Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Fifth Circuit bats aside Gohmert appeal

In case you were wondering… . The Fifth Circuit cuts everything short on the stupid Gohmert suit with these brutal disposition. A very conservative panel btw. — Raffi Melkonian (@RMFifthCircuit) 07:32 PM – 02 January 2021 . I’m sitting here … Continue reading

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Gohmert lawsuit tossed

As expected. A judge dismissed a lawsuit from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, that was aimed at Vice President Mike Pence, seeking to put the authority to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election win in the vice president’s hands. U.S. District Court … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Census Bureau will miss deadline that would allow for apportionment shenanigans

Good. The Census Bureau will miss a year-end deadline for handing in numbers used for divvying up congressional seats, a delay that could undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts to exclude people in the country illegally from the count if the … Continue reading

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Pence asks for deranged Gohmert lawsuit to be dismissed

Here we go. Vice President Mike Pence has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit brought against him by Republicans seeking to empower him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The suit, brought by Rep. … Continue reading

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Okay, so *this* is the last pointless gesture

You can always count on Louie Gohmert to find the stupidest thing possible to do. Vice President Pence was sued Sunday by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and several other Republicans in a far-fetched bid that appeared aimed at overturning President-elect … Continue reading

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One last (?) pointless gesture

Because true desperation never dies, I guess. Rep. Lance Gooden of Terrell is one of the latest members of Congress to say he is going to object to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6. Now, he says he just … Continue reading

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The proper level of seriousness

Meet John Fetterman (if you haven’t already), Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania and America’s foremost Dan Patrick troll. All John Fetterman wants for Christmas is the $3 million he says Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick owes him. The Democratic lieutenant governor … Continue reading

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

More on the TDP 2020 audit

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final report, but I don’t have a clear idea of the objectives from this story. [Unsuccessful State House candidate Brandy Chambers’] election night confusion mirrors the second-guessing going on within the Texas … Continue reading

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Trump commutes Stockman sentence

Crooks of a feather. President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday commuted the remaining prison sentence of former Republican Texas congressman Steve Stockman, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2018 after he was convicted of nearly two-dozen felonies, including fraud. … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Scandalized! | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

SCOTUS mostly punts on Census apportionment shenanigans

They seem to be hoping that the problem will solve itself, while applying a partisan litmus test to when it is appropriate for them to step in. The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Donald Trump’s final sabotage of the … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Other jurisdictions

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial You may be wondering “Hey, how come you haven’t reported on data from SBOE and State Senate districts?” Well, I’ll tell you, since the SBOE … Continue reading

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“Of course I didn’t say the thing that I totally said”

“You just weren’t supposed to understand it.” Texas Republican Party Chairman Allen West said Monday he was not advocating secession from the United States in his response on Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to take up … Continue reading

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Can Ken Paxton be sanctioned for his seditious lawsuit?

One group is going to try. I wish them luck. A national lawyers group on Monday called for professional licensing bodies to investigate what it called a “breach of ethical rules” by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and 17 of … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Here comes the vaccine

Houston’s first doses have arrived. Months of waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Houston are almost — but not quite — over, as hospitals prepare to move the first doses from sealed subzero shipments and into the arms … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Comparing to 2012 and 2016

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts I had meant to get to this last week, but SeditionPalooza took up too much of my time, so here we are. The intent of this post is to compare vote … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Now we wait on SCOTUS

The state of Texas filed its reply to the defendants’ responses to its democracy–killing lawsuit, and, well, it’s something. This brings us the Texas AG Ken Paxton’s reply–or, rather, replies, as there are multiple filings, including a motion to enlarge … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

FBI serves subpoenas in Paxton case

Quite the timing, no? Federal agents served at least one subpoena Wednesday on the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in an ongoing investigation into allegations that Paxton abused his authority by helping a friend and campaign donor. Three … Continue reading

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The states respond to Paxton

Now we wait for SCOTUS. I sure hope they’re quick about it. Each of the four battleground states targeted by a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn President Donald Trump’s election defeat issued blistering briefs at the Supreme Court on Thursday, with … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Commissioners Court and JP/Constable precincts

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts We now zoom in for a look at various county districts, which are also called “precincts”. I don’t know why we have County Commissioner precincts and JP/Constable precincts to go along with regular voting … Continue reading

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We still have to talk about Paxton’s ridiculous and anti-democratic lawsuit

At least for one more day. President Donald Trump on Wednesday latched on to a longshot Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn a presidential election that handed the White House to Joe Biden. Legal experts say Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: State Rep districts

Introduction Congressional districts We move now to State Rep districts, which is my usual currency since they provide complete coverage of the county with no partial pieces. You can also get a much more nuanced view of how things have … Continue reading

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Ken Paxton sues other states to overturn their election results

It’s as stupid and pernicious as it sounds. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing four battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — whose election results handed the White House to President-elect Joe Biden. In the suit, he … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Precinct analysis: Congressional districts

Introduction All right, let’s get this party started. In the past I’ve generally done the top races by themselves, but any race involving Trump provides challenges, because his level of support just varies in comparison to other Republicans depending on … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Birds of a feather

Sweet. A pro-Trump group that promised to challenge the Nov. 3 election results and expose fraud was sued by a North Carolina money manager who donated $2.5 million to the cause but says he didn’t get his money’s worth. Fred … Continue reading

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I remain pessimistic about the chances of good voting bills passing

This Trib story suggests that with Republicans doing well in the high turnout 2020 election, and with the emergency measures that were implemented to expand voting access, the odds of getting a bill passed to make some forms of voting … Continue reading

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We might get better Census apportionment data

Some good news. The Census Bureau has identified issues in the data from the 2020 decennial census that will take an additional 20 days or so for it to fix, and thus delay the release of survey’s apportionment data until … Continue reading

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Beware color-coded county maps

I spotted this on Twitter the other day and it got me thinking: . Biden now leads by 3.86 points nationwide, per @Redistrict popular vote tracker, matching Obama’s 3.86 pt win in 2012. He’ll exceed it soon. They won by … Continue reading

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Prevention > treatment

I mean, more treatments for COVID is a good thing, but you know what’s better? Not getting COVID in the first place. Maybe we can try doing better on that? Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Lubbock on Thursday to tout … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A high level look at the changing suburbs

The Trib takes a broad and high-level look at what I’m digging into now. Although they didn’t get the blue wave they expected, Democrats narrowed the gap with Republicans in five of the most competitive and populous suburban counties in … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Please stop with the straight ticket voting anecdotes

Either bring me some real data or leave these just so stories alone. Judging from Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Dallas County, Morgan Meyer and Angie Chen Button should have been doomed this November. Meyer and Button are the only two … Continue reading

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A closer look at county races, Part 1

In this series of entries, I’m going to take a trip through the local election results pages on some counties of interest, to get a closer look at how they went this year and how that compares to 2016. We … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The “blue spine” and the rural counties

Point: For the third consecutive election cycle, Democrats saw their advantage over Republicans grow in the 21 counties along Interstate 35, allowing them to further chip into the Republican dominance that has lasted for nearly three decades. The result was … Continue reading

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Harris County posts updated election results

From Twitter: . That won’t affect most races, and it probably does not affect any Harris-County specific races. But if provisional ballots are like that statewide, it could affect larger, close elections. I’m particularly watching Chief Justice for the 14th … Continue reading

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So how did my simple projection work out?

Remember this? I divided the counties up by how much their voter rolls had grown or shrunk since 2012, then used the 2016 turnout levels and 2018 results to project final numbers for the Presidential election in 2020. Now that … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments