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January 30th, 2022:

Weekend link dump for January 30

“After educating the kids on the risks of [drugs and alcohol, premarital sex and gangs], they’d invite them and their parents to evening shows, where they’d break fiery bricks with their arms and run through blocks of ice in the name of God.”

“Crypto’s pitch as a decentralized currency free of state control would naturally resonate with those skeptical of government. But when, exactly, did it become an object of partisan—that is, Republican—obsession?”

“Amidst all the disappointment and tribulation of recent days please join me in taking a moment to step back, in a posture of mindful gratitude, to contemplate the fact that Kyrsten Sinema’s career in electoral politics is already over. Yes, the damage she’s already done will be difficult to remedy. She still has three solid years to do yet more damage. And she probably will. But none of that damage, none of the hijinks and characteristic game-playing to come, will or can change her electoral fate. In political terms, she’s already dead Senator walking. And the most perplexing but paradoxically delightful part of it is that she doesn’t even seem to realize it yet.”

“Ten Dazzling Celestial Events to See in 2022″.

“They slut-shamed the green M&M yesterday.”

“This is literally the definition of a Latin American or Sub-Saharan African style coup d’état.”

Clearly, characters on premium cable TV shows should try to avoid riding Peloton bikes.

“While plenty of random people have hopped headfirst into the world of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, celebrities have played no small role in driving the market to frothy new heights.”

Good for Neil Young.

“The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever built, has reached its final destination in space. Now comes the fun part.”

RIP, Peter Robbins, child actor who voiced Charlie Brown in the classic “Peanuts” cartoons of the 1960s.

There are some things that actors won’t do.

“Part of the answer there is that we’ve been trained — by automobiles, and walls and screens, and 40 years of Reaganism — to think that there’s no such thing as neighborly obligation. We’ve been taught that a being a neighbor entails nothing more than being Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched — someone who peers through the blinds disapprovingly at all those others we wish would just go away.”

“This is the story of how George Steinbrenner — the most famous owner in the franchise’s long history and one of the most famous and controversial owners in baseball history — tried to take the Yankees “on tour.””

“But so far we haven’t seen this pattern for SARS-CoV-2… Omicron didn’t emerge from the Delta lineage and Delta didn’t emerge from the Alpha, Beta or Gamma lineages”.

Lock them up.

“A recent article highlighting comments far right activist Ali Alexander made about coordinating with members of Congress provided a great opportunity to highlight one of these important baselines for the January 6 conversation: members of Congress were clearly involved in what happened.”

IBM’s once-ballyhooed Watson Health is being sold for parts.

“So I repeat—do not use the below as a guide on how to send fake racism tips directly to the VA GOP Governor’s Office. Thank you.”

RIP, Gene Clines, part of the first all-minority lineup in Major League Baseball history and member of the 1971 World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lock them up.

RIP, Howard Hesseman, Emmy-nominated actor best known for playing Johnny Fever on WKRP In Cincinnati.

This is what voter suppression looks like

I have four things to say about this.

A Harris County man fears new voting laws may prevent him from voting by absentee ballot for the first time in his lifetime.

Kenneth Thompson, 95, has been checking his mail daily in hopes his mail-in ballot is among the pile.

Thompson has been voting since he was 21-years-old, and he even recalls paying a $0.25 poll tax in the 1950′s.

“I’ve been voting many, many years and I’ve never missed a vote,” Thompson said.

Thompson considers voting a duty. He served in the U.S. Army in WWII during the European Theater for the right to vote and other freedoms.

Decades later, the vet fears Texas’ new election law, SB1, could prevent him from voting for the first time in his life.

Per law, Thompson must either provide part of his social security number or his driver’s license number that matches his registration record with the county or state.

“He registered to vote in the 1940′s and they didn’t require that,” said Thompson’s daughter, Delinda Holland.

Since Holland can’t meet the new requirement, his mail-in ballot application was denied twice. The veteran said Harris County election officials never notified him and he had to call to find out both times.

“There’s gonna be a lot of people not gonna vote,” Thompson said. “If I hadn’t have called in about mine, people wouldn’t have known.”

Thompson’s daughter, Holland, who has only missed voting in one bond election herself, said she’s even tried contacting the county and state Secretary of State’s Office to add her dad’s license number to his registration file online. She said she discovered there’s not actually a way to have that done.

“We know it’s a new law, we’re happy to correct it,” Holland said. “He’s a law-abiding citizen. He doesn’t want to miss voting, and yet, there’s no mechanism to add that driver’s license to your record.”

Holland said she had to re-register her dad last week to ensure he makes the Jan. 31, 2022 voter registration deadline. Thompson said he hopes he’ll have a ballot in the mail soon, otherwise he plans to vote in person.

1. Yes, this is voter suppression. This guy has been voting for over 70 years, and now he’s being asked to provide a number to match a non-existent value in a database. Putting aside the question of how this ludicrous charade enhances “election integrity”, this is suppression because it’s an obstacle that was put in the way of a lot of people who have no easy way to overcome it. Look at what he’s had to go through to try to be able to vote as he’s been used to voting and is legally entitled to vote, and then multiply it by however many thousands of people in similar straits. The people who wrote and supported this law knew for certain this would happen – they were explicitly told it would happen – and they didn’t care. The fact that he will ultimately vote in person if he doesn’t get a mail ballot is irrelevant, as many people in the same position will not have that option.

2. Part of the issue here is that Mr. Thompson hasn’t been able to get the help he needs from Harris County or the Secretary of State. We know that county election officials have not been able to get accurate information about the new law from the SOS office in a timely fashion. The SOS office, likely due to a combination of the law being big and complex and there not being a lot of time to read and understand it as well as the fact that the person in charge is a partisan hack who has no commitment to voting rights, has been overwhelmed. The SOS certainly deserves its share of the blame, but again Republican legislators could and should have known this would happen. They could have very easily delayed implementation of the law until 2023 or 2024, to give everyone sufficient time to adjust to it. But they didn’t, because making it harder for people to vote was the point and they didn’t want to wait for that to happen.

3. It’s hard to imagine a more sympathetic victim than a 95-year-old World War II veteran. There was a time when the revelation of his plight would have gotten a reaction from the people who are responsible for it, with at the least some apologies and assurances that they didn’t mean for this to happen and that they would do what they could to make it right for him and people like him. I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for a single Republican elected official to say any of these things now.

4. In the name of all that is sacred, don’t read the comments. You think the comments on newspaper articles are bad, hoo boy.

The Rodeo will (probably) happen

Assuming it all doesn’t go south from here.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Tuesday the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo should proceed as planned, citing a decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

“It’s difficult to predict what things are going to look like in a month, but I’m very hopeful,” Hidalgo said. “I hesitate to say A-OK, because I know what our hospitals are facing.”

She did not rule out, however, shuttering the event for the third straight year if trends reverse.

Hidalgo returned the county to its highest virus threat level on Jan. 10, which urges the more than 1 million unvaccinated residents here to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with others.

There is growing evidence that the omicron wave is waning in the Houston region. Virus hospitalizations have declined 8 percent since peaking on Jan. 18. Unlike previous surges, the Texas Medical Center has never exceeded its base ICU capacity while dealing with omicron.

Last year’s Rodeo was cancelled, and the 2020 Rodeo, which began just before COVID became a known threat here, ended early, though some argued at the time that decision took too long. Our current numbers are headed in the right direction and should be better in a couple more weeks. I doubt I’d be ready to attend actual Rodeo events or one of the concerts, as those are all indoors, but I expect that going to the fairgrounds for a day of outdoor activity ought to be fine. Especially, you know, if you’re vaxxed and boostered. Wearing a mask, at least when you’re in line and definitely when you’re getting food, would also be a good idea. Do what you think makes sense for your risk profile.

The Killeen Luby’s mass shooting, 30 years later

The Dallas Observer takes a trip down memory lane.

The man and his weapons were both from out of town. That’s one of the first things many Killeen residents, both past and present, will remind you: He wasn’t one of them.

George Hennard was from Pennsylvania, and he was living in Belton, a city about 25 minutes away from Killeen, when he committed what was then the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. On that fateful morning, he stopped for a big breakfast: a sausage-and-biscuit sandwich, a candy bar and doughnuts, all washed down with orange juice. It was Oct. 16, 1991, Boss’s Day.

It would be easy to recap the grisly details of that day, to detail how Hennard, a 35-year-old man recently booted from the Merchant Marine, drove his blue 1987 Ford Ranger pickup through a plate-glass window of one of Killeen’s most popular lunch spots and then opened fire. But this is not only a story about murder, nor is it only a story about the man neighbors called “standoffish” but “friendly,” foreshadowing the cases of often lonely, murderous men who would carry out mass shootings over the years that followed. This is also a story about what comes after, when the cameramen have long since left and the town is left to pick up the pieces. It’s about shadows, about how a day that began with a junk food breakfast casts darkness that shapes lives decades later.

More than 30 years after Hennard killed nearly two dozen men and women, the people of Killeen — and, in some respects, all Texans — are still dealing with the emotional, moral and legal aftermath.

I’m not sure why they ran this three months after the actual anniversary, but whatever. It’s a solid looks back, with contemporary quotes from people who were there and from others who have analyzed its impact. I remember this tragedy well, and the subsequent fights in the Lege over concealed carry that followed. If all of this is unfamiliar to you, a little googling will help, as there was a lot more stuff from the 30- and 25-year anniversaries that came up on the first page of my results. Go read the rest.

Interviews and judicial Q&As through January 28

Updating from last week. This is to put all of the interviews and judicial Q&As in a single post for your convenience, in case you missed something. This past week was Senate District 15. This coming week will be CD38 plus the long-awaited Candis Houston in HD142 and Chase West in HD132, with two Land Commissioner interviews for after that. After that, probably just whatever remaining judicial Q&As there are. Why? Because the week after next is when early voting starts, and at this point I don’t have the time to try to schedule more interviews.

Here’s the interview list so far, followed by the judicial Q&As. As a reminder, much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet. Let me know if you have any questions.

Interviews

Aurelia Wagner, HD147
Danielle Bess, HD147
Jolanda Jones, HD147
Nam Subramanian, HD147
Reagan Flowers, HD147

Ben Chou, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Ann Williams, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Gina Calanni, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Lesley Briones, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Clarence Miller, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 4

Dylan Osborne, Harris County Treasurer (Incumbent)
Carla Wyatt, Harris County Treasurer
Marilyn Burgess, Harris County District Clerk (Incumbent)
Desiree Broadnax, Harris County District Clerk

Sen. John Whitmire, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15

Judicial Q&As

Judge Chuck Silverman, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Abigail Anastasio, 184th Criminal District Court
Lema Barazi, 189th Civil District Court
Judge Scott Dollinger, 189th Civil District Court
Judge Greg Glass, 208th Criminal District Court
Judge Chris Morton, 230th Criminal District Court
Judge Tristan Longino, 245th Family District Court
Angela Lancelin, 245th Family District Court
Judge Hilary Unger, 248th Criminal District Court
Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge Chip Wells, 312th Family District Court
Teresa Waldrop, 312th Family District Court
Judge Natalia Oakes, 313th Family District Court
Glenda Duru, 313th Family District Court
Alycia Harvey, 482nd Criminal District Court

David Patronella, County Civil Court At Law #4
Porscha Natasha Brown, County Criminal Court At Law #3
Judge Kelley Andrews, County Criminal Court At Law #6
Judge Andrew Wright, County Criminal Court At Law #7
Judge Michael Newman, County Probate Court #2

Chris Watson, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1 Place 2
Blair McClure, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2 Place 2
Judge Lucia Bates, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 Place 2
Herbert Alexander Sanchez, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 Place 2
Ashleigh Roberson, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 Place 2