Some non-twosider election wrap thoughts, starting with third parties

Cross-posted in moderately shorter version at Substack.

Per the header, and per my voting, we’re going to start at looking at the two third parties in America, the Greens and Libertarians. (Per my verbiage, and that of at least some political scientists, the other parties are “minor parties.”)

And we’re going to start with that subhed.

I’ve not seen the national numbers yet, but here in Texas, yes, the Libertarian party imploded indeed.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein finished ahead of the Libertarian nominee, Chase Oliver. Yes, you read that right.

Stein took 0.73 percent to Oliver's 0.6 percent.

In 2020, Libertarian Jo Jorgensen took 1.12 percent in Texas to Howie Hawkins’ 0.30 percent. The ratio was the same in 2016, and in 2012, with both parties much higher in 2016 because it wasn’t in the middle of COVID, which hurt third parties and minor parties, and it wasn’t apocalyptically shaded by both duopoly parties.

Then, it was 3.16 percent for Gary Johnson vs 0.80 percent for Stein. In 2012, without many voters thinking Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were as crappy as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it was 1.1 percent Johnson, 0.3 percent Stein, here in Texas.

Average 2012 and 2016 and you get 0.55 percent. Stein outperformed that, despite being a three-time retread with investment ethics problems. Side note: Yes, she whiffed on not knowing the exact number of Members of Congress. And? AOC constitutionally whiffed on wanting to cut Congresscritter pay during a shutdown. Take that, #BlueAnon.

Do that same averaging for Libertarians and you’re at 2.13 percent. Oliver MASSIVELY underperformed that.

I suspect the Mises Mice cuck-up in the Libertarian Party has borne fruit. I have yet to see national numbers, but, I have another state number to reflect that.

Here in Texas, the Greens had just one statewide candidate besides Stein. Eddie Espinoza was running for a spot on the Railroad Commission of Texas. Libertarians also had a candidate, Hawk Dunlap.

Both finished well ahead of their parties’ presidential nominees, but the main comparative takeaway is that Espinoza had 2.75 percent to Dunlap’s 2.6 percent.

The second main takeaway is that, under the stipulations of a 2021 Texas Legislature bill pushed by state Sen. Drew Springer, that requires third parties to break 2 percent in a statewide vote once every five cycles to keep statewide ballot access, Greens, instead of facing a do-or-die in 2026, are now good through 2032.

Will they get a better gubernatorial candidate in 2026? That remains to be seen. They had Brandon Parmer the non-candidate in 2014, ran nobody in 2018, and had gun nut, antivaxxer and more Delilah Barrios in 2022. (I think I held my nose and voted Parmer in 2014; with no Green, I undervoted in 2018; I undervoted in 2022.)

For that matter, will the GP national get a better presidential candidate in 2028? The list of candidates a year ago, at the time the party recruited Cornel West, sucked canal water. (And, given the reality of Cornel West, that “sucked canal water” includes him.) Before Stein bit the bullet / decided to pay off 2016 FEC-incurred debt, and after West stepped aside, no “names” like Margaret Flowers or Matthew Hoh stepped forward.

Nationally, confirming possible LP meltdown? At Ballot Access News, Winger says the Georgia LP lost state ballot access, falling below 1 percent on the presidential vote. (To be clear, that's 1 percent of actual voters in a presidential election, not 1 percent of registered voters.) Let us not forget that Chase Oliver is FROM Georgia. And, as part of that, let us note that Stein was nearly even with Oliver there. Considering the old Georgia GP getting the boot after 2020, and related issues, for these results to have Oliver at just 0.39 percent, and Stein to be close at 0.35 percent? Horrible, on the Libertarian side. 

Here in Tex-ass, maybe legacy media focusing on Stein gave her a boost. But, in Georgia, a swing state and the post-2020 fallout I noted? No, that's on the LP. That's implosion.

Also, as mentioned in an email discussion with Jordan from IPR? The Libertarian Party's national convention flirtation with Trump probably contributed to the implosion. While it may not have been totally driven by the Mises Mice, it certainly was in part. The New Hampshire LP's early-on actual endorsement of Trump was also an underminer. All the other shenanigans, both by LP National's board and by some state parties, after the convention only added to this. (I will have a follow-up whenever Wikipedia or somebody likes that gets us the nationwide third-party vote count so I can compare to 2020 and 2016.)

I can't help but think that, even though they didn't do as I thought and run a presidential candidate in states where they had a party line ballot access, either directly or indirectly, that the newly formed Liberal Party has plenty of room to build.

Update, Nov. 18: Wikipedia doesn't yet have a state-by state breakout, but with 98 percent of the estimated national vote counted as of this time, we can confirm a Libertarian implosion, per Wikipedia's 2024 presidential election page when contrasted with its 2020 page. Oliver got ONE-THIRD of what Jo Jorgenson got in 2020. And, within this election, he only got 80 percent of Stein's numbers.

As for why? It's of course speculation on the Mises Mice angle. But, it's reasonable and informed speculation based on everything that happened at the LP national convention and after. That includes the Trump dalliance by the Mice at the convention and after, the similar dalliance with Brainworm Bobby, state parties dumping Oliver from their states' presidential ballots and more.

Again, I can't think but that the Liberal Party has room to grow.

Emailing some sites, Richard Winger responded to me from Ballot-Access News. His only comment was to clarify/correct hat for ballot access, Georgia law is 1 percent of registered voters, not 1 percent of people voting in a particular election. (I have clarified, but, Richard chose not to comment on Libertarian turnout and support issues other than to say the LP plans on addressing ballot access issue for the next election.)

Update, Nov. 22: More Greens than Libertarians, 20 versus 18, won nonpartisan elections, per Winger.

Update, Dec. 5: Since the man technically head honcho at BAN, Bill Redpath, is the LNC's treasurer, and a previous national chair, maybe BAN has a vested interest in not commenting? 

Update, Dec. 6: I emailed the LP for comment, and have yet to hear back.

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To the duopoly-focused side now.

There will be a separate piece on the “blame game” for Democrats at the national level coming up.  Various Democratic intelligentsia are already talking about some failures (and unsheathing long knives for internecine warfare in some cases), while ignoring a whole set of more obvious failures.

One observation, from a note I posted last night, to whet the appetite on that?

One interesting issue is that this election WAS like 1968 in many ways, despite Dems trying to avoid a Chicago repeat. (It’s too bad there weren’t actual protests this time around when Harris and the DNC stiffed Palestinian supporters.)

You have a sitting Veep trying to succeed a one-term Prez who stepped down less than willfully, with the Veep not removing themselves from the president’s shadow. That said, Harris more willingly stayed in line with Biden than Humphrey did with LBJ. That also said, other things aside, the Hump was a better candidate.

Three other observations?

First, Allan Lichtman’s 13 Keys, discussed in my busted prediction of last Saturday, is officially garbage. That said, he’s repeatedly claimed that he actually got 2000 right but Bush v Gore made him wrong. However, he refuses to admit that only the Electoral College made him right in 2016. So, in reality? From 2000-2024, he has a half-right, three rights, a half-right, a right and a wrong. That makes him five for seven.

Second, that Des Moines Register poll claiming Harris was up 3 points among likely voters in Iowa? Obviously, it was totally broken. Interestingly, in multiple “red” states, including Religious Right, but not libertarian, red-state Missouri, abortion protection state constitutional amendments and referendums PASSED. And, support for these issues translated not one bit into support for Harris or state-level statewide Democratic candidates. This type of ticket-splitting, voting for the party that put you in the position where you pass a referendum to contain them? Innnnteresting. Update: NPR talks to a few of these "ticket-splitters."

Pollster J. Ann Selzer said "I'll be reviewing data" after that total bust. She does note what I noted in my busted prediction, that she had neither candidate above 50 percent.

Also, per a number of other pollsters, at this Beeb piece, Selzer doesn't do any "modeling," other than polling likely voters. Had I known that, I would have been more skeptical when I first saw it.

Third? People who I didn’t think would go in BlueAnon attack mode have. I originally was going to run that as part of the cross-post at Substack, just like the first sentence in this paragraph, then thought of an ellipsis-truncated version, then ran nothing. Here, I'm running it, but adding the name of Ken Silverstein.

Fourth? Lots of commenters at Kuff are in denialism about Gaza. And, ConservaDems like Greg Summerlin are just nutters in general. No, Greg, there's no need to comment here any more; I refudiated all your past wrongness.

Cornel West running as a third-party candidate? Yay, then not yay (and maybe yay again as he says Green?)

I was at first pleasantly surprised when I saw the news that Cornel West had thrown his hat in the ring as a third-party presidential candidate. I knew he wouldn't be a Libertarian.

I assumed he was running as a Green.

And, assumed wrong.

He's running for the nomination of the People's Party.

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Update June 13 and ignore details of the update below! Cornel West told Tim Black he is running as a Green. And, confirms with Katie Halper. And, the duopoly sheepdoggers at Jacobin are attacking him no matter what the third party he runs with is.

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Update, June 8: But, maybe both? Via Ballot Access News, toward the end of an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, he talks about his "love" for the GP and hopes for a "coming together." Not sure what that means. Jesse Ventura sort of wanted the GP nom in 2020 but didn't want to have to do anything for it. Let's look at the whole thing:

I mean, I have a great love for my Green Party brothers and sisters. I’ve worked twice with them, and so I have nothing against their third-party operations. It would be nice if we had even a coming together, but that’s something that is for a different show.

OK, from there, West talks about why the MPP (which ties in with what I have in the link below about the previous convention).

But in terms of the history of the People’s Party, you know, I was there at the founding. There’s no doubt about that. And I’ve been a kind of honorary member of the board, even though I haven’t participated.

And, from there, admits its problems ... problems mostly associated with Nick Brana.

I haven’t followed all of the insides and outsides of what has happened. It strikes me that there’s been some very bad and ugly moments. There’s no doubt about that. But I don’t want to adjudicate as to who actually is guilty or who’s actually innocent, because I just don’t know. But there has to be accountability, and especially when it comes to sexual harassment in terms of sisters of any color. Those are very, very important issues to wrestle with and very serious charges in that regard.

So, why? A mix of vanity and "ownership"?

And, this part, getting back to his "why MPP"?

And the People’s Party, in its inception and in its vision, is a populist one, so you’ve got a number of different voices.

Uhh, various socialist orgs say that's not so true, at least not in terms of a workers' populist party. Add in that Trump is presented as a populist, and the word doesn't mean so much.

From there, West, interestingly, goes back to People's Party problems, not the Brana problems, but notes that it's "heterogenous" and "loose."

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As I said on Twitter, minus the link to the announcement story, and edited because I don't have character limits here?

Seriously. If half the Green Party is AccommoGreens, 90% of the People's Party is butthurt Berners led around by the nose by grifter Nick Brana.

Plus, the People's Party, as of this point, has almost zero ballot access. And, given its problems, or rather, Nick Brana's problems, I would not sign a petition for it to get on the ballot here in Tex-ass. And, as I blogged 16 months ago, speaking of said problems, it included the PP being overrun by antivaxxers (who have been supported in the GP by the noxious 2022 Texas gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios).

In addition, it appears to have a non-functional website. Below is a screengrab from its FAQ page from Tuesday, June 6. I was headed there to check on whether it had ballot access beyond the two or three states I knew of. (I actually saw two on Wiki; somebody on Twitter said three.) Anyway:

Helluva a way to run a railroad!

That said, remembering what I'd blogged before about a previous People's Party convention, I shouldn't be surprised West is choosing this route. And, per that link, Brana has been a political grifter for some time. Also per that link, I thought West's explanations about voting for Dear Leader were either disingenuous or else a display of true cluelessness.

Someone on Twitter expressed their sadness at West running with an anti-Black political movement. I'm not sure if Brana's touched that note or not, but if so, it wouldn't surprise me. And, that said? Given his history with the People's Party, and per the paragraph above, that he's really not that much of a leftist, this doesn't surprise me.

Interestingness? Benjamin Dixon pretty openly sheepdogging when he said he loved brother Cornel's vision but envisioned Ron DeSatan's first 100 days in office. Given that the People's Party will almost certainly get ballot-qualified in less than half the states in the nation, that's some pretty sad fear level.

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Update 2: On Twitter, the day after his announcement, Natalie Shure said "yuck" or "yuck/meh" at best. I asked if it was mainly an objection to West running MPP or to him running third-party in general. Her 72 hours of silence spins the old proverb into her giving assent to my assumption that she objects to the third-party part in general. She DOES bill herself on bylines at The Nation, Jacobin and Prospect, which are all duopoly-only folks at bottom line, and Butt Feet, which is duopoly-only from the start. Shock me.

Update 3: She and the other duopolists can fuck off. Of course, their hatred is such that both Hillbot Joan Walsh at The Nation and Jon Chait at Russiahating.com got shit wrong about third party candidate Henry Wallace in 1948, per Ballot Access News.

Texas Greens, like the national party, are past their "Best By" date

Nationally, unlike Mark Lause and Brandy Baker, I held out slim hope after the 2016 election for the national party.

The playout of the presidential nomination process, with Dario Hunter playing the race card even while being used by libertarian Green fanbois of Jesse (the still Libertarian Body) Ventura, pretty much eliminated most that hope.

And, when presidential nominee Howie Hawkins, at the instigation (sic) of advisors Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, started peddling the Xi Jinping Thought Kool-Aid on China in general and the Uyghurs in particular, that tore it. (Howie's halfway correct or more answer on Putin and the 2016 election makes me think that loving the Xi Jinping Thought Kool-Aid was NOT a totally unprompted idea on his part.

Now, we move forward two years to Texas Greens.

First of all, just three candidates for office. Libertarians are down as well, but we're not talking about them.

For governor? Delilah Barrios, Second Amendment absolutist, whose muse on this issue is diametrically opposed to her stances on other issues, like national health care. Barrios apparently sees no cognitive dissonance, which means she must be laser-focused on Sameen's stupidity (it is) as a gun nut (he is).

For railroad commissioner? I was not a fan of Green Hunter Crow even before this race; when you're under 30 and already entering perennial candidate territory, that's a good starting point. And, any Green saying gas should be $2 a gallon is a fucking idiot on climate change; that's like writing blank checks. BUT! That's just the starting point. He's ALSO a Texas secessionist! 

Then, for land commissioner? I'd love to give you a link to Alfred Molison. The best I can do is his Twitter; he has no website and not even a Facebook page, unlike our 2014 nutter for governor, Brandon Parmer, who was on Facebook, though but rarely for campaign stuff. And, whether for retweets or his own original tweets, his Twitter has not been used since 2020.

Molison did the best, at 1.6 percent. Makes you wonder how he'd done with an actual online presence. Crow was at an even 1 percent. Barrios was below 0.5 percent, and I hope me calling her out on gunz helped depress the vote.

Greens have one more shot to break 2 percent, in 2024, or it's back to the petition-circulating, signature-gathering drawing board. Two statewide races of prominence: Inflation Warmongering Joe vs. whoever the Rethuglicans nominate, and other third party candidates, in the presidential race, and Havana / Cancun Ted Cruz vs some Rethuglican and other candidates for the Senate. Other than that, it's three state Supreme Court races and three Court of Criminal Appeals seats. And, since Greens, and Libertarians, have been passing up those judicial races more and more? Realistically, it's two races. Really realistically, Greens will need to hope that Democrats nominate a truly crappy ConservaDem to run against Havana Ted, because if it's either Trump the Comeback Kid or DeStan getting the GOP prez nomination, that race will be way too tribal for Texas Greens to hit 2 percent there. (The mind boggles if Hunter Crow turns 30 before that Senate race.)

Note: David Bruce Collins says it's through 2026; I think the state law is "election inclusive," so 2016, 18, 20, 22, 24. Interestingly, Molison "liked" his Twitter response to me.

This is on the state party in another way. If a candidate doesn't have a website and won't create one? You build one. And, you bill the candidate the cost for that, even if it's a cheapie "Google Sites" like Crow's. And, you make a candidate sign an agreement to that end as part of officially being nominated.

I did a search on the GPUS website. Sadly, under its platform page, its subsection on climate change has just one line about a carbon tax, or carbon tax plus carbon tariff. That's re Crow. On Barrios, only three hits, and all of them news releases, about "Second Amendment." On Molinson, since I don't know in detail why he ran, I have no idea if he has any positions at least halfway hinky with GPUS, or issues basically not discussed.

INNNterestingly, per his Twitter, former friend Brains may also be an ex-Green? His profile says only that he's "not a Democrat." BUT? It DOES have the DSA Roseys rose emoji. And, the presumably anarchist blag flag emoji. NO sunflower or other emoji that would be most commonly associated with Greens (I have not seen the four-leaf clover, though green, as Green.)

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That said, Greens aren't alone. Since the Mises folks took over the Libertarian Party at the national level, many Libertarians have stopped donating, even as a number of state affiliates do battle, even splinter, over whether or not to affiliate with LP National, which in turn is trying to go Xi Jinping on state parties that won't toe the line. Their most recent LP National meeting will shed more light.

Abbott expands lead on Beto-Bob and why? "It's the economy, stupid"

Well, that's not the only reason, but that's a good starting point for why Greg Abbott, aka Strangeabbott, is up 11 points among likely voters in the Texas gov's race vs. Beto O'Rourke, aka Beto-Bob. (Per my "Gadfly slate" post Friday, this confirms that I'm likely to undervote this race. O'Rourke isn't going to win, and he's been a panderer deluxe on the campaign trail; as for options to him, I'm not voting for Second Amendment absolutist Delilah Barrios, even if she is a green. (Hold that thought; I'll have more on the Texas Green Party after the election.)

It may not be fair, per details of the polling, that the environment is the only thing voters trust Beto-Bob on more than Strangeabbott. But, there it is. And, the 50-50 split among Hispanic voters show that, whether it's a real concern or one inflated by Strangeabbott, Hispanics are concerned about immigration, even if Operation Lone Star really isn't doing much.

A 55 percent majority even supports Strange's busing of Ill Eagles out of state.

As for the header? "The state economy" was the second-largest concern among all likely voters, even though it didn't crack the top four among Democrats. Really? In denialism for the sake of a poll, like Passive Pelosi™ trying to pretend inflation doesn't exist (which also comes off as a bit New Agey, and contra Aaron Rodgers, "manifestation" doesn't exist), and Inflationmonger Joe of the frantic SPR releases?

Between various grocery stores last Saturday, I noticed that staples like brown rice are up again. "It's the economy stupid, and it's personal." It's not fair for state politicians to be judged on a national issue they can't control — setting aside the issue of how much or how little presidents can control the economy, and how much or how little they can control specific situations related to the economy. But, it is what it is; and, for both likely voters at the state level, and their candidates, to practice denialism? (That said, Strange hasn't said anything about the economy, but he doesn't need to.)

A 55 percent majority also favors stricter gun control laws, but Beto-Bob the Panderer, or Bob on a Knob, as I've called him before, has backed off that in places like Muleshoe. I mean, four years ago, Loopy Lupe Valdez was clueless. O'Rourke doesn't even have that excuse. Per my hammering O'Rourke as a bad strategerist? Abbott has an 11 point lead in the suburbs. I mentioned more of him needing to visit exurbs rather than suburbs per se, but the general idea applies.

Last note: 1 percent of Dems support Barrios; 0 percent of Rethugs support Libertarian candidate Mark Tippetts. That says something right there, doesn't it? 

Meanwhile, one lady I responded to, on Bud Kennedy's tweeting of the poll, brought out the state-level version of a "Vote for Stein is a vote for Trump." I reminded her (or informed her if she didn't know) that both duopoly parties have engaged in third-party vote suppression, as well as that a vote for somebody is a vote for somebody.

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Update: There's a new poll claiming Beto-Bob has made the race a statistical dead head. I am skeptical.

The "Gadfly slate" for Texas offices 2022

Unlike other current or former members of Texas Progressives, namely, Kuff, Stace and Brains, I haven't regularly done my set of endorsements. 

And, where I live at now, there's damned little to endorse below statewide races, anyway.

Democraps couldn't challenge Michael Burgess for the House, or Drew Springer for the state Senate, or David Spiller for the state House. Unsurprisingly in this part of the world, there's no Greens running for any of these slots. BUT? Texas Libertarians, who boasted a decade or so ago of having a candidate in every state Senate seat, are also AWOL on both the state races. (Sidebar: I'm wondering when there's going to be some Mises Caucus related showdown within the Texas LP, or TLP vs national.)

That said, here we go. For more info on state races, rather than the Tex-ass Secretary of State, I'll suggest you visit Ballotpedia.

On Congressional District 26? Libertarian Mark Kolls is pretty much in Dan "Taxation is Theft" Behrmann; wants to repeal all laws since 1911. Also claims that it was ONLY by marches, etc., and not marches that led to changes in law, that what we got in civil rights happened. A climate change denialist. In other words, a fucktard. And, a perma-candidate to boot. A clear undervote race.

Governor: Beto hasn't closed the gap enough to get my gun control vote, and his pandering on oil and stuff lost me anyway. (See the pinned post at top right for the Pander Bear stuff.) I'm undervoting the governor's race; see here for my initial mulling of that idea, months ago; Second Amendment absolutist Delilah Barrios, the Green candidate, lost my vote from the start with that. And, she is.

Lite guv? No Green running and Mike Collier is an even bigger pander bear than Beto-Bob. Pass.

Railroad commissioner? Not a fan of Green Hunter Crow even before this race. And, any Green saying gas should be $2 a gallon is a fucking idiot. BUT! That's just the starting point. He's ALSO a Texas secessionist! Luke Warford, the Dem, gets all the basic problems of the RRC correct, but doesn't go beyond that to "climate crisis" and should we even be drilling more at all? He does talk about Texas' "energy leadership," but wind, solar, geothermal and UGH hydrogen are mentioned in neoliberal market value terms.

Comptroller? I used to think Glenn Hegar was the one halfway sane Rethuglican in statewide office, but his antics of the last six months have thoroughly disabused me of that. Dem Janet Dudding may be worth a vote, if for no other reason than talking about how the Comptroller's office could intervene more in environmental issues. She also talks about the Comptroller's role in property taxes, especially vis-a-vis big biz. The Libertarian? Not worth discussion.

Ag Commish? Jeebus Shot Sid Miller did a GOP version of Pander Bear this summer when he suddenly talked about legalizing cannabis.  Susan Hays claims to be the real deal on that. She also talks TDA and rural health. But, for another reason, I won't vote for her. Contra her claim, cannabis IS addictive. That doesn't mean we shouldn't legalize it. It does mean, that for the minority of its users that become addicts, our health system, including our creaky Tex-ass rural health system, needs to be better prepared to help.

Land Commish? Vote Green, vote Alfred Molison to put the party above 2 percent on a statewide race and keep its semi-moribund dying carcass with ballot eligibility for 5 more election cycles, even if it's not deserving. (That said, I'm not going to die if he's below 2 percent.) Jay Kleburg is a ConservaDem former Republican. Sadly, Molison doesn't even have a Hunter Crow-level Google based website. Nor a Facebook. Oh, the independent, Carrie Menger, on gunz in schools and other things, is as much a wingnut as any Rethug. (I don't know if 2nd Amendment absolutist Delilah Barrios wants guns in schools or not.)

AG? Dem Rochelle Mercedes Garza deserves a vote just for not being Paxton. Plus, she favors legalized recreational cannabis. Libertarian Mark Ash is a shade-tree lawyer. Answered no candidate questionnaires. And, a perma-candidate.

Courts? I hate partisan elections for judges, but we have them.

No Greens running for the state Supreme Court. Since we have a bifurcated system here in Tex-ass and the state Supremes are about civil law only, not endorsing any Libertarians. But, if you do want to vote for a Democrat, or against a Rethug, per the Trib, Place 9 is your focus.)

No Libertarians are running for the Court of Criminal Appeals, so move along there, too. (If you do want to vote, one incumbent is unopposed, and one of the other two incumbents isn't necessarily a bad Republican. See here.)

At the same time, note that anything on a candidate info list from the Texas Civil Justice League should be taken with a grain of salt, as it also has a candidate-endorsing PAC, which has for years and years pushed "tort deform."

At the start of next week, I'll discuss those polls at right; feel free to hit them up now.

Texas Progressives talk vaccine boosters, elections, Cheney, more

SocraticGadfly talks about "vaccine losers" as the new "bivalent" boosters roll out. 

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Off the Kuff published interviews with Democratic Congressional candidates Robin Fulford and Laura Jones.

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John Scott, with his county vote audits, has officially reaped the whirlwind.

As for the hand-counted ballot ideas? I wouldn't mind that, but per what Scott notes, the wingnuts will NOT want national election control, like in France. (Sidebar: Great argument for direct popular vote election of president, with no electoral college; it then by default becomes a national election, with all that implies.)

Nor would they want the expense of that, especially with all the items in a state ballot. America is allegedly the cradle of (modern) democracy, but in practice, we are cheap bastiches about that.

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Liz Cheney promises to leave the GOP if necessary to stop Trump. How long before #BlueMAGA finishes normalizing her? I mean, her Daddykins, Darth Cheney, became Veep because of the Brooks Brothers "riot" combined with a helping hand from SCOTUS, and also abetted by stupidity by Al Gorhythm. (NOT Ralph Nader.)

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Turd Blossom thinks the new Tex-ass abortion law is too strict. That said, who in the Texas GOP who has their hands on the levers of power listens to Rove any more? I mean, isn't any Rethug appearing at the Trib Fest automatically suspect? That said, Dade Phelan has talked about revisiting the law. On the Senate side, Bob Nichols has. But, without Danny Goeb's buy-in, all that means nothing.

That said, at least one Republican DA joined some Democratic colleagues in saying that prosecutions under the abortion law would be onerous. That would, in theory, undercut wingnut Briscoe Cain's alleged plans in the next bill to allow cross-jurisdictional DA prosecutions on abortion.

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#NotMeToo — Mayra Flores may not have her story straight on Aaron Peña.

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The idea that Tex-ass needs to elect enough new judges (Dems, as Libertarians have faded from their decade-old or whatever peak of state candidates and Greens are basically moribund) to use the state constitution's enshrinement of a right to privacy to protect abortion rights is noble. The reality, as in the possibility of that happening this November? Semi-laughable.

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Big Guns, like Big Tobacco, is seeking kids to hook on its deadly product. Speaking of moribund Greens, this is why I'm not voting for Second Amendment absolutist Delilah Barrios, and I'm calling on other Greens to undervote her, too.

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Steve Vladeck explains why the appellate court ruling about top secret documents found at Mar-a-Lago was so devastating to Trump.

Amanda Marcotte analyzes how fascists recruit high school and college boys by appealing to their sexual insecurities.

Mark Pitcavage talks sovereign citizens and their use of harassing liens.

The Texas Jail Project would like you to know that the most commonly arrested charge resulting in cash bail is Possession Less Than a Gram.

Keri Blakinger tells a Texas prisoner’s story of incompetence and brutality after a high-profile escape.

The Bloggess gives her perspective as an indie book ship owner of the book banning hysteria.

Becoming less interested in politics at times ...

First, it took me four years later than Mark Lause, but I too have reached the point that I see the Green Party nationally being past its best-by date. I was already having doubts in 2016 over Stein's second run; the nature of her recount only increased that.

Then, Hawkins 2020 actually got Russia more than half correct, angering some Greens. But, he went totally Aaron Maté, or should I say, totally Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, on Xi Jinping's China, and I just couldn't vote for him.

In Texas, that's followed by 2022 Green gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios being a Second Amendment absolutist and also playing footsie with COVID antivaxxers, and I saw more than enough antivaxxer footsie out of Stein.

Add in Twitter on politics becoming ever more #BlueAnon bullshit vs #MAGAts bullshit and I get tired of that.

Meanwhile, related to the first three paragraphs, or especially the second? Twitter is also ever more populated by non-skeptical leftists, or maybe we should just call them pseudoleftists. They sign blank checks for Xi on the Uyghur workers' camps, on the Chinese version of Coca-colonialism with the Belt and Road Initiative and more. Like Hawkins, Flowers and Zeese, they either can't, or won't, step out of the twosiderism box and accept that one can criticize both the US and China. Per LBJ on Jerry Ford, it's really no harder that farting and chewing gum, or farting and walking, at the same time.

That said, I suspect that some of the pseudoleftists on Twitter are paid to not step outside of the twosiderism box on China.

Whether paid shills or not, the one other problem I have is that there is just about NEVER any nuance with China. It's not that China is less wrong, or even a lot less wrong than the US says it is, or than the US is itself. It's that China is NEVER wrong. Of course, among the religion of Marxism, doctrinaire absolutism is part of the game. of course, doctrinaire Marxism is pseudoscience. Hegelian dialectic is crappy as a philosophy and by definition pseudoscientific when used as the basis of any scientific theory, especially economics, arguably in both Marx's time and ours the least scientific of the social sciences. (The replication problem and cheating in behavioral economics only underscore that.)

Add in that, in early August every year, non-skeptical lefists repeat the canard on August 6 and 9 that we dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki just as a warning shot across Stalin's bow. Surprisingly, neither city trended on Twitter this year. Maybe those willful lies or idiocies are starting to fade.

I'll still participate in snarking on Twitter, but, I'm working to move away from electoral and quasi-electoral politics to broader issues. And, that said, Twitter's infosec allegedly sucks donkey dongs.

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.

==

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

==

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

==

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.

==

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."

==

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."

==

Gohmert Pyle reached a new low even for him.

==

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.

== 

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.)

==

MANNUUUUU.

==

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.

Beto bullshit on teacher pay, and Beto the Pander Bear

As the Chronic chronicled last week, among part of Beto-Bob O'Rourke's attempt to get rural Texas votes is straight-up economic pandering.

No shit, sherlock, on the idea that Muleshoe teachers get $16,000 below national average. And? They don't live in New York City, or even in Dallas. Going by cost of living differences, a Muleshoe teacher should make almost $15K less than one in Dallas, if we took the full $15K in difference and applied it to teacher salaries. Even at 50 cents on the dollar, that's still $7.5K. (And, City-Data says that Dallas' cost of living is below the national average, in case you wonder.) The typical Muleshoe teacher knows that $35,000 there, after 7-10 years of teaching, is a shitload of money, relatively speaking — unless they want to go out in the oil patch.

I've called out media bullshit on teacher pay before; this is Beto bullshit.

It's bullshit for other reasons, too. Probably, the majority of teachers there are from that area. They WANT to be there. They're the part of the typical High Plains / Panhandle town that didn't leave. (Muleshoe itself is actually growing in population, largely due to "Uncle Earl" that R.F. now says he cares so much about.) Unlike a teacher in the Metromess, Helltown, the Big A, or maybe even a Waco or Tyler, the typical Muleshoe teacher also, in addition to knowing 35 large is good money there, has not a single activist bone in them, whether about what books are or are not in the city or school district library or other things.

Between this and his backpedaling on other issues from his 2020 prez run, we're clearly in Just.Another.Politician.™ territory. I'm still almost certainly not voting for Green candidate Delilah Barrios, so, that means I'm moving closer to the likelihood of undervoting.

And, since the Dems' Lite Guv candidate, retread Mike Collier, is even more of a Pander Bear to Rethugs than Beto is, forget about that.

Beto has also gone back to being a Pander Bear himself on oil. The facts on the ground, in reality, are that major operators are automating, automating, automating, and increasing the gap between themselves and independents on low overhead. This has nothing to do with renewable electricity, or with lies vs truth on "drill, baby, drill" Joe Biden or other things.

As for climate change backpedaling on the weak-tea Green New Deal that Democraps ripped off from Greens? The latest drought this year, even as Panhandle Texans continue to further deplete the Ogallala, is all real, Beto. But, if you want to be a Pander Bear?

Looking at the six options for Texas governor

Yes, six.

Per Ballotpedia, they are:

1. Greg Abbott, R
2. Beto O'Rourke, D
3. Mark Tippetts, L
4. Delilah Barrios, G
5. Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla, I

Actually, that's just five. No. 6, per ME, having done it before myself and defended others, is undervoting.

A big variety of things scratches Strangeabbott, of course. I've never really considered a Libertarian executive or legislative vote, though I would do that (and wish I had thought about it more in the past) on prosecutorial and judicial elections, because of the War on Drugs, civil liberties, etc.

But, beyond the general reservations about Libertarians, we're post-Uvalde, and I'm not even going to bother finding Tippetts' position on gunz.

Barrios? She's the most libertarian of libertarian Greens I've had extensive interaction with, and on the gunz issue alone, I think she's in the wrong third party. She opposes O'Rourke's "take your AK-47" (which I take as wanting to restore Bill Clinton's assault weapons ban), is silent on red flag laws, and has other non-gunz problems.

So, I've already eliminated three. I'll eliminate No. 4 next. Turullos-Bonilla's response to the Ballotpedia candidate questionnaire shows he is not just a vanity candidate but a nutter, kind of like a techie version of the former "DemoRep" commenter on Ballot Access News.

So, it's Bob on a Knob, as he's known here, or undervote. And, the gunz? If I think he's got a puncher's chance, I vote for him.

UPDATE, Aug. 29: On the other hand, the child exploitation, nay, full child abuse, by the Never Abbotters at Moms Against Greg Abbott PAC in its back-to-school commercial, make me tilt more toward undervoting. And, after a community event in Uvalde last weekend, Tweeters thinking Barrios, like Uvalde parents, favor gun control when she does not (and has not disillusioned them of this belief) means she's still not getting my vote.

Texas Progressives talk SS Texas Democrats, Uvalde and more

SocraticGadfly calls out the "Deep in the Heart" Texas wildlife film for Texas exceptionalism and greenwashing, among other things.

Off the Kuff has the first fully post-Dobbs poll to analyze. 

Stace gives us his take on the FLOTUS taco controversy and how Dems lose opportunities to capture Latino votes.

Several items up on Uvalde. First, the problems and screw-ups keep looking bigger. The AP adds on with "egregiously poor decision-making."  Second, and related, and why I back red-flag laws (which have to be applied, of course), unlike Green gubernatorial Delilah Barrios opposing them by her silence, Salvador Ramos was identified as being "at risk," with good reason, a year before the shooting. And, local residents (rightly) are tired of finger-pointing. Third? The Uvalde cop with the "Punisher" logo on his phone in the "infamous" Twitter pic? Husband of Eva Morales, a Robb teacher killed in the shooting. The Monthly has more.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial's Wall of Remembrance is riddled with errors.

San Antonio's city government hates birds.

The Observer talks criminalized abortion, on what we know pre-Roe and what we can guess about post-Roe.

Mark Pitcavage corrects the title of a new HBO show.

The TSTA blog reminds us that a revenue windfall for Texas is only good news for public schools if the Legislature sees fit to make it good for them.

The Dallas Observer notes that the Texas Secretary of State is still a Big Lie aficionado.

The Austin Chronicle sums up Ken Paxton's latest threat to society

Steve Vladeck documents how the state of Texas has hand-picked the judges hearing most of its 27 challenges to Biden administration policies.

The SS Democrats in the header is the state party re-electing Gilberto Hinojosa as boss.

Top blogging of June

A bit late, but reading was surely slow over the three-day Fourth of July weekend.

As usual, not all of the most popular posts were from June. Just, they got read then! In fact, the first two are not.

The first? It's from 2010, in fact, and is about the LEMON of the early Chevy Volt.

No. 2? About two and a half years ago, after Adam Silver instituted the play-in tournament for teams 7-10 in both NBA Eastern and Western Conferences, and I called out LeBron James and Luka Doncic for bitching about it.

No. 3? From last month, I said COVID likely has killed 2 MILLION in China, not the 5-15,000 it reports and that is uncritically repeated by Western health data sites.

No. 4? My thoughts on Californians Californicating Texas, who, moving here any time from fall 2020 to spring of this year, largely the tech-neolib types, specifically my thoughts on them having a mild summer last year and now shitting their pants and overstressing the electric grid with real Texas summer.

No. 5? The rest of the story behind that Putin-Macron phone call over Ukraine in February.

No. 6? The Fraud, I mean the Squad, showed their lack of true environmental bona fides by voting with all other House Dems for Biden's newest water program, which includes Ike Dike money for the anti-green Corps of Engineers.

No. 7? Totally different. My thoughts on the future of entry-level digital SLR cameras from Canon, Nikon and others.

No. 8? Back to Russia-Ukraine? Just who IS the Institute for the Study of War? Answers here.

No. 9? I noted that WHO still wants the "lab leak hypothesis" on COVID investigated further, even as a tribalist like Orac won't back off his initial claim that it's a conspiracy theory.

No. 10 and from late in the month? My callout of Texas Green Party gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios for being a Second Amendment absolutist, along with call out of her muse on this issue.

Texas gov: Abbott whipping — or trimming — Beto among independents

Latest poll from CBS: Abbott's kicking Beto's ass by 55-30 among independents. Now Kuff says "pre-Dobbs," but ignores that, in the run-up to that, after the Supreme Court leak, Dems and Dem-leaners said inflation was by far their No. 1 worry.  I suspect that's likely still the case.

 

(See new polling, including the first post-Dobbs one, further down.)

Now, some parts of inflation, notably gas prices, have ameliorated recently, but there's no guarantee that's more than short-term. And, the shock of higher school lunch prices in the fall may bring that issue back before voters who are parents.

These poll results are EVEN THOUGH Abbott's approval rating is underwater right now.

If they hold up, he remains too far out for me to vote for him, despite me agreeing with him on guns. So, since I ain't voting for Green candidate Delilah Barrios, rather than hold my nose and vote Beto, this is likely an undervote as of right now.

That CBS poll up top put the overall gap at 49-41. A couple of days later, but still pre-Dobbs, a UT poll put the overall gap at 45-39. A lot of people still don't want to weigh in, there. It also puts the indy gap at 32-22 in detailed breakouts. Kuff uses that to scoff at the 55-30 above, which would be 55-40 in this case if percentages scale up. I'd just say it shows how soft the race is among indys. Related to the CBS poll? Although UT didn't have a breakout on the gov's race, by their stances on guns and abortion, "independents" in Texas tilt closer to Republicans than Democrats. Kuff can say that this is closer than Shrub's margin of victory over Miss Ann in 1994. BUT? Per Wiki, Bush had a solid if slim lead on Richards well before the election. Remember that in 1990, she got lucky enough to dray Clayton Williams of "lay back and enjoy it" comments. Even with that, she won with only a plurality not a majority. So the tea leaves that Kuff is trying to smoke after reading them don't support his librul thoughts and prayers interpretations.

To be fair, after I had written this in advance, I noticed an hour or two after it posted that Kuff linked to a new Trib piece (with his usual violation of fair-use quoting) there are other factors. At the same time, Bob on a Knob points to GOP-leaning pollster Quinnipiac, that shows him having a 15-point gap in December and now closing it to 5. My only guess at that? GOP support on Abbott's right is still soft post-primary. He'll probably be increasing border stunts and things like that. How much hay Beto can make? Don't know. At the same time, BK ignores that national polling this spring, right after the leak, said that Dobbs did NOT top Dems' and Dem-leaners' concerns. Besides hoping inflation goes back down, at the Texas level, if the continuing long, hot summer leads to power surges and flickers or even brownouts, he's got the ERCOT angle in play.

 

(Update: We now have our first post-Dobbs poll. And? The gap is 49-44, or one percentage point closer than UT. Also of note? Beto-Bob leads by only 9 points among Hispanics. Libertarian Mark Tibbetts gets 2 percent support, while Green Delilah Barrios isn't on the polling radar screen. Re the "Big Two," Abbott's support among Republicans is slightly softer than O'Rourke's among Dems. And, interestingly, Abbott's favorability rating is above water. Beto's is negative.

 

Update 2: From March-June, Beto-Bob has outraised Strangeabbott. He appears to have more small-dollar donors. That said, reading through RF's silence on one issue, Abbott appears to have more Texas donors.)

And, visit the poll at right!

Guns, Delilah Barrios and "resisting tyranny" BS

Texas Green Party gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios, a Second Amendment absolutist, has this on her platform:

A free people must have the right to bear arms. “Civil Wars happen when the victimized are armed. Genocide happens when they are not.” ― A.E. Samaan

I'm sure it's a sentiment many a Rethuglican would endorse, including for ownership of a deadly AR-15.. Unlikely from a Dem, even a ConservaDem, at least not openly. But an "indigenous" Green? (Sidebar: I'm not here doing blood quantum checks, but is Barrios Hispanic, Indigenous [not the same in my understanding of US ethnic sociology] or whichever one fits the bill at the moment?)

Maybe so. I'll bet former Green, now Libertarian Cynthia McKinney, an African-American, entertains similar ideas, though I'm not hunting. Better things to do in life.

First, I reject absolutism, even on the First Amendment, where I would be closer to that. And, given the starkness of the statement, the fact that it's the ONLY statement about the 2nd Amendment or guns on her platform, her refusal to talk about gun control details (see below) and just who A.E. Samaan is (also see below), I consider this statement, and other things I've seen from her on Twitter, to qualify as Second Amendment absolutism. Also, not a word of praise or comment on the new gun control bill, weak tea as it is?

Second, contra SCOTUS post-Heller, and librul squishes like Laurence Tribe, I continue to affirm that the "corporatist" interpretation of 2A is the correct one.

Third, re "shall not be infringed" nutters, does Barrios want felons to own gunz? The mentally ill? (I take her silence on a direct Twitter question four weeks ago about red flag laws to be opposition. And, after she got butt-hurt over something else this last Sunday, and jumped into an exchange with a "Greens right or wrong" person I asked her twice more, three hours apart, for her stance on red flag laws. Crickets again.)

Here's me referencing the former convo with this tweet, after that "Greens right or wrong" person intervened:

Actually, we WERE having a dialogue here a couple of weeks ago, until I asked you directly, Delilah, your stance on red flag laws and you never answered me.

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) June 26, 2022

Then, three hours later, giving her more chance:

To check again, no comment on whether you support .... or oppose ... red flag laws? It was a legit ask 2 weeks ago, as it is today.

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) June 27, 2022

Well, there you go. And, no, Barrios, it's not "propping myself up." Gun control is a big issue to me, and your opposition to it is disconcerting. Plus, "Both Parties are Nazis" may not know this. (Or they may, and don't care, for one of several reasons.)

Fourth, is this really true?

There's several problems with the statement. One, it assumes, or seems to, that every society is slouching toward a level of dysfunctionality that will eventually reach civil war or genocide. That comes off as a determinist view of history, which I reject right there.

Second, as Rwanda shows, there can be genocides even when most the mass murderers don't have massive amounts of guns. Much of the Ottoman genocide against Armenians was done at the communal level without massive amount of guns. Yahweh's command to Saul to commit genocide on the Amalekites also shows that.

The real question is, who is A.E. Samaan? By his website, a sort of polymath, even if some of the poly is untrue.

By Goodreads quotes (page three there) someone who appears to lust for violence if citing the guillotine as the cousin of the Second Amendment. Someone who hates socialism in any form. An absolutist on the way he frames MANY actual, or purported, or fabricated, dichotomies, like the one in Barrios' quote.

His full list of Goodreads quotes, starting with page 1, is "interesting." He's also an anti-abortion absolutist, and, in a mastery of psychological projection, comes off as various types of absolutist period, all while claiming to attack absolutisms. If I had to sum him up in one phrase? "Anarcho-libertarian." (On page 2 of the quotes, he specifically identifies as libertarian.)

And, since Barrios says she supports single-payer, here's this tidbit from Samaan:

“Eugenics has always been the escape valve of single payer socialized medicine. Havelock Ellis was writing about them as one and the same prior to the fin-de-siecle. Culling out of control population growth and the economic drain of the incurably sick has always been a part of socialized medicine.”

First, note the absolutist "always." Second, eugenics in medicine has existed without single-payer. The death of King George V immediately comes to mind.

Third? "Resisting tyranny"? Anarcho-libertarianism leaves us even more subject to the tyranny of capitalism.

And, I've wasted enough time.

Man, if that's who Barrios is citing approvingly, I wouldn't touch her or him with a 10-foot pole. Or, to riff on Kinky Friedman, vote for her as dogcatcher of Utopia. This is the primary, but not the only reason when. Her playing footsie with COVID antivaxxers is another.

If Barrios doesn't like being called a "Second Amendment absolutist," it's in her power to change it. If "Greens right or wrong" flunkies don't like her being called that, it's in their power to change that, too.

And, if she doesn't like being associated with the full range of opinions of A.E. Samaan, it's also in her power to change on that.

Roundup of Uvalde thoughts — mine and Texas Progressives

The Uvalde cops themselves LIED. That's CLEAR by now. Why does Big Media continue to euphemize about "changing narratives"? I'm with Chris Hooks and others: they simply can't, or won't, wrap their heads around the idea of lying cops. And, did the people on the Wednesday evening presser with Abbott who called Beto a "sick son of a bitch" already have an idea about this?

==

"Hey Hey, NRA, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?"  It doesn't get more elemental.

==

State Sen. Larry Taylor is interested in looking at upping the age for an AR-15 to 21, but then says gun control laws in general aren't good because they can't be enforced. Just a TOUCH internally self-contradictory, Taylor? Plus, we hear that bullshit from gun nutz all the time. By that logic, we shouldn't have laws at all.

==

Green Party gubernatorial nominee Delilah Barrios, after attacking Beto O' Rourke in early February because she said he he was attacking Second Amendment rights, now, post-Uvalde (update in original post) claims she'll be better than Bob on a Knob on gunz. Bullshit. She claims that "defund the police," whatever the hell that increasingly nebulous phrase  actually means for her, is all we need. I guess when you're a Second Amendment absolutist with an anarcho-libertarian as your muse on this (no, really), well ...

==

Former Jeb! 2016 prez run communications director Tim Miller at the Bulwark gets all hypocritically righteous about DPS head Steve McCraw's fuck-ups WITHOUT telling us 

1. Jeb Bush's 2016 position on gun control;
2. Jeb's current position on gun control;
3. His OWN current position on gun control.
   

He has been called out on Twitter and has not responded.

==

Dan Crenshaw is a self-refuting hypocritical sack of shit and John Cornyn is a lying, censorious sack of shit. I'm not even discussing Cruz, Abbott, Patrick, etc.

==

Betcha didn't know this: Uvalde ISD top cop Peter Arredondo, the guy who wouldn't let the parents inside Robb Elementary, got elected to the city council May 7. If he had an ounce of integrity, he'd resign.

==

REPUBLICAN Congresscriter Chris Jacobs of New York, an NRA endorsee in 2020, says that, post-Uvalde, he supports an assault weapons ban. Why won't Delilah Barrios?

Remember: As of 2019, after Rethugs in the Texas Lege shit-canned red flag laws to committee death, 53 percent of Republicans in the state supported such law. 

==

Did Heller vs DC leave states room to regulate guns in general, or handguns or "dangerous and unusual guns" in specific? So says a 2008 Scalia law clerk who quotes those words of his and others, writing in partnership with a 2008 Stevens clerk:

But Heller looms over most debates about gun regulation, and it often serves as a useful foil for those who would like to deflect responsibility — either for their policy choice to oppose a particular gun regulation proposal or for their failure to convince their fellow legislators and citizens that the proposal should be enacted.

Sad but true. Wingnuts want to hide behind Heller, as do some ConservaDems like Manchin; gun control advocates can't get ConservaDems to see the light, let alone preach the light, and here we are.

==

And, some Texas Progressives thoughts:

Stace offers up a post about his thoughts on and his personal connection to Uvalde. 

The Texas Signal covers Beto O'Rourke's confrontation with Greg Abbott at a press conference after the Uvalde murders.

Reform Austin shows Ted Cruz being Ted Cruz, in the most Ted Cruz way possible. 

Therese Odell vents her rage at our increasingly longer national nightmare.

Matthew Dowd singles out four myths about guns that stand in the way of reform.

Your Local Epidemiologist has the policy prescriptions for reducing gun violence.

Gus Bova correctly calls Greg Abbott "full of shit". 

Delilah Barrios still has gunz problems post-Uvalde

The last 24-48 hours have left me more convinced, barring definite changes on her part, that I won't be voting for Green Party candidate Delilah Barrios for gov, and  post-Uvalde, if he's got a puncher's chance, I'm more likely to vote Bob on a Knob O'Rourke than undervote. (There's also an independent in the campaign, but I haven't researched him yet. And, Libertarian Mark Tippetts is going to Libertarian on gunz, I know that without looking.)

I had already had concerns with Delilah Barrios, per her Texas GP bio linked there and related matters, nearly three months ago. I have little love lost myself for Robert Francis O'Rourke, but if part of why she doesn't like Beto is "Attacks on 2nd Amendment rights," then I want nothing to do with her. First, even though he said he's not repudiating his "we're going to take your AK-47," he surely doesn't mean that 100 percent literally. And, if he means that in terms of, say, a Texas-level version of Bill Clinton's assault weapons ban, I support him 110 percent and yes that would be literal.

Besides, I still believe in a "corporate" interpretation of the Second Amendment, with the "well regulated militia" clause governing. So did the Supreme Court, before Heller. And, an AK-47, at least on full auto, has zero non-military purpose. And, I don't give a fuck for what SCOTUS has said from Heller onward.

Sadly, shockingly and hypocritically, post-Uvalde, Barrios now is going with the angle that she'd be better than Beto on gun control. Well, you've pretty much guaranteed you've finished losing me. Just.Another.Politician.™

To add to the fun, one of Barrios' Twitter shills blocked me. Barrios had retweeted them, from a thread talking about the election, when this "Barcode" said, rhetorically, something about voting for either the blue NRA shill or the red NRA shill. Their account doesn't allow responses from the public, so I quote tweeted as saying that I knew Beto was a shill for Big Oil but not the NRA.

They then tweeted this in response:

Then blocked me. Fortunately, I got the screengrab off my Tweetdeck. I had quote-tweeted just before they blocked me, then, since I still had their tweet in Tweetdeck, tweeted to them directly, including calling them out for their failed attempt to be coy. Then, of course, I blocked them back. Actually, I did the Twitter double of both mute and block. And, like Barrios herself being hypocritical, just attempt at being coy is Just.Another.Politician.™ territory. With that, while reserving the right to undervote, I know I won't be voting for her and likely will for Bob on a Knob. I have no doubt that Libertarian nominee Dan Tippetts is going to be the typical Libertarian on gunz.

Barrios isn't getting paid (yet?) by the NRA, but one doesn't have to be paid to be a shill, even if she comes at NRA talking points from a different angle (tho the likes of Gordon Liddy had an anti-cops angle on NRA support in the past). So, we really should talk about the red NRA shill and the green NRA shill, Barcode.

And now, Barrios has finally responded to me on Twitter:

Nope. I am not an opportunist and I am consistent on what I am willing to support. Attack? c'mon, I know better than to campaign on taking gun rights away that is why I say we need to #DefundThePolice
Community should be in control of their resources.https://t.co/JUKyowhgjK

— DelilahForTexas💚☮🌻🌎 (@DelilahforTexas) May 28, 2022

And, my reply:

In other words, you admit that Bob on a Knob is better than you on actual gun control. Thanks. And, this isn't an either or. One can BOTH cut police funding AND pass better gun control laws.

— TheRealSocraticGadfly (@real_gadfly) May 28, 2022

That's the facts. 

She did respond back saying that she doesn't think gun control and "defund," whatever that increasingly vague idea means to her aren't mutually exclusive, but didn't back off her attack on Bob on a Knob:

Right of course and let's not forget the NRA who donates to both parties! I support community police, defunding of both the MIC and the prison industrial complex because that is the root of the problem. Sorry that might not be clear, I can work on that.

— DelilahForTexas💚☮🌻🌎 (@DelilahforTexas) May 28, 2022

I appreciate that she's going to "work on it," because, per this original post, and I'll probably put this stuff into a separate piece, her platform, as detailed, is a hot mess of inconsistencies, and that's not even counting her playing footsie with antivaxxers and wanting to let resident aliens vote. And, as for the "NRA donates to both parties"? Per Open Secrets, the gold standard on such, if less than 1 percent recently but technically more than zero is "donates to both parties," uh, WRONG. Again, per your shill, Bob on a Knob is a Big Oil shill. NOT an NRA shill. Even if we go back a few years, it's been under 5 percent on every post-2014 election cycle. What changed? Obama, the Tea Party and more open racism. That second link is also Open Secrets. 

(And, don't @ me on this issue either, saying "but Obama this," etc. I blogged about him letting gunz back into national parks in his first term. Besides, if you're Delilah Barrios, you ought to be fine with that anyway.)

And, that still doesn't address that you apparently won't back something like Bill Clinton's assault weapon ban being revived. Or even a red flag law. And, I'm taking your silence as opposition. 

Her own platform, linked again. She's a blank check 2nd Amendment-er. A "no exceptions" 2nd Amendment-er, like a no-exceptions pro-lifer. Yes, that analogy is deliberate. 

(She's also a hypocrite, retweeting someone who wants to limit the sale of ammunition. SECOND AMENDMENT INFRINGEMENT.)

But, that's far from her only platform problem. As I posted in early February, she's an antivaxxer or fellow traveler based on her own Tweeting about the Green Party's Steering Committee stance on vaccines.

Texas Greens worried about pseudo-Greens?

Note the following resolution, adopted last month at the state convention:

"A disciplinary list should be created and composed of the names of individuals who are not in good standing with the Green Party of Texas. Those named shall not be recognized as officers and will not be eligible to represent the state party on national committees."

What IS that about?

Trans activists hating on GCRFs? Jesse-stanners hating on Howie-lovers from 2020?

Not that I bigly care. 

On candidates, I've already said that Deliliah Barrios didn't float my boat, and what she told to Ryan Knight failed to change my mind. Hunter Crow? The less said from me the better.

I can vote Molinson, as Dems are likely to nominate a ConservaDem as land commish candidate, and still help the GP stay above 2 percent. Since there's no judge candidates, a Dem not running for a CCA spot now means nothing.

Top blogging of April

These were the most read posts of last month by readers. As normal, not all of them are from last month. Older ones will be marked as such.

No. 1 was from last month, based on new information. "IPCC confirms we're facing climate change shit creek" is very true.

No. 2 was also from late last month. It was about who was the worst hack re Judge Mazelle's ruling ending federal mask mandates on public transportation — the judge herself, Nate Silver, Biden's CDC and ultimately itself, or the first airlines, who ghoulishly rushed to the head of the non-implementation line.

No. 3? My take on the sharp elbows in the Texas Democratic Party leadership battle.

No. 4? What new things I learned, or maybe, how little new she showed, when Texas Greens' gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios appeared on Proud Socialist Ryan Knight's podcast.

No. 5 was one of my weekly Russia-Ukraine roundups, and focused on Noam Chomsky triggering nat-sec nutsack snowflakes, and also touched on Google's vaguely worded demonetization aggressiveness.

No. 6 was one of the Texas Progressives weekly roundups. It probably trended high because I mentioned "back alleys" in the header and it included the arrest of Lizelle Herrera.

No. 7 was another of my weekly Russia-Ukraine roundups. It talked about other war crimes — ones allegedly committed by Ukrainians, including shooting Russian POWs — just before Bucha, and how little the West covered them, and also, how Counterpunch Radio's Eric Draitser comes off as being as much a nat-sec nutsack fellow traveler as he does an independent leftist voice.

No. 8? Technically old by links but also from last month. My top blogging of March was sports-heavy, but with Sports Reference ban-hammering me and FanGraphs sucking, that won't happen again! (sigh)

No. 9? My most recent Russia-Ukraine roundup, calling for both countries (and the US and NATO, ultimately) to give peace talks a chance.

No. 10? A callout of how the Texas State Teachers Association is using unfair economic comparisons to call for yet more juicing of teacher pay. And yes, here, the word "juicing" is deliberate, per that post.

And, interestingly, I think that's the first time in months that a monthly roundup of top blogging has had all its posts from the last month.

Learning more about Delilah Barrios

Texas' Green Party gubernatorial candidate was on Ryan Knight's podcast recently.

A few thoughts.

First, the Lege is who passes constitutional amendments to send to the public, and they need a 2/3 vote of both houses. You didn't mention that; if you think it would be hard as a GP candidate to get along with the Lege in general, on constitutional amendments, it would be climbing Mount Everest.

About two-thirds in, Barrios notes she reached out to Sema Hernandez, via friends, but never really heard back from her. She added that Hernandez is focused on helping "Democrats like her" or words to that effect.

Barrios sounded disappointed, but also mildly surprised.

Given the way Sema sucked up to Beto after losing the 2018 primary, to the point of claiming O'Rourke supported single-payer, or at least implying he did, when he did not, this surprises me not at all. It doesn't surprise me that Barrios was surprised, either, I think. But, it is something else to note. Namely, that she was kind of naive.

I mean, I noted almost three full years ago that Hernandez seemed well on her way to becoming Just.Another.Politician.™. And, I ventured into other territory, like the issue of being a Hispanic Dem and running for office in Texas. But I then ventured back to just how much she air-kissed Bob the Knob, either being clueless about just how much a ConservaDem he is, or else not caring. Also, between there and here, I noted that Sema didn't have much pull among 2020 Texas Dems in a much more crowded Senate race. So Barrios was barking up the wrong tree.

Related to that? Barrios "marveling" at the number of people of color who voted for Trump. On Blacks, it's surprising to me, too. On Hispanics, it's not at all surprising. If Barrios doesn't grasp that a lot of Hispanics want tighter border controls, it's another bit of cluelessness. That doesn't mean it's right (or that it's wrong) to have this desire, but the desire is real.

Interestingly, one thing she did NOT mention to Ryan Knight was how she dislikes Bob on a Knob's stance on gun control, which I blogged about not too long after she announced her candidacy. Maybe she figures that one doesn't poll well with Greenie types? And, if so, then she's potentially following Hernandez into non-New York JAP territory.

Also, from then versus now, her concern about COVID on that podcast, and her talk about being a "health care professional," was ... uh ... INNNteresting given that on that first blog of mine, I note that she is at minimum a fellow traveler of COVID antivaxxers and at max a full-on antivaxxer on all vaxxes herself. (That's not a total surprise; Greenies and Libertarians, and especially eco-libertarians, are high on antivaxxerism in general. Also, via Orac, a full 10 percent of medical doctors are antivax or the loverly "vax hesitant," so surely, among surgical nurses or whatever Barrios does [she said she works in surgery, but I'm guessing not a gas-passer], the percentage is much higher. Hospital nurses in general have shown this.) Anyway, she was asked nothing, and volunteered nothing, about her COVID stance. (At my previous blog post link, she not only stridently called out the Green Party for supporting vax mandates, but linked to a website that claimed COINTELPRO type infiltration of the GP's Steering Committee. And that favorably cites conspiracy theorist Jimmy Dore.)

Beyond that, she did little if anything on the podcast to convince me that she's resolved some hugely, BIGly self-inconsistent political positions.

==

Update, May 16: Big "marketing" fail by Barrios has now come to my attention. The Student Vote Empowerment Coalition of DFW is holding an event tomorrow at Dallas' Skyline High. Strangeabbott is skipping, shock me. But? Beto is going to be there, as is Libertarian nominee Mark Tippetts. Via an independent PR consultant, I saw about this event, organized by SMU law prof Eric Cerillo. 

Saw that Barrios wasn't listed. I asked him why.

Cedillo said "we" (he and others involved with the event, I guess) tried:

(W)e attempted to reach out to the Green candidate on a number of occasions to invite them to the forum but they were unresponsive.

There you go.

If she couldn't come due to work or something, I understand. But, not responding? Bad marketing for her AND bad marketing for the party.