Bye, bye Justin?

Politico magazine notes that a bunch of parliamentary backbenchers from Justin Trudeau's own Liberal Party are trying to persuade the Canadian prime minister to walk to the exit — and maybe to give him a nudge in that mythical nice, polite Canadian way if needed. (It is mythical, and that's the first, but not the only, think Politico gets wrong.)

As in the US, per those interviewed anonymously, politically strategic leaks have been part of the process, which makes the "this wasn't supposed to be public" disclaimer by one of the Anony Mice so funny.

The more serious problem is that, within the party, none of the top options as party leader seem keen to step forward, and most of them aren't well known, though some are better known than Politico claims. Theoretically, in a parliamentary system, that's not such a big deal, but can be. Those who are somewhat better known (contra Politico's claims), like Finance Minister Christya Freeland, might have their own baggage.  She, at least, most certainly does have baggage and certainly is well known by many Canadians involved in the political process, especially since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. She's also been foreign minister and deputy PM, for doorknob's sake.

From my point of view, beyond Pretty Boy Justin still harboring people like Freeland, his administration's continued hating of Palestinians, most recently exemplified by kowtowing to both the US duopoly and Canadian Conservatives by putting Samidoun on Canada's terror list is another reason to kick his ass out the door. (That said, no other Liberal would be better on this.)

It's ALSO yet another reason to ask, what is the New Democratic Party doing to gear up for the next election after voting to end the confidence and supply agreement?

Update, Oct. 25: Pretty Boy Trudeau finds his inner Poppy Bush and says "Not gunna leave. Wouldn't be prudent." It WOULD, though, be self-delusional to think he has the best chance of defeating Poilievre's Conservatives.

Texas Progressives look at education and more

The Observer takes a deep dive into the latest political shenanigans, including astroturfing on Dallas ballot initiatives, by Mr. Pink Slime, Monty Bennett of the Dallas Express.

The former editor of UT-Dallas' student newspaper, shit-canned by the university over Palestine, has started a new unofficial student paper. He talks here about campus politics.

The Trib looks at five of the eight State Board of Education races. I see that Green Hunter Crow, running for Seat 11, is nailing down his perennial candidate status while also engaging in teh stupidz.

At the Observer, Justin Miller looks at the latest on the chances of Dade "Dade" Phelan to remain Texas Speaker of the House.

Judd Legum notes that the Montgomery County library committee's push to move a children's book about Pilgrims and Wampanoags from non-fiction to fiction has been reversed and the committee itself suspended by the Montgomery County Commissioners Court.

Off the Kuff published interviews with Kristin Hook, candidate in CD21, and Laurel Swift, candidate in HD121. 

SocraticGadfly takes a skeptical look at Voters of Tomorrow, which thrust itself into the news last week.

The Lone Star Project reminds us once again about Tarrant County's terrible MAGA Sheriff. (Ignore / reject LSP's ending about "vote for every Democrat on your ballot.")

The Current reports Kristin Hook's accurate assessment of Rep. Chip Roy's character. 

The Dallas Observer notes that our state is a national leader in "educational gag orders".  

Lone Star Left considers Democrat Sam Eppler's chances in CD24.

Robert Roberson gets justice for now at least

When Texas state House Republicans are the people intervening to prevent a likely innocent man from being executed, it's a big deal.

And it is, not just for Roberson, but for junk science and justice issues in Texas, right as early voting starts.

The Texas Legislature's law on junk science in the criminal system is now 11 years old. It's clear that appeals courts have a spotty record in following the law, and that — shock me — the Court of Criminal Appeals' record is abysmal. Ditto for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, not elected, but appointed by the gov, which means Strangeabbott, rather than his usual Jesuitical posturing in such cases, could appoint better board members.

(I find it "interesting" that, even with the elections angle on the CCA, Charles Kuffner at Off the Kuff has yet to write in depth on this. He did post a Law Dork link in this week's Progressives Roundup, which I edited out because I'm writing this and because Chris Geidner.) 

Speaking of the CCA, the Trib reminds us that three of the five judges who voted against Roberson, including the odious Sharon Keller, got primaried because of Ken Paxton, and lost. If one of their three replacements flips, we have a different story.

And, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence has apparently had it. Besides subpoenaing Roberson to block his execution, which worked, it has indicated it plans next year to amend the 2013 law to put more teeth into it.

One suggestion? Subpoena current CCA and Board of Pardons and Paroles members while you're at it.

That didn't happen, and because the Hail Mary worked for now, Roberson didn't speak yesterday. But, wingnut lite Phil McGraw and John Grisham did. 

Why wasn't Roberson there himself? Because AG Kenny Boy Paxton, of course:

Paxton said over the weekend it was too dangerous to bring the death row inmate to the Capitol. Instead, Paxton said he would have to testify via Zoom. 

In a letter to the House committee Saturday, Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said Roberson wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively over video because he is autistic and is unfamiliar with modern technology, having been in prison for more than 20 years. 

The committee agreed with Sween and was working on an arrangement to have Roberson appear at a later date, according to committee chair Joe Moody, D-El Paso 

“That doesn't mean Robert won't testify at all,” Moody said. “In the spirit of cooperation, we are in talks with the attorney general's office right now about ways their position can be addressed while allowing our committee to hear Robert in person.”

What a shithead. But, I'm not shocked and I hope you're not, either. Disgusted is fine. And, if Kenny Boy tells you "no," Joe? Do you all go to his prison cell?? And if TDCJ Executive Director Brian Collier says you can't all do that at once??

As for the state constitutional issue? From the same story link immediately above, this:

In his comments ahead of the hearing, Rep. Brian Harrison, a North Texas Republican, said the House committee is well within its rights to subpoena Roberson and conduct a hearing. 

“If the House of Representatives cannot exercise legislative oversight to make sure that our laws are not just being faithfully adhered to, but that they are not potentially being so egregiously violated that it may result in the life of a potentially innocent person being taken by the government, then I would posit there may be no matter that could be subject to legitimate legislative oversight,” he said.

That district court hearing is going to be fun as hell.

Speaking of that board, Pardons and Paroles? The man who appoints its members, Gov. Strangeabbott, has broken last week's silence for the explicit purpose of excoriating the House committee. Abbott used the vehicle of an amicus brief in the case now back in the Travis district court where it began. And, the amicus was ONLY about the separation of powers issue, saying the committee "stepped out of line."

Meanwhile, per the "reminds" link, it takes 90 days after a prosecutor's request for the state to set a new execution date for Roberson. The state Supreme Court's remand to the trial court to address the constitutional issues will have played out by then, as will the election, and if we go the full 90 days, so will the seating of the new judges and the new legislature. More here, including a note that a month ago, the CCA had one "flipper" in its current numbers, and overturned the life sentence of a DeSoto man on shaken baby issues. Beyond that, per the court case? Let us note that the subpoena stands valid, as of now, through the end of the 2025 legislative season.

The Observer, before Roberson's reprieve, also weighed in on the current CCA elections and primarying, but added a look at Keller and how her two decades as presiding judge framed today's CCA.

What is shaken baby syndrome and is it misused? In this piece, the Trib notes that the doctor who originated the idea has largely disavowed it, even while the American Academy of Pediatrics has not only dug in, but expanded its version of the definition.

==

Interestingly, the new-look, paywalled Texas Monthly has no reporting of its own, but just copies Trib stories.

Amber Guyger denied parole; Jim Schutze must be crushed

The Dallas Observer reports, linking to the Morning News, that Dallas blondie ex-cop and convicted killer Amber Guyger was recently denied parole, halfway through her 10-year sentence.

I still remember how Jim Schutze, still at the Observer then, had an ever-increasing bromance for her, running PR flak for her racist family, then dove deeper. And, I wound up analyzing why, after the Observer finally kicked him to the curb. IMO, while his stance on Guyger wasn't the precipitating cause for being let go, it was the ultimate cause.

And, on the petard-hoisting angle? Schutze, hater of journalism unions (and maybe of unions in general) would have been protected on that firing were the Observer unionized then.

Presumably, far-right wingnut Jeff Melcher is also crushed.

Biden OKs new Israel attack on Iran; MSM, others complicit

Per the second half of the header, I want to expand on a restack note I did about Ken Klippenstein's piece last Saturday about the first half of the header.

First, the meat, which gets at both halves of the header:

Two Top Secret documents outlining Israel’s preparations for a large-scale attack on Iran – which would be Israel’s largest, and here’s what’s most interesting: the mainstream media is silent. Colleagues at some of the biggest media outlets, from The New York Times to NBC, tell me that their outlets are aware of the documents. But it’s been days and no one in the sanctioned elite press is reporting on them (Axios only just reported their existence but declined to publish the documents themselves). As with the J.D. Vance Dossier, which the entire media knew about but refused to publish, it appears the media has once again lost its nerve – and its sense of what’s news.

The mainstream media has generally decided that it won’t publish classified material, in effect deputizing themselves as enforcers of the national security state’s secrecy regime. They did this last year with highly classified Ukraine documents they refused to publish (which my editor published at Newsweek).

To put it bluntly, major media are petrified of running afoul of the national security state. And not without reason. My decision to publish the Vance Dossier got me thrown off X (Twitter) and links to the story were blocked on the platform along with Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and even Google Docs. Let’s see if that happens again here.

There you go.

First, the second half.

Although Ken didn't use the word "cowed," I did in my note. I think that's a fair inference of his implication, as he DID use the word "petrified."

(And, so far, neither he nor I appear to be thrown off Twitter.)

Rather, as noted in the second half of the header, "complicit" is the word.

This is different than the Vance dossier. This is Israel, and the mainstream media run that up the flagpole and salute that, period and end of story.

It may be in part fears about the national security state/deep state, but I think that's secondary, and even the secondary falls into two parts.

The bigger of those two parts is fear of loss of access. The "elite press," as Ken calls them, is also the "inside the Beltway" media, as Ken knows. Or "access journalism," as Ken also knows.

Within that, the stenos of the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ Fighting 101st Keyboarders (thanks, Atrios), definitely don't want to lose access to insider intelligence sources. It's like a domestic version of being embedded.

Now, the leaks themselves.

As Ken knows, DC is a one-industry town, and the coin of the realm / grease that oils the machines, after money itself, is leaks.

From the White House and executive branch, leaks are almost always deliberate with political purpose.

(Genocide Joe now says he is "deeply concerned" about this, and his Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ spox John Kirby says the Waffle House doesn't know whether it was a hack or a leak. Sure you don't. That said, the Beeb says it explicitly mentioned Israel's nukes. But, that's a head fake to think that makes it a hack, not a leak. Could it be forged? Different question, but still highly doubtful.)

So, what IS that purpose?

One, per the "complicit," is to test just how complicit the MSM is. Now we have an update on that.

Two and related, is to prep the stenos for when the attack might actually happen and know what to ask.

Three? A pseudo-shot across Bibi's bow. As Ken notes, we spy on Israel. This lets them know what we know. But, per the oath for trial witnesses about the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, it surely does NOT tell ALL that we know. And, it may not have only truth in there, as far as the "nothing but," either.

As a pseudo-shot, in other words, this is another of those red lines that Genocide Joe continues to lay down on Israel for US public consumption that he has no intention of enforcing. This also is in the context of the presidential election, with early voting underway in many states. It's another way, via Genocide Joe, for Kamala is a Zionist Cop to look tough as well, even as she continues moving her own Overton Window right. Darth Cheney and the kiddies and sellout adults at Voters of Tomorrow who have Lincoln Project connections surely approve.

Three, part 2? Let's not forget, as many people know, and as Ken put in a previous post, but didn't link to in this one, that Merikkka just put a THAAD battery in Israel — with a US crew to run it to boot. That basically says "Do what you want to, Bibi, I got your back." That said, both that THAAD and the Iron Dome must suck if a Hezbollah drone was able to target Bibi's house.

Four? Ken calls out the Beltway stenos again in a new piece. Here's a key takeaway:

“Covert UAV operations” were observed on October 15, the NGA says, indicating that Israel’s RA-01 stealth drone was initiating a flight or returning from one, likely over Iran. Israel is flying stealth (covert) drones over Iran? That’s a story in itself. This would be a capability similar to the U.S. RQ-170/180 drones, which are super secret and barely ever mentioned in the U.S. media. But they are known to operate out of Chabelley airfield in Djibouti. Are they overflying Israel to take a look and thwart its “concealment” methods?

Complicit indeed is the MSM for not reporting this.

Ken also notes how part of US spying ON Israel is informed BY Israeli intelligence.

With that all in mind? And, the explicit mention of "nuclear"? We're now at the point of discussing what type of leak this is, as in, "political" or "principled"? (That said, principled leaks still have political angles.)

These docs showing up on an Iranian Telegram channel could be seen as supporting the "principled" angle, if the leaker is deeply serious about making sure all the Middle East players know. And, the "nuclear" is probably part of what pisses Biden off. The US now knows that Israel, and the rest of the world, knows that, behind closed doors at least, we openly discuss that Israel has nukes.

And, with all this? Any idea that a Harris administration could restart some sort of 2015 non-proliferation deal with Iran is toast.

The Gadfly slate for 2024 races

You've already seen my "Vote the Commie" for president, so we'll tackle other races here, with brief explainers.

Statewide races

Senate: Write-in Tracey Andrus. There's no Green, and Colin Allred is a ConservaDem in general and a genocide supporter in particular. Andrus is "interesting," but that is better than undervoting.

U.S. House, Dist. 26: Ernest Lineberger III may indeed be Ernest. He's environmentally minded enough to drive a Prius. But, his appeal to faith? That floats my boat no more from Democrats than Republicans, even if he's an ELCA Lutheran (I presume) rather than LCMS. And, teh Google says I presumed wrong. He's one of a minority of LCMS Lutherans to be Democrat. There's no Green, no write-in, and while Phil Gray seems to be a generic non-Mises Mice Libertarian, he is a Libertarian. Undervote.

Railroad Commission: Green Eddie Espinoza.

Statewide judicial races: None of the Democrats are ConservaDems, and state courts don't address federal issues, so vote the Democrats. Beyond that, Court of Criminal Appeals Rethuglicans refuse to follow the state's junk science law in cases like Robert Roberson. I mean, it's only 11 years old. When your own party in the state House is exasperated?

Regional races:

SBOE District 12: George King, the Democrat, is a public school teacher. Enough said. Vote him, even if he engages in a high level of veneration for the U.S. Constitution.

State Senate District 30: Dale Frey as the Democrat looks solid. Vote him.

State House District 68: Incumbent Republican David Spiller, while a Paxton impeachment manager, was a flip-flopper on vouchers in Abbott's last special session. In addition to being a wingnut Republican, the flip-flop is an additional issue. Democrat Stacey Swann is running on that issue.

Second Court of Appeals? All unchallenged Rethuglicans. Congrats to Texas Democrats for not running more candidates.