Does Greg Abbott have coronavirus blood on his hands?

I say yes.

Six weeks or more after telling cities and counties they couldn't order individuals to wear masks, he said that his policy DID allow local officials to require businesses to have a masks policy.

So, rather than telling Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff "Heh, heh, I'm glad you found the loophole," why didn't he announce that straight up?

Because as many people in Texas know, from wingnuts within the wingnuts at Empower Texas to mainstream media and beyond and as clearly demonstrated here, Abbott hates public accountability.

Elected wingnuts like Bob Hall, a wingnut within the wingnuts of today's Texas GOP, and even wingnuts-lite, are attacking Abbott for being too draconian.

The reality is reflected in the rise in COVID cases and the re-closure, in major metro areas, of restaurants that had tried to reopen themselves at 75 percent. (Yours truly has hopped inside a fast-food restaurant twice in small town north Texas to avoid drive-through lines; I haven't been inside a sit-down restaurant, even in a small town, since the coronavirus hit the fan and have no plans to change that for months.)

At the same time, Abbott ain't up for re-election until 2022, and non-wingnut suburban-district House legiscritters are halfway willing to go along with this, and with police reform, because of this paired set of numbers: 83-67.

But, Strangeabbott's attempt to dodge responsibility has failed. Medical science knew that, those six weeks ago. "Personal responsibility" when three-quarters of Texas GOP backers is libertarian yahoos, whether having the additional encumbrance of being Religious Right or not, is a recipe for disaster.

Those five black male youth? Almost certainly suicides, says this Occam's Razor wielding skeptical leftist

Any youth of either sex and any so-called race dying is tragic, whether it would be suicide, lynching or even natural causes.

But, in the post-George Floyd world, it's easy to think that nine young African-American men hanging from various objects in various parts of the U.S. are actually lynch victims. I saw this first from an African-American woman on Twitter a couple of days ago, then from alleged outside-the-box steno (and regular readers know what I think of them) Jordan Chariton.

Black teenager found hung outside elementary school in Harris County, Texas. This makes 5 black men hung across the country in two weeks—most declared suicides by police without providing evidence to support that. https://t.co/DmhT9M2gSO

— Jordan (@JordanChariton) June 19, 2020

The reality is that this is totally ordinary.

Yes, you heard me right.

Per the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a simple and straightforward walk through suicide statistics (don't quote Mark Twain's "lies, damn lies and statistics" to me, per my own "simple and straightforward" comment) will refute the claim I first saw on Twitter (back one week, and no better a hellhole than before, mainly from the MAGAs, but an occasional SJWer and other things).

Per what I posted on social media, and expanding it, here's the reality.

Until investigative facts say otherwise, this leftist, who is a skeptic and some degree of a capital-S philosophical Skeptic, not (just a) Movement Skeptic, says there is NOT a rash of black young men being lynched rather than actually committing suicide.

Nationally, there's not quite 50,000 suicides a year. We'll do easy math, round that up to 52,000, which gives us 1,000 suicides per week.

Blacks are about 13 percent of population, but half the suicide rate of whites. So, that gives us about 65 black suicides a week.

About 15 percent of those are likely to be "youth," defining as 15-24 per some national stats.
So, that's 9-10 black youth suicide a week in an average week. Of those, 6-7 would be male.

Guns are the most common version, tis true. But, hangings and suffocation are the second most common version.

And, contra the implications of the Revolt Gnu Media piece that Chariton referenced, in the Spring, Texas, case? Sheriff's deputies talked to neighbors, looked at surveillance video they could find and more, the Chron reports. Indeed, his own family said he was suicidal. In addition, he was Hispanic, not black. The Chron also notes that the Puff Hoes reporter who first identified the person as black had the ethics to delete the original Tweet, and then to retweet Sheriff Art Acevado's official information.

Malcolm Harsch? Hearing that he'd been found near a homeless encampment (and was indeed homeless himself) made me think it was likely suicide, too. And, yesterday evening, authorities announced that video confirmed this, and his family accepted this.

Update, July 9: Robert Fuller's death also ruled a suicide. Investigation led in part by the state attorney general documented multiple previous suicide attempts. Look, as with the other cases, I can see the family thinking there was a possibility of lynching, given Palmdale's history as documented in the story. At the same time, they knew his mental illness history, and if they didn't immediately disclose that (which, duh, they didn't when they said they didn't trust the initial finding of suicide), they're part of the problem, not the solution.

Occam's razor, first, folks, before claiming there's an epidemic of lynching. And, if you're an SJW of any race, Occam's razor first, second and third.

I have directly tweeted Chariton asking him to update his Twitter feed, but I ain't holding my breath.

Fuck lying Jesse Ventura and his official crapping on the Green Party and fuck enabler Primo Nutbar

I would have to have a suicidal death wish to listen to a full hour of Primo Nutbar fellating Jesse Ventura's limp libertarian political weathervane schlong.

Independent Political Report notes that Primo Nutbar has broken the SHOCK ME news that Ventura, too chickenshit to actually run in Green Party primaries after pledging his support to the party, mainly because, in my guess, his ass wasn't kissed enough, is now saying he'll write himself in for prez.

I have again asked the Green Party for an official copy of his letter of interest. And now, I've found the separate website for the Presidential Campaign Support Committee, which has an actual email, not a webmail.

We'll see if this one gets results.

Oh, and per the header? Fuck the stanners who claim Jesse's the greatest thing since white bread. I've got the receipts proving you wrong in my linked previous blogposts.

I have one other result. After calling out Primo Nutbar, and misreading one tweet, where I thought Howie or his Veep, Angela Walker, had blocked him, but rather, it was Walker who blocked hasbara-unrepentant Dario Hunter, and he called me a dumbass and I called him a conspiracy theory dumbass and more, I blocked him at the same time he blocked me.

Anyway, Primo doesn't care about Dario's hasbara. He just cares about using Dario as a stalking horse to attack Howie because he hates Howie for truthfully saying that Russia meddled in the 2016 American presidential election.

==

My posting of the Independent Political Report link to the official GP Facebook group has been censored once. I reposted, with a comment that Chrome shows when I have a pending post or not, so that admins can read between the lines and know that I know what they're up to, since I've been censored before. And, I used a Facebook workaround to view the posts (not posts plus replies) in chronological order, so I didn't miss seeing mine.

Given this isn't the first time this has happened, and given that this hasn't happened only to me, to take the SJW contingent within the GP,  like former group administrator Starlene Rankin, and hoist them on their own petard? This is a microaggression.

Update again, June 21: The post is no longer in moderation. But? I don't see it.

BUT! I got an official notice that an admin/moderator had approved my post from IPR about Howie clinching the nomination. More proof of censorship. I never got a notice that this post had been approved, but ... it wasn't in the approval queue. PROOF!

That said, I tagged it onto the post that WAS approved.

Update again, June 24: Fuck the Green Party's Presidential Campaign Support Committee. Getting a form reply after my first webmail to the general webmail of the Green Party asking for Jesse's letter of interest of early this spring, and getting nothing after a second post, I found the PCSC's email address. It's been five days, and nothing.

Green Party cracking up over transsexual/transgender issues?

Specifically, what has brought things to a boiling point is what constitutes "medical care" for minor children with gender dysphoria. But the kick-starter was the Georgia Green Party's approval of "Declaration on the Sex Based Rights of Women." The actual declaration calls for reaffirming women sex workers' rights as based on sex not gender. I agree!

Transgender or transsexual (yes, that word) advocates seem to be in a huge furor over that. They seem to be in a secondary furor because "detransitioning" is mentioned in one linked document (and maybe others), and its explicitly tied to treatment for gender-dysphoric minor children.

And now, questioning rushes to treatment is being reframed as "denying medical care."

Tosh.

I stand with the Mayo Clinic, which notes that puberty blocking medications should only be used for children who:

• Show a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.
• Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty.

Note that the first stipulation has an AND, not an OR. The dysphoria must be BOTH long-lasting and intense. Note also the second stipulation. Gender dysphoria that starts after puberty should NOT be treated with these medications. And these bullet points, plus two others, including one that says a child who is a candidate for such medications should at the same time be addressing any "psychological, medical or social problems" that could interfere with such treatment.

I'm ending the medical talk there for the sake of this piece. I want to focus on the politics. (But, I have another piece in the hopper.)

The Lavender Caucus wants the Georgia GP expelled, even though this clearly violated the "decentralization" key plank of the party. It's clear that many of the allies they're whipping up haven't even read the Georgia GP statement.

I stand AGAINST certain Greens like Brian Setzler, Noah Martin, and the hate-speeching Mike Gamms (calling people who disagree with him "genocidal" does approach that, IMO), along with Amergin Ó Kai and Aric Hopkins among newer ones, and it's from a public FB group, so no anonymity busting) who claim that trans activists aren't forcing or pushing anything.

In addition, per the Georgia Green Party's response to Dario Hunter's issuing a call for dialogue between the party and the caucus, among other things, it notes these comments and more. It also notes that Hunter was at the Georgia GP state convention and sat silent while the amendment up top was adopted.

I also wonder if Hunter saw this as a campaign wedge issue. And, if he did, if Howie Hawkins felt compelled to respond. The Greens as Just.Another.Political.Party™? I am shocked there are politics going on in this third party.

Given what I said above about gender vs. sex, the detransitioning issue, to the degree transgender has been fused with transsexual, is not the same as gay or lesbian detransgendering and therefore is NOT "anti-trans." Certainly, watchful waiting for minor children is not "anti-trans."

These crude attempts at framing are lies.

And, since I did tweet something, I got a response from Lavender Greens:

Transgender is the set and Transsexual is a sub-set.    Transgender is an umbrella term to cover a wide range of people within the trans community whereas transsexual people are a specific group.

thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

— Lavender Greens 🌻 (@LavenderGreens) March 1, 2020

Thanks for not being too snarky with that last line. "Thanks" also for ignoring the distinction I pointed out in my tweet to which you were responding:

A big brouhaha within the Green Party over a declaration adopted by Georgia GP has made partly me rethink snarking on "TERFs" & going back to issue of "gender" vs "sex."
I'm about ready to stop using the word "transgender" & go back to "transsexual."
Don't like it? Your problem.

— Super Dooper for #SuperTuesday 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) March 1, 2020

I'm more and more inclined to be less and less charitable on this issue. While this was a politer reframing than I met in the GP Facebook group, I still see it as an attempt to reframe.

Speaking of? There used to exist a private, semi-official GP issues and discussion Facebook group. As of March 20, it was "archived," apparently to cut off discussion on this issue.

Sooo ...

If you're not Dahlia Blackthorn, AND you have more enlightened stances on puberty blockers, then you need to educate her, as I indicated back without naming names.

I know who you are, or one of you, in the Green Party, from Facebook. That person, at least, conflates transgender and transsexual and appears to do so willingly, among other issues.

— I'll Be Biden Time in South Carolina primary 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) March 1, 2020

If you are her, or someone like her? Then you need to either educate yourself, or to undo any "re-education" you've received on this issue.

Related? Starlene Rankin, a moderator for the GP Facebook group, has publicly said she wants Howie to pick Dahlia as his Veep. (Thank doorknob that didn't happen.)

I also support the Georgia Green Party and outsiders for responding to Lavender Greens' call for expulsion with a call, and petition, for dialogue instead. I have signed it.

And, I also don't like Dario Hunter appearing to try to politicize the issue. (Nor do I totally like Howie Hawkins trying to pull what looks like Jill Stein-style fence straddling.)

Not everybody who has signed agrees with the party's position. They do, though, all agree, that the Lavender Caucus (with the tacit support of Hunter, the quietude of Hawkins, and doorknob knows what from national leadership) should actually engage in dialogue.

So far, that has not been the case. The LC has engaged in further attacks. Hunter has continued to try to politicize the issue. Hawkins has made one comment, then faded back away.

A member of the LC was invited to the Dialogue Not Expulsion Group. He left, and dropped this turd-bomb blog post, even AFTER the LC attacked DNC as a hate group, and didn't call it out for that. So long, Allan; with that, I don't think you'll be that missed by a significant chunk of DNE.

And, for both Greens and non-Greens? The amount of threats of violence, and attempts at intimidation. on this issue that it seems many trans activists engage in, and others support, at least tacitly, has just really come to light for me. I consider it disgusting. And it needs to be repudiated. Period.

Texas Progrs talk more national-level policing, minorities, etc

As noted in the lead-in to state half of this week's Wrangle talking about policing, brutality, and racism issues, I noted that Camden, New Jersey, has been touted as the model for "defunding" and starting a police department over, from scratch. The truth, though, is more complicated. That reminds us that this is not a simple issue. With that, let's dig in.

Alex Vitale talks about how neoliberal mayors have turned over problems created by their acquiescence in neoliberalism to police departments. He also discusses defunding or abolition vs other reform angles.


Why does Starbucks hate Black Lives Matter? Why does it lie when it claims it's not singling it out as a movement? Finally, when will librul (not leftist) whites find the principle to kick it to the curb.

Potential Status Quo Joe Biden veep nominee Klobberin Klobuchar has yet more splaining to do from her time as Twin Cities area DA, over a case rife with jailhouse snitches, police witness intimidation and more. The fact that the Klobberer refuses to withdraw her name from consideration shows how much she, as well as Biden, just don't get it, speaking of white librulz.

Wesley Lowery, booted from the pre-Bezos Post, talks about Black Lives Matter, reform vs defunding and White Lives Getting It.

Why is Trump warning against falsely labeling people as racist if other than he doesn't like being accurately labeled as racist? Like I hope many black Tulsans label him as, loudly and vocally, if he's stupid and arrogant enough to show up there on Juneteenth.

Mad Dog Mattis is still a mad dog, but his comments about Trump have freed more active-duty military to distance themselves from Trump.

A White House divided over how Trump should respond to unrest over George Floyd's killing? Those who appeal to his baser instincts will win, as they usually do. And, people of color in his White House staff who "fear a backlash" will likely continue to be Toms, Tacos and Auntie and Tia Jemimas. (Aunt Jemima is being pulled from the grocery store shelves but not from the White House and RNC ones.)

Fox is willing to break photojournalism ethics (until caught) to tell lies about protestors. And, then, it tells lies about how it used the photos.

Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned after the third incident of police brutality or over-enforcement in six weeks, per Atlanta's mayor, this one fatal. I'm not sure this incident alone constituted a need to resign, but I'm not going to argue against it, and think that in the light of the history that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms mentioned, this had to happen, for the good of the city and the future good of the Atlanta PD. And, I definitely think murder charges in the Rayshard Brooks case are an overcharge. That was even before reading that Fulton County DA is in a runoff and also faces corruption charges. We don't need politically biased policing against minorities, nor politically biased prosecutorial actions either for or against cops.

Many Zionist groups hate Black Lives Matter, and have so from the start, primarily because of fears of situational parallels between, and budding connections with, Palestinians.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott wants some sort of federal action on police reform, but without any real regulatory oversight. Shock me.

Long read: The devil's bargain between police unions and the larger organized labor movement.

Texas Progrs talk more on state-level policing, minorities, etc

I have probably stopped splitting off coronavirus news just in time to split off ongoing embers of rage over George Floyd, the police, corporations "blackwashing" when they're not "greenwashing" their environmental image, etc. So, let's dive in!

First, in the wake of Minneapolis PD thuggery, Camden, New Jersey, has been touted as the model for "defunding" and starting a police department over, from scratch. The truth? More complicated. Violent crimes haven't gone away. Gentrification has arrived. The "defunding" was linked to "rebranding." And more. Click that link, and read.

Second, the world of policing attracts bastards. Some ex-cops admit it.

Third, many big cities with policing problems? Either the mayor, the state DA for that county, or both, are ConservaDems, not Republicans. You can make book on that. Both are problems here in Tex-ass; witness ConservaDem DAs in both Travis and Harris counties as I type.

Fourth, besides ConservaDem mayors and elected DAs snuggling up to police unions, even when the cops on the force are majority-minority, white union chiefs are an additional problem — and often throwing fuel on the flames.

With that, and keeping in mind that fourth point as an issue when you here "no votes left of Democrats"-type "pergressuve" bloggers talking about police reform, let's dig in. I'm covering state news about policing issues here, splitting this half of the roundup in two itself.

Texas

Denton County has joined bigger ones in voting to haul down a Confederate memorial. That said, it doesn't memorialize a general, unlike Dallas' infamous old Lee statue. BUT! It, and many like it, were erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy when racist Southern Democrat Woodrow Wilson was president. (And, yes, Southern — ignore his time at Princeton; he was born in Virginia and his family moved to Georgia when he was four. He would have been six when Sherman marched through.)

Racism is at the Dallas Fire Department, in the form of a battalion commander.

Longhorn athletes want THE University of Texas to adopt a number of changes, starting with replacing "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You."

Off the Kuff details the state of police reform in Houston and Harris County, with a coda about HISD.

DosCentavos had a series on the possible re-hiring of Chauna Thompson. The effort failed.

Craig Mills says he should not know the names of George Floyd and so many other black men who are known to him because they were killed by police.

Abby Springs and Wesley Storey explain how Texas laws fail to hold police accountable.