Open Thread | Texas Needs You, Beto.

Beto in Texas

Our own SouthernGirl2 and her family went to a Townhall with Beto. In Washington County, Brenham, Texas.

Beto is going everywhere in Texas. He’s not just going to the blue parts of the State. He wants every voter in Texas to understand that there is someone in their corner.

That he understands what the Insurrection of January 6th was about.

How Voter Suppression Bills are a threat do our democracy.

The State is really going through something right now. And, I’m scared for the citizens of Texas.
11q1
You have an energy company, due to the dedication of the Republicans to no regulations, that they have put Texas in the position to be on their own grid. Well, that shyt didn’t work this past winter, killing hundreds. Now, it’s Summer, the heat is here, and the grid doesn’t seem to be working any better. In the mid 1990’s, Chicago had a hot spell that killed almost 800 people. I am fearful for Texas.

So, in the middle of this epic failure of Republican rule, and the possible risking of lives of millions of its citizens during this heat spell, what is the GOP Leadership doing in Texas?

 

SG2’s beautiful granddaughter Haley with Beto:

Well, Ted Cruz knows how to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Abbott is going to build Dolt45’s Border Wall.

They are trying to do as much Voter Suppression as possible.

As of September 1st, Texans can carry handguns WITHOUT A LICENSE OR TRAINING.

But, NOTHING about correcting the problems in the power grid that have already killed hundreds and cause Billions in property damage.

Beto, you need to run.

You need to take it to them. Hold them accountable. Give the people in Texas someone to rally around.

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52 Responses to Open Thread | Texas Needs You, Beto.

  1. rikyrah says:

    Mr. Floyd’s killer received 22.5 years.

  2. eliihass says:

    “…WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has decided on his picks for the key ambassadorships to China, Japan and India and expects to announce them in the coming weeks as he prepares for his first overseas trip next month, three administration officials said.

    Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been offered the role of ambassador to Japan.

    Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has been offered the ambassadorship in India, the officials said. Garcetti, a Democrat, has been mayor since 2013.

    And former Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has been offered the job as Biden’s envoy to China..”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-settles-ambassador-picks-china-india-japan-n1268872

  3. eliihass says:

    Axios @axios

    NEW: Biden is considering naming two Kennedys to represent him abroad: Caroline Kennedy for U.S. ambassador to Australia and Vicki Kennedy for Western Europe, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

    https://twitter.com/axios/status/1399112874769985548?s=20

  4. eliihass says:

    @James54Williams Replying to @JasonOverstreet:

    This might be worse

    https://twitter.com/James54Williams/status/1405267031893569539?s=20

  5. eliihass says:

    LOL.. and so it begins..

    Jane Stevenson @Wanitajane47:

    Your tweet is valid, but Obama was aloof, cool, detached, cerebral. And most Amurricans like their presidents warmer and more folksy, like Joe. Not that Joe doesn’t have an edge. We saw that today.

    https://twitter.com/Wanitajane47/status/1405277274333597703?s=20

  6. rikyrah says:

    🧐🧐🤨🤨🤔

    jarrett. (@JarrettHill) tweeted at 11:51 PM on Wed, Jun 23, 2021:
    my brother said: “you can be the whole package at the wrong address.”

    baby.
    (https://twitter.com/JarrettHill/status/1407924214355533824?s=03)

  7. eliihass says:

    BBC News (World) @BBCWorld:

    Why has the Hoover Dam hit an historically low water level?

    https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1408012295561752576?s=20

  8. rikyrah says:

    GO NANCY SMASH!!

    NEW – Per 2 Dem aides: Pelosi told members on Whip call today that the House will not pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the Senate also sends over a budget resolution with elements of American Jobs Plan & American Families Plan. Senate first on both, then House— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) June 24, 2021

  9. rikyrah says:

    The Secret Service and COVID story shocked and didn’t shock me.
    That Dolt45 and his Administration had no concern or respect for the health of others didn’t shock me.
    I honestly didn’t know that we had 900 Secret Service Agents. And, it must be more than that.
    But, to be considered to join, you have to be in good physical shape.
    Now, we don’t know how many died.
    But, now, because of the inconsideration of Dolt45 and his people, these folks could possibly have long-term COVID affects, and thus, they will probably be asked to leave the Service.

  10. rikyrah says:

    Uh huh 😒😒

    Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) tweeted at 8:58 PM on Wed, Jun 23, 2021:
    This is why judicial appointments are important to make progress. Every time the government does anything to help Black people or anyone else victimized by white supremacy, some Republican federal judge somewhere is ready to jump in and strike it down.

    https://t.co/yZLfNGXtP3
    (https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1407880690780286977?s=03)

  11. rikyrah says:

    This McAfee situation is a future HBOMax program. Bet that some writer is doing a treatment right now 😒😒

  12. rikyrah says:

    How many of them now have illness associated with long term COVID 😢

  13. rikyrah says:

    Thread

    Goldburn P. Maynard Jr. (@deathntaxesprof) tweeted at 6:54 AM on Thu, Jun 24, 2021:
    Please note that the biggest problems with conservatorships and guardianships do not tend to be at the Britney level. Her complaints were known for years & ignored. The bigger problem are people who are more incapacitated, elderly, etc. and are being completely exploited. Because
    (https://twitter.com/deathntaxesprof/status/1408030879084167176?s=03)

  14. eliihass says:

    Ricky Davila @TheRickyDavila:

    All of this General Mark Milley, all of this. Not a huge fan, but this was just spot on.

    https://twitter.com/TheRickyDavila/status/1407810695782035456?s=20

  15. eliihass says:

    “…Cindy McCain, the widow of the late GOP Sen. John McCain, has been tapped for the role of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations World Food Programme..

    McCain’s nomination has been in the works for some time, The New York Times reported. She endorsed Biden during the all-virtual Democratic National Convention last year, saying in a video that the Democrat was the “only” candidate “who stands up for our values as a nation.”

    As ambassador to the UN food program, McCain — a businesswoman and philanthropist — would represent the U.S. in three UN agencies for food and agriculture located in Rome, all of which are aimed at defeating global hunger and enhancing food security..”

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60d3b3bfe4b06005129e4776/amp?__twitter_impression=true

  16. eliihass says:

    The Detroit News @detroitnews:

    Warren Buffett is resigning as a trustee from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    https://twitter.com/detroitnews/status/1407751611980693515?s=20

  17. eliihass says:

    Democratic Tweeter @WileELiberal:

    “The Blacks” is probably the nicest thing Trump has ever called African-Americans.

    https://twitter.com/WileELiberal/status/1405983804007780359?s=20

    • eliihass says:

      “…For Father’s Day in 2020, what Donald Trump mostly wanted was to avoid his son-in-law.

      It was Jared Kushner who had talked the president into hiring Brad Parscale to run a campaign that was now, just months before the election, in freefall. And when most Americans rejected Trump’s unreasonably truculent response to the civil unrest that was sweeping the country, the president also blamed Kushner.

      The frustration and anguish that had accrued among Black Americans after decades of debasing systemic racism had been emphatically—finally—cracked open by the death of George Floyd, who’d been murdered by police a few weeks earlier.

      As protesters poured into the streets of the nation’s capital and major municipalities, Trump privately told advisers that he wished he’d been quicker to support police and more aggressive in his pushback against protesters.

      Trump had staked nearly his entire campaign in 2016 around a law-and-order image, and now groaned that the criminal justice reform that Kushner had persuaded him to support made him look weak and—even worse—hadn’t earned him any goodwill among Black voters.

      “I’ve done all this stuff for the Blacks—it’s always Jared telling me to do this,” Trump said to one confidante on Father’s Day. “And they all f—— hate me, and none of them are going to vote for me.”

      The weekend after Father’s Day, Trump canceled a trip to Bedminster at the last minute—after Kushner had already left for the New Jersey golf club—and instead scheduled a round of political meetings at the White House without him.

      A month after the murder of Floyd, Trump was dumping on his son-in-law, and he was also abandoning the chance to improve his relationship with Black leaders and Black voters during a particularly tumultuous moment in U.S. race relations and the presidential campaign.

      The story of this month, from the murder of Floyd to Trump’s assertion that his outreach to Black voters wasn’t working, is one of missed opportunities and bungled messaging, even in the eyes of some of Trump’s closest advisers, who described their firsthand accounts with me during the past year. Many of the sources spoke to me on the condition of deep background, an agreement that meant I could share their stories without direct attribution.

      Trump had long struggled with addressing the nation’s racial issues, and his senior staff hadn’t included a single Black staffer since he’d fired Omarosa Manigault Newman—a former contestant on his reality television show—at the end of 2017. In August 2018, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway had been asked on NBC’s Meet the Press to name the top Black official in the Trump White House and could only come up with his first name: Ja’Ron.

      But Ja’Ron Smith was two pay grades below the top ranks. After Conway’s interview, Smith asked for a promotion to formalize his role as the West Wing’s senior-most Black official and close the $50,000 salary gap. Kushner agreed but then put him off for the next two years.

      Al Sharpton, the MSNBC host and civil rights activist, had been secretly calling Trump, which left the president with the impression that their staffs should work together. But the follow-up calls from Kushner’s team would go unanswered. Jesse Jackson, the Baptist minister and civil rights activist and one-time presidential candidate, had phoned a few times, too.

      And more than 600 Black leaders joined a call as White House aides strategized over a push to codify the opportunity zone revitalization council that Trump had created by executive order.

      But none of Kushner’s efforts to repair Trump’s image with the Black community would matter when the video of George Floyd’s murder began spreading online.

      “We’re getting crushed on Covid,” said Alyssa Farah, the communications director.

      Kushner, who seemed distracted and more aloof than usual in the meeting, interrupted her.

      “I’m just going to stop you,” he said. “There is going to be one story that dominates absolutely everything for the foreseeable future. I’m already hearing from African American leaders about the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.”

      Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, brushed it off.

      “Nobody is going to care about that,” Meadows told him, according to officials in the room. Meadows disputed this version of events.

      On June 10, Trump had a single item on his public schedule: a 12:30 p.m. intelligence briefing. But, as was often the case with the Trump White House, that changed suddenly without any significant notice.

      At 3:30 p.m., the White House summoned whichever reporters hadn’t wandered too far from their briefing room desks and quickly ushered them into the Cabinet Room, where Trump sat with Kushner and, as Trump described them, “friends of mine and members of the African American community.”

      That included Ben Carson, Trump’s housing secretary; Darrell Scott and Kareem Lanier, the founders of the Urban Revitalization Coalition; and Republican gadfly Raynard Jackson, who had sued the party over the trademark for “Black Republican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon,” which he believed that he, not the GOP, owned.

      Trump said the meeting had been called to address law enforcement, education and healthcare issues. But for the next half-hour, Trump didn’t articulate any particular policy that would address any of those issues. The one thing Trump did talk about most extensively that afternoon: his return to rallies.

      “We’re going to start our rallies back up now,” Trump informed the press. “The first one, we believe, will be probably—we’re just starting to call up—will be in Oklahoma.”

      As reporters were ushered out of the room, one journalist asked Trump when he planned to be in Tulsa.

      “It will be Friday,” Trump said. “Friday night. Next week.”

      Juneteenth.

      The backlash shocked Trump. He started quizzing everyone around him.

      “Do you know what it is?” Trump would ask.

      “Nobody had heard of it,” Trump told me.

      He was surprised to find out that his administration had put out statements in each of his first three years in office commemorating Juneteenth.

      “Oh really?” he said. “We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?”

      Each statement, put out in his name, included a description of the holiday.

      But such details were irrelevant to him. Instead, he insisted, “I did something good.”

      “I made Juneteenth very famous,” he said.

      Trump would arrive in Tulsa to a half-filled arena. Parscale had hightailed it out of the backstage area when he saw Trump and the White House entourage approaching—no one had told the president that the BOK Center wasn’t anywhere close to capacity. (Parscale says he did call Trump, and several people in his inner circle, to alert them before the president’s arrival.)

      Before rallies, White House aides usually inflated crowd sizes for Trump once they were told a capacity crowd was inside the building. On the way to Tulsa, no one knew how to break the disappointing news to Trump. It wasn’t until he was backstage and turned on the television that he realized the arena was two-thirds empty…”

      https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/06/18/mike-bender-book-excerpt-trump-495071

  18. eliihass says:

    The Associated Press @AP:

    BREAKING: John McAfee, the creator of McAfee antivirus software, has been found dead in a Spanish prison hours after a court approved his extradition to the U.S.

    https://twitter.com/AP/status/1407791422774906888?s=20

  19. eliihass says:

    “…Ben Zobrist, the former Chicago Cubs utility player and 2016 World Series MVP, has filed a lawsuit accusing his former minister of having a sexual relationship with his wife and defrauding his charity foundation.

    The lawsuit against Byron Yawn, CEO of the Nashville-area counseling firm Forrest Crain and Co., seeks $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages through a jury trial.

    According to the complaint filed May 6 in Nashville Circuit Court, Yawn, while acting as the Zobrists’ marital counselor and executive director of Ben Zobrist’s charity, “usurped the ministerial-counselor role, violated and betrayed the confidence entrusted to him by the plaintiff, breached his fiduciary duty owed to the plaintiff and deceitfully used his access as counselor to engage in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the plaintiff’s wife.”

    In 2005, the year they were married, the Zobrists began attending Community Bible Church in Nashville, where Yawn had been the senior pastor for about 20 years, according to the lawsuit. He served as the couples’ pre-marital counselor.

    Ben Zobrist started counseling sessions with Yawn in 2007, and again in 2016 and 2017 when he was experiencing anxiety and depression, the suit states.

    According to the suit, Yawn began having daily conversations with Julianna in August 2018, then “began secretly pursuing an intimate relationship” with her the following month.

    Yawn was working for Ben Zobrist’s charity at the time, and a proposed budget included a $36,000 annual salary for Yawn. Over the next several months, Yawn and Julianna began working closely to develop the charity’s social media presence, the lawsuit says.

    “(His) romantic involvement with Ms. Zobrist escalated in the spring of 2019, when he began meeting her for sex,” the suit states.

    Ben Zobrist contends in the lawsuit that Julianna and Yawn, still serving as a counselor, continued their relationship in spring 2020 and kept it secret by using “burner phones.”

    Zobrist missed parts of Cubs spring training and the regular season in 2019 because he wished to work out his marital issues.

    According to the lawsuit, Zobrist told Yawn in a text exchange: “Was hoping to be at spring training but can’t leave yet. You should know that Jules told me she has spoken with a divorce lawyer twice,” Zobrist wrote. “I care too much about my marriage and family to be away during such a critical time.”

    Yawn, according to the suit, responded, “That’s heavy friend. Yawns love you and your family. Whatever you need. Whatever you need to do. Grace.”

    In May 2019, according to the lawsuit, Yawn’s wife discovered his burner phone and contacted Ben Zobrist the next day to tell him about what she believed was an emotional affair.

    The lawsuit states that in June 2020, during divorce proceedings, Julianna acknowledged for the first time that “she and Byron Yawn had been engaged in a sexual relationship for several months and that she had lied about this to Mr. Zobrist.”

    Zobrist “forfeited months of the 2019 season,” causing him to lose approximately $8 million in income while he tried to repair his marriage, the lawsuit says.

    Ben Zobrist says in the lawsuit that he was tithing $10,000 per month to Yawn’s church and paid $10,000 to $15,000 to fund a “pastoral trip” for Yawn and his family…”

    https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/06/22/ben-zobrist-sues-pastor-over-affair-with-his-wife/

  20. eliihass says:

    Zappa’s Pop @RexMullins5:

    Pay people what they are worth and they will feel appreciated and invested in the company and work their ass off. Treat them like people not numbers. Years ago most employers knew this, then when their sons and their sons took over the company’s, greed took over at the top.

    https://twitter.com/RexMullins5/status/1407550008199634953?s=20

  21. eliihass says:

    Noah Bookbinder @NoahBookbinder:

    NEW: Nearly 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for COVID between March 2020 and March 2021, according to records obtained by @CREWcrew. Ill-advised large rallies and a photo op in a car while Donald Trump had COVID may have contributed.

    https://twitter.com/NoahBookbinder/status/1407367488468402178?s=20

  22. eliihass says:

    Tea Pain @TeaPainUSA:

    The real tragedy in today’s politics is that the Democrats are as naïve as the Republicans are cynical.

    https://twitter.com/TeaPainUSA/status/1407695849417752583?s=20

  23. eliihass says:

    Lindy Li @lindyli:

    Ivanka and Jared made $640 million while in Trump’s White House

    Jared got an $800 million sweetheart loan from Freddie Mac that taxpayers are on the hook for

    No chance in hell we’re gonna let them “distance themselves” from Trump

    https://twitter.com/lindyli/status/1407764816530395137?s=20

  24. rikyrah says:

    NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) tweeted at 6:43 AM on Wed, Jun 23, 2021:
    Illinois Coronavirus Updates: Chicago Opens In-Home Vaccinations to All, United Center Site to Close https://t.co/455wC6n7IC https://t.co/7EIPDLxfxB
    (https://twitter.com/nbcchicago/status/1407665489942306823?s=03)

  25. rikyrah says:

    Senator Angus King (@SenAngusKing) tweeted at 5:42 PM on Tue, Jun 22, 2021:
    Voting rights should be America’s foundation, not a partisan fault line – so I’m deeply saddened by today’s vote to block any discussion of legislative efforts to protect access to the ballot in light of state-level attacks on fundamental voting protections. My full statement: https://t.co/tYLpODBe34
    (https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/1407469125413318658?s=03)

  26. rikyrah says:

    Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) tweeted at 6:43 AM on Wed, Jun 23, 2021:
    “Starting July 12 all employees, contingent workforce, clients and visitors will be required to attest to being fully vaccinated to access Morgan Stanley buildings in New York City and Westchester,” their chief human resources officer said. https://t.co/WzrPAwAQfW
    (https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1407665671459291142?s=03)

  27. eliihass says:

    Oh where oh where has the time gone..?! Look at our little Haley all grown up.. And so beautiful and politically involved… Way to go, Haley! And good job, Glamma SG2..

    Before you know it, Haley and Peanut will be running the world..

    All hope is not lost after all..

  28. rikyrah says:

    That’s right 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
    Right to work State..
    Or, did they think that didn’t apply to them🤨🤔😒

    Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) tweeted at 6:00 PM on Tue, Jun 22, 2021:
    HOUSTON (AP) — Houston hospital says 153 employees who refused to get COVID-19 vaccine have resigned or been fired.
    (https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1407473475334197251?s=03

  29. rikyrah says:

    A national ID that could be accepted by every polling place, and would be free, so no Poll Tax.
    Hmmm…why ever would they vote against that😒😒

    Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) tweeted at 1:46 PM on Tue, Jun 22, 2021:
    Biggest part: Rs now voting down national voter ID.
    (https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1407409581203017734?s=03)

  30. Tyren M says:

    Good morning 3Chics,

    SG2! Nice to see your youngers out there!

  31. rikyrah says:

    Ari Berman (@AriBerman) tweeted at 2:58 PM on Mon, Jun 21, 2021:
    Truly incredible to hear Mitch McConnell accuse Democrats of “partisan power grab” with HR1 when he stole 2 Supreme Court seats for Trump, blocked 110 Obama judicial nominees & prevented a vote on restoring Voting Rights Act for 7 years
    (https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1407065532097089537?s=03)

  32. Liza says:

    Robert Reich
    @RBReich
    Prime Day is a good time to remind you that Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by $76 billion during the pandemic while Amazon hired Koch-backed consultants to sabotage a union drive of nearly 6,000 predominantly Black warehouse workers.
    9:38 AM · Jun 21, 2021·Twitter Web App

    https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1407015032970383375

  33. Liza says:

    SG2’s grand daughter has certainly grown up to be a gorgeous young woman.

  34. rikyrah says:

    About the new Delta Variant of the COVID virus:

    Pfizer is 88% protection against Delta..Good but not excellent. There is NO evidence for the efficacy of the Moderna vaccine against Delta. The prevalence of Delta is doubling every 2 weeks or so. Please continue to wear a mask!!!

  35. rikyrah says:

    Pagan Trelawney GCVOIDGAF (@PaganTrelawney) tweeted at 5:02 AM on Mon, Jun 21, 2021:
    There are many things about the fundamental nature of the British that I have had to come 2 terms with in the past few years. The number of articles focused on H&M’s money & home is embarrassing & a reminder of how pathologically envious ppl are. It’s y many successful ppl leave.
    (https://twitter.com/PaganTrelawney/status/1406915395815157762?s=03)

  36. rikyrah says:

    BLACK ARCHIVES (@blackarchivesco) tweeted at 8:38 AM on Sat, Jun 19, 2021:
    Footage of Juneteenth parades and events from 1979-1991 from the KXAS-TV station in Fort Worth, Texas.

    This compiled footage features b-roll and news clips held at the UNT Library, Special Collections. https://t.co/4l91vSqBEU
    (https://twitter.com/blackarchivesco/status/1406244963164250113?s=03)

  37. rikyrah says:

    Eminently 🏳️‍🌈 (@eminently_me5) tweeted at 10:14 PM on Sun, Jun 20, 2021:
    “Identity politics” is like “critical race theory”
    Both terms coined by Black people – the first about self-advocacy, the second about shedding light on our position in the US.
    Both hijacked by white people to shut us up.
    (https://twitter.com/eminently_me5/status/1406812624520724480?s=02)

  38. rikyrah says:

    Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) tweeted at 3:44 PM on Sun, Jun 20, 2021:
    READ THIS. Right now. From civil rights historian Taylor Branch. https://t.co/XTbxx2seK3
    (https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1406714543271780366?s=02)

  39. rikyrah says:

    All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) tweeted at 8:00 PM on Sun, Jun 20, 2021:
    “We need to get out there in person and in public—no more tweeting and Facebook and calling folks. We have got to show up and demonstrate. I think that’s what moves things in this country,” says Beto O’Rourke on the fight against voter suppression laws.
    https://t.co/91j1gug3WK
    (https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1406778898012991494?s=02)

  40. rikyrah says:

    Beautiful moment 😢😢😢

    #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) tweeted at 9:23 PM on Sun, Jun 20, 2021:
    “SUPERMOMMIES! YEAH!”

    Quanera Hayes’ son and @allysonfelix’s daughter met after their moms qualified for the #TokyoOlympics. The moment speaks for itself.

    @usatf | #TokyoOlympics x #TrackFieldTrials21 https://t.co/MCrlvJ7G9e
    (https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1406799941515763713?s=02)

  41. rikyrah says:

    Good Morning , Everyone😊😊😊

  42. vitaminlover says:

    I knew Southern had lovely kinfolk!

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