- Remember: The property “tax rate” is meaningless by itself
- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Statement on Comptroller Hegar’s Revised Certification Revenue Estimate
- As Texas reaches 4,000 deaths, Abbott advisor says Trump ‘bored’ by pandemic – told you what was happening in the Abbott camp, Bushies and never-Trumpers and Abbott is pivoting away from conservatism.
- Camera-seeking Gov. Abbott Will Throw Out Virtual First Pitch for Rangers Opening Day
- Governor Abbott Issues Disaster Declaration In Response To Drought Conditions In 25 Texas Counties
- Abbott Appoints Steen and Names Rivera Chair of Texas Lottery Commission
- Fiscal Notes: Texas’ International Trade
- Texas Attorney General rules HHSC should release COVID-19 nursing home data
- AG Paxton Files Second Amicus Brief Defending Student Rights to Free Speech and Due Process
- AG Paxton Defends Mississippi Law Limiting Abortion After 15 Weeks
- Texas DPS Commissions 77 New Troopers at Graduation Ceremony
- Texas Roads Less Crowded, but No Less Dangerous
- ‘Time is overdue’: Group of Democrats call for removal of Confederate monuments at Texas Capitol
- Eight Lawsuits Filed to Defend Use of Term “Criminal” to Describe Abortion Advocacy Groups
- Texas Forest Service names longtime forester new East Texas Operations Department Head
- Texas Supreme Court Justice Paul Green says he will retire at the end of August after 15 years on the bench – Abbott will appoint a, safe for him, replacement
- Abbott Appoints Garcia And Rodríguez To State Board Of Educator Certification
- Feds tell TEA to repay more than $2.5 million spent on special education contract
- UIL announces plan for high school sports
- UIL: Class 6A, 5A programs delayed, but 1A-4A can start on time
- From the Iraq War to representing Florida in Congress to Texas GOP chair: Here’s what you need to know about Allen West
- Can Dems Take the State House? And Will It Make a Difference If They Do?
- Royce West’s Rich Minority Underdog Line Only Works in Dallas
- TX21: Wendy Davis closes in on U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in San Antonio-area race
- Progressive Candidate José Garza Wins Expensive Travis County District Attorney Race in Landslide – he’s a Marxist
- SD14 special election heads to runoff as Travis County updates the vote: Eckhardt is at 49.76% and Rep. Eddie Rodriguez has 33.86%
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- Federal/DC related to Texas
- Ocasio-Cortez accuses Roger Williams of joining heated Capitol exchange
- Ocasio-Cortez accosted by GOP lawmaker over remarks: ‘That kind of confrontation hasn’t ever happened to me’
- Texan Roger Williams denies AOC’s allegation that he yelled at her about ‘throwing urine’ during heated exchange
- Second stimulus check: McConnell says GOP relief bill includes second round of ‘direct payments’
- Coalition Letter Regarding CARES Act Benefit Expiration
- Voters strongly support government reimbursing businesses with losses due to forced COVID shutdown
- Sen. Cruz Applauds Senate on Confirmation of Russ Vought
- Sen. Cruz: ‘We Must Continue to Vocally and Unapologetically Stand up to the Evil Iranian Regime’ VIDEO
- Cruz defends Trump’s use of force in Portland as Democrats say ‘this is what dictators do’
- The GOP Senate Is Asleep at the Wheel
- Facing budget shortfalls, nearly 100 Texas mayors plead with Congress for coronavirus relief funding – they simply cannot stop spending!
- The Best Outcome in the Hospital Price-Disclosure Wars
- Rep. Joaquin Castro seeks leadership of powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee
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- Presidential race / national politics
- Senate Transcripts: Joe Biden Quoted N-Word 13 Times in 1985 Hearings
- Joy Reid Gives Joe Biden Pass on N-Word in Primetime Debut
- Biden’s Family Members Have a Long History of Crime, But Serve No Jail Time
- What will Biden do? Prepare for four more years of executive disappointment
- Biden: We Have Lawyers ‘Going Out to Every Polling– Every Uh, Voter Registration Physician in the States’
- More pressure on Biden to really compete in Texas
- Biden endorsed by Million Muslim Votes Summit, pledges to end travel ban “on day one”
- Biden urges Muslims to help him defeat Trump
- Biden’s ‘Clean Economy’
- Trump critic GOP’s Kasich to speak at Democratic nominating convention for Biden, report
- Americans trust themselves more than their government
- Planned Parenthood of New York Finally Disavows Margaret Sanger – but continues to carry out Sanger’s work!
- George Stephanopoulos’ wife says parents should watch porn with their kids
- ——————————————–
- Border / immigration
- Trump pushes to exclude undocumented immigrants when congressional seats are divvied up next year – and that is the right position.
- ‘A Lot Of People Who Live Near The Border Want More Ports Of Entry’: DW Gibson On Book ’14 Miles: Building The Border Wall’
- ——————————————–
- Coronavirus related (while I hold over some stories for a while this is not a collection that grows each day. You must go to previous days’ posts.)
- Texas COVID-19 situation report for 7/21/2020 (pdf) [TDEM is no longer posting this until late in the day] – 4,020 deaths. Official Texas 2018/19 flu season P&I deaths were 9249 by end of July last year, over 10,095 for the annual season. By the way, the # tested in Texas is now 3,269,897.
- Texas Passes 4,000 Deaths, but Houston Sees Rates Steady
- Gov. Abbott says if Texans follow mask order, no lockdown will be needed
- As COVID infections soar, Gov. Greg Abbott eludes media scrutiny – they have figured him out, this type of media pressure causes him to cave
- Governor Abbott warns if COVID-19 spread doesn’t slow, next step would be a lockdown – extortion
- CDC says outbreak no longer qualifies as epidemic
- Let’s Not Pretend This Is Constitutional
- Facts About COVID-19, CDC says virus close to losing epidemic status
- Thousands of scientists and doctors condemn COVID-19 panic, more
- Shutdowns Are Not a Serious Solution to the Coronavirus Threat
- Unemployment in Costa Rica reaches 20.1%, the highest in its history, in midst of pandemic – the cost of ill-advised “shutdowns”
- Pandemic tensions revive protests in Latin America
- Time is Running Out for Coronavirus Course Correction
- Country-by-country data on mortality risk of the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19: Scientific Disinformation is, Quite Literally, Killing Us
- Texas Health Dept. Reported Inflated Coronavirus Cases for Bexar County
- Texas hospitals are not full with Coronavirus patients
- Military Medical Teams Sent to Texas Border Hospitals as Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads, more
- Texas Border Hospitals Filled with Migrants Is False Narrative, Says CBP Commissioner
- Deaths from COVID-19 in hospitals is dropping
- Coronavirus good news for a change
- Metro Health and city leaders were at war with each other at height of coronavirus outbreak in San Antonio, emails show
- Hidalgo County orders residents who test positive to stay at home as coronavirus cases rise
- Cameron County death toll higher than reported
- Governor Abbott Holds Virtual Meeting On COVID-19 With Rio Grande Valley Leaders
- What we don’t (yet) know about the Oxford vaccine
- New COVID-19 antiviral trial underway in Austin
- Texas Attorney General rules HHSC should release COVID-19 nursing home data
- Lawyers say divorces are on the rise during pandemic
- Texas Coronavirus Update: Estimated Recoveries Up 30 Percent
- How Scientific Misinformation about COVID-19 has Become Chinese Propaganda
- Vaccine developer Johnson & Johnson targeting 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021
- A&M Veterinary Lab Hits Red Tape Trying To Do Human Coronavirus Testing
- Feds indict two Chinese nationals for allegedly trying to hack, steal coronavirus research
- Number of new COVID-19 cases in Austin area are on a ‘downward trend,’ Dr. Escott says VIDEO
- DeSoto couple battled COVID-19, cancer and chemo and survived them all
- COVID & masks
- CDC: Considerations for Wearing Cloth Face Coverings
- Now Abbott’s chief wants you to wear masks inside your homes!
- Sen. Bob Hall Criticizes Abbott’s Face Mask Order Shift: ‘We Are Expected to Live As If We Have a Monarchy’
- Some “experts” claim we need to wear masks “for several years.”
- MASKS – manners, manipulation and maths – what are your odds of getting or dying from COVID-19? Healthy People Should Not Wear Masks
- Republican activist sues Gov. Abbott, challenging mask order
- Sheriffs Across Texas Say Governor Abbott’s Mask Order is Unenforceable – things I pointed out the day the decree was issued from King Abbott
- Woman takes Lefty talking points about how ‘it’s just a mask’ apart
- SRI finds ‘counterfeit’ masks among hospital supplies of coronavirus gear
- Dollar Tree, Family Dollar Will Not Require Shoppers to Wear Masks – extra business from my household on the way.
- You’ll be required to wear face masks at the nation’s largest hotel chains – I shall refuse and take business elsewhere
- Troubling Mask Trends Emerge as Masks Cut COVID Spread in Texas – they claim at the outset masks are proven to reduce spread with zero empirical evidence. All they cite, loosely, is correlative and speculative B.S.
- Chip and Grr-Trude Are ‘Karened’ While Grocery Shopping
- Texas Faculty Association calls for Abbott to mandate that colleges enforce mask rule
- A Photo Of President Trump Wearing A Mask Is Igniting Controversy
- COVID & schools
- CDC director says closed schools pose larger public health risk for kids than reopening, U.S. Pediatricians Call For In-Person School This Fall
- Dr. Scott Atlas: There Is No Risk To Children From Covid-19, I Don’t Know Why People Deny This. AUDIO
- Dr. Scott Atlas: Too much hysteria over school reopenings VIDEO
- Virus Spread, Not Politics Should Guide Schools, Doctors Say
- Teachers call on Texas Education Agency to rethink reopening schools
- State Will Allow Districts to Offer Online-Only Instruction for First 8 Weeks of School Year
- Attorney General Ken Paxton Issues Guidance to Religious Private Schools for Fall Re-openings
- UIL announces plan for high school sports
- New TEA Guidance Does Little to Allay Teacher Fears – prisoner to their “fears,” are they smart enough to be teachers?
- Michigan teacher says he was fired for supporting Trump, president’s push to reopen schools
- McLennan County Waco-McLennan County Public Health District orders schools to delay in-person classes, school activities Sydney Isenberg
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- Business
- Bankruptcies surging as coronavirus levels U.S. economy – gov’t action about coronavirus leveled the economy, not the virus.
- Southwest staff love the carrier so much, more than 25% are willing to leave to help it survive
- Coronavirus sapped Austin auto sales in May, June
- Amazon announces new sorting center in Kyle, bringing more than 200 jobs
- FAA allows SpaceX to conduct its own environmental review of controversial South Texas facility – good
- Walmart to close its stores on Thanksgiving Day
- The High Cost of Renewable Energy
- ———————————————
- Protest, rioting, looting & more
- ‘Time is overdue’: Group of Democrats call for removal of Confederate monuments at Texas Capitol
- Ayala: San Antonio activists against police brutality may be quiet now, but they’re just bracing themselves
- LA Times thirsts after ‘Naked Athena’
- Hell in Portland; Weeks of government-sanctioned mayhem in the Rose City
- ‘They Are Criminals, Not Demonstrators,’ CBP Commissioner Says About Portland Riots
- The Disgrace of Portland
- Oregon Democrats introduce bill in Congress to keep federal police from ending riots
- MSNBC’s Barnicle: Trump May Send Federal Police to Chicago Because Its Mayor Is a Black Woman VIDEO
- Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President begs Trump for help. Mayor is “a failure”
- Trump poised to send federal forces to Chicago, with support from Fraternal Order of Police leader
- The bourgeois class is the most cowardly and easily intimidated in history
- Wichita Falls city council takes no action on Confederate monument, more
- Lawsuits allege Hilton, other hotels discriminated against Black guests
- African Cardinal: BLM Seeks ‘Destruction of the Nuclear Family’
- Black Lives Do Not Matter To Black Lives Matter
- Controversial prosecutor charges St. Louis couple for defending their home with guns, Missouri AG: We’re moving for dismissal of McCloskey charges
- AP: Should we capitalize “white” too? Naw…
- American revolutions: Rewriting the language of the unheard
- ———————————————
- Crime & general news of Texas
- A reckoning in Vanessa Guillen case – please explain to me why this particular case has become a cause célèbre?
- Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen’s murder now a rallying cry for lawmakers
- Bell County Death investigation underway after Fort Hood soldier found unresponsive near Stillhouse Hollow Lake Sydney Isenberg
- Alligator at Lady Bird Park ‘not commom,’ officials say
- Arlington Police: Fatal Shooting of Child in Texas Appears Accidental
- Man charged with punching, choking ex-girlfriend
- Suspect in stolen vehicle leads police on high-speed chase, arrested in Big Spring
- Police: Peeing man arrested for threatening officer
- Abilene police arrest naked woman for DWI
- Motorcyclist died after hitting cow in Coleman County
- DPS trooper okay following rollover crash in Odessa
- Lubbock PD, U.S. Marshals searching for wanted fugitives
- Lubbock Co. commissioners planning next steps for County Roads VIDEO
- DPS car rammed during pursuit of suspected car thief
- Lacy Lakeview police encourage suspect to pick up his property after fleeing scene
- Corpus Christi police make arrest in early morning shooting that left man dead
- Bell County Woman arrested after threatening to commit arson against Killeen PD officer Thalia Brionez
- 1 Injured in Overnight Shooting in Northwest Fort Worth
- Alleged shooter wanted after two men injured during heated argument in south Houston, police say
- HPD: 27-year-old man killed while walking on Southwest Freeway
- Laredo Police officers shot at in northwest Laredo
- El Paso woman killed in ‘reckless’ shootings at backyard cookout
- $11.8M El Paso mass shooting fund makes last 2 payouts, audit still to be done
- Texas AG files to move lawsuit of probationer whose baby was adopted to federal court
- ———————————————
- Local government
- Remember: The property “tax rate” is meaningless by itself
- Abilene to raise property taxes so they have extra funds for more downturn!
- Facing budget shortfalls, nearly 100 Texas mayors plead with Congress for coronavirus relief funding – they simply cannot stop spending!
- Group wants Austin to adopt ‘strong mayor’ government model, ditch city manager – the Left truly wants consolidation of power everywhere
- Austin announces $17M for emergency COVID-19 rent assistance VIDEO
- Metro Health and city leaders were at war with each other at height of coronavirus outbreak in San Antonio, emails show
- NAAG calls Lubbock “hot mess” over new developments with medical examiner – what a petulant bunch who just can’t let go.
- Wichita Falls city council takes no action on Confederate monument – Dodson’s comments are fabulous.
- Abilene City Council to discuss elections, downtown parking, COVID-19 reporting
- Head of Abilene Police Department’s successful Cyber Crimes unit retires
- City of Lubbock says Public Library Board virtual meeting may have been hacked
- Groundwater District Vows To Investigate Vista Ridge Water Waste
- City of East Mountain Effectively Outlaws Abortion, Passes “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” Ordinance
- Texas Students Suspended Over Dreadlocks Continue Fight Against Barbers Hill School District
- ———————————————
- Colleges & universities
- UTSA to cover tuition for San Antonio ISD grads in top half of their class – no, taxpayers are.
- International students breathe relief, able to remain at UTPB
- WBU Releases Plan for Fall Semester
- 10 Red Raiders Awarded Nearly $40,000 In Prestigious Gilman Study Abroad Scholarships
- Institute of Texan Cultures Needed More Than Ever to Celebrate Multicultural History of Texas
- A&M Veterinary Lab Hits Red Tape Trying To Do Human Coronavirus Testing
- 50 years, and not a day of work: For WT’s Robinson, it’s been a half-century of ‘living a dream’
- Texas Faculty Association calls for Abbott to mandate that colleges enforce mask rule
- Paleontologists at SMU discover baby dinosaur jawbone in northern Alaska
- SMU’s New Provost on How the University Will Approach the Fall Semester
- Former employee wants TCU records on past discrimination claims
Pratt’s post for 7/21/2020
July 21, 2020 by Leave a Comment
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