Dang rattlesnakes in the Texas capitol again
Don't worry, it's totally normal.
While the Texas Senate committee drones on and on all day long about the ins and outs of the budget bill — the legislature’s only required job every session is to pass this budget — the nation is crumbling around us. It’s almost funny to think Texas may have money to fund anything once Elon Musk’s groomed goons have thoroughly chewed through all of the wires of the U.S. government, or that Trump will eventually allow funding to anything other than guns, religion and rich men.
They’re currently discussing chronic wasting disease in deer. Hey, I’m sure it’s an issue that needs funding. I sometimes think the only way you can talk about the environment with Texas Republicans is to join them in their hunting conversations.
While it’s quiet, there’s not much else to do but fondle rattlesnakes in the Capitol rotunda because it’s SNAKE WEEK!
From the Dallas Observer in 2023:
Each February since 1981, the Sweetwater Jaycees snake-handlers trek to the state’s capital in a van loaded up with the belly-crawlers.
The Rattlesnake Roundups reportedly boost the region's safety, in addition to lassoing tens of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars for Nolan County each spring, according to the article. Yes, but: “It’s also been criticized by scientists and animal rights advocates for the controversial main event, in which thousands of rattlesnakes — a record 24,000 pounds last year — are piled into a pit, milked for their venom, stunned, skinned alive and eaten.”
Oh.
Did you know that every session now the far-right Republicans try to take legislative control of the City of Austin? This year, it’s HB247, once again filed by Briscoe Cain, who was on Twitter today, attacking City of Austin’s tepid diversity statements.
Just a reminder of who Briscoe Cain works for:
Rise up, Crosby residents who hate seeing homeless encampments in downtown Austin! Anyway, this never goes anywhere:
Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at UT, said state lawmakers have bigger fish to fry.
"Something as large as a takeover of the City of Austin is unlikely to receive the kind of attention ... and really the due diligence needed to be implemented in any way that wouldn't be anything other than an unmitigated disaster,” he said.
Additionally, Blank said, many lawmakers come from local government and understand local problems are best solved by locally elected officials.
Mayor Kirk Watson said the Texas Legislature has long had a special and unnecessary antipathy for Austin.
“It’s been an effective political tool for some in control of the Capitol, but isn’t particularly helpful when we’re actually trying to solve our shared problems,” he said in a written statement.
We’ve got to get Briscoe some coloring books or something so he can occupy himself with more useful pursuits.
I’m sorry to do this to you, but new bills filed today include:
Twenty Senators co-sponsored SB10, led by Phil King (R-Lubbock) today to require a public elementary or secondary school shall to display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.
They also co-sponsored SB11, led by Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) to adopt a policy requiring every public school campus of the district to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day in accordance with this section.
These attempts to turn public schools and government buildings into forced displays of Christianity is nothing new, but it’s definitely making the news today.
"Our schools are not God-free zones," the bill's author, Sen. Mayes Middleton, said in a statement, while also thanking President Donald Trump and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for "making prayer in public schools a top priority."
Both bills already been referred to the education committee for discussion. I’ll let you know when.
Andy Hopper (R-Decatur) filed HB2657 today: Relating to the abolition of the Texas Education Agency and elimination of the position of commissioner of education, the transfer of powers and duties to the State Board of Education and the comptroller of public accounts, and the elimination of public school accountability and assessment systems.
Hopper has been in office for less than a month and is already slithering his way in with the good old boys. Keep an eye on this avowed secessionist.
This is not lege related and I really shouldn’t even mention it here because if Briscoe Cain finds out, he’ll be livid that there’s an Office of Policing Reform and Accountability in the City of Houston, but they have a Community Input Survey on Policing in Houston available to Houstonians if you’d like to participate and share your concerns: https://www.houstontx.gov/opra/survey.html
I’m going to keep my personal struggles to myself today because I know we’re all feeling the same. Instead, I will continue to practice gratitude. Because it is a practice.
Three Good Things:
I am having recurring dreams about my favorite podcasters — Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport of Hollywood Handbook, which I can’t recommend listening to. You can try starting here, but I really can’t help you on your journey — and they’re both being really nice to me and think I’m funny. This is so clearly the opposite of my usual dreams that I have to be grateful for them for breaking through the fog of my own self-hatred. Also, Hayes’ Substack about Los Angeles is one reason that I started my own. I love local politics nerds.
I watched Paddington and Paddington 2 this weekend. It didn’t necessarily help, but they were nice to watch.
Adderall? I was diagnosed with ADHD last year as a 40-something woman and I struggled with the diagnosis. I then struggled with the medications. But finally I took a 10-mg dose today so that I could try to reduce some of this brain fog and I was able to get my tasks done for the day despite it being gray and raining and everything falling apart and little sleep last night. Credit this post to Adderall, for sure.
