REGIME CHANGE IN AFGHANISTAN |  | |
"I am the President of the United States, and the buck stops with me."
President Biden did the right thing to end our involvement in Afghanistan, a twenty-year war that cost our nation over 2,400 US military deaths and nearly 20,000 wounded, along with countless others who continue to suffer from PTS. We also must acknowledge the losses our allies suffered, who sent their sons and daughters off to fight for us to honor the NATO treaty. And grieve for the Afghan people, who have suffered through 40 years of nearly continuous war.
Although he was right to end the war, he will be held accountable for the chaotic scene at the airport in Kabul this week. We hope that, with several thousand US troops heading into Kabul, enough order can be restored to enable the evacuation of US and allied persons as well as those Afghans who, through their work with the US and our allies, must leave Afghanistan or face death or imprisonment.
Ignore the right-wingers who will try to tar Biden with the end of the war. This war was never truly winnable. Neither Bush nor Obama could figure a way out; Trump negotiated with the Taliban to try to get a quick win to help his re-election; he allowed the release of over 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Biden had argued for ending the war while he was Obama's Vice President; while he no doubt viewed Trump's deal as flawed, he probably felt he should take that opportunity to end the war he knew needed to end.
In the coming days and weeks and months, there will be an endless stream of "What went wrong?" articles about our war in Afghanistan. Many will blame Biden. There are many things that the US did wrong in Afghanistan, but in the end, if 20 years wasn't enough to help the Afghans build an effective government, and a military to protect their people, then another month, another year, another five years wouldn't be enough. We built their military up to be bigger than that of many of our NATO allies, with a larger budget (paid for by US taxpayers). But in the end, the military simply walked away; the government, including the Afghan president, fled the country, allegedly with a helicopter full of cash. American troops must not fight and possibly die for a country that won't fight for itself.
After our loss in Vietnam, as a nation we went through years of doubt. This time, we have our own extremists to contend with. A result of our failure in Vietnam was Ronald Reagan, who told Americans they were the “shining city on a hill,” but enacted policies that, decades later, brought us a demagogue who nearly ended our democracy. What, and who, will our failure in Afghanistan bring?
Read More:
Biden Was Right (The Atlantic)
President Trump's Disgraceful Peace Deal with the Taliban (Time)
We All Lost Afghanistan (Foreign Affairs)
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THE 2021 ANN RICHARDS DINNER | |
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Do you want to help STOP voter suppression laws, support local candidates, and help Democrats get elected up and down the ballot? You can support our efforts at the Ann Richards Dinner & Masquerade Ball on October 16th by donating items for our silent auction that will entice our guests to bid!
The most popular items include:
- Travel (hotel, vacation homes, weekend getaways)
- Outings and experiences (spa day, theme park tickets, museum tour, etc)
- Sports and memorabilia (game tickets, autographed memorabilia, golf outings, etc)
- Concert/ theater tickets
- Gift cards
- Exclusive personal experiences (cooking class, private gourmet dinner, etc)
- Unique home goods and decor
Contact Vielka Harrison at 469-525-6648 to donate.
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Visit our all-new Ann Richards Dinner web page for details on the food, fun, and sponsorship opportunities! Sponsors will enjoy some very special perks not available to other event attendees, and the sponsor package availability is limited, so don't wait! This will be the hottest event in Collin County!
For the safety of everyone attending, only individuals fully vaccinated for COVID-19 should attend this in-person event.
When: Saturday, October 16, 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Where: Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center 7121 Bishop Rd Plano
Cost: Individual tickets are $150 per person. Sponsorships are also available.
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GOVERNING GRINDS TO A HALT IN TEXAS |  | |
More so than at other times in recent years, the governing of the State of Texas
has largely ground to a halt. The biennial Legislature session ended with House Dems leaving the Capitol late on the last night to break quorum to prevent a vote on what we Dems view to be a voter suppression bill. Governor Abbott immediately called a special session. House Dems again denied quorum by spending most of the 30-day session in Washington, DC, lobbying Congress to pass voting rights legislation. Abbott called a second special session, and the House has yet to reach quorum, with most House Dems remaining away. Abbott asked the House Speaker, Dade Phelan, to issue civil arrest warrants to force Dems back to the House, which he has done. After a week and a half, nothing's been done in the House. And since Abbott vetoed funding for the entire Legislature after the regular session in retaliation for Dems breaking quorum, starting September 1, there will be no funding to pay for House and Senate members, or their staff members, or even the facility workers at the Capitol, until a new funding bill is passed.
Meanwhile, starting in early August, the COVID19 pandemic surged in Texas, just as schools across most of the state were to open. Abbott refused to allow ISDs and other jurisdictions to issue mask mandates or other public health measures to control the pandemic and has gone to the State Supreme Court to prevent jurisdictions including Dallas County and Dallas ISD from issuing mask mandates. Taking his anti-public health drive even farther, Abbott threatened to cancel liquor licenses for any restaurant that required proof of vaccination to enter.
While regional courts with Democratic judges have ruled against Abbott, the State Supreme Court has supported Abbott, ruling that he can veto Lege funding, compel Dem House members with the threat of arrest, and ban mask mandates.
The situation here in Texas is untenable. Abbott behaves like a dictator, the Republican-controlled Lege is doing what Abbott tells them to do, and the Supreme Court also backs his every move. Abbott of course runs for re-election in 2022 and already has three primary opponents - who are even more extremist than he is. Texas Democrats have to defeat him, or whoever beats him in the primary - Texas can't take much more of the Abbott Regime.
Read More at The Texas Tribune
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Late-Breaking Extra: Governor Abbott Contracts COVID, tests positive the day after holding a campaign event at Heritage Ranch, a 55+ community in Fairview where he was seen mingling with hundreds of maskless people packed tightly into a conference room. | |
Abbott's behavior in the past weeks has been profoundly reckless considering the rapidly increasing COVID cases and hospitalizations in Texas. He has held numerous events with supporters, without masks or distancing, culminating with the event at Heritage Ranch. After testing positive, rather than taking the opportunity to warn Texans about the danger of COVID even to vaccinated individuals like himself, he made the point that he is feeling well and experiencing no symptoms. However, we subsequently learned that he received a third vaccination as well as Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment - treatment that most Texans are not able to receive. In fact, emergency room physician Dr. Vin Gupta tweeted, "getting access to monoclonal antibody therapy when you’re the fully vaccinated, asymptomatic Governor of Texas shows just how anxious and scared Abbott actually is of a virus that he constantly downplays." | |
TURNING COLLIN BLUE IN '22 | |
The REGISTER COLLIN campaign returns to Plano this weekend to canvass for new voters in our County seat!
Sign up below for dates on Saturday, August 21, and Sunday, August 22. If you're new, we'll train you, and you'll be paired with an experienced canvasser regardless. Come on out and help us flip Collin County #Blue2022!
If you'd rather phone bank, you can do that too! Sign up below.
Learn about the REGISTER COLLIN campaign.
Want to know when we'll be registering voters where you are? Check out the schedule on collindemocrats.org!
Help keep our #RegisterCollin teams marching! Please click the Blue Donate button below and send our team a donation to register more voters!
#Blue2022 #RegisterCollin
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THIS WEEK IN VOTING RIGHTS HISTORY | |
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On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, which resulted in its adoption and inclusion as part of the Constitution.
The amendment’s adoption followed several decades of struggle to achieve women's suffrage in America. Gaining it via the courts had failed, and gaining it on a state-by-state basis had been extremely slow.
Continued women’s suffrage campaigning and protests along with the many contributions women made to the WWI effort all helped increase momentum and pressure to pass the amendment in Congress in mid-1919. This left it up to the required number of states (36) to ratify it. The 19th Amendment’s adoption was finally secured when Tennessee ratified it, by one vote, a year later.
Make sure you’re not disenfranchised. Check your voter registration to make sure everything is current and correct. Go to: txdp.cc/checkreg
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NOW HIRING - ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR
2022 PRIMARY ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR
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The CCDP is now accepting applications for the position of Primary Election Administrator. This is an exempt, salaried position, part- or full-time, with flexible hours and schedule. The period of employment is currently planned to be November 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022, if there isn't a runoff election, and November 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, if there is a runoff election. The term of employment may be delayed up to two months if the Legislature reschedules the Primary Election from the first Tuesday in March to a later date.
For a detailed job description, desired qualifications, past salary ranges, and how to apply, please contact Mike Rawlins, County Chair, at chair@collindemocrats.org.
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I don’t usually cover politics at the state level but what’s going on across Texas affects us here. The legal action brought by Dallas County Commissioner Judge Clay Jenkins continues. He won the ability to enforce a mask mandate before a civil district court judge, Democrat Tonya Parker, and again at the Fifth Court of Appeals, composed mainly of Democrats (elections matter, people!). However, the Texas Supreme Court (mostly Republicans) halted him temporarily. They didn’t strike down the face mask order but removed the stay on Governor Abbott’s Executive Order. Thankfully, Jenkins isn’t backing down.
Neither is North Texas’ own Jenna Royal. She represents Dallas parents seeking the end of the mask mandate ban. She also won at the Fifth Court of Appeals. The Texas Supreme Court stopped her momentum but she continues to prepare pleadings. The Southern Center for Child Advocacy’s lawsuit continues moving forward. Once we hear that mayors and county judges will be allowed to implement mask mandates, flood their emails, mailboxes, and voicemails with demands to do so. There’s power in numbers and, as someone wise once said, we’re stronger together.
Collin County currently has 102,433 active Covid cases, an increase of 543 from yesterday. This is 3,286 more cases than I reported last week. It’s terrifying, not just because of the increasing number of severely ill people but also because our hospitals are overwhelmed. Texas is suffering a shortage of nurses, largely due to burnout. The human body has limitations and we’re paying for our failure to recognize that.
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Commissioners Court: The commissioners had their special budget meeting to determine what items they plan to add or delete in order to keep in compliance with the no-new-revenue tax rate. The Budget Finance Director noted that we do take out the money spent on indigent defense and housing indigent people in jail but there was no mention of taking out funds spent on indigent healthcare. No surprise there. After all, it’s difficult to take out money for something we barely spend anything on in the first place.... (Read More)
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Collin College Board of Trustees: I was hoping they were done being terrible but nope. They still have it in for professors but now don’t care if students get hurt too. At a recent faculty meeting, professors were informed they cannot encourage students to wear masks in any way, shape, or form. They can be fined if they’re caught doing the cardinal sin of actively caring about their student’s health and the health of the community. Faculty also aren’t allowed to move sessions online at the last minute. If they’re sick and scheduled to teach in person, they must take sick leave rather than teach online.
Students, you heard it here first: your college administrators care more about scoring political points than they do about your health or education. Professors, for those considering starting a new job at Collin College: don’t.
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Plano City Council: It seems like they’d have other business to contend with (like how to keep their citizens safe from the delta variant) but instead, council members chose to grapple with ethics. First up was repealing campaign finance limitations. When Lily Bao was still on council, the Republicans passed an “ethics” ordinance mandating members recuse themselves if a donor who gave more than $1,000 has an issue that comes before the council. Those arguing against say it’s unconstitutional, no other city in Texas has such a bill, and if someone is really corrupt (like Richardson Mayor Laura Maczka), the money isn’t going through the campaign anyway. The motion was tabled until after the next council work session. I’d love to know why the Republicans are so eager to keep it in place....
(Read More)
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Plano ISD Board of Trustees: The board held a special meeting to go over Covid revisions and allow community members to be heard. The vast majority of public speakers asked for the same safety measures from last year and for Plano ISD to implement a mask mandate (Abbott be damned). Most notable were the students who showed up to express their fear about returning to school with subpar safety measures. One middle school student who isn’t old enough for the vaccine begged the board for stricter Covid measures because he’s scared for his safety at school....
(Read More)
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PLANO AREA DEMOCRATS CLUB VIRTUAL MEETING | |
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Join Plano Dems as we bring back our Virtual Happy Hour! We have an action-packed agenda this week, including Collin County legal warriors Jenna Royal and Sean McCaffity, who have been battling in the Courts against Gov. Abbott's anti-public health executive orders.
And - we will have Adam Sablich and Embher Chaffin from the group PlanoHens to talk about the effort to obtain City of Plano approval for backyard hens! Currently not legal within Plano city limits, backyard hens were actually a campaign issue earlier this year during our city elections. If you are interested in raising chickens in Plano, you don't want to miss this meeting!
We had previously planned to meet virtually this month, but given current pandemic conditions, we are going to continue with virtual meetings via Zoom for the foreseeable future. Please join us!
When: Friday, August 20, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Where: Virtual, Via Zoom. Register below to receive Zoom connection info via email.
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GENERAL MEETING OF THE FRISCO DEMOCRATIC CLUB | |
We are switching back to virtual meetings for the near future. We want you and your families to stay safe - and there's no reason to risk exposure when we can get together on Zoom.
Hope to see you on Sunday for our next general meeting. We will have another amazing speaker talking to us about CRT, and how to continue to push back to have true history taught to our children, and have meaningful discussions about social issues.
Please join us on Sunday. RSVP here to get the zoom link.
When: Sunday, August 22, 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Where: Virtual Via Zoom; RSVP below for the Zoom info.
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2021 NORTH TEXAS PRIDE "COME AS YOU ARE" FESTIVAL | |
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This is the 11th annual festival, bringing the community together to celebrate pride in diversity.
There will be sponsor/vendor booths, food/beverages, give-a-ways, donations to a partnering non-profit & adult and kid activities, bands, DJ, dancing & a ton of entertainment for all ages. Come join us for a family-oriented day of fun and get to know others like yourself.
Be sure to visit the Collin County Democratic Party Booth for Voter Registration and Information.
When: Saturday, September 25, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Where: Saigling House (ArtCentre of Plano), 902 E. 16th Street, Plano
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DENTON CO. DEPUTY VOTER REGISTRAR TRAINING | |
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If you need to renew or obtain a Denton County Deputy Voter Registrar certification, here's an opportunity that doesn't involve a drive up to Denton! Our friends with the Flower Mound Area Democrats Club are hosting a training session at their August meeting and graciously offered to include those from Collin County who need Denton Co. certification. As we all know, VDRs must be certified for each county they will register voters for, and that typically requires a visit to the county elections office.
No registration is required, just show up.
When: Thursday, August 19, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Flower Mound Library, 3030 Broadmoor Ln., Flower Mound
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The CCDP physical office is closed until further notice for safety. Our office staff are, however, working for you from home and available by telephone at 972-578-1483 or contact us on the web at collindemocrats.org.
Check our Online Events!
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Collin County Democratic Party (CCDP) | 972-578-1483 | www.collindemocrats.org © 2021
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Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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