51 Specials

Sorry for the delay. Technical issues.

_____

This fella is a knucklehead, but most Texas Democrats know this. See this from the front page of today’s Chron:

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants Monday for the more than 50 Democrats who fled Texas to block a vote on the controversial plan to boost the GOP’s numbers in Congress by redistricting. 

“They’ve left the state … and turned their backs on the constituents they swore to represent,” Burrows told the mostly Republican House members who did attend the floor session. “They’ve shirked their responsibilities under the direction of pressure of out of state politicians and activists who don’t know the first thing about what’s right for Texas.”

Hey knucklehead. I am State Rep. Christina Morales’s constituent. She hasn’t turned her back on me. She is fighting for me. You have no clue what is right for the folks in my neighborhood, you punkarse.

_____

Speaking of morons, I saw this from a story online:

(Gov. Greg) Abbott threatened to take another action against the absentee lawmakers: Ask Texas courts to remove them from office altogether. State law permits a Texas district court to determine whether a public official has “abandoned” his or her office, declaring it vacant — enabling the governor to set new elections to fill the empty seats.

What are you waiting on you moron. Go to court and get them tossed, then call 51 special elections. Tough guy, my arse.

_____

On a related note, this is how today’s Chron E-Board take ends:

This time, though, Abbott is upping the ante. Not only has he threatened to remove the quorum breakers from their seats, in a statement on Sunday night, the governor threatened to charge them all with felonies if they raise money to pay for their Chicago excursion.

In normal times, such preposterous threats might be waved off as bluster from a state leader who has completely lost the moral high ground and perhaps his grasp on reality. But things are a bit dicier these days with Trump back in office, effectively puppeteering Abbott from the White House. We wouldn’t put it past the president to drum up some bogus pretense for sending federal law enforcement to Chicago to collect the AWOL Dems. 

Make no mistake: Removing the Democratic representatives would be an attack on democracy itself. The nation treads a precarious path — one we’re increasingly concerned our democratic republic cannot survive unharmed.

Meanwhile, the real losers in this political tit-for-tat are the flood victims who will have to wait even longer for disaster recovery funds that Abbott could’ve authorized the day after the floodwaters receded. Instead, he used flood recovery as a bargaining chip for Democrats: first, swallow a redistricting map that further plunges your party into irrelevance, and eventually we’ll toss a lifeline to Central Texas.  

None of this was necessary. Abbott could’ve just made the special session all about flooding. Heck, lawmakers probably could’ve gotten a recovery package passed with plenty of time left over to sift through Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s buffet of red-meat priorities. Instead, the well-being of Texans has once again come second to flagrant backroom partisan power-plays.   

Here is the entire E-Board take: Greg Abbott put redistricting over Texas flood recovery | Editorial.

The featured photo does not need explaining. He is the most dangerous moron in Texas these days.

____

We won last night. We are 63-50 with a three-game lead in the AL West. 49 games remain on the regular season schedule.