The State of Texas: September 18, 2015

Song of the Day

Have you loved Selena all your life? Have you been hoping and praying and dreaming you could at least hear one more new song from the Queen of Tejano? Well, today’s your day. The Quintanilla family released a new track, one that Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, said is more of a bootleg, a moment captured during rehearsals. Try to keep your heart from bidi bidi bom bom-ing out of your chest.

Daily Roundup

Mohamed, the Divider — The Irving fourteen year old with the funny looking homemade clock is still in the news, even if his time in the headlines seems to be ticking down. Thursday, Governor Greg Abbott added his two-cents to Ahmed Mohamed’s case. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, Abbott said “police and school officials could have acted differently,” according to Fox News. “The last thing we want to do is put handcuffs on a kid unjustifiably. …It looks like they could have done a better job of balancing interests to have prevented this young man from having to go through that situation,” Abbott said at a “grassroots town hall” event in Dallas. If law-and-order Abbott’s response was a bit tempered, the reaction from the local Muslim group was as well. The Islamic Association of North Texas said it “does not fault police and school officials who handcuffed and suspended” Ahmed. Instead the group blamed general fear mongering and anti-Muslim rhetoric. “We’re not pointing a finger at the school district or the police department,” said one representative. “Under the current climate that exists in this country, you can’t really blame them because when they see something like that, they have to react.” As for Ahmed, his suspension from school ends Friday (even though police dropped all charges days ago) and the school said that he’s welcome back. Ahmed’s family said he will won’t be returning to MacArthur High School.

Goliath vs. Goliath — A big showdown is happening, well, a year from now, but it’s going to be pretty interesting. A September 2016 trial date has been set for the long-brewing fight between Walmart and the State of Texas concerning booze and, like, constitutional freedoms. “A lawsuit filed earlier this year alleges the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—the ‘Equal Protection Clause’—by imposing ‘arbitrary and irrational discrimination’ that prevents Walmart from dealing booze,” writes the Houston Chronicle. Texas tried to get the lawsuit thrown out earlier this year, but no dice. Walmart is goin’ in guns-blazing in its defense to sell alcohol to the masses. “Texas’ ban against some but not all public corporations is nothing more than naked economic protectionism and violates the Constitution by arbitrarily excluding Walmart and other public corporations from the retail spirits market,” reads the lawsuit. If the super-chain does win (again, this is a year away), the Chronicle so wonderfully points at that “this would make your local Walmart complex one-stop shop for most things – well besides porn, AR-15s, and Confederate flag gear.”

The Big Pay Back — Just as humiliating as quitting a high-profile campaign is having to give back all that free money you got during the effort, but that’s exactly what Team Perry has done. “A group of super PACs backing former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s now-defunct presidential bid has refunded to donors most of the millions of dollars they collected,” reports the Texas Tribune. It’s no chump change, either, as the various groups raised about $17 million. Perhaps luckily, the “bulk of the groups’ money came from a relatively small number of donors.” As the Tribune notes, “it’s unusual for a super PAC to find itself flush with cash after a candidate drops out.” Perhaps that money could’ve been used to, you know, actually pay staffers at state campaign headquarters, but it’s all a little too late now. In other political news, the Austin American-Statesman has a counter-take on the mini-controversy surrounding George P. Bush, whom the Chronicle previously took to task for playing hooky to help his dad Jeb!’s campaign. Taking a look at the record itself, the Statesman writes that P. Bush “has spent about 15 percent of his work days supporting his father’s campaign,” but he also helped during regular vacation time, which “alone represents 10 percent of all the workdays examined in the Chronicle story.” It’s one of those semi-interesting stories (for politicos) and certainly beats discussing Trump. In the end, George P. will probably be in fine shape to run for president in 2028.

Grim Work — Texas is once again number one in something! Unfortunately it’s workplace deaths. According to new federal data, “the number of people killed on the job in Texas increased in 2014, and the state retained its grim perch atop all others in workplace deaths,” writes the Tribune. “Texas saw 524 fatal workplace injuries last year, compared with 508 a year earlier … That 3 percent increase was slightly higher than the growth of workplace fatalities nationwide (2 percent).” In addition, Texas had more workplace deaths than more-populous California and “has led the nation in total workplace deaths in 11 of the past 14 years.” As the story notes, our booming oil economy, with its dangerous construction, truck driving, etc., is partially to blame. Then again, there’s also lax safety standards, and Texas “is the only U.S. state that does not require employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance.” But hey, progressive in the name of progress!

The Great Show ~~on Earth~~ in Dallas — Is the Republican presidential campaign smackdown not enough? Check out some lucha libre instead. The Dallas Morning News has a fantastic interactive story about the wrestling extravaganza that you don’t have to cross the border to see. “Wrestling matches are staged at the Irving Bazaar and the Indoor Soccer Zone in northwest Dallas, among other venues.” Best of all, it’s all done purely for the love of the spectacle. “In Dallas, the practice has been relegated to a low-profile scene. These performers are not celebrities. They might be office clerks or small-business owners.” In addition to the piece proper, the Morning News also has a fun video section highlighting lucha libre’s pop culture appearances, a photo gallery, and — the real prize — a place where you can create your own persona and mask. It is the perfect story to start the weekend with.