at 5300 Memorial Dr.

Brains and Eggs goes Blackie Sherrod and does some scattershooting of shitholes.

Ted at Jobsanger says merit-based immigration is actually unfriendly to immigrants.

David Bruce Collins attends Our Revolution Texas, Gulf Coast, and merit-based immigration touts its candidate slate — with caveats on foreign policy.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Jeff Balke writes all your driving-related New Year's resolutions.

S. L. Wisenberg grapples with the art of men who do despicable things.

Michael Li interprets the latest SCOTUS action on Texas redistricting.

G. Elliott Morris gives a short course in poll tracking.

Therese Odell says we should ignore Trump's "Fake News Awards", but we still have to take them seriously.

The Bloggess celebrates Eeyore Day.

Stuart Williams urges Texas Democrats to compete in rural areas.

In These Times says post-Harvey rebuilding of Houston is being done with exploitatio of immigrant labor, including wage theft.

Texas Standard talks about why Texas might be better off with an outside insurer for state property rather than “self-insuring” by legislation on request.

The Texas Observer says rural health care sucks in the state. (Last year, Texas became about the last state in the nation to approve treating telemedicine just like other medicine.)

The shutdown will be Tweeted #TrumpShutdown or #SchumerShutdown?

The revolution, unfortunately, won't be televised because America will never have a left-wing revolution even if it needs it.

First, it's not Schumer. Given that a few Senate Republicans also voted for the shutdown, Mitch McConnell needed to get 15 Dems  or so in favor.

Second, if we want to call it Schumer's tactically, it's still McConnell's strategically. He's made the first post-shutdown deal offer, and it's little different than what Paul Ryan rammed through the House GOP.

Update, Jan. 22 — Call it the Schumer Shutdown because Chuck and other Senate Dems are going to cave on reopening while getting little back other than a vacuous McConnell promise.)

It's also his until he forces somebody in Team Trump to be the point man for the White House.

Nobody has been so far, and now, somebody there has decided to pour gasoline on the fire by calling Democrats accessories to murder.

McConnell knows better from Obamcare and his Senate failure there.

I don't expect a solution today, and would be surprised if we get one by the end of the week.

So far, talks about a short-term extension, even if they set the stage for further talks on Dreamers, aren't saying anything about a better extension of CHIP than has recently been discussed. Beyond that, as Lindsay Graham has said, per my notes above, as long as Stephen Miller is the point man for the White House on immigration, ain't much of nothing happening. But it doesn't look like that's changing immediately. John Kelly is reportedly joining with Miller, and he's almost as hardcore, albeit without open flirtation with racism.

So, even if this short-term extension passes, prepare for another shutdown in three weeks. (Unless Schumer caves again.)

If that's the playout, Schumer and other Democrats need to get smarter than his and others' recent ideas.

'Moderates' in the GOP and debt limit denialism

First, when Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker is called a moderate, rather than a straight-up conservative, the press is practicing some cousin of "equivalence."

That said, Maine Sen. Susan Collins IS a moderate in today's GOP, and was somewhat of one even by late 1990s GOP standards. And, Corker isn't a wingnut So, it's not just ridiculous, it's highly scary for the two of them, as well as others, to claim Oct. 17 isn't debt ceiling D-Day.

And, it's highly frustrating, on the House side of the GOP, for so-called "moderates" to say they support a "clean" continuing resolution to end the budget shutdown, when in reality, they continue blocking it. That includes the alleged "king" of Republican moderates, New York's Peter King.

Besides not being so moderate on this issue, King's a neocon on the Middle East and Islamophobia.

Anyway, I had originally put my over/under on the ending of the government shutdown on or about Oct. 23, with a caveat that, if things weren't done by then, I'd move that back a full month.

Well, I may be ready to adopt that first move-back date already before then.

Oh, and "dear mainstream media" (by which I include mainstream web media like Salon)? Stop calling Peter King a "moderate," or a "realist," or whatever. His Islamophobia should already have eliminated that idea.

Why the federal shutdown won't end soon

Reason 1: Posturing by tea party congresscritters, like this.

"We're not going to be disrespected," Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. "We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

Nuff said. (If you're unfamiliar, this Examiner is not part of the national chain of exploitive, "be your own publisher" blogs, but rather is one of the outposts of Philip Anschutz's money-losing wingnut papers. In DC, the Examiner arguably makes the Moonie-run Washington Times look sane on occasion. Anschutz also owns the Weekly Standard. Nuff said there, too.)

More posturing, by Rep. Tim Griffin, during the DC woman's strange behavior.

Griffin had tweeted, “Stop the violent rhetoric President Obama, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. #Disgusting” from his personal Twitter account, a few minutes into an active shooter situation on Capitol Hill that put the Capitol complex on lockdown.

Maybe we didn't have nuff said earlier, Timmeh?

Reason 2: The branding war has broken out. Faux News says it's a "slimdown" not a shutdown.

Yeah, right. But, let's follow up on Faux:

It's a slimdown. It's a slowdown. It's a dietary shake for the 47 percent who are getting fat of Obamacare!

Sincerely, Mittens A. Romney. 

Reason 3: Related to No. 1, the GOP can't agree on what the fight is about.

Reason 4: In standing up to tea party hardcore folks, Speaker of the House John Boehner at times has less gonads than President Barack Obama. That said, that's true of all the House GOP leadership. That's why Majority Leader Eric Cantor refused to challenge Boehner after last  year's elections.

Reason 5: Ted Cruz, who can't even apologize right, even when it involves World War II vets who are theoretically tea party constituency types in many cases.

Reason 6: Other Tea Partiers are blaming everyday government employees trying to do shutdown-related work for the problems this causes.

Reason 7: There's plenty of hypocrisy in politics in general, but Democrats proposing a bill to stop paying Congress' salaries during the shutdown is a great "callout" of the GOP. Let the branding war step up. Because, per that No. 2, and previous GOP messenging, from "death panels" to "death taxes" (add in gun violence and we could ask, "What is it with today's GOP and death?")

Reason 8: Based on 2 and 6, contra some media folks who still play the "equivalence" game, other Democrats, or so it seems, are not going to lay down in the road for Ted Cruz, Marlin Stutzman and other radicals. And, speaking of that, this is not "equal fault."

These folks, as I said in a comment elsewhere, are whiny titty babies who are apparently convinced they can't win the Senate to go along with the House in 2014, let alone win the presidency after that. They're holding their breath until they hope they can get the nation's collective face to turn red.

And, over what? Obama is not socialism, unless you want to talk about corporate socialism in a bill largely crafted by America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's lobbying agency. But, then let's talk about ethanol subsidies, oil depletion allowances and much more.

Reason No 9, IF it pans out: Boehner is now claiming that, at least, he won't let the government default. Well, let's see how many "attachments" he puts on a debt ceiling bill and if he can get enough "moderates" in the GOP to go along. 

However, "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz has already made his opposition to this clear. 

And, besides that, it turns out that Boehner was apparently lying about not letting the government default.

Reason No. 10: The back pay deal being approved. So, now that the GOP can say, "Hey, look, we'll take care of government employees," it has one less reason to compromise. That said, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid puts it at that link, you're agreeing to pay them, why not pay them now and bring them back to work?

Anyway, my over/under, currently, on when the shutdown will end? Oct. 23. And, that may be wildly optimistic. If there's no end to this inanity by then, Thanksgiving becomes my next over/under.

Govt shutdown - no retroactive pay for the furloughed

As this Post story notes, even Gingrich and Gang in 1995 weren't so heartless as to refuse to retroactively pay federal employees furloughed in the government shutdown then.

But, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and gang are.

Rep. James Moran (D-Va), whose Northern Virginia district is home to thousands of federal employees, said furloughed workers should not expect to be paid, based on feedback he is getting from Republican colleagues in Congress.

“It is highly unlikely that about 1 million federal employees who are not working will ever be reimbursed,” Moran said in a conference call Wednesday with reporters. He called the majority of his GOP colleagues “far more anti-government in terms of their mindset” than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during the 1990s shutdown, when Congress agreed to reimburse furloughed workers retroactively.

I would ordinarily say this would increase the "win" factor for Democrats of a shutdown, but tea partiers will massage this to blame Obama for the likely small minority of federal employees sympathetic to such a message. But, independent voters within federal employees are more numerous and more likely to believe Dems' messaging. Nonetheless, this isn't a slam dunk.