Month: March 2022

AR Times: “Facts? Who needs ’em? It’s complicated, but nuance isn’t in the GOP playbook. The U.S. is a net energy exporter. The domestic energy industry has leases it isn’t using. We get a very small amount of our supply from Russia. There are some arguments, beneficial to U.S. refiners and our allies, for continuing…

Off the Kuff: “Time for an OG Paxton scandal update. The state’s top appeals court on Wednesday agreed to take up the question of where Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should be tried for alleged securities fraud, a small victory for prosecutors pursuing the criminal cases against the Republican official. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will…

NY Times: “Such efforts are being encouraged statewide, putting Tennessee at the forefront of a nationwide conservative effort to reshape what students are learning and reading in public schools. One proposed Tennessee law prohibits textbooks that “promote L.G.B.T.Q. issues or lifestyles”; one that passed in June would prohibit materials that make someone feel “discomfort” based…

Chicken Fried Politics: “Just one day after being forced into a primary runoff to keep his seat, Texas Republican U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, has ended his re-election campaign after admitting to an extramarital affair with the widow of an Islamic jihadist who fought for the terrorist group ISIS. The revelation of the affair appears to have…

Watauga Watch: “When I checked yesterday morning, Graham still had not filed anywhere — a let-down because he had made himself somewhat famous last October with a campaign launch (still in the 9th) that included a really smashing video biography titled “The Battle for Hayes Pond.” That video got some viral play and led to a money-raising…

Axios: “The number of Texas residents who traveled out-of-state to access abortion care increased dramatically after the most restrictive abortion ban in the U.S. went into effect in the state in September. Driving the news: Newly released data shows that Planned Parenthood health centers in Texas’ surrounding states saw a nearly 800% increase in abortion patients from Texas between Sept. 1…

Political Wire: “Florida legislators voted to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Thursday, a move that would severely restrict access to the procedure in a state that for decades has been a refuge for women from across the South,” the New York Times reports. “The bill — modeled after a similar abortion ban in…

NY Times: “Autherine Lucy had no particular desire to be a civil rights pioneer. Growing up as the youngest of 10 children in an Alabama farm family, she simply wanted to get the best education her state could offer. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in English from the historically Black Miles College in Fairfield, Ala.,…

Slate: “Last week, a couple of letters from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton started circulating. These letters, aimed at Child Protective Services, encouraged Texans to do something no other state does: view medical treatment for trans kids as abusive. These documents aren’t legally binding—in fact, after they got released, district attorneys representing five of Texas’s…

TN Star: “Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed former Trump administration Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus in studio to answer questions about Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.” Questions included naming…