Raptorpat

Every so often he tests the water to roll back aggression against the agriculture workforce. This time it is via terrible "race science".

The NYS Farm Bureau opposed a state bill that would impose extreme heat standards on worksites and one of the things their *formal* opposition materials said was that farmworkers immigrated from warmer countries and are therefore comfortable working in extreme heat. Just so genuinely, belligerently racist.

In the past these have fizzle out, we'll know for certain when they get on the plan to go home.

to prevent it entirely, they would literally have to hold out for four months

The TX Constitution literally says they meet every two years and cannot meet for more than 140 days, not just three months on paper but it kind of boggles my mind. Then their governor can call them back for 30 days at a time (like now) to address his personal agenda.

Fair odds that this fizzles out poorly. Texas legislature is out of session because they meet like three months every two years, but the Gov called a special session to deal with the floods and put this item first on the agenda to pressure them into appearing.

in unrelated news:

Texas statehouse Dems left to prevent a quorum - not enough legislators present to initiate business. They've left the state so the Governor can't call up the state police to find and physically bring them to the chamber. Scattered to the wind in various blue states. Truancy is not a crime so he can't compel other states to extradite the lawmakers, but they're each subject to civil fines for every day they're absent. Pritzker has apparently offered to cover the cost of those fines to eliminate that deterrence. The primary method the TX Gov has now is to litigate in court whether these Dems have "abandoned" their elected positions - if so, their seats could be declared vacant. At that point he could call a special election to fill those seats and compel a quorum. But litigation and briefings and appeals etc. can take forever. I believe TX can revise its map until some election filing deadline in December, so the question is whether the Dem lawmakers can drag this out for another four+ months.

FAQ summary from this morning's press conference in NY

packard is one of millions, not one of a kind

what's terrifying is the percentage of voting-eligible americans that are this ignorant because of the conservative media bubble

skipping the summary part https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/greg-abbott-texas-democrats-redistricting-00492100

Gov. Greg Abbott threatens Texas House Democrats with removal from office for fleeing state The governor also alleged absconding Democrats may have committed felonies by fundraising to cover the $500-a-day fines they will face under House rules. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-house-democrats-abbott-threatens-removal-quorum-break/

just more proof conservative media withheld the entire narrative from their own audience

Texas Dems to flee state amid national redistricting battle They will head to Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzker has expressed sympathy for their plight. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/03/democrats-flee-texas-redistricting-00491487

Fox News argued in court that it had an absolute first amendment right to tell it's audience what they want to hear even if untrue, so viewers don't switch the tv to newsmax. And because that's a terrible argument in a defamation case, Fox settled the morning of the trial and never had to air to it's audience that statement it published admitting that it aired blatant defamatory lies that these people continue to believe to this very day.

kill the messenger that never ended poorly

I want to say I saw the number $200m, but I can't confirm offhand

meanwhile, as healthcare and food assistance are gutted: