Shell_Seas
Shell_Seas's Journal(Taxas) Calls To Action 🚨 Stop Trump' Texas Takeover🚨
Show Up, Speak Out, Shut It Down.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/calls-to-action-stop-trump-texas
The Senate Redistricting Committee has scheduled its hearings, which will be held virtually and overlap with the House Committee hearings. There will also be several rallies that happen during this timeframe. Since there is so much happening in the next five days, I wanted to ensure that all the information is available in one place. Please share widely and please show up.
Thursday, July 24 | Austin, TX
12:30 PM: Rally Before Hearing (RSVP link)
2 PM: House Redistricting Hearing
Texas Capitol, Appropriations Room
Leave electronic testimony here.
More info on this hearing.
Friday, July 25 | Virtual (Central TX & RVG)
10:00 AM: Senate Redistricting Hearing
Register HERE to Testify.
Only virtual testimony will be allowed.
Registration to testify ends at 10:00 PM on July 24.
More info on this hearing.
The regional hearing held on July 25, 2025, will focus on South and Central Texas, including Bexar County, Travis County, and the Rio Grande Valley regions, but the committee will hear testimony about any area of the State.
Continues.....
Conservatism Is The Crisis
135 dead and all they care about is power.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/conservatism-is-the-crisis
Conservatism is a doctrine of harm. Full stop.
I’m done pretending it’s just another opinion. I’m done entertaining it as a respectable ideology. It is a system built on control, cruelty, and the preservation of power for the few at the expense of the many. And in Texas, while families are still digging through the wreckage, while mothers bury their children, the GOP is busy redrawing the lines of power.
Not to save lives. Not to fix what broke. But to cement their rule.
Because they believe, openly, proudly, that conservatism deserves to reign, no matter how many of us have to suffer under it.
That’s not just implied. It’s not some backroom confession.
It’s what Republican Senator Phil King said yesterday. (30-second clip)
Texas Dems To DC: We're Not You
Texas Democrats just drew a line in the sand.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/texas-dems-to-dc-were-not-you
Going into campaign season, we’re going to see a lot of campaign rallies across the state from all sorts of political hopefuls. Some will be big, some will be little, some won’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, and some, like the one held yesterday in San Antonio, will have a much larger underlying tone that could shape the entire campaign season and maybe the entire future of Texas. Let’s discuss.
Yesterday in San Antonio, Beto held a rally featuring James Talarico, Juaquin Castro, and Ron Nirenberg. This matters because, remember, just yesterday we were discussing their secret meeting from last month? What matters more is what they discussed at this rally, who made surprise appearances, and who was noticeably absent.
(The sound is low, but you can hear it perfectly if you turn it up loud enough.) It’s definitely worth watching, but there are some particular moments I want to talk about.
For some reason, I thought that yesterday’s San Antonio rally was going to be the four men who were in that secret meeting we discussed yesterday. I thought I had read that or seen it in a flyer, but after double-checking last night, I realized I had put that in my head, perhaps just an assumption that somehow these four were working together to figure out the top of the ticket. However, after watching each take turns speaking, I realized Colin Allred was not in attendance.
So, I quickly texted a friend, “Allred isn’t at the rally?”
“Nope. Just Beto, Talarico, and Castro. Us vs. DNC.”
The Most Progressive Democratic Party in America Is in Texas
Don’t confuse us with the DC elite. We’re building a working-class movement from the ground up.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/the-most-progressive-democratic-party
Yesterday, I came across a guy’s TikTok page who is running for Congress in Texas. I scrolled through a few of his videos, and he made me so mad. I just scrolled away, but I thought about him again this morning and couldn’t remember his name or find his videos again. (🤦🏻♀️Don’t you hate it when that happens?)
The reason he pissed me off so much, is he’s 100% running on the Texas Democratic Party platform, but he’s running as an independent. I mean it’s like, he read the platform, said, “these are good ideas,” and then decided to run on those ideas while distancing himself from the party. We’re talking universal healthcare, pro-union, climate justice, the whole nine yards. This is the second independent candidate I’ve come across in this election cycle who is doing this.
The Texas Democratic Party is the most progressive state party in the United States. However, I’m not sure that the general public is aware of this. Moreover, I don’t think the general populace knows or understands the difference between a Texas Democrat and a California liberal.
The Texas Democratic Party’s platform supports universal healthcare, strong labor rights, climate justice, LGBTQ+ equality, racial equity, reproductive freedom, and deep investments in public education.
The right has spent decades painting every Democrat with the same out-of-touch, San Francisco-brunch-club brush, and honestly, the left hasn’t done a great job pushing back. So now we’ve got candidates parroting the Texas Democratic platform word for word... while pretending they’re too “independent” to be associated with the very party that wrote it.
Abbott Vetoes THC Ban, Food For Hungry Kids, Pledges Special Session
It’s Greg Abbott’s world. We’re all just hungry, high, and screwed in it.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/abbott-vetoes-thc-ban-food-for-hungry
Some men ride into sunset with spurs jingling and dust on their boots, but Greg Abbott showed up with a veto pen and a grudge against hungry kids. That’s right, the Devil’s taking notes and he’s learning from the Governor of Texas, who in the late hours of Sunday night vetoed the $60 million in funding for the Summer EBT program, which had been approved during the state budget discussions of the 89th Texas Legislature.
The child food‐insecurity rate in Texas was approximately 22.8% in 2022, meaning more than one in five children struggle with hunger.
Across Central Texas, more than 1 in 4 children (over 25%) are food insecure, significantly higher than the national average of about 20%.
Notably, nearly 3.8 million Texas children would have qualified for $120 in benefits via Summer EBT, now lost following Abbott’s veto.
The $450 million budget item was to be fully funded by the federal government. Texas would have paid only $30,000 this year and next.
Texas is facing a hunger crisis, and Abbott responded by slamming the pantry door shut. And this is who the Republican Party of Texas is. While more than half of our electorate doesn’t vote, and millions of children are starving, the people in power don’t care, and actively make moves to harm them more.
Greg Abbott harms hungry children. Full stop.
Only 27% Of Eligible Voters In Texas Voted For Trump
This is what fascism looks like. But we still have the numbers to win.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/only-27-of-eligible-voters-in-texas
This morning, a Trump supporter walked into the home of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and murdered her and her husband in cold blood. He then turned his gun on Senator John Hoffman and his wife. One couple is dead. The other is barely hanging on.
And while law enforcement confirms this was a politically motivated assassination, complete with a hit list of 70 other Democratic lawmakers, the right-wing media machine is already lying about who pulled the trigger.
They’ve spent years feeding their base a diet of hate, calling us invaders, groomers, Marxists, and demons. They’ve normalized political violence. They’ve fantasized about it. And now that it’s happened, they’re trying to pretend it wasn’t one of their own.
But we aren’t fooled. And we aren’t outnumbered.
Because the truth is, Texas isn’t red. America isn’t red. What we are is a country drowning in disinformation and voter suppression, and worst of all, a profound, dangerous disillusionment. The biggest bloc in this state, every single cycle, isn’t Republicans or Democrats. It’s people who don’t vote. And that’s not on them. That’s on all of us.
Today, we saw millions in the streets. That’s power.
If you’ve got rage in your chest and nowhere to put it, start by convincing just one person in your life that their vote matters. Then convince another. And then another. Because 11 million people in Texas stayed home in 2024. We don’t need to flip minds, we need to wake them up.
This Is Fascism. You Don't Get to Look Away.
Texas Republicans want to rig the maps. Trump deployed the military on civilians. The media tells you to stay home. The fascism isn’t coming, it’s already here.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/this-is-fascism-you-dont-get-to-look
I told you last week. “Rumors and redistricting? Expect us.”
This week, the New York Times confirmed that Donald Trump is pressuring Governor Greg Abbott to call a special session to redraw the maps in the middle of the decade. To rig all 38 congressional districts red before the 2026 midterms.
Call it what it is. Authoritarianism in real time.
And they’re not even hiding it.
The Texas Tribune followed up with details. Republican members of Congress from Texas met in DC this week to discuss redrawing the lines. They admitted it. Out loud. In front of reporters. Here’s the link.
They are trying to steal Texas. Again.
To lock it down before voters can hold them accountable in 2026. Before they lose their grip. Before their lies catch up with them. Before the rest of the country sees what we’ve seen for years.
These men only believe in power.
Texas Runoff Results Prove The Tide Is Turning
The far right lost the plot and the vote.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/texas-runoff-results-prove-the-tide
Texas showed up. And the far-right took another punch to the mouth. In yesterday’s local runoffs, voters across the state delivered a mixed bag, solid wins for Democrats and progressives, a few tough losses, and one clear pattern. MAGA candidates got their asses handed to them in race after race.
Let’s start with San Antonio.
The Alamo City came through with a wave of wins, the biggest one going to Gina Ortiz Jones, who just made history by becoming the next mayor. She beat Republican Rolando Pablos, a polished conservative backed by the usual GOP machine, with a campaign rooted in inclusion, housing, and real policy.
Gina Ortiz Jones’ win carries significant demographic and symbolic importance. She will be the first woman of color and first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as San Antonio’s mayor (Jones is a Filipina American and an Air Force veteran who has been open about her identity). Her victory thus represents a milestone for representation in Texas politics. It also continues San Antonio’s trend of favoring pragmatic progressive leadership.
Progressives also secured a strong majority on the San Antonio City Council through the runoffs. Of the four council seats that went to runoffs, progressive candidates won three (Districts 1, 6, and 8), while a conservative won one (District 9).
This means the 11-member council will tilt solidly to the left-of-center on most issues. Mayor-elect Jones will have a friendly council alignment to help implement her agenda.
And it sends a message, loud and clear, to every Republican clinging to power at the state level. You don’t own the cities anymore. Not San Antonio. Not Austin. Not Dallas. Not Houston. The big metros are electing leaders who look like the people they serve, and they’re not waiting for permission.
The Conservation Of White Supremacy In Tarrant County
From Greenwood to Galveston to Tarrant: The long war on Black representation.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/the-conservation-of-white-supremacy
In the early 1960s, Black residents in Leflore County, Mississippi, comprised two-thirds of the population. Despite that, they had no political representation. In 1962, when voter registration of Black voters increased, the all-white Board of Supervisors (similar to a Commissioners’ Court in Texas) cut off federal surplus food aid, a lifeline for over 20,000 poor Black sharecroppers and farmworkers. This move came to be known as the Greenwood Food Blockade.
This move by the white Board of Supervisors exacerbated widespread poverty-induced hunger and malnutrition among Mississippi Delta sharecroppers. This laid the groundwork for long-term food insecurity, economic marginalization, and ongoing inequality in Mississippi that persists to this day.
This pattern is not new. Every time Black Americans have taken even a step toward political power, white supremacy has moved to snatch it back. In Greenwood, it meant starving families to stop them from voting. In Tarrant County today, it means redrawing district lines to erase Black representation, again, by a white-majority governing body.
What happened in Mississippi in 1962 wasn’t just about food. It was about control. And what happened in Tarrant County today isn’t just about maps. It’s about the same thing.
Today, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted to approve a redistricting map that effectively eliminates the seat of Commissioner Alisa Simmons, the only Black woman on the court.
It’s not a coincidence. It’s not neutral. It’s not “routine.” It is the calculated removal of a voice that dared to speak up for all of us.
Sine Die, Die, Die, DIE!
140 Days of cruelty, corruption, and corporate handouts is finally over.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/sine-die-die-die-die
The 89th Texas Legislature is over, but the damage will echo for years. This session was 100% about control. Control over classrooms, bodies, ballots, and truth itself. In 140 days, Republican lawmakers pushed through some of the most cynical, cruel, and corrupt legislation we’ve seen in modern Texas history, and they did it with a smile.
Don’t let them pretend otherwise. Don’t let them say it was about “parents’ rights” or “border security” or “fiscal responsibility.” It was about power. It was about erasing opposition. And they think we’ll move on.
We won’t.
They passed plenty of garbage. But there’s the silver lining. They put it all in writing.
So, as they strut home to take credit for gutting public schools and bullying kids, we’re going to do something radical, and that’s pay attention. Because we’ve got receipts, and come November 2026 (and every fight before then), we plan to use them.
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