Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

Elsewhere in the local control follies

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Well, at least it’s not about bathrooms. El Paso is billing its effort to provide the indigent and undocumented with new municipal ID cards as a way to enhance public safety and build community. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott seems to … Continue reading →

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Patrick doubles down on potty politics

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s potties all the way down. Declaring that “this fight is just beginning,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Tuesday escalated his battle against guidelines in Texas and across the country that allow students to use the bathroom that corresponds with … Continue reading →

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More on severance pay and the Land Commissioner’s office

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The law doesn’t apply here. After reports of state agencies keeping former employees on the payroll after they stopped working, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other agency heads have taken heat for stretching the rules on paid “emergency leave” … Continue reading →

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The Sugarek/Jeffery family is back together

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Wonderful news. Seven weeks after Child Protective Services caseworkers removed the boys following their foster mothers’ repeated complaints about suspected abuse by an older sibling living elsewhere in foster care, a CPS supervisor brought them back. The move followed a … Continue reading →

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You get a severance! And you get a severance!

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Everybody gets a severance package! Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has spent nearly $1 million in taxpayer money to entice dozens of people fired by his administration to agree not to sue him or the agency, a practice that … Continue reading →

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The Sheriff and Lord High Executioner of Edwards County

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

In case you haven’t already, you really need to read this: The first thing she noticed was Sheriff Pamela Elliott standing across the street. It was an August evening in 2014, and Rachel Gallegos had just gotten home for a … Continue reading →

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What, me worry?

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Paxton? Sid Miller? Meh, no big deal. Gov. Greg Abbott is steering clear of the legal problems swirling around two of his fellow Republican statewide officials, saying he does not know the facts of their cases and expressing little … Continue reading →

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Sugarek/Jeffery foster family update

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From Lisa Falkenberg: The drab little courtroom off the square in Wharton, with its blond wood, stoic flags and idle metal detector at the door, seemed like an alternative universe. Two Houston foster mothers who entered Thursday with anticipation and … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton would like to remind you that he really is running for re-election

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

We all understand that’s what this is about, right? Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned Target this week that the company’s restroom policy could lead to criminal activity and demanded the retailer supply his office with its safety policies, stepping … Continue reading →

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Your increasingly regular Sid Miller update

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What a piece of work this guy is. For years, a sticker affixed to more than 170,000 gas pumps in Texas featured a straightforward headline — “Fuel Feedback?” — alongside a toll-free number, email address and instructions for consumers with … Continue reading →

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Business as usual with the Texas Enterprise Fund

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Raise your hand if this surprises you. In July of 2013, Gov. Rick Perry announced that he had closed another deal. Chevron would build a 50-story tower in downtown Houston next to one of its existing office buildings. The $662 … Continue reading →

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Why North Carolina and not Houston?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

John Nova Lomax asks why Houston has not suffered the same backlash as North Carolina after the repeal of HERO last November. In the aftermath of the repeal of Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance in November, the bill’s proponents predicted dire economic consequences. … Continue reading →

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Ken who? Sid who?

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever you do, don’t mention the indicted Republican officeholders! The Texas attorney general has been indicted for allegedly duping investors in a tech startup, and the agriculture commissioner reportedly used tax dollars to travel to obtain a so-called Jesus shot … Continue reading →

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You’ll take lower pay, ladies, and you’ll like it

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From Lisa Falkenberg; Over at the Wall Street Journal, a 25-year newsroom union pay analysis found women earning 13.2 percent less, a finding that prompted the chief executive of parent company Dow Jones and Co. to vow an urgent review … Continue reading →

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The Chron looks at Rodney Ellis

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not a very flattering look. Over the past 26 years, state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has voted to confirm gubernatorial appointments to the Lower Colorado River Authority, a powerful electric utility in Central Texas. During the same time, financial firms … Continue reading →

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We haven’t heard the last of TMF

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

He’ll be back. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer says he laments nothing about a failed gambit for the state Senate that will end his 16-year stint with the Texas Legislature. The boisterous San Antonio Democrat, however, is leaving office at … Continue reading →

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More Congressional seats are likely on the way

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

If current trends continue, that is. Texas could pick up two, perhaps three, new congressional seats following the 2020 decennial Census if current population growth continues through the decade, political and demographic experts said Thursday. With continued growth in Texas’ … Continue reading →

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Paxton’s hack hire

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What else do you expect? When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton named Jeff Mateer as his new first assistant earlier this month, conservatives lauded him for a legal background that’s highlighted by his work on religious-liberty cases. But Mateer’s background … Continue reading →

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Sid Miller and the Jesus Shot

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Less than a month after taking office, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller flew to Oklahoma City with a top aide, billing the taxpayers at least $1,120 for flights and a rental car, … Continue reading →

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Abbott lies about vote fraud

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ross Ramsay calls him out for it, much more politely than I would have. The governor of Texas thinks that fraud in the electoral system that put him and others in office is “rampant.” He can’t back that up. Greg … Continue reading →

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Dan Wallach: The case for not letting everybody vote by mail

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

You know who Dan Wallach is by now. Voting systems and security are in his wheelhouse, and when he sent this to me in response to this, I was happy to queue it up. Vote by mail (VBM) is cheaper! … Continue reading →

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If you don’t have ID, you probably can’t get it

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Just another reminder that our voter ID law sucks. At the time, civil rights groups and Democrats pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Texans lacked a driver license or other government-sanctioned forms of photo ID, and that cost and … Continue reading →

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The case for letting everyone vote by mail

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Washington Monthly in an article written by a former Secretary of State for Oregon, lays it out. Presidential elections still attract a majority of America’s voters. For all other elections, however, democracy is mostly a spectator sport. In the … Continue reading →

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Hotze gets official hater status

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations, I guess. After more than 30 years of anti-gay activism, Steven Hotze picked up the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on Wednesday. The Alabama civil rights group labeled Hotze’s Conservative Republicans … Continue reading →

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Checking in on Battleground Texas

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

They’re still here. So where does [Lon] Burnam see Battleground Texas in his plan to be the first Texas Democrat elected to a statewide office since 1994? “No comment,” he said, before adding as he walked away, “In 20 years … Continue reading →

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Complaint filed against Cruz campaign for “check enclosed” stunt

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be fun. A liberal Texas political group has filed a formal complaint alleging that a recent fundraising solicitation mailed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign violated state law. The solicitation came in an envelope featuring a … Continue reading →

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Mary Beth Rogers’ prescription for Texas Democrats

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you’ve seen this article by Mary Beth Rogers, onetime campaign manager for Ann Richards, about how Democrats can compete and win statewide again. DEAR TEXAS DEMOCRATS… First, let’s get the numbers out of the way. Let’s use the … Continue reading →

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Our obsolete voting machines

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the Brennan Center: Executive Summary In January 2014, the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) issued a stern warning that should be of grave concern to all Americans: There is an “impending crisis … from the widespread wearing … Continue reading →

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One million plus Texas Obamacare enrollments

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It keeps going up. Just over one million Texans had signed up on the federal health insurance exchange as of last Saturday, signaling a steady drumbeat of interest and giving local advocates a chance for some celebration. “I will take … Continue reading →

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Maybe we just shouldn’t have nativity scenes on government property

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like the obvious answer to me. A “winter solstice” display by the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been ordered removed from the Texas Capitol after Gov. Greg Abbott called it a “juvenile parody.” The display had been approved by … Continue reading →

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State cuts off funds to Planned Parenthood for HIV testing

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously? Amid an ongoing battle over Planned Parenthood’s participation in the state Medicaid program, Texas health officials are cutting off funding to a Planned Parenthood affiliate for an HIV prevention program. In a notice received by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast … Continue reading →

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The state was full of it all along on Planned Parenthood

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Shocked, shocked I am. Almost two months after Texas Republican leaders announced they would kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, it hasn’t happened. The organization is still receiving federal and state funds to provide health care for about 13,500 low-income … Continue reading →

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Just leave already

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously. State GOP leaders, in a predictable but closely watched vote, have defeated a proposal to ask Texas voters whether they favor secession. In a voice vote Saturday afternoon, the State Republican Executive Committee rejected a measure that would have … Continue reading →

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Feds say No to Abbott on refugees

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

What now, Greg? The federal government on Wednesday informed refugee resettlement agencies in Texas and across the country that states do not have the authority to refuse to accept Syrians. The statement, made in a letter obtained by the Houston … Continue reading →

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