Xarthor posted:

Post reserved for anything I've missed. Or maybe election results? Something else?

Tatum Girlparts posted:

Davis isn't gonna win, but I don't think anyone expected her to, she's a symbolic run.

Omi-Polari posted:

A revolutionary Trotskyist club in Austin might be able to get someone elected on the Austin city council someday with the new single-member districts, but as a means for rebuilding a state-wide progressive movement? Count me skeptical.

ReidRansom posted:

In addition to this, for those of you who don't know, the salary for a legislator in Texas is $7400/yr (+ a small per diem while is session) despite becoming an increasingly full time job. This means of course that pretty much only the wealthy can afford to do the job. Or people for whom legislating is their job, in which case they do so on behalf of their clients rather than their consituents. The pay is written into the constitution and has to be raised by the voters, something they have failed to do since 1974 despite the issue having come up several times.

radical meme posted:

This is the frustrating part. As much as I support and agree with the need to increase voter registration and turnout, there has to be something for a target group to show up and vote for. I can think of dozens of issues that hispanic voters could get behind and support; some not even targeted specifically at them. How about being for bilingual education and supporting legislation that actually says Texas is a bilingual state; screw english only. How about being for an increase in the national standing of the Texas public education system and by the way, hell yes all those kids are welcome in our public schools. How about a goal of free higher education at all state schools; free tuition for all in state students and hell yes those immigrant children are drat well welcome. How about an increase in the minimum wage to at least $10 per hour. How about accepting Medicaide expansion under Obamacare and gently caress it, lets just go for single payer in Texas; Vermont's not better than us. Hell I can think of a gently caress ton of issues that would make a distinction between the GOP and a new Texas Democratic party that would attract young hispanic and minority voters. And, I really thought that this was the year that stuff like that should have been rolled out and given a test drive. But, it's not going to happen.

edit: by way of explanation, I know that a lot of those things would never be acceptable, even though they should be, on a national level. But on the state level, I don't think that Democrats, especially in Texas, can continue to just sit back and say, "well we're not Republicans, vote for us".

Dr. Pangloss posted:

If you, my friends on the left, are unhappy, imagine how I feel as a rational conservative in this Tea Party, bat-poo poo-crazy, Fox News driven state... You all look at the faces of the Republican reps in the OP and despair, and so do I.

The political landscape in Texas is terrible. I can't stand Wendy Davis, both for some of what she supports and more for everything she's not, but I was hoping the Battleground Texas movement would at least get some traction to force conservative Texans back to the middle.

The team-sports mentality of partisan politics is exhausting to me anyway, but the disaster of this year's ballot is just depressing.

Xarthor posted:

Updated the OP and the second resources post with some stuff. Anyone who has any other suggestions for either the OP or resources post please feel free to suggest!

RE: Wendy Davis and her campaign strategy

I've been involved with Battleground/the Wendy campaign since February and have met Wendy ~5 times now. I also talked with a few "upper level" staffers and although I would never claim to know the exact battle plan for the campaign, I do know a few things for sure:

(1) Wendy has not yet begun to fight. The campaign is saving it's money and doing cheap advertising and marketing like online ads while focusing on ground game. Expect the campaign to start blitzing the airwaves with TV and other more mass-media promotion sometime in the next month or so. Especially since Abbott just released his first official campaign commercial during the soccer match yesterday.

(2) Wendy is not a wilting lilly. Yes, Texas Democratic candidates get a bad wrap for being weak-willed babies who curl into a ball at the first sign of trouble and given the history of some Democratic candidates from Texas, I'm inclined to agree. But Wendy isn't that way. She's fierce and she's going to take to Abbott.

Cast my opinion aside as a true believer if you'd like. Whatever. She's still our best chance to win since Ann Richards. Doing the whole "well she probably won't win and she's down in the polls even though it's only June so why even bother doing anything ever?" isn't going to help. Even if you don't think she's perfect, which she may not be, she's still a gently caress ton better than Abbott!

zoux posted:

Here's your official Texas GOP Platform.


Here you go junior. The state convention is next week so they'll have their official platform out then. I don't expect it will differ greatly from the 2012 platform.

GreyjoyBastard posted:

Dan Patrick, noted crazy person and Texas Lieutenant Governor frontrunner, after repeatedly accusing his opponent of wanting to turn Texas into California, accidentally proposed that tax increases be subject to public referendum.

VitalSigns posted:

Unless they're Mexican. then gently caress 'em! What if there were only one seat left at UT and the child of an illegal got it because the Democrats let them pay in-state tuition?

zoux posted:

His education policy scares me much more. He's no different from Standard Republican Man when it comes to fiscal politics.

zoux posted:

Patrick, as chair of the Education Committee, is also the author of the massive curriculum program change that is going into effect this fall. I can go into the (boring) specifics if anyone cares but suffice it to say it's replacing a system that was showing results with one that's a complete disaster.

GreyjoyBastard posted:

VDP only really soft-pedaled the third of those, though? She wants to tap the fund that is entirely composed of businesses paying fees for what they get from Texas, for a pretty cool education program.

blackguy32 posted:

Honestly, I find Van Der Putte to be a better candidate than Wendy Davis.

Texas Tribune posted:

Lawyers for Gov. Rick Perry on Friday filed a request to dismiss the indictment against the governor, saying the special prosecutor in the case was not properly sworn in.

"Insofar as the records on file in these cases reflect, [special prosecutor Michael] McCrum, the purported attorney pro tem, is acting illegally because the basic procedural requirements have been overlooked," attorneys Tony Buzbee, Tom Phillips and David Botsford wrote in their filing with Travis County’s 390th District Court. The lawyers wrote that their allegations were based upon the district clerk's files in the case.

McCrum, who obtained the indictment against Perry in August, told The Texas Tribune that he was indeed sworn in.

"I don't know what they're talking about," said McCrum, who was sworn in as special prosecutor in August 2013.

A copy of the oath of office was obtained by the Tribune from the Travis County district clerk’s office.

Perry is charged with abusing his official power by threatening to veto $7.5 million in state funds from the state's public integrity unit unless Democratic Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg stepped down following a 2013 drunken driving arrest and conviction. The Travis County DA's office oversees the state-financed public integrity unit. Lehmberg refused to resign, and Perry vetoed the money.

Because the case involves Lehmberg's office, a special prosecutor outside of the agency was appointed. McCrum was appointed by Visiting Judge Bert Richardson.

fade5 posted:

In interesting news, and in contrast to the constant string of Republican victories, Republican Susan Reed is no longer Bexar County's District Attorney; she was defeated by Democrat Nicholas “Nico” LaHood. Susan Reed has been DA for 16 years, so this is a bit of a shock; I thought LaHood was just a sacrificial lamb. The win is partly due to greater than average turnout in Bexar county, but also largely due to Thomas J. Henry, who dumped an absolute shitload of money into the race.
http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/LaHood-defeats-Reed-for-Bexar-district-attorney-5871454.php

Hey, if the Kochs can dump shitloads of money into races to get their guys elected, then turnabout is fair play.

Also in good news, my congress-critter Joaquin Castro won re-election.

Not that there was ever any doubt about Joaquin winning, he didn't even have a Republican opponent, just some no-name Libertarian. Ah, the benefits of living in the majority Hispanic, majority Democratic part of San Antonio, I can actually vote for a Democrat who can win and who actually represents me.

Shear Modulus posted:

I'd also like a pony.

zoux posted:

It goes deeper than that. United States of America also starts with UN

Here's some other infowars poo poo that serious people are talking about.


Are you having a stroke?

SA Current posted:

Uber announced Thursday its intent to exit the San Antonio market, following through with threats the company has made since the end of last year.

The company claims that the city's transportation ordinance, which was amended last December, imposed excessive regulations and created an unfeasible environment for the ride-share company to continue its Alamo City operations.

Uber Texas General Manager Chris Nakutis announced the company's decision to members of the press in Main Plaza following Thursday's city council meeting. Council members had just approved a motion to remove a requirement passed in December that required ride-share drivers to hold an excessive insurance policy of no less than $200,000. Other provisions passed in December, including regulations regarding background checks and driver fees, remained relatively unchanged after today's meeting.

The council voted today to appease both Uber and Lyft, who have been facing opposition from both taxi companies and the San Antonio Police Department since they arrived in San Antonio last spring. The city's nearly year-long efforts to create a regulatory environment that would accommodate the operations of ride-share companies were not enough to appease the Silicon Valley tech companies.

Shifty Pony posted:

Yeah their main complaint is that SA wants to actually enforce a real background check, not the lowest-bidder rubber stamp that uber and lyft currently do.

San Antonio mayor's statement is a nice "go gently caress yourself" too.

PostNouveau posted:

Police should want body cameras because they'll disprove false allegations of abuse, but strangely, for some reason, cops mostly seem to oppose them.

Nonsense posted:

You had a Cities: Skylines av before your current one about the trash dump. Thought it was that special modded trash dump.

Also I wish the ex-Con fought instead for the right to vote rather than wield something that will probably put him back behind bars.

LeJackal posted:

Seriously, it seems like your only argument is 'laws protecting [x] may be ignored, therefore never try to protect [x].' Which is lovely, because you could apply it to anything.


They sure did, and the only shame is that the Panthers didn't take more pigs with them . FTP.


I keep forgetting that rights are assigned value extrinsically by how popular their supporters or targets are.


"When oppressed, roll over and give up." - Vitalsigns

LeJackal posted:

I am pretty chill, generally.
Your insinuations that; A) I'm a "middle class" abled hetero-normative white cisgender male Judeo-Christian and, B) That the weight of one's arguments regarding logical consistency are dependent on the color of one's skin color/gender/etc, are both pretty wicked lovely and presumptuous. Still, I am more disappointed than upset, though.

Spacebump posted:

Maybe it's a mix of campaigns that could be better run and people not voting. Having the worst voter turnout can't all be on bad campaigns.

zoux posted:

What do homeless veterans have to do with Syrian refugees?

blue squares posted:

They are a convenient group to say "Instead of doing X, we should be doing Y" with.
x= helping Syrians
y= helping vets.

Twerk from Home posted:

What's the deal here?

Houston ISD is looking to outright disobey Robin Hood and not send money? It is pretty appalling that HISD with it's 76% student poverty rate is now a property rich district that's going to have to give up about $160 million to robin hood, but throwing themselves on the state legislature's mercy seems like a terrible idea.

skipdogg posted:

SA's election might break 10% participation rate which would be a new record.

zoux posted:

lol

karlor posted:

Taylor is effectively Republican and Nirenberg got Castro's endorsement. I don't know much about him but he seems to care about improving transportation infrastructure (which I like). Honestly, I'm mainly interested in voting out Taylor since 1) it was really lovely that she got appointed interim mayor after Castro on the promise that she wouldn't run for mayor afterwards, which of course she broke, and 2) in the debates during the previous runoff she stated that she wouldn't even consider any light-rail/commuter-rail projects (I know it's unlikely that we'll ever get light-rail but I would at least like a mayor that's open to the possibility).

zoux posted:

Do you think that the citizens and residents of the RGV are worse off under a bill that permits immigration checks at any lawful detention or one that only permits checks for arrested persons? Because the House Democratic Caucus could've had the latter but instead they decided to speak for 15 hours at the front mic for the former.

SB 4 is a racist, hateful, bad bill in either case, but one version is going to hurt Hispanic Texans and immigrants a lot more than the other. And the only thing they got for it was a few extra hours of garment rending.

zoux posted:

Nope, get ready for Speaker Matt Schaefer.

Like, I cannot state what a conservative red meat feeding frenzy the next session is going to be, unless there's some massive wave that crushes the GOP majority (there won't be). It's going to suuuuuuck

Byron Cook not seeking reelection either. He's the House State Affairs chair who wouldn't even hold a hearing on the bathroom bill. He and Strauss were Empower Texas' top targets. This is very not good.

https://twitter.com/quorumreport/status/923209334649245697

Strauss had already filed paperwork to run for speaker next session so something must have happened recently. I know we're all "gently caress every single republican ever" here but in Texas you do not want to see moderate Republicans replaced with the type of right wing pols we have here. There is a deep, deep disease within the American political system where you are seeing moderates quit politics at every level.

eonwe posted:

hi yall there is a Dem Socialistd of America NTX meeting on sunday, lmk if anyone wants details

Shear Modulus posted:

Zil posted:

Because Beto asked him not to.

Marxalot posted:

I couldn't tell you a single thing about her.

Except that she's a cop.