News from the dead of campaign season
Texas’ down-ballot races need some serious attention!
I have been having a rough time lately. I’ve had a cold/bronchitis for coming on two weeks, which is awful on its own but also means I haven’t been able to work out in two weeks, and that very negatively affects my mental health. And then after a couple of months of dreading it would happen, I lost a long-term freelance client last week due to leadership changes and a fundamental disagreement about what nonprofit social media should look and feel like. That takes away a good chunk of my yearly income and I worry about how I’ll be able to make that up as opportunities dry up.
And it’s still August in Houston.
Ah well, let’s look at the news, shall we?
Harris County’s contract with Flock ends June 2027. Not that ending that one contract would help all that much, according to the Texas Tribune:
However, government officials have little power to remove Flock from their region, as most of it isn’t purchased by them or law enforcement. Retailers and homeowners associations buy their own cameras and then choose whether to share footage with law enforcement. According to HCSO, most camera networks are owned by municipal utility districts, neighborhood associations and similar organizations, with the sheriff’s office as the system administrator.
The mixture of contracts means county officials will have to somehow find every person who owns a system and get them to agree to break their contract with Flock, a daunting task.
Seems like a worthy, hyperlocal task for every American who is concerned about this! Check here if you want to view where these cameras are in your part of town. (I’d use a VPN for this, tbh.) Of course, most of these cameras are along roadways and we don’t like those, but I found the only camera in my neighborhood in a curious place. It’s posted across the street from a MAGA-aligned restaurant and faces their business, but reads the plates of all of the cars traveling down a busy street lined with bars.
Curious! Wonder who bought it and put it there!
Today we became one step closer to Trump succeeding in doing…something…to mail ballots. The Supreme Court paused a lower court ruling that was holding back some changes, but it didn’t say anything else. According to the AP, “The decision appears to leave room for additional court challenges that could further slow Trump’s order,” so there’s that. The U.S.P.S. announced Friday night (so you know they’re very proud of themselves) that it is going to implement the new requirements if the courts order them to do so. But which ones? What court order will actually result in changes to the mail-in voting process? HELL IF I KNOW.
This might be the most important detail here:
Time is running out for the administration to make any changes in the nation’s voting procedures. The first mail ballots are required to be sent to military and overseas voters from North Carolina on Sept. 4. At that point, it would be virtually impossible for all states to alter the formatting of their mail ballots to comply with Trump’s directive. The Postal Service rule also requires states to submit voter lists in order to get their mail ballots delivered.
It’s hard to say right now what this all means, but we should be aware of it.
Trump is going to be in town Thursday for what I believe is a private fundraiser for Ken Paxton and a ceremony at Johnson Space Center where he will “award Congressional Space Medals of Honor to the crew of the Artemis II mission.” Haven’t those lovely people put up with that man enough at this point? Regardless, expect a rambling speech about how hot it was on his brief walk from one air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned building.
Dan Patrick continued his campaign of being deeply unpopular with normal people by holding a goofy press conference last week about more book bans. His exact quote: “We’re coming for the books.” Ok, bud! That usually works out fine for society!
Related: Patrick’s opponent, Vikki Goodwin, is calling for a debate and I would LOVE to see that.
Finally, despite what a lot of us WANT to believe, there are polls that will bring you back to reality and, I hope, put you in the fight. This is a TSU poll from late July that shows Talarico up, but everyone else trailing far behind
Abbott (49%) leads Democrat Gina Hinojosa (43%) by 6 percentage points, with 3% supporting Libertarian Pat Dixon and 5% undecided.
The poll shows Patrick (46%) leading Goodwin (39%) by 7 percentage points, with 3% supporting Libertarian Anthony Cristo and 12% undecided. The poll also showed that 83% of likely voters know enough about Patrick to have an opinion of him; only 27% know enough about Goodwin to have an opinion of her.
The TSU poll shows that Middleton (46%) leads Democrat Nathan Johnson (41%) by 5 percentage points, with 3% supporting Libertarian Tom Oxford and 10% undecided.
In the Texas railroad commissioner election, Republican Bo French (44%) leads Democrat state Rep. Jon Rosenthal (41%) by 3 percentage points, with 2% supporting Libertarian Arthur DiBianca and 13% undecided.
We have some WORK TO DO, FOLKS.
Three. Good. Things.
Oof, this is going to be tough.
My integrity remains intact. I will not use AI for my work.
The hummingbirds have returned to Houston! I’ve seen two in the past week. Please know your hummingbird feeding rules. I am lucky in that they feed off of my native plants, but feeders are fine as long as you replace the nectar more frequently than you would think, otherwise you’re gonna kill the lil guys.
Last night we watched Death Ring (1992) that featured someone I didn’t know existed, but who is still as a character actor working TO THIS DAY: Houston’s own Don Swayze.
DON SWAYZE, next to his brother
