Larry T. Spider

Friend bought a house in Bryan that said something along the lines of “nobody in the house can be anything other than white but if there is a separate guest/servant house in the back, one non-white person is allowed.” Considering Bryan it was probably a new build.

Beaumont definitely deserved to be taken over. IMO it should be used for things like that, not one failing school in a district that has over 100 schools. It opens the door for the decision to be made over politics more than systemic failure.

I met him once and was far from impressed. My nature is generally to get along with everybody and I don’t know how anybody could work with the guy. It was on more person/local level, not how he is running the state. The HISD vs Texas pissing match is just arrogant people in a weird political struggle that doesn’t really matter in the end. The states ultimate goal in these situations m is to return the district to voter control and rather quickly.

I’m an assistant principal at an elementary school so I have a decent sample size. The kids that I would consider most successful (all around, not just academics) are the ones that learn to self advocate at a young age. It is a learned skill for most and needs to be taught at home and school. They turn into problem solvers, get what they need socially/academically, and are very respected by teachers and peers. Im most impressed when I see a parent and child working collaboratively with a teacher to solve a problem - but the parent is promoting the child to do a lot of the thinking and talking. Those kids eventually are able to do it on their own by upper elementary. This is absolutely critical because it’s a middle school survival skill. These parents are also good at backing off and letting their kids experience a full range of emotions and teach them how to deal with them in a healthy way. They have a good grasp of when to back off and let their child struggle or fail in a safe environment. The worst parents aren’t helicopter parents, they are mostly just annoying. The worst of the worst are steamroller parents. They go ahead of their kids and clear a path so that their child will never even face a minor bump. They will roll over anybody or anything that gets in their way with a vengeance. Most of these don’t work because it’s a full time job. At this point I believe it’s almost a codependency mental illness issue because they know it will force their child to be reliant on them for a long, long time. A code phrase to listen for is “I just can’t bear to watch my child hurt/struggle/be disappointed”.

It used to be easy to deal with my family and the in-laws because we were all somewhere on the conservative side of the spectrum. I became disillusioned with Texas Republicans when they started going (more) far right and gutting public education funding around 2011. Then came trump who turned the wife and I into solid Dems who even donate small amounts to candidates we like. There is no going back for us unless there is a massive shift in the political landscape. It has made family gatherings less fun because my in-laws have gone full maga at the same time as we went left. I don’t talk politics with them because it’s pointless. My family is a little better but I stopped talking politics with them years ago. It’s interesting that my mother and mother in law both independently realized that Fox News was brainwashing their spouses and sucking them into a 24 hour cycle of being pissed about nothing. They have scaled back some but having a somewhat sane voice in the house helps immensely.

The most comical part is the meth pipe they “found”.

Bad Teammate suggested we make a community page through Act Blue so that all of our contributions to the eventual candidate can be collected in one place, without having to create a complicated official organization. Does anybody have experience with this? https://support.actblue.com/donors/raising-money-for-campaigns-and-organizations/guide-to-community-forms/

Im going to do a few short write ups as I have time throughout the week. These will be TEXAS HOUSE districts that I think we should investigate further. I have about 10 lined up and will do 1 a day. Feel free to chime in with more info on these people. First up is Texas 45, which is just south of Austin. This includes Kyle, San Marcos, Dripping Springs, Johnson City, etc. This was a democrat gain in the last election with Zwiener getting 51% of the vote. She does use Act Blue. Here is the district map. https://www.texastribune.org/directory/districts/tx-house/45/ Here is basic wiki info on her. She seems a little surly. When Zwiener questioned Republican Jason Isaac, who represented her district in the Texas House of Representatives, about his support for Texas Senate Bill 4, which effectively banned sanctuary cities in Texas, over Facebook, Isaac accused her of "trolling" and blocked her. She decided to run for his seat in the Texas House and declared her candidacy in March 2017 for the Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018 and received assistance from Run for Something. Zwiener was pregnant during the campaign and gave birth in summer of 2018. She finished in second place to Rebecca Bell-Metereau in the Democratic Party primary election, but advanced to a runoff election and won by less than 200 votes. Zwiener went into labor at an anti-Donald Trump protest, and continued to campaign from the hospital before and after giving birth. She won in the general election, receiving 51 percent of the vote, defeating Republican nominee Ken Strange, who polled 49 percent of the ballots cast. She succeeded Isaac in the state House; Isaac did not seek reelection to the House but ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination in Texas's 21st congressional district. Zwiener is bisexual and is one of the founding members of the first LGBTQ Caucus in the Texas Legislature. https://www.erinforyall.com/

Agreed. I also think some seats that could flip from red to blue will be getting attention/money. It might be worth looking at a seat that went blue last time but is far from a lock. Edited to add: Julie Oliver lost to Williams 53-44 just two years ago and it is a US district. She seems like a great person to support but that task might be too big for what we are trying to accomplish here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VoteBlue/comments/dujhea/help_register_likely_dems_in_key_texas_state/?ref=share&ref_source=embed&utm_content=body&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_name=32372efa593f4c38847b6a9baffaef2f&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=dujhea Ok lets try this again

Up two posts. It was formatting weird so I couldnt put the text and pic in the same post.

I got the above from a lurker that wanted to contribute. Many more people read surly politics than the regular posters. From him/her: I wanted to share this link for people looking to Flip the Texas House. Also has info for Julie Oliver and how to get involved with registering voters in her district. Please feel free to share, I did not want to spam other forums to get my count up to post.

I came here to make fun of Briscoe Cain but then I read this and felt bad. AUSTIN — A Texas lawmaker spoke publicly for the first time Thursday about his struggle with autism. Rep. Briscoe Cain revealed he has Asperger's Syndrome during a speech on the House floor marking Autism Awareness Month. Flanked by his colleagues at the front microphone of the chamber, the Deer Park Republican said it was time for him to tell his story.

It’s more of a PAC in name only. No sense in me collecting money when people could just as easily send it through act blue and make reoccurring donations as needed. If somebody wants to take the time, I’ll gladly support it though. I do think it will be a fun experiment to see how a group of motivated people from all over can influence a race. At the very least, I hope that it will get people to pay more attention to smaller races. Some good names being thrown out so far, but for US house seats. I would encourage people to think even more locally with the Texas house. Our money would go a long way there.

Bill? 😁

A few of us libtards have kicked around the idea of banding together to support a candidate in a race where our financial contributions would actually matter. We know that Texas turning blue will end the republican party as we know it and the shift to the left has already been felt in recent elections. We are finally living in a time where there is hope for Texas and the demographics support us winning NOW. The main impediment is lack of voter participation and organization. If people still have an interest in this, we can use this thread to discuss potential candidates, pick one, discuss progress and celebrate a blue victory. Some things to consider when selecting a candidate: 1. Is the person in a very competitive district? Bonus points for Texas House as we have a chance to flip it this cycle. Think of the huge loss of power for guys like Patrick and Abbott that this would create. 2. Does the person support policies that the surly liberal elite are likely to support? 3. Is this person running in or near a major Texas city so that people can get involved in other ways? 4. Does this person collect donations through Act Blue? 5. Would this person be willing to drink with surly posters if we organized a gathering of angry drunk liberals? So, my thought is that we can start making sales pitches for particular candidates below. We have plenty of time, so no need to decide in the near future. Once we have a person, know more about them, and the area where they are running, we can decide more. Please post here if you are interested so that we can gauge that. Also, give a write up for your favorite candidate and why they are worthy of Surly support.

I’m backing warren but she needs to work on her messaging for health care. She’s not far off but she needs bullet points for what it’s going to look like and how it’s going to be paid for.

Go away biden

Liz coming out strong. Really hoping she comes out swinging and solidifies herself as the overwhelming favorite.

Bonnen is an idiot but was our best bet as speaker until the Dems take over. This is bad news IMO. Just imagine if we have somebody more aligned with empower Texans or Dan Patrick running the house. Straus and Bonnen have been the only somewhat sane voice in leadership.

Set up an act blue account and throw $10 at a local candidate in a close race whenever you can. Large numbers of people donating small amounts has become a great asset to Democrats in the last few years. You live in a great area to impact national politics. Texas is turning blue and when that happens the entire country will see a huge shift to the left. Be a part of that process by getting out the vote. Low turnout is the only reason Texas isn’t blue already. Also, specifically support candidates that are in competitive districts in the DFW burbs. That is the front line to taking back the Texas House of Representatives. It’s not out of reach for the first time in forever.

The fucker had a 57 million dollar house in Manhattan, a private islands, and this “ranch” yet people still use their vote to benefit the 1% over their poor and middle class. It’s astonishing. Im not even a big proponent of soaking the rich, but could we not go out of our way to benefit them at every turn? Christ.

Counterpoint: texags

This week warren passed Biden on my sportsbook as the favorite. Great sign.