Texas

[SuperMatt]

A winter storm has people worried about the electric grid in Texas again. There are some reasons to be hopeful though.

1. The storm is expected to pass fairly quickly, unlike the deadly one last year that lingered.
2. The strong winds have increased wind turbine electrical output to 17.5 gigawatts.
3. Ted Cruz has not booked a trip to Cancun yet.

 

[Joe]

It's currently below freezing where I am at....31 degrees. It shouldn't be as bad as last year. Temps are supposed to go above freezing tomorrow at noon. Nothing like the 2+ days straight of below freezing temps like last year. That being said, I have prepared as much as I can.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Let's check in with Texas to see how their new permitless concealed carry law is going: Good Guy With A Gun™ shoots at robber, kills 9-year-old girl instead
A 9-year-old girl died after a man who was held up at a Houston ATM fired at her family's pickup truck while attempting to shoot the robbery suspect, police said.

The suspect in the shooting, identified by police as Tony Earls, 41, was making a transaction at a drive-thru ATM at 2900 Woodridge Dr. in southeastern Houston with his wife Monday shortly before 10 p.m. when he was robbed at gunpoint, according to police.

9-year-old girl struck by bullet in truck dies, suspect says he was chasing robber

A 9-year-old girl died after a man who was held up at a Houston ATM fired at her family's pickup truck while attempting to shoot the robbery suspect, police said.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Joe]

Welp, he's going to do some time.

His bond is too low.

 

[ronntaylor]

Let's check in with Texas to see how their new permitless concealed carry law is going: Good Guy With A Gun™ shoots at robber, kills 9-year-old girl instead
A 9-year-old girl died after a man who was held up at a Houston ATM fired at her family's pickup truck while attempting to shoot the robbery suspect, police said.

The suspect in the shooting, identified by police as Tony Earls, 41, was making a transaction at a drive-thru ATM at 2900 Woodridge Dr. in southeastern Houston with his wife Monday shortly before 10 p.m. when he was robbed at gunpoint, according to police.

9-year-old girl struck by bullet in truck dies, suspect says he was chasing robber

A 9-year-old girl died after a man who was held up at a Houston ATM fired at her family's pickup truck while attempting to shoot the robbery suspect, police said.

abcnews.go.com

How the fuck does he get such a low bond?

 

[fooferdoggie]

How the fuck does he get such a low bond? its Texas

ammosexuals are low risk I guess.

 

[SuperMatt]

The domain governorabbott.com was available, so somebody made this:

GOVERNOR GORG ABBOTT

Do you like saying you're for small government then building a hate based platform around exerting power over other people whose lives are none of your business? I do too! Do you claim to care about...

www.governorabbott.com

 

[Huntn]

How would you like to time travel? Come visit Texas where we’ll take you on a great adventure back in time 70 years!

Texas AG declares pediatric gender-affirming procedures to be child abuse, legal opinion says

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote addressed his opinion to the Texas House Committee on General Investigating.

www.cnn.com

Texas governor calls on citizens to report parents of transgender kids for abuse

Gov. Greg Abbott said those who fail to report instances of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care could face “criminal penalties.”

www.nbcnews.com

Outrage after Texas attorney general calls gender-affirming surgery ‘child abuse’

Rights groups argue the attorney general’s opinions, which have no legal bearing, will spread fear and misinformation

www.theguardian.com

 

[SuperMatt]

How would you like to time travel? Come visit Texas where we’ll take you on a great adventure back in time 70 years!

Texas AG declares pediatric gender-affirming procedures to be child abuse, legal opinion says

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote addressed his opinion to the Texas House Committee on General Investigating.

www.cnn.com

Texas governor calls on citizens to report parents of transgender kids for abuse

Gov. Greg Abbott said those who fail to report instances of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care could face “criminal penalties.”

www.nbcnews.com

Outrage after Texas attorney general calls gender-affirming surgery ‘child abuse’

Rights groups argue the attorney general’s opinions, which have no legal bearing, will spread fear and misinformation

www.theguardian.com

Why do Texans vote for leaders who beat up on already marginalized groups of people? I hope the fact that their leaders are working overtime to make voting harder are doing so because they see a groundswell against their hateful policies. I also hope the numbers against such disgusting policies will be overwhelming enough that the attempted voter suppression fails.

 

[SuperMatt]

The primaries are underway. I found this statistic interesting:

Early voting turnout remained low, which is standard for Texas primaries. Roughly 9 percent of voters cast a ballot early or in person this year, according to the secretary of state. That is nearly identical to the 2018 primaries.

So, you get just the most-engaged, probably hyper-partisan people showing up for primaries. Is it any wonder that the candidates to choose from in the general election are so extreme? If we had decent primary participation, we might not have as many crazy people in Congress.

 

[Yoused]

In my state, the primary is about 8 or nine weeks ahead of the general – and it is 100% open, with the top two from the primary facing off in November. It does not seem to help with the extremism, though: the contender in the 2020 governor's race was a magaty moron.

 

[GermanSuplex]

More BS from backwoods republicans in Texas. I don't see how upending the lives of families doing their best to deal with socially and emotionally sensitive issues furthers their agenda, but I don't think concern for the families or children was ever the real issue with such laws instigating these types of "investigations".

Texas has 'initiated investigations' into trans kids' families, lawsuit says

The governor called on “licensed professionals” and the “general public” to report parents of minors who are receiving gender-affirming medical care.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Yoused]

I just thought this was an odd image that Kos chose to depict primary voting

I mean, what does it look like he is doing? I get an image of corn, barbecue sauce, little shreds of cabbage and several unidentifiable I-think-I-don't-even-want-to-know-what-those-were.

 

[ronntaylor]

The primaries are underway. I found this statistic interesting:



So, you get just the most-engaged, probably hyper-partisan people showing up for primaries. Is it any wonder that the candidates to choose from in the general election are so extreme? If we had decent primary participation, we might not have as many crazy people in Congress.

This!! And there will a ton of whining later when there are no viable candidates. Too many talk about November when several months before is the right time to engage. By the time many voters look up the primaries are just around the corner and for most races the primary winners are the eventual general election winners. That's how we got AOC here in NYC, and probably how she may lose in the future: voter apathy.

 

[SuperMatt]

This!! And there will a ton of whining later when there are no viable candidates. Too many talk about November when several months before is the right time to engage. By the time many voters look up the primaries are just around the corner and for most races the primary winners are the eventual general election winners. That's how we got AOC here in NYC, and probably how she may lose in the future: voter apathy.

A crazy example was the latest Buffalo mayoral race. A far-left candidate won the Democratic primary, but she was so unpopular that the incumbent, who lost the primary, won as a write-in.

2021 Buffalo mayoral election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ronntaylor]

A crazy example was the latest Buffalo mayoral race. A far-left candidate won the Democratic primary, but she was so unpopular that the incumbent, who lost the primary, won as a write-in.

2021 Buffalo mayoral election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I wouldn't say she was unpopular, after all she won the primary as an avowed socialist. The corrupt Dem incumbent (still being investigated) was assisted by the Republican, Conservative and Libertarian parties, and together they scared voters, portraying Walton as a crazy communist. Had Brown actually tried a competent primary campaign, he probably would have won outright to become the longest serving mayor in Buffalo's history with the November general a mere formality.

 

[Huntn]

In my state, the primary is about 8 or nine weeks ahead of the general – and it is 100% open, with the top two from the primary facing off in November. It does not seem to help with the extremism, though: the contender in the 2020 governor's race was a magaty moron.

Open as in you can be of any party and vote for anyone? If so from a philosophical standpoint, that kind of interferes with the ability of a political party to elect who represents them.

 

[ronntaylor]

Open as in you can be of any party and vote for anyone? If so from a philosophical standpoint, that kind of interferes with the ability of a political party to elect who represents them.

Right, with ample evidence of the GOP employing shenanigans to confuse primary voters about party affiliations. Most recently in Florida for the 2020 elections.

 

[JayMysteri0]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1499981280611422212/
Awwwwwkward!

 

[Yoused]

Open as in you can be of any party and vote for anyone? If so from a philosophical standpoint, that kind of interferes with the ability of a political party to elect who represents them.

You misunderstand, though. The general has the top two candidates going to the general. There is no party-line ticketing. The primary ballot states a party preference expressed by each candidate, but there is no strict requirement that the November ballot include a D and a R, only that the top two from the single primary vote be on it. Thus, for instance, if a particular district is very blue or very red, the general election ballot for that district might have two candidates from the same party for that district rep. Which, to me, seems to make more sense than having a candidate from the other party be there just as a placeholder.

A couple decades ago, we had a party-based open primary, in which the voter would request a party ballot at the polling place. In the governor's race, a lot of Democrats requested Republican ballots (no one registers party affiliation here, so all they had to do is say I want that ballot) and the R candidate ended up being a crazy woman with no realistic hope of being elected. So we went through a few lawsuits and gyrations and ended up with this. And the most recent R candidate for governor was a crazy bonehead MAGAt who really had no hope of winning, but at least we knew that the primary vote was as honest as one could hope for, because we vote for people, not for parties.