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HGov. Greg Abbo ’s campaign is running an ad feauring remarks from Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke that were deceptively edited to make it sound like the former Democratic congressman said he wants to abolish police departments, according to a CNN analysis. The ad fi rst appeared online in October.
HTexans may not be united on much politically, but they are clear on at least one point: they want legal marijuana. A survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University earlier this month found that two in three support legalization of recreational weed. Democrats and Independents are the most supportive of legalization, but a slim majority of Republicans support it as well.
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HThe state’s power grid continues to be vulnerable to blackouts during extreme winter weather, according to a new analysis from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT found that a combination of cold weather and high heat demand could trigger blackouts like those experienced last February in which hundreds of Texans lost their lives. An ERCOT spokesperson said the agency has made improvements in preparation for the coming winter.
The nonprofi t women’s collective Impact San Antonio has awarded the Carver Community Cultural Center a $100,000 grant to fund a mobile arts lab. The grant will allow the organization to take its arts programming beyond the walls of its East Side location. The Carver will equip a van with art supplies, a mobile stage, A/V equipment, a generator and other tools.
— Abe Asher
U.S. House Creative Committee
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Conspiring with Ronny Jackson
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Even though he’s a medical doctor, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, wasted no time in ginning up a conspiracy theory about the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
In a tweet Sunday, the fi rst-term MAGA lawmaker claimed the mutation discovered by South African doctors was a Democratic plot to steal the 2022 election. “Here comes the MEV — the Midterm Election Variant!” Jackson tweeted. “They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots. Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election — but we’re not going to let them!”
One would assume Jackson, the White House physician for Barack Obama and Donald Trump, knows this is bullshit from a medical standpoint. But it’s also laughable for other reasons.
If there’s a conspiracy to fabricate a new variant that will disrupt U.S. elections, why have it originate on another continent? Wouldn’t it be scarier if it started here? For that ma er, why discover it a year out from the midterms instead of weeks before? And wouldn’t the spread of a new variant be bad news for the party currently holding the White House?
Despite the profound illogic of his tweet, Jackson has already uncorked a conspiracy theory that will make it harder for public health offi cials to convince the vaccine resistant to roll up their sleeves as a new variant inevitably makes it to U.S. shores.
And this guy calls himself a doctor? No thanks. We’ll call him a fucking assclown. —
Sanford Nowlin
news
YOU SAID IT!
— Anthony Fauci,
White House Chief Medical Advisor commenting on attacks by Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republican lawmakers to CBS News.
After months of will-he-or-won’t-he speculation, it’s offi cial: Hollywood actor Ma hew McConaughey is not running for governor of Texas. In a video posted on his Twi er account last Sunday, the Austin resident said it was “humbling and inspiring” to consider a run for offi ce. “It is also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment,” he added.
Ma Hagee, senior pastor at San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church, has apologized for hosting a far-right rally that made national headlines when one of its featured speakers, former Trump administration offi cial Michael Flynn, told the audience that the United States should adopt “one religion.” Even though he spoke from the stage to introduce the rally, Hagee said the group wasn’t properly ve ed and didn’t represent the church’s views. — Abe Asher
Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com
WE ARE WORKING TO LEARN HOW TO EXERCISE IMPROVES HEALTH AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Be Part of a National Movement to Discover Exercise!
The study measures the changes that occur during and after exercise. This will help researchers learn how exercise improves health. The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) is supported by the NIH Common Fund through cooperative agreements managed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases and National Institute on Aging.
We are looking for volunteers who:
· Are 18 years of age or older. · Exercise 1 time a week or less. · Have no history of diabetes or heart disease. · Would like to have an opportunity to exercise with a personal trainer for 12 weeks and have study-related health exams at UT Health San Antonio.
*Volunteers will be compensated for their participation
CALL 210-450-3333
Email motrpac-dl@uthscsa.edu or Visit:www.motrpac.org/join
For more information please contact the study team at the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies of UT Health San Antonio
CURRENT EVENTS
Make Room, Make Room!
Louie Gohmert jumps into the clown car that is the GOP primary for Texas Attorney General
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
Editor’s note: The following is Current Events, a column of opinion and analysis.
Someone free up a seat in the ahooga-ing, exhaust-farting clown car for U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert.
The Tyler Republican, known more for his bizarre and infl ammatory rhetoric than his legislative record, earlier this month announced that he’ll challenge incumbent Ken Paxton in the already crowded GOP primary for Texas A orney General.
Even the stop-start-WTF style in which Gohmert made his announcement was par for the course for one of Congress’ fringiest-of-the-fringe lawmakers.
Gohmert threw his hat into the ring Monday, Nov. 22 on appropriately far-right cable network Newsmax. Originally, the congressman said he’d announce his decision Friday on a Dallas conservative radio talk show, but never one to bend to the rule makers, he didn’t call in as scheduled.
It’s unclear exactly how Gohmert plans to set himself apart from Paxton, who’s already used the offi ce to score plenty of points with the MAGA crowd. During the Newsmax interview, the congressman mentioned “election integrity” and the U.S.-Mexico border as two issues driving his campaign.
Never mind that Paxton has already doubled down on GOP falsehoods that widespread fraud riddles the election system and that the current AG has been a steadfast ally with Gov. Greg Abbo as he engages in a pissing match with the Biden administration over who enforces immigration controls.
“When the federal government will not protect the border, the state can take action itself,” Gohmert told Newsmax in what sounded like rhetoric straight from Abbo ’s mouth.
Whatever the case, Gohmert enters the race as another far-right candidate, State Rep. Ma Krause, R-Fort Worth, leaps out of the spu ering car to instead run for Tarrant County district a orney. Krause, you may recall, made recent news by using his position as a House commi ee chair to launch a Bozo-worthy probe into “objectionable” books in Texas public schools that address LGBTQ+ and racial justice themes.
That now leaves Gohmert in a primary fi eld with Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman, the la er of whom has yet to a ract enough media a ention to fully show off her Emme Kelly greasepaint.
However, Bush — a member of one of the state’s most powerful political dynasties — has already kicked a deep dent in his political brand by repeatedly kowtowing to former President Donald Trump — you know, the same guy who’d repeatedly insulted the Bush family — in what turned out to be a naive and failed bid to win his endorsement. Cue sad trombone and dropped trousers.
Gohmert has also worked overtime to establish himself as a steadfast Trump ally. Among his stunts under the Washington big top: denying that the Jan. 6 insurrection was carried out by supporters of the former president. Hell, according to a Rolling Stone investigation, Gohmert even met with organizers of the rally that ultimately spilled over into the Capitol a ack.
Despite all that overtime groveling, Trump has given his endorsement to Paxton, whose two terms in the a orney general’s offi ce have left him armed with a squirting lapel pin, a honking red nose and a rickety suitcase of gags, tricks and polka-dot undies that can explode open on cue.
After all, Paxton is running for reelection against the baggage of a felony securities fraud indictment that his a orneys have managed to drag out in court for fi ve years, a reported FBI probe and allegations by former top aides that he abused his offi ce and took bribes.
Welcome to the clown car, Louie. Make sure you don’t slam one of your giant-ass shoes in the door behind you.
And don’t choke on the exhaust and the rhetoric emanating from inside — both are toxic.
Flickr Creative Commons / Gage Skidmore
