Texas Lege: how can we make them abide by the rules?

[Ilsa]

Dewhurst changed the rules in the senate for passage of bills in the special session from a 2/3 majority to a simple majority. He ran roughshod over the rules, according to Sen Wendy Davis on Chris Hayes' show.

[elleng]

1. Kick them out.

[Skidmore]

2. I'd say that the gallery needs to be packed again.

And the Dems need to go in to hiding.

[winter is coming]

4. I suspect there will be a new "rule" about letting the peasants into the gallery. n/t

[Ilsa]

9. I'm concerned that you are correct on this.

We may need to be duplicitous about it. For example, create a new *ahem* "pro-life" organization with common t-shirts, but defined as being anti-woman so they won't be denied entry to the gallery. Fake them out, in other words.

I'm more concerned that citizens will be banned entirely. So much for democracy.

[winter is coming]

14. I expect that citizens will be banned entirely. n/t

[Mariana]

3. We can all move to Texas en masse

particularly into heavily republican districts, and then vote their asses out.

Don't forget that most of these Republican assholes' constituencies heartily approve of this kind of behavior on the part of their respective legislators.

[arely staircase]

6. actually one of the biggest migrations in human history is already happening here

it is coming from the south and it has the bigots scared to death. and yet, instead of making nice with our soon to be brown overlords, they are just making things worse on themselves.

[Ilsa]

10. Not just migrations, but births.

That might be one reason among many that they are so anti-choice: they are afraid white non-Hispanic women are having more abortions and upsetting the racial/culture balance.

[arely staircase]

12. demography is destiny

they don't get it. except as you say to think somehow they can beat it.

[Mariana]

11. It does sometimes seem like things are getting worse

before they get better, though, as so often happens. I lived in Texas until a couple years ago. Of course, I lived in Tarrant County, so perhaps that experience has made me more pessimistic than is really called for.

[arely staircase]

13. oh, they will get more reactionary as they fade from power

hence voter ID laws, crazy-ass gerrymandered districts etc. but Texas will someday go the way of New Mexico (purple then blue) at which point Republicans are screwn when those electoral votes switch sides. Democrats will regularly take NY, CA and TX. That is unbeatable.

[arely staircase]

5. call this person

ask her why she forged government documents.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023101680

[Salviati]

7. vote the repubican bastards out.

That's the only way. I'm becoming more and more convinced that there's no such thing as a republican who isn't a lying, cheating, racist jackass.

Donate to battlegroundtexas.com to register voters to counteract the racist republican voter suppression.

[Gothmog]

8. My daughter knows the Texas Senate rules

My middle child is a law student. When she was in high school, she was elected as the Lt. governor of the State of Texas for The Junior Statesmen of American. JSA uses the same rules as the Texas Senate my daughter watch the filibuster on the Texas Tribune YouTube feed on her ipad and had the senate rules up on her computer. There were a number of rules ignored or violated. Kirk Watson is a classmate in law school and did good job of pointing violations of the Senate rules. My daughter was very upset at these violations of the rules

The next round will be fun to watch

[HardTimes99]

18. Your daughter made the fundamental mistake of thinking Republicans obey "rules". Um, no, they

"use" rules just like they "use" people and resources. But they're fundamentally a bunch of socio- and psychopaths.

[NoPasaran]

15. Vote and keep voting

It's going to be a long, generational struggle but it's the only way.

[bluestate10]

16. Vote them out. Organize and vote them out. What is so complicated about that? nt

[Ilsa]

17. VRA appeal, questions about

Poll workers playing hanky-lanky with machines, such as in Houston three years ago, gerrymandering.

I think we need to press the media to help keep them honest about not changing rules, and yes, we need more activism.