Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Friday's decision not to protect pregnant Texans and their doctors by the Texas Supreme Court should provide motivation for pro-choice voters to unite: https://www.reuters.com/legal/texas-top-court-wont-guarantee-right-abortion-complicated-pregnancies-2024-05-31/

...We hope to see you Thursday in El Paso for our live podcast taping at the Texas Democratic Convention: https://progresstexas.org/blog/live-texas-democratic-party-convention-abortion-and-our-freedoms-2024

Longtime Houston U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has announced a pancreatic cancer diagnosis: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/03/rep-sheila-jackson-lee-pancreatic-cancer/

National coverage of the bitter division within the Texas Republican Party continues: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4696987-texas-republicans-gop-dade-phelan-donald-trump-tony-gonzales-school-vouchers/

...While their nutty platform also continues to draw national embarrassment to our state: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/03/texas-republican-party-new-platform/

...And middle-aged white Republican women are found by a study to be misinformation "super-sharers": https://www.expressnews.com/news/texas/article/fake-news-republican-white-women-texas-19490227.php

Another study done by MIT on U.S. Rep. Greg Casar's proposed connection of the Texas energy grid to neighboring grids predicts multiple reliability and environmental benefits: https://www.eenews.net/articles/blackouts-could-be-slashed-if-texas-joins-the-u-s-grid-study/

Coming to the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso? Get there early enough on Thursday June 6 to join us for our Abortion And Our Freedoms 2024 panel, featuring reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski, TX-15 Congressional candidate and Progress Texas endorsee Michelle Vallejo, and repro rights icon and current Planned Parenthood Senior Advisor Wendy Davis! 5pm to 6pm (MOUNTAIN time, mind you) in Juarez B of the El Paso Convention Center: https://www.mobilize.us/texasdemocrats/event/628166/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

The conversation on abortion rights and reproductive freedom in Texas has been freshly reinvigorated by the Texas Supreme Court's abject failure to protect pregnant Texans or even to provide guidance to Texas doctors facing pregnancy emergencies. We continue our six part series of conversations with influential Texas progressive women on this all-important issue, in this case gathering three guests, each for the first time: State Representative Gina Hinojosa has represented Austin in the Texas House since 2017, Abbie Kamin has served on the Houston City Council representing District C since 2020, and Dr. Sukh Kaur is one of the newest members of the San Antonio City Council, elected last June to serve District 1.

Learn more about Rep. Hinojosa at https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=49.

Learn more about Council Member Abbie Kamin at https://www.houstontx.gov/council/c/.

And, learn more about Council Member Dr. Sukh Kaur at https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/Mayor-Council/City-Council/D1/Biography.

Note that the next installment in this series will be recorded LIVE next Thursday June 6 during the Texas Democratic Convention, featuring reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski, former State Senator Wendy Davis, and U.S. Congressional nominee Michelle Vallejo! If you'll be in El Paso, please plan to arrive early enough to join us - we'll start at 5pm MOUNTAIN Time (6pm Central): https://progresstexas.org/blog/live-texas-democratic-party-convention-abortion-and-our-freedoms-2024

Thanks for listening! Learn more about what we do and the various and fun ways you can help support our ongoing work at Progress Texas at https://progresstexas.org/.

Today, the Texas Supreme Court did what we all thought they would do: they left pregnant Texans and their doctors at the mercy of Ken Paxton and our state's ham-fisted, ill-considered and morally repugnant ban on abortion care.

This update contains short statements from Progress Texas Executive Director Kathleen Thompson and Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone, plus an important and in-depth analysis by Progress Texas board member and Fort Worth-based civil rights attorney Jason Smith, our go-to for complex legal matters.

A reminder that Amanda Zurawski herself will join us for a live podcast taping next Thursday at the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - even more than yesterday, we'd love to have you there: https://progresstexas.org/blog/live-texas-democratic-party-convention-abortion-and-our-freedoms-2024

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

The conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts yesterday brings out Republican outrage against our system of justice, and Democratic calls for decency:

...However, Trump's court loss could reinvigorate his support among Texas GOP voters who love outlaws: https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/bud-kennedy/article288894752.html

...Many of whom are now being intimidated into turning out for Trump: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/30/texas-republican-trump-flyer-reddit-election-mailer/73912292007/

Another plank of the new Texas GOP platform: an election system modeled after the Electoral College placing statewide elections at the county level, which would render Democrats permanently powerless: https://truthout.org/articles/texas-republicans-offer-up-a-christian-nationalist-anti-democracy-platform/

Pride Month starts tomorrow! Our D'Angelo Colter has a great history and rundown of events statewide through the annual month of celebration: https://progresstexas.org/blog/deep-heart-pride-celebration-pride-month-texas

Coming to the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso? Get there early enough on Thursday June 6 to join us for our Abortion And Our Freedoms 2024 panel, featuring reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski, TX-15 Congressional candidate and Progress Texas endorsee Michelle Vallejo, and repro rights icon and current Planned Parenthood Senior Advisor Wendy Davis! 5pm to 6pm (MOUNTAIN time, mind you) in Juarez B of the El Paso Convention Center: https://www.mobilize.us/texasdemocrats/event/628166/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

A large group of state attorneys general is calling on the U.S. Justice Department to probe the murder of BLM protestor Garrett Foster and the pardoning of his killer, Daniel Perry, by Governor Abbott earlier this month: https://www.reuters.com/legal/federal-probe-urged-black-lives-matter-protest-killing-after-texas-pardon-2024-05-29/

A new investigation finds that Attorney General Ken Paxton has been stretching the limits of consumer protection laws to harass political targets: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/30/ken-paxton-texas-ag-political-targets-health-care-lgbtq/

Democratic U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar, already indicted in a bribery case, is now being scrutinized by the U.S. House Ethics Committee: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-ethics-committee-opens-investigation-rep-henry-cuellar-rcna154602

Houston U.S. Representative Al Green is calling on federal agencies to investigate alleged rerouting of Texas public school funds to out-of-state charter schools founded by Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles: https://x.com/TxEdHouston/status/1796000397443596498?t=KqkTao7dL7mULu8qdBLWng&s=03

The most extreme right wing of the Texas Republican Party fell just short of a coup of next year's legislative session - not that they'll stop trying: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/us/texas-republican-primaries-dade-phelan.html

The "mudsill theory of labor", used to justify slavery before the Civil War, underpins many of the crazy things Republicans push for these days: https://newrepublic.com/article/181939/republicans-want-permanent-economic-underclass

Coming to the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso? Get there early enough on Thursday June 6 to join us for our Abortion And Our Freedoms 2024 panel, featuring reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski, TX-15 Congressional candidate and Progress Texas endorsee Michelle Vallejo, and repro rights icon and current Planned Parenthood Senior Advisor Wendy Davis! 5pm to 6pm (MOUNTAIN time, mind you) in Juarez B of the El Paso Convention Center: https://www.mobilize.us/texasdemocrats/event/628166/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

The Trump and Paxton-backed hard-right challenge to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan fails by a very small margin, in a relatively empty win for the GOP's more reasonable wing: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-runoff-elections-2024/

...Progress Texas endorsee Lauren Ashley Simmons scores a landslide win over incumbent State House Rep Shawn Thierry in Houston: https://www.fox26houston.com/news/texas-primary-election-runoff-lauren-simmons-unseats-incumbent-shawn-thierry-state-rep-race

...Also by a razor-thin margin, embattled Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales survives a challenge by a gun rights YouTuber: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tony-gonzales-brandon-herrera-texas-runoff_n_66560247e4b052122749cada

...The runoff between State Senator Molly Cook and State Rep. Jarvis Johnson remains too close to call: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2024/texas-may-2024-runoff-election-results/

The Amarillo City Council has temporarily deferred a decision on a petition-based abortion travel ban: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/28/amarillo-abortion-travel-ban/

...While anti-abortion activist OB/GYN Dr. Ingrid Skop, now on the state maternal moribidity committee, once testified before Congress in favor of forcing nine year old rape victims to carry pregnancies to term: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/23/texas-anti-abortion-activist

The Dallas Morning News editorial board advocates for political support for clean energy: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2024/05/29/as-storms-devastate-texas-must-work-towards-clean-energy-future/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Today is ELECTION DAY for the Texas primary runoffs! If you haven't voted yet and have questions: https://govotetexas.org/

For an election that statistically very few Texans will actually show up for, there's a ton at stake: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/28/texas-election-primary-runoff/

...The main theme of the runoff is the internal war being waged for the soul of the Texas Republican Party: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/05/27/texass-republicans-eat-their-own

The final platform emerging from last week's Texas Republican Convention is a study in conservative extremism: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/27/texas-republicans-adopts-conservative-wish-list-for-the-2024-platform/73858798007/

...The state GOP has crazied itself out of almost all of its corporate convention sponsors:

...Texas Republicans select a new chair in Abraham George, who we last saw heading out with a gun to confront a man he suspected of sleeping with his wife: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/24/texas-republican-party-chair-abraham-george/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas will see 100-degree temps over the Memorial Day weekend - ERCOT says they're ready: https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/texas-power-demand-break-may-record-heat-wave-friday-2024-05-23/

...Should the AC stay on, get ready to pay up - Texas power costs are through the roof: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/23/texas-electricity-bill-help/

Is Ken Paxton under Federal investigation? Nobody seems to know, or is willing to pipe up: https://www.kut.org/2024-05-23/donald-trump-fbi-investigation-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-grand-jury

A lawsuit filed by the family of Darryl George, the Barbers Hill ISD student now relegated to in-school suspension for an entire school year over his hairstyle, is now in the hands of a Galveston federal judge: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/fate-lawsuit-filed-texas-student-darryl-george-hairstyle-hands-federal-rcna153835

Governor Abbott's pardoning of Daniel Perry is a green light for extremists to target opponents of white supremacy: https://prospect.org/justice/2024-05-21-governor-texas-white-supremacist-violence-daniel-perry/

Today is the last day of early voting in the primary runoff! Get it done: https://govotetexas.org/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.

Today - May 24, 2024 - is the second anniversary of the horrific mass shooting incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, an instance of mass murder shocking both in its scale, and in the still-unbelievable display of incompetence that marked the botched response of multiple law enforcement agencies that day. Over the two years since, the Republican-dominated government of Texas has not only done nothing to address gun violence - they've gone out of their way to accelerate the proliferation of firearms across our state. As we mark this solemn occasion, we've invited back to the pod San Antonio State Senator Roland Gutierrez - a singular example of a lawmaker who has stood steadfastly by his constituents in their hour of need - to review his experiences with the families left behind, to tell us their stories, and to help us try to make even the slightest bit of sense of an utterly senseless tragedy.

Learn more about Senator Gutierrez at https://senate.texas.gov/member.php?d=19.

Thank you for listening! Learn more about how to support Progress Texas and our important work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

The families of the Robb Elementary shooting victims have announced a $2 million settlement with the City of Uvalde, and a series of lawsuits against involved law enforcement, including Texas DPS officers: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uvalde-school-shooting-settlement-texas-city-lawsuits/

...Progress Texas provides an update in advance of tomorrow's second anniversary of that horrible day in Uvalde: https://progresstexas.org/blog/what-has-changed-uvalde%C2%A0

The Texas Republican Party Convention begins today in San Antonio, amidst bitter internal struggles over ideology and policy: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/05/23/texas-republicans-gather-for-convention-amid-struggle-over-partys-future/

...The state GOP is moving towards closed primaries: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/republican-party-of-texas-advances-rule-to-close-primaries-convention-vote-friday

The ACLU of Texas has released a report that counters many of Governor Abbott's stated reasons for spending over $11 billion on Operation Lone Star: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/special-reports/at-the-border/texas-aclu-critcizes-operation-lone-star-governor-greg-abbott/269-00ca4525-fad4-4f9b-9bd2-24b9147ad203

A well-known anti-abortion doctor has been appointed to the state's maternal morbidity committee, where she will have an influence over information regarding crisis pregnancies and related deaths in Texas: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/22/texas-maternal-mortality-committee-ingrid-skop-abortion-doctor/

Early voting in the primary runoff is underway NOW and continues through Friday: https://govotetexas.org/

Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate

Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire

Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.