The Republican Party of Texas will hold its statewide convention on July 16 – 17 in Houston. As 6,000 Republicans gather at the downtown convention center, no masks will be required.
Oddly enough, the Texas Medical Association cancelled its own convention set in last May in Fort Worth, even though Texas had a low rate of the virus then. They have continued to hold board meetings online, but I guess you can’t upset Republicans if you want to keep medical care for-profit.
And the TMA ain’t backing down.
Annear said TMA’s agreement with the Republican Party of Texas was set in stone “before the pandemic was a major issue here — before we hit any stay-home suggestions or mandates, mask policies or anything like that.”
And because the group signed on to the sponsorship before the pandemic began and “no conditions like that were discussed,” it will not back out of the agreement, he said.
So if the Republican Party of Texas decided to obey a demand of random hourly human sacrifice to the gods of presidential pardons, the TMA would not throw the first set stone.
You can contact the Texas Medical Association here. In the sweetest possible way, you might want to thank them for filling up ICU beds with people who do not believe in science, that doctors are part of making up this hoax, and that human sacrifice might be a good idea.
Shame on them. There are medical people dying trying to save lives and these dudes are supporting a 6,000 person petri dish bomb.
The boneheaded Mayor of St. Louis, Lyda Krewson, decided that it would be a charming idea to announce the names of everyone who called her or wrote to her wanting to defund or reform the police department. Well, that’s kind of silly, but then she added their damn home addresses. She was trying to get them and their families either harassed and/or killed.
So, since turn about is fair play, a peaceful parade to her house started inside her gated community to let her know how that felt.
And then come Karen and Skippy, neighbors of the mayor, (not their real names but it could be) to defend their mansion from the common people.
Oh dear Lord.
There’s lots wrong here. Lots. Not knowing how to handle or use weapons just has to take the top of the list. You’d think with all their money and considering that they are both personal injury attorneys, they might have taken some lessons before defending the Alamo.
Second, is this their bunker? Do they have food stored up here and window covers that bolt down? Their house looks like it’s made of upscaled cinder blocks so you never know.
You can find more movies of this all over the internet and if they weren’t putting lives at danger, including their own, it would be funny as all get out.
The New York Times does a long piece today about unrest in the newsroom of the Washington Post.
The Times article opens with an example of the way the Washington Post views journalism and sources. There was a proposed story in the Post about Bob Woodward wanting to “out” Brett Kavanaugh as an unnamed source in Woodword’s 1999 book, “Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.” The story was set to run during Kavanaugh’s Senate hearing.
Brett Kavanaugh
Mr. Woodward was planning to expose Mr. Kavanaugh because the judge had publicly denied — in a huffy letter in 1999 to The Post — an account about Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton that he had himself, confidentially, provided to Mr. Woodward for his book. (Mr. Kavanaugh served as a lawyer on Mr. Starr’s team.)
The article, described by two Post journalists who read it, would have been explosive, arriving as the nominee battled a decades-old sexual assault allegation and was fighting to prove his integrity.
The story was killed because the Post editor Marty Baron argued that protecting sources was how reporting gets done and once that trust is broken you can never get it back.
Baron is right. I hate it, but he’s right.
When I was a reporter in the last century, I was subpeonaed two times to reveal my source. The first time I hid out for two weeks, moving when needed. The second time I let them serve me and then I walked into courtroom with the longtime mistress of the plaintiff, who he had broken up with only months before, whispering in my ear and giggling. I didn’t get called to testify, and the mistress got to see him almost pee his pants. It was a win/win day.
While Baron is right, and we all know that Kavanaugh has no integrity and likes beer. I doubt it would have made much difference in the vote. Those slime suckers still support Trump.
In a 5-4 decision, this morning the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law restricting abortion rights, much like it did to a Texas law that said that doctors must have admitting privileges to a hospital before performing an abortion.
The anti-choice crowd was hoping that the addition to the two bozos Trump put on the court would change the balance.
That didn’t happen.
Chief Justice John Roberts must be getting a little worried about his legacy as well he should be.
As we’ve already reported, the Texas Medical Center halted reporting all COVID-19 data after some kind of agreement with Greg Abbott to continue allowing elective surgeries even after his statewide order that shut down those elective surgeries to free hospital capacity for infected patients. TMC halted that reporting just as it reached 100% base capacity and forecast overrunning surge capacity in days.
Well, TMC started reporting the data again last night, but OMITTED ICU and hospital capacity data. A before and after example is below. Doctors in
Before and After
TMC have been ringing the alarm bells for weeks, and management was accurately reporting data and also sounding the alarm until everything stopped Thursday. The Houston Chronicle has now picked up the story as well as other local media. Frankly, this entire episode is shameful; corruption has moved from Austin and the governor’s mansion to the largest medical center in the world.
Our legacy will be determined by how we respond to this crisis. I’m not hopeful as the cancer of Trump has metastasized from Queens to Houston.
Trump denies being briefed about about the Russian-Taliban bounty plot. I guess maybe it didn’t get included on the half page of briefing he gets with no three-syllable words.
He has some interesting ideas about it.
Trump tweeted that “there have not been many attacks” on US troops by Taliban fighters as his evidence that the reported intelligence may be “phony.”
Okay, Buddy, you don’t need to be passing out the Phony Awards.
Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings and the White House’s National Security Council held a meeting about it in late March, according to the Times, citing officials briefed on the matter.
I’m almost dead solid certain that Trump doesn’t remember the meeting. I’d be willing to give him that. Truly, anything that happened before yesterday afternoon doesn’t exist.
And, there is the off-chance that the military/intelligence didn’t tell him because of his close relationship with Putin, which includes passing along state secrets. Or maybe they didn’t tell him because he screws. everything. up.
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
