Wandering Reveries

"Extinguishing the possibility that Texas could be placed back under federal electoral supervision,..."

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 18:40:09 -0500

“Extinguishing the possibility that Texas could be placed back under federal electoral supervision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday pushed aside claims that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color when they enacted the state’s congressional and state House maps… The one exception was Fort Worth-based House District 90, which is occupied by Democratic state Rep. Ramon Romero and was deemed an impermissible racial gerrymander because lawmakers illegally used race as the predominant factor in deciding its boundaries.”

- Texas Tribune, 06/25/2018
Doesn’t matter; got rid of Lon Burnam.

Good thing we’re pulling out of multilateral agreements like TPP...

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:08:49 -0500

Good thing we’re pulling out of multilateral agreements like TPP that would balance against China.

Photo

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 20:08:00 -0500

National security interests and facts be damned. All that...

Tue, 08 May 2018 15:01:07 -0500

National security interests and facts be damned. All that matters is the perpetual campaign.

Candidate for Texas school board: Preschool will make your child a homosexual Muslim

Wed, 02 May 2018 19:34:32 -0500

Candidate for Texas school board: Preschool will make your child a homosexual Muslim:

fuckyeahtx:

Oh Texas. Are you ok?

She lost two years ago; got other things/people to worry about now.

Polling the TX Senate Race

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 14:18:16 -0500

Quinnipiac University has released a new poll of the Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke. And it has everyone a twitter.

Quinnipiac poll registered voters throughout the state (31% Republican, 26% Democrat and 36% Independent), which resulted in them determining the race is “too close to call.”

Combined with O’Rourke’s impressive fundraising numbers, this definitely makes the race more interesting. This is a poll of registered voters months out from the election though. Will be interesting to see if this holds, particularly among likely voters.

Beautiful Easter in Garwood.

Sun, 01 Apr 2018 12:13:16 -0500

Beautiful Easter in Garwood.

Early Voting: The Final Tally

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 13:28:42 -0600

There was an uptick in early voting in the Democratic and Republican primaries this year:

More so for the Democrats, who saw a 105 percent increase over 2014 (if I did my math right). You can see a full breakdown and analysis here.

The Texas Tribune also has the early vote numbers broken down by county.

Tomorrow - March 6th - is Election Day, and your last day to vote in the primaries.

Happy Texas Independence Day.Texas declared its independence...

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 09:02:04 -0600

Happy Texas Independence Day.

Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836.

Coincidentally, today - March 2nd - is the last day to vote early in the Texas primaries, so go vote.

Early Voting Week One

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 10:20:05 -0600

The headline: Democrats are voting in a mid-term primary. So far, Democrats have outpaced their 2014 and 2016 early vote turnout through 6 days of early voting. Of the top 15 counties, Democrats have outpaced both 2014 and 2016 totals in 9 of the 15 counties.

This type of turnout doesn’t usually happen in off-year, mid-term elections, as you can see from the figures set forth by TX Elects.

Of course, voter turnout is still low, but this has raised some questions about the future of some Republican incumbents if this type of turnout continues into the general election. It probably won’t impact any statewide races, but could tilt some Congressional and state house districts in the Democrats favor, particularly in Harris County.

You can see the early voting totals here.

After one day of early voting, this is what it looks like so...

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 15:37:02 -0600

After one day of early voting, this is what it looks like so far. Basically, Democratic turnout is up over previous election cycles (and way up over the previous off-year cycle: 2014). Overall, turnout is unsurprisingly low.

You can see more detail at the TX Secretary of State’s site here.

Find out where to vote, who to vote for and go vote.

TX Early Voting Starts Tomorrow

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 10:51:21 -0600

Happy President’s Day.

Hopefully, you got registered to vote, because if you live in Texas, early voting starts tomorrow, since today is a federal holiday. And early voting will end on March 2nd (Texas Independence Day!). Primary Election Day is March 6th (The Fall of the Alamo).

If you want to know what districts you’re in, you can search by address here, and if you’re wondering who’s running in your area, you can search here by party primary and county.

Texas has an open primary system, so you can vote in either party’s primary. Depending on where you live and your preferences, you may want to choose carefully, because most of these elections will be decided in the primaries, not the general election.

This year, Texans will be voting for several statewide offices, including Governor, Lt. Governor, Ag Commissioner, Land Commissioner, and judges, as well as state senators and representatives. The Texas League of Women Voters has an online voter guide, but not all candidates respond to their questionnaire, so you may want to also check candidate websites, social media, etc. for information on their positions.

These elections are important, so remembers to get out there and vote.

Register to Vote TODAY

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 09:22:34 -0600

If you’re a Texas resident, today is your last day to register to vote if you want to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary elections.

You can download a copy of the application here.

You can go to your voter registrar and turn it in. If you mail it, it must be postmarked today. You can find the address and contact information for your county’s voter registrar here.

"I could give you a hundred of reasons why I keep books – that they are tangible objects representing..."

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:18:54 -0600

“I could give you a hundred of reasons why I keep books – that they are tangible objects representing who I am, they hold my history, they make a house a home, etc.,… but the truth is I just like books.”

- Seriously, Leave Me & My #$%@ Books Alone

Jammin’ to The Cranberries tonight before going to bed. ‘No Need...

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 22:13:38 -0600

Jammin’ to The Cranberries tonight before going to bed. ‘No Need to Argue’ was one of the first cds I ever bought for myself. Purchased it in some shop in Underground Atlanta. All these years later still listening to the album (now on my iTunes).

Meanwhile in Austin...

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 10:43:13 -0600

Gathering of the Lambs

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 14:26:58 -0600

Democratic gubernatorial candidates met in San Angelo Monday to begin the race to determine which of them will be the Texas Democratic Party’s sacrificial lamb for 2018 (Source). There are 9 people running in the primary, but only two probably matter: former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Andrew White (son of former Gov. Mark White).

Campaign finance reports are due January 16th, so we’ll see where they all stand financially.

This CNN ad really annoys me. Ceci n’est pas une pomme!

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 22:57:50 -0600

This CNN ad really annoys me. Ceci n’est pas une pomme!

2017 Year in Review (by Book)

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 17:23:36 -0600

Only read 29 books this year, well short of my usual goal. Focused more on history and foreign policy in Asia - Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Far East. I didn’t read much fiction this year, but I did read The Witch Who Came in From the Cold, a good book about spies, good witches and bad witches set against the backdrop of the Cold War.

No Saloon in the Valley by James Ivy

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey

The Snowden Files by Luke Harding

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

The Challenges to Democracy by Murray Havens

The Trouble Makers by A. J. P. Taylor

The Secret State by John Hughes-Wilson

Deadly Little Secrets by Kathryn Casey

The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret

A Great Place to Have a War by Joshua Kurlantzick

Dereliction of Duty by H. R. McMaster

Powerplay by Victor Cha

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaSalle

Pacific: The Ocean of the Future by Simon Winchester

Hiroshima by John Hersey

Ike’s Gamble by Michael Doran

America’s War for the Greater Middle East by Andrew Bacevich

Deep State, Vol. 1 by Justin Jordan

Terror in France by Gilles Kepel

The Witch Who Came in From the Cold by Lindsay Smith, et al

The Terror Years by Lawrence Wright

Afghanistan by Martin Ewans

The Great Gamble by Gregory Feifer

Bloodlines by Melissa del Bosque

The Khyber Pass by Paddy Docherty

The Templars by Dan Jones

Hannibal by Patrick Hunt

Caliphate by Hugh Kennedy

The Caliphate by Thomas W. Arnold

Changing Alabama’s Geography

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 14:34:45 -0600

So, last night, I sat down and watched the results come in for the Alabama special election, particularly looking at the county by county results. Jones’ turnout operation was very successful, and last night he flipped several counties that had been Republican. Here is the map from last night (New York Times):

He flipped Mobile, Madison, and several other counties outside the Black Belt. Flipping these counties went a long way towards edging out Moore last night. Here is what the Alabama Senate race looked like in 2016 (New York Times):

That’s a big shift in Alabama’s political geography, of which the 2016 map has been an exemplar for a long time (i.e., Democrats win the Black Belt and the Republicans win pretty much every where else). Many things to be taken into account for this shift, and I’ll let others sort that out. There’s also no guarantee that it won’t return to form in 2 years with a different Republican candidate.