texaspolitics

[texaspolitics]

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that he is ending the statewide mask mandate and allowing all businesses to open at full capacity.

“It is now time to open Texas 100%,” Abbott said from a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, arguing that Texas has fought the coronavirus pandemic to the point that “people and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate” any longer.

Abbott said he was rescinding “most of the earlier executive orders” he has issued over the past year to stem the spread of the virus. He said starting next Wednesday, “all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%.” He also said he was ending the mask mandate, though it was not immediately clear when that would go into effect. Abbott first instituted the mask requirement last summer....

[texaspolitics]

Personally, Heaslip said she's upset because she loves her job and her students. Professionally, she's sad the college's culture has become "so toxic, authoritarian and fear-based" — and that it keeps getting worse.

Heaslip said she and Jones are among a handful of professors who would speak out and stand up for their colleagues. She also was targeted for having talked to the media about the way the school has handled COVID-19.

"If they're willing to get rid of people like us just because we disagree, then I really fear for the future of the culture at the college," she said.

"It's getting really bad," she continued. "I mean, the fear is just out the roof."

TFA President Pat Heintzelman said in an emailed statement the organization is “outraged” over the firings.

“I am reminding the Collin College administration in no uncertain terms that college professors have the same rights to free speech and association as other Americans do, and we are exploring legal options on Jones’ and Heaslip’s behalf,” Heintzelman said.

Adam Steinbaugh, a lawyer with the campus free speech nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), said the ordeal is concerning from a First Amendment perspective.

“It raises the question whether or not the college is retaliating against employees for criticizing its administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic or for participating in a union,” Steinbaugh said.

[texaspolitics]

Have u heard about the 16yo sex trafficking victim in texas facing life in prison bc her trafficker killed her purchaser? Jamie lee curtis and demi lovato have been talking about it and honestly i feel like it isnt enough im afraid if more ppl dont start making a ruckus about her soon itll be to late to help her :(((

ugh yes :( its fucking horrible

here’s a link to an article abiut the story for those who want to learn more:

i’m hoping since celebrities are getting involved something with change for her :(

[texaspolitics]

This summer, the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, and the police violence that erupted onto peaceful protestors demanding justice, demonstrated that police departments do not protect everyone. Black lives continue to be attacked and murdered by the police, and discriminated against by the criminal legal system.

These instances (and many more recent examples) of police brutality have raised awareness of other kinds of racist oppression that continue to plague Black communities, and how all manifestations of white supremacy are connected. Frontline activists, public health advocates, and fenceline communities continue to point out that the largest forces of power and control in our society are aligned and mutually rely on the subjugation of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Back in July, a report by Little Sis highlighted the intricate relationship between environmental and racist oppression by pointing out that oil and gas companies, as well as financial institutions, are enormous backers of police foundations, increasing their already bloated budgets, and often hire police for private security details. The report asserts that the same corporations that pollute Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color support racist police forces and suppressing protests.

Police foundations are essentially a form of corporate philanthropy, where corporations donate money that is used to arm, train, and provide other resources to police forces all across the country. Of course, they’re partnered with more than just fossil fuel companies, including America’s biggest commercial corporations like Starbucks, Amazon, and Target (and more). However, the Little Sis report shows just how deep police pockets are with oil and gas money.

Police foundations will often say that their structure is necessary to support police departments when local government funding is lacking or insufficient - though many groups say they rarely are. Police departments receive anywhere from 20% to 45% of discretionary funds in cities across the U.S., and can use this money with little oversight. But with private money being funnelled from corporate donors through police foundations, companies can control or manage these huge budgets and financial portfolios that they contribute to. According to a 2014 report from ProPublica, foundations “can be a way for wealthy donors and corporations to influence law enforcement agencies’ priorities.” This of course includes fossil fuel companies just like Exxon, Shell, Chevron, and so on.

This influence is especially apparent In Texas, the nation's leading state for oil and gas, energy generation, and energy consumption. The alliance between the fossil fuel industry and police manifests in suffocating Black and Brown neighborhoods with pollution and simultaneously with police presence. Enormous companies with strong presences in Texas, like Chevron, Shell, Hilcorp, and Valero back police unions. The Lil Sis’ report itself calls Chevron “the Corporate Partner of Police,” considering that Chevron is a board member of the Houston Police Foundation and sponsor of the Houston Police Department’s mounted patrol.  

In fact, funnelled corporate money is absolutely critical in the militarization of police. The Guardian reported that the Houston police foundation has purchased for the local police department a variety of equipment, including Swat equipment, sound equipment, and dogs for the K-9 unit. [...]

[texaspolitics]

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Wednesday that he wants to lower the threshold of support legislation needs to make it on to the Senate floor to match the size of the new, smaller Republican majority. It's the second time during his tenure that he's sought such a change, which would allow Republicans to continue deciding which bills are brought up for consideration without Democratic input.

Patrick, who presides over the Senate, floated the idea in January, but until now, he has not spoken publicly about it since the November election. That's when his party lost its supermajority in the upper chamber with the reelection defeat of Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton.

"Texans reaffirmed in the 2020 election that they support conservative candidates and conservative policies and I am committed to again moving a conservative agenda forward," Patrick said in a statement.

Currently, Senate rules say 19 of the chamber's 31 members — three-fifths — must agree to call up a bill for debate. Patrick said in the statement that he is recommending lowering that threshold to 18 senators, aligning with the size of the GOP majority heading into the legislative session that begins next month.

Patrick already oversaw a decrease in the threshold during his first session as lieutenant governor in 2015. The Senate began that session by dropping the threshold from two-thirds, or 21 members, to three-fifths, or 19 members, at a time when there were 20 Republican senators.

In January, Patrick suggested lowering the threshold — to a simple majority, 16 members — if the GOP failed to hold on to its supermajority in the coming election. But in the weeks after Flores' loss, Patrick kept quiet about whether he would follow through on pushing the rule change.

Patrick doesn't unilaterally decide the threshold. Such a rule change would require a simple majority — 16 senators — to go into effect. And Patrick called on the candidates in an upcoming special election runoff to back the procedural tweak.

The two Republican contenders, Shelley Luther and Drew Springer, quickly voiced their support for the proposal. They are competing on Dec. 19 to replace Sen. Pat Fallon, R-Prosper, who is headed to Congress. Early voting for the runoff began Wednesday.

The Texas Democratic Party denounced Patrick’s latest procedural proposal, saying it is “dead wrong and Texans everywhere should be outraged.”

"If Dan Patrick is successful, the voices of Texans across the state will be ignored,” state Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “Texas needs Republicans and Democrats to come together and tackle the huge challenges facing working families during this pandemic, Dan Patrick’s latest power play isn't going to cut it.”

[texaspolitics]

...Paxton says the alleged violations of state election law “violate one or more of the federal requirements for elections.” Paxton says there were violations of due process, equal protection and the Electors Clause. He compares the alleged issues to the “hanging-chad saga of the 2000 election.

”Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, shot back, calling Paxton’s lawsuit “genuinely embarrassing.”

“I feel sorry for Texans that their tax dollars are being wasted on such a genuinely embarrassing lawsuit. Texas is as likely to change the outcome of the Ice Bowl as it is to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters in the 2020 presidential election,” Kaul stated. “As we are in various other meritless cases challenging the results of the election, the Wisconsin Department of Justice will defend against this attack on our democracy.”...

[texaspolitics]

If you’re confused about how the Texas Workforce Commission is handling your unemployment claim, you aren’t alone.

More than 3.8 million Texans have applied for unemployment benefits since March, and we’ve heard from thousands who have struggled with their unemployment claims ever since. They have endured months of problems getting in touch with the TWC, been kicked off of additional weekly benefits and tried to maneuver through a confusing appeals process.

Meanwhile, two main programs authorized by the federal CARES Act that significantly expand assistance are set to expire at the end of December. If Congress doesn’t act soon, many Texans will lose at least some of their benefits.

As people wait to learn more about the fate of their pandemic benefits, many are still struggling to navigate the TWC’s already-complicated unemployment system, made harder to understand by the changing rules and programs that came with COVID-19.

We’ve found that easily accessible, up-to-date information about unemployment benefits can be hard to find in one place.

In this guide, you’ll find answers to the following questions:

Yo hablo español. ¿Dónde puedo encontrar información?

Do I qualify for unemployment benefits?

What kind of benefits am I eligible for?

There are so many terms and acronyms. What do they all mean?

I can’t get through to the TWC. How do I get in touch?

I did not apply for benefits until a week or more after I lost my job. Do I still qualify?

What do I need to know about work search requirements?

How do I know what kind of unemployment aid I’m receiving?

What can I do if my unemployment claim is denied?

I’ve been told I owe money to the state. What do I do?

I’ve started working again but not full time. Can I continue getting unemployment benefits?

I returned to work after filing for benefits, but I’m out of work again. What do I do?

What happens when I run out of my benefits?

What happens at the end of December?

I feel like I’ve tried everything and I still can’t get my claim sorted out. What can I do?

What other resources can help me through this process?

[texaspolitics]

Even after winning back the White House, Democrats have wasted little time before diving into an internal squabble over their lack of down-ballot success, pitting progressives against moderates in a debate about the party’s messaging and policy priorities.

Some centrists have blamed the likes of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for pushing Medicare for All, “defunding the police” and other hot-button ideas. Those progressives have put the onus on certain moderates for mediocre campaigns that tilted too much at crossover voters.

Texas is hardly immune from that discourse.

In a year in which Texas Democrats advertised their state as the nation’s biggest battleground and trumpeted their hopes of flipping at least a few U.S. House seats, the party failed to win a statewide race and didn’t make a single dent in the GOP’s congressional advantage.

Democrats in Texas agree something went wrong, both at home and nationally....

[texaspolitics]

See also, Trump-appointed judges are shifting the country’s most politically [right-wing] circuit court further to the right.

[texaspolitics]

Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes against the state’s top lawyer.

In a one-page letter to the state agency’s director of human resources, obtained Saturday by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, seven executives in the upper tiers of the office said that they are seeking the investigation into Paxton “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas.”

The Thursday letter said that each “has knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and has provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement.”

Paxton, a 57-year-old Republican, was elected in 2014. His office said in a statement Saturday evening: “The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office. Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law.”

The statement did not elaborate.

[texaspolitics]

Voting rights advocates and civic groups have rushed to the courthouse in a bid to block Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's Oct. 1 order allowing Texas counties no more than one drop-off location for voters casting absentee ballots, calling the directive an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote that will disproportionately impact voters of color in the state’s biggest cities.

The Texas and National Leagues of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters of Texas and two Texas voters asked a federal judge in Austin in a lawsuit filed late Thursday to overturn the governor’s order, which forced Travis and Harris counties — two of the state’s most important Democratic strongholds — to shutter a number of drop-off sites they had already opened this week.

“The impact of this eleventh-hour decisions is momentous, targets Texas’ most vulnerable voters—older voters, and voters with disabilities—and results in wild variations in access to absentee voting drop-off locations depending on the county a voter resides in,” attorneys for the groups argued. “It also results in predictable disproportionate impacts on minority communities that already hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis.”

Attorneys also pointed out that Abbott was making a major change to election procedures just weeks away from an election — an action the state and its attorneys argued was improper in a separate federal lawsuit over straight-ticket voting.

Unprecedented numbers of Texas voters are requesting mail-in ballots for the highly charged election as the nation is in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of those voters are expected to drop off their ballots in person rather than entrusting them to the U.S. Postal Service, which has been plagued by cutbacks and doubts over its ability to deliver ballots early enough to be counted.

Texas Republicans have vigorously fought efforts to facilitate increased mail-in balloting, particularly in Harris County, the state's largest and a Democratic stronghold where voter turnout could prove pivotal in this year's election. [...]

[texaspolitics]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is sharply restricting where voters can drop off their mail-in ballots and requiring counties to allow poll watchers at their dropoff sites, issuing an executive order Thursday that closely echoes President Trump’s harsh — and frequently exaggerated — concerns about election security.

Key Facts

Each Texas county can only accept mail-in ballots before Election Day at a single centralized office, the governor said.

Some larger counties have designated multiple sites where voters could hand in their ballots: Harris County, which is home to Houston, allowed voters to choose between a dozen auxiliary dropoff sites.

The order also says poll watchers are allowed to observe each county’s dropoff location, just days after Trump encouraged his supporters to act as poll watchers, a move that drew steep criticism because the practice might lead to voter intimidation.

Abbott is still allowing early voting to kick off three weeks before the election, a one-week extension from the previous policy, despite a lawsuit from some Texas Republicans who want Abbott to roll back early voting opportunities.

In a press release, Abbott claimed the order is necessary to protect the integrity of next month’s election: “These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting."

Big Number

4.7 million. That’s the population of Harris County, the highest in Texas, which sprawls across more than 1,700 square miles. Under Abbott’s order, the county can only offer residents a single dropoff site for early votes.

Key Background

Abbott’s executive order jibes closely with Trump’s skepticism of mail-in voting. As states cope with Covid-19 by expanding their mail-in voting options, the president has claimed — without evidence — that voting by mail is susceptible to widespread fraud, and Trump’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has enacted a series of controversial changes that could delay election mail. As a result, some Democrats are encouraging voters to drop off their early ballots in-person instead of trusting that the U.S. Postal Service will deliver them on time. Republicans in several states have fought back against this shift toward ballot drop boxes, and Abbot appears to be joining that list.

Chief Critic

The Texas Democratic Party skewered Abbott’s executive order, calling it “blatant voter suppression” designed to make voting more difficult. “Republicans are on the verge of losing, so Governor Abbott is trying to adjust the rules last minute,” state party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement Thursday.

Further Reading

Group of Republicans asks Texas Supreme Court to block early voting expansion (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Ballot drop boxes are latest battleground in U.S. election fight (Reuters)

[texaspolitics]

Last week, voters and election administrators who emailed Leanne Jackson, the clerk of rural Hamilton County in central Texas, received bureaucratic-looking replies. “Re: official precinct results,” one subject line read. The text supplied passwords for an attached file.

But Jackson didn’t send the messages. Instead, they came from Sri Lankan and Congolese email addresses, and they cleverly hid malicious software inside a Microsoft Word attachment. By the time Jackson learned about the forgery, it was too late. Hackers continued to fire off look-alike replies. Jackson’s three-person office, already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, ground to a near standstill.

“I’ve only sent three emails today, and they were emails I absolutely had to send,” Jackson said Friday. “I’m scared to” send more, she said, for fear of spreading the malware.

The previously unreported attack on Hamilton illustrates an overlooked security weakness that could hamper the November election: the vulnerability of email systems in county offices that handle the voting process from registration to casting and counting ballots. Although experts have repeatedly warned state and local officials to follow best practices for computer security, numerous smaller locales like Hamilton appear to have taken few precautionary measures. [...]

[texaspolitics]

We tried to warn the Texas legislature about the dangers of storing low-level nuclear waste in West Texas years ago. Predictably, the majority of them shrugged us off- and now there is a much more serious predicament unfolding. The Texas legislature chose to privatize the management of so-called “low-level” radioactive waste in Texas, and then the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) licensed Waste Control Specialists (WCS) back in 2011 to take care of this waste at a site in Andrews County just east of the New Mexico border. We told them it was the camel’s nose under the tent- in other words, it’s a seemingly small issue that would lead to a much bigger problem over time. Sierra Club and other opponents said WCS would keep demanding more and more waste, and they have.

At first, WCS just wanted to import some low-level waste from other states. The legislature and TCEQ allowed it. Then it was depleted uranium. The legislature and TCEQ allowed it.

Accident Waste from the Waste Isolation Project (WIP) from New Mexico? TCEQ and the Department of Energy (DOE)  allowed it.

Irradiated wastewater from South Carolina? The DOE, NRC and TCEQ allowed it.

Now WCS wants to import high-level radioactive waste to store in Texas. That’s right. WCS, operating under a joint venture with Orano USA, a subsidiary of the global company Orano, a French conglomerate, has formed a new outfit called Interim Storage Partners designed to bring 40,000 tons of high-level nuclear power plant waste and bring it to West Texas over highways and railways. And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is taking comments on this idiotic and irresponsible proposal through written comments and four upcoming virtual meetings.

Under the proposal, NRC considers adding a high-level “storage” site to the existing “low-level” radioactive waste site in west Texas. This new license would allow the site to import the most dangerous types of waste from nuclear reactors across America, which would travel through major cities like San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Midland and Odessa, as well as highways and rail lines in New Mexico, Oklahoma and along the New Mexico-Texas border, which is home to predominantly communities of color....

[texaspolitics]

A national Democratic super PAC is pumping over $6 million in to the fight for the Texas House majority.

The group, Forward Majority, plans to spend $6.2 million across 18 races that will likely determine who controls the lower chamber in January, according to an announcement first shared with The Texas Tribune. The money will go toward TV ads, digital ads and mail in each district.

"We have a once in a generation opportunity to establish a Democratic majority ahead of redistricting and cement Texas’ status as the biggest battleground state in the country,” Forward Majority spokesperson Ben Wexler-Waite said in a statement.

Democrats are currently nine seats away from the House majority — and growing confident in their chances of capturing the chamber. They have a released a slew of internal polls in recent weeks showing close races in many of their targeted districts, with the Democratic nominees clearly ahead in some....

[texaspolitics]

In May, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune set out to answer a question: Which debt collectors were filing the most lawsuits in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic, which has put more than 3 million Texas residents out of work?

To do this, reporters focused on Texas’ 800-plus justice of the peace courts, where most debt claims are filed. The vast majority of the state’s 254 counties don’t post justice records online, but an initial search of records in two large counties that do, home to the cities of Houston and Fort Worth, revealed one of the top filers of debt lawsuits was a small, publicly traded consumer lender called Oportun Inc.

The company had filed thousands of lawsuits against borrowers after they fell behind on payments, including throughout the pandemic. We wanted to know if Oportun was suing in other counties. That required more sleuthing....

[texaspolitics]

Texas is proposing to cut nearly $3.8 million in funding from programs that offer low-income residents access to contraceptives and breast and cervical cancer screenings, while leaving intact a robustly funded program that discourages women from having abortions.

Texas health officials proposed the cuts while taking great pains to avoid belt-tightening in most other programs that offer direct services in health care. As the coronavirus pandemic ravages parts of the economy, leaving the state with a projected $4.6 billion deficit, Gov. Greg Abbott asked state agencies to cut their spending by 5% — but largely exempted programs deemed crucial to public health.

Among those spared: a rapidly growing Alternatives to Abortion program, which promotes childbirth and offers new parents financial counseling and social service referrals. Lawmakers doubled the program’s budget last year.

While the cuts are not finalized, an August budget document obtained by The Texas Tribune shows funding would be maintained for the anti-abortion program, but reduced for doctors and clinics that provide reduced-cost contraception and health screenings. The document acknowledges fewer people would receive those services as a result.

Advocates say the cuts are penny-wise, pound-foolish, pointing to a health commission finding that the programs saved Texas an estimated $19.6 million in a year by averting births with contraception and family planning. (The programs don’t cover abortions.)

Critics of the cuts fear they will destabilize providers already operating with thin margins and undo years of rebuilding efforts for women’s health programs after a drastic funding cut in 2011 led dozens of clinics to close....