WARNING: These videos are violent and will upset some viewers.

A woman is suing an Arkansas State Police officer for intentionally flipping her SUV as she was seeking a safe place to pull off of the highway.  The woman, who was pregnant at the time, was being stopped for driving 14 miles over the speed limit.  When the officer turned on his lights and siren, you can clearly see her slow down, pull over and turn on her flashers (which is what the law requires in Arkansas).  The shoulder at their location was very narrow, and apparently she was driving to the next exit to be safe.  The officer, a Certified USDA Grade A DUMBASS, was having none of that, and performed what the cops call a “pit maneuver” which is code for running a car off the road.  He caused a massive crash, flipping the SUV.  For speeding 14 MILES OVER THE SPEED limit.  Fortunately, the woman walked away from the wreck and later had a healthy baby.  It could have been a lot worse.  AND, of course, the cop walked from any criminal charges including reckless endangerment.

Apparently, Arkansas has an epidemic of dumbass among its police forces.  Here’s another “pit maneuver” where a police cruiser flipped the pickup of a teenager fleeing police.  This maneuver ending up killing the teenager and seriously injuring the officer.  Use of this tactic has skyrocketed in recent years, and was used in Arkansas over 300 TIMES in 2020.  All I can say about that statistic is FFS.

We all know that cops LOVE high speed chases and demolition derbies, almost all of it unnecessary.  We now have these newfangled things called RADIOS, and 18,000 police departments around the country who have them in every car and on every officer’s shoulder.  Rather than all this Indianapolis 500, maybe the police can just call ahead so other officers can block the road or put out tire spikes.  How about just letting the driver go home and go arrest them there?

This kind of idiocy does two things – kills people, and erodes confidence in police.  When citizens see bad judgement like this in public, it not only makes the cops look like morons, it destroys the relationship between the police and the policed.  It’s simply got to stop.

NPR has just published a very good explanation of our problem in America, which is the cementing in of minority rule, and how its unsustainablity threatens democracy.  Over the years, especially since 2010, Republican gerrymandering has unfairly locked in Republic seats that are almost impossible to defeat by a Democrat.  Here’s the chart that shows the problem in the US House (click on the little one to get the big one):

This chart shows that since 2000, Republicans have controlled more seats than votes for them support and Dems much fewer.  Beginning in 2002 when states like Texas started mid-decade redistricting and using computers to do it, you can see the effect of the disenfranchisement of millions of voters all over the country by giving disproportionate representation to those who received less votes.  Only in 2008 when the Obama election turned out so many voters did the House come anywhere near parity between number of votes and seats won.  The problem WILL get worse with this year’s continued gerrymandering which the Supreme Court has condoned by turning a blind eye to the corrosion of partisan gerrymandering.  That’s how you get permanent majorities in states like Wisconsin and North Carolina where Republicans get over 70% of the seats no matter what the vote.

The Senate is worse.  You now have a situation where the majority of Americans are ruled by a minority of voters because each state gets two Senators no matter the population.  As population continues to move, you’ll have 30% of Americans controlling 70% of the representation in the Senate.

The system is broken and getting worse, and the US can no longer call itself a republic governed by democratic principles.  This is why electing autocrats, especially to the WH, is so incredibly dangerous.  Many state legislatures are broken, the Congress is most certainly broken, and the Supreme Court is broken if not outright corrupt.  The only tool that remains to keep us from sliding into the abyss of autocracy is the presidency.  That’s why keeping Republicans out of the WH is so critical and reform of our Democracy mandatory.

Three words that automatically open every library door in America: Louie Gohmert, y’all.

ORBITS: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asks whether the Forest Service or the BLM can alter the orbit of the moon or the Earth in order to fight climate change during a House Natural Resources hearing pic.twitter.com/yYiOyi2cMZ

— Forbes (@Forbes) June 8, 2021

I think by BLM, he means the Bureau of Land Management because, you know, what is the earth but land? Although I am pretty damn certain he’d love to blame all this on Black Lives Matter.

Yesterday, with great fanfare, Greg Abbott signed bills that would do virtually nothing to fix the power grid that massively failed during the Polar Vortex in February, knocking out the power in almost 5 million homes and causing the deaths estimated by some to be as high as 700.  Let’s be clear – the electrical power grid in Texas is managed differently than ANY OTHER STATE, and it doesn’t work.  It’s never worked, and never will work as long as incompetent politicians like Abbott stay in charge.  Texas is not connected to the national grid; the system is deregulated to the point where there are no requirements for minimum baseload generation; the system is designed to maximize profits for the generators and retailers and offers virtually no assurance of maintaining power for consumers during weather events such as hurricanes, extreme heat, or extreme cold.  AND, Texas consumers in the ERCOT system pay MORE for the privilege of having less reliable power than all those other poor slobs in the rest of the country who labor under the socialist thumb of regulated power companies that do their jobs and are held accountable. The Texas system is broken, and Abbott’s pronouncements yesterday that everything is fixed is simply false.  He’s lying to us, he knows he’s lying to us, but is lying nonetheless because that’s what is donors and base want to hear.  Period.

Here’s what the bills DIDN’T include: relief to consumers for gross overcharges of power during the Polar Vortex; any baseload power requirements; any weather hardening requirements with set penalties for not doing so; interconnections with the national grids; no minimum reliability requirements.  Here’s what the bills DID include: handing oversight board selection over to the legislature and governor.  Now the PUC and ERCOT are completely controlled by Republicans who HATE government oversight.  The bills also provided for generators and suppliers to issue state guaranteed bonds to pay for the exploding overcharges during the Polar Vortex.  Who pays for those bonds?  YOU DO, through surcharges to your monthly bill.  Yep, YOU.  The only positive in these bills is that floating wholesale style pricing for consumers has been disallowed.

The result of this new legislation?  Texas consumers in the ERCOT system are still at great risk for brownouts and blackouts during  extreme weather.  We’re still standing alone from the national grids with still no reliability requirements or programs to add generating capacity outside of the “free market” which actually isn’t free.  In short, Abbott and the legislature have once again shirked their duty to serve Texans while getting their pockets lined by those profiting from the existing system.  So, when you’re boiling this summer or freezing next winter with no power, remember who did it to you and maybe think about changing your vote at the next election.  After all, you get what you vote for.

Y’all.

The Texas Tribune is reporting that Georgia native Allen West is resigning from his position as the head of the Texas GOP and “can’t rule out” a run for statewide office.

West declined to say whether he was eyeing any particular statewide office, though he told a radio host earlier Friday morning that the host was “safe” to assume West was mulling a gubernatorial run.

It is one of my grandest dreams to see Greg Abbott, Don Huffines, and Allen West duke it out in a primary. It could only get better if Alex Jones threw his hat in the ring. Huffines has already started running for governor and is promising to build the wall, eliminate property taxes completely, and “secure our elections” by which he likely means that he will outlaw Democrats from voting or something along those lines.

Greg Abbott is already trying to appeal to evangelicals by threatening to take licenses away from any childcare agencies that house unaccompanied minors. He’s going to defund the Texas legislature, because why not? Forget the wall, he’s just going to arrest everyone that crosses the border – I hope he doesn’t arrest the guy that brings us the avocados or tequila from Mexico.

I want these three men to out-crazy each other for about six months while Beto O’Rourke sits back and spends time registering Democrats to vote in a post-Trump post-COVID economy. Beto could win with a candidate worse than Ted Cruz. A candidate so bad that it doesn’t matter that Beto said “Hell Yeah” about taking away guns.

That candidate is Allen “I am the modern-day Harriet Tubman” West.

At the very least, it will be an entertaining election season.

We seem to be doing this a lot lately, so I thought I would try this from another angle. It seems the governor and others are determined to shove character education down our throats. Character education is only one way to put it. Another way to put it is white washing. Another way to put it is indoctrination. However, the most accurate way to put it is to call it what it really is: an empty gesture.

Of course, the governor couldn’t resist the urge to pump himself up.ss

To keep Texas the best state in the nation, we can never forget WHY our state is so exceptional.

I signed a law establishing the 1836 project, which promotes patriotic education & ensures future generations understand TX values.

Together, we'll keep our rich history alive. pic.twitter.com/4yZuygS2yX

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 7, 2021

So, we could take this from a few angles, but I decided to take a look at the source. If you take a look at the list of priorities you’ll see that we are currently teaching those things. Sure, you’ve added a few awards and what not, but I’m struggling to figure out what the point is. I’m sure the governor is already aware, but maybe he’s not. We teach Texas history to 7th graders. Maybe he’s suggesting we do more, but it doesn’t seem clear by the verbiage of the bill.

Like I said before, we could conceivably approach this from numerous angles. Sure, we could look at the likely desire to remove unsavory facts from the historical account. However, let’s assume the very best and only look at the letter of the law. They want to assure that we are doing something we’re already doing. What’s the purpose of that exactly?

When you abandon your ideology I’m not sure what you have left. Some people are dedicated to the idea of limited government. They don’t want the government involved unless absolutely necessary. It is a philosophy I’ve always respected. I’ve always disagreed but I’ve always respected it. When you abandon that philosophy and fill it with empty gestures you’ve abandoned that philosophy for good public relations. Congratulations.

Judas sold his soul for some pieces of silver. The governor appears to be selling his for a simple photo opp. He can’t even come up with an original name for this fiasco. His hero dubbed character education as the 1776 project. Just adopt the year we gained our independence and pass a quick law. Throw in a black guy into the picture to make it look good. The law really won’t change anything. It’s a great use of our time and money.