Monthly Archives: July 2020

So how’s Greg Abbott doing post-mask order?

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Greg Abbott consistently polls as the politician with the highest approval rating in the state. He was basking in adulation a few weeks ago when things were reopening and the coronavirus numbers still looked good. How are things going for … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Mayor Turner asks GOP to not hold its convention

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck with that. The city of Houston will deploy health inspectors to enforce COVID-19 restrictions at the Texas Republican Convention, and potentially shut down the event if guidelines aren’t followed, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday. In a letter to … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Monday: A statewide look

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not going to keep track of what day number we’re at now, as it doesn’t really make sense anymore. But what we can do right now is have a look at how each party is doing with mail votes. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Rep. Chris Turner

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve done two interviews about redistricting so far, with both of them focused on the litigation aspect of it, which in turn had a focus on Congress. Today I want to pay more attention to the Legislature, which is not … Continue reading →

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Criticizing the HPD narcotics audit

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s good that it was finally released, but that doesn’t mean that all questions have been answered by it. Standing outside the small house where Houston police officers conducted a raid that killed two and grievously wounded their department’s reputation, … Continue reading →

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How Texas screwed it all up

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a more succinct headline for this story about how Texas went from having a low COVID-19 infection rate to one of the worst in the country. And the vast majority of the responsibility for this is on Greg Abbott. … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day Five/Six: Apples and Oranges

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We are at the end of the first official early voting week for the 2020 primary runoffs. At this point, there have been five actual early voting days, as Friday and Saturday the polls were closed for the Independence Day … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for July 5

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

“Three and a half years into his presidency we know so much that it raises the question: What do we not yet know about Donald Trump?” One thing we do know: He’s been a racist for an awfully long time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

The fifty percent challenge

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

An interesting point from Amy Walters. President Trump is at the most precarious political moment of his presidency. Or at least, the most precarious since the summer and fall of 2017 when, in the wake of Charlottesville, the failure to … Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Of course there’s a lawsuit against Abbott’s mask order

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

And of course it involves the usual suspects. The day Gov. Greg Abbott’s mandate that face masks be worn in most public places across Texas went into effect, a GOP activist and group of conservatives filed a lawsuit in an … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Here’s a Census data preview

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Guess what? The same trends we saw ten years ago are still trending. Texas’ Hispanic population has grown by more than 2 million since 2010, according to new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the state’s … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day Four: Driven by Democrats

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting took Friday and yesterday off, but resumes today. Here’s where we stand after the first four days: Election Mail Early Total Mail % =========================================== D primary 15,101 25,254 40,355 37.4% R primary 16,528 24,778 41,306 40.0% D runoff … Continue reading →

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PPP: Biden 48, Trump 46

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

And here’s poll number two, which is technically about the Texas Senate race but I’m counting it as a Presidential poll for consistency. Public Policy Polling’s newest Texas survey finds that John Cornyn has basically no profile in Texas. Only … Continue reading →

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State GOP will have its convention

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I hope they don’t kill any convention or hotel workers as a result. Beyond that, I don’t know what to say. The Texas GOP’s executive committee voted Thursday night to proceed with plans to hold the party’s in-person convention in … Continue reading →

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No fast track on vote by mail lawsuit

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I confess, I hadn’t been aware that this was in the hopper. The U.S. Supreme Court won’t fast-track a bid by Texas Democrats to decide whether all Texas voters can vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving in place … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

UT/Trib: Trump 48, Biden 44

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We had two Presidential polls drop on Thursday. Here’s the first, I’ll do the second for tomorrow. President Donald Trump would beat former Vice President Joe Biden in Texas by 4 percentage points if the election were held today, according … Continue reading →

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

Abbott finally issues a mask order

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Better late than never, but it’s pretty damn late. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a nearly statewide mask mandate Thursday as Texas scrambles to get its coronavirus surge under control. The order requires Texans living in counties with 20 or more … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Three runoff stories

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a sample from three high-profile and highly-contested Democratic primary runoff races. TX-SEN: MJ Hegar versus Royce West No two issues have impacted the Texas primary runoffs like the coronavirus pandemic and the protests surrounding George Floyd’s death, but as … Continue reading →

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

How it’s going at the hospitals

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In a word, it’s bad. At Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital on Sunday, the medical staff ran out of both space for new coronavirus patients and a key drug needed to treat them. With no open beds at the public hospital, … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Second lawsuit filed by bars against Abbott

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This one was expected. Several Texas bar owners filed a $10 million federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon against Gov. Greg Abbott, in an attempt to void his executive order shutting down bars for a second time since the beginning of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

More and better police data, please

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Like this. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement will ask nearly 2,000 Texas law enforcement agencies to resubmit information legislators intended be used to analyze whether police were treating minority motorists differently — but which turned out to be worthless … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Texas blog roundup for the week of June 29

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance did not need to pause its collection of blog content for your roundup this week.

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The lack of testing is becoming a more serious problem

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It was already serious. Now it’s extra serious. As the new coronavirus continues to spread in Texas, leaders of some of the state’s biggest cities said Monday that their testing sites were being strained, forcing them to turn away people … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day One: People seem to like this vote by mail thing

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Big surprise, am I right? Harris County voters cast more than 51,000 ballots Monday in the primary runoffs, an eye-popping total that exceeded turnout for entire runoff elections in some recent years. Combined with a robust in-person turnout, voters had … Continue reading →

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

Maybe that Republican convention won’t happen after all

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

First, there was this. The Texas Medical Association is encouraging Texans to practice social distancing, stay home when possible and wear masks to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. But despite the potential mixed message it may send, the … Continue reading →

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More on that bar owners’ lawsuit

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s something, that’s for sure. They’re here. They serve beer. And they are hopping mad at Greg Abbott. As the Washington Post’s Teo Amus reported Tuesday, a group of Texas bar owners from around the state has banded together to … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

SCOTUS declines to outlaw abortion for now

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You may have heard about this from the other day. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law Monday that would have curtailed access to abortions in the state and that was nearly identical to a measure the court … Continue reading →

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