Texas

Part of the larger federal grid infrastructure updates announced today.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13880275

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20923017

Volunteer for texas democrats

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20406912

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his progressive allies sought to mobilize their young supporters Tuesday at a rally on the campus of Texas State University, where they urged a crowd of several hundred to set aside their reservations about Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Sanders, acknowledging that some of his followers were dismayed by Harris’ support for Israel in the war in Gaza, framed the idea of voting for Harris as an ad hoc solution to keep Republican Donald Trump out of the White House and “retain the foundations of American democracy.”

“Short term, let us elect Kamala Harris as president,” Sanders said. “Long term, let us work together to transform this country and create a nation that works for all, not just the few.”

Sanders visited the Texas State campus in San Marcos as part of a three-day swing through the state, bookended by rallies in San Antonio and Austin. He was joined Tuesday by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Greg Casar of San Antonio and former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke.

🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

Some excerpts:

In a 78 page ruling, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez found that a key part of the Texas 2021 omnibus voter legislation is confusing, vague, overly broad, violates freedom of speech along with the 14th Amendment and there is no actual problem of illegal vote harvesting.

"Witnesses were particularly uncertain about how to interpret the terms “physical presence” and “compensation” — neither of which is defined in the statute — and how the Canvassing Restriction impacts organizers’ ability to provide voting assistance during their in-person interactions with voters," Rodriguez wrote.

Under the ruling, the Texas Attorney General’s office can no longer conduct investigations based on the provision. The AG’s office cited it when it recently conducted a series of raids on the homes of Latino voting rights activists and a Democratic candidate for the Texas House. The lawsuit brought by multiple Texas voting rights organizations asked for relief from several parts of SB1. But Saturday’s ruling only concerned the state’s attempt to block assistance with absentee ballots.

"As midnight nears, the lights of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, fill the sky on the silent banks of the Rio Grande. A few months ago, hundreds of asylum-seeking families, including crying toddlers, waited for an opening to crawl through razor wire from Juarez into El Paso.

No one is waiting there now.

Nearly 500 miles away, in the border city of Eagle Pass, large groups of migrants that were once commonplace are rarely seen on the riverbanks these days.

In McAllen, at the other end of the Texas border, two Border Patrol agents scan fields for five hours without encountering a single migrant.

It’s a return to relative calm after an unprecedented surge of immigrants through the southern border in recent years. But no one would know that listening to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump talking about border enforcement at dueling presidential campaign events. And no one would know from the rate at which Texas is spending on a border crackdown called Operation Lone Star — $11 billion since 2021."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20280658

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has vowed to continue defending what he considers Texans' right to carry firearms on land owned or leased by governmental entities.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday night that it would not block a firearms ban at the State Fair of Texas. Paxton's office had sued claiming the city and the fair are violating state law by prohibiting most people from bringing firearms onto public property. 

A Dallas County judge declined to issue an injunction preventing the ban's enforcement. Neither the Fifteenth Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court intervened.

Even other Republicans think Ken Paxton is bad at his job. This is some nice judicial snark:

Remarkably, the State’s presentation to this Court takes no position on whether the State Fair of Texas, a private entity, has the legal authority to exclude patrons carrying handguns from the Fair. This may surprise many observers, given that the ostensible purpose of this litigation is to determine whether Texas law entitles law-abiding Texans to carry handguns at the State Fair despite the Fair’s recently enacted policy to the contrary.

Go ahead and read the whole thing, though, including the footnote. It's only 4 pages of double-spaced text with huge margins. They are not even disagreeing -- although they should -- but rather just laying into Paxton for how sloppy the filings were.

I don't like beer and I don't generally eat the food at the state fair, but I might make a trip for this.

Thanks to @[email protected] for the original post on Mastodon

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3205273

"Judge shopping for me, not for thee"

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20021549

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20368025

Vote, get active, get involved

Find how to register to vote for where you are

Find opportunities to volunteer for dems around you

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19637526

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/iHXDz

https://archive.ph/WxdTL