Where Does Hou. Council Public Safety Chair Peck Stand On Trump Threat Of Police Violence?-Democracy Project Notes, 9/30

Here are Houston Democracy Project Blog Notes & Observations for September 30. Election Day is in 36 days on November 5th & Early Voting begins in 22 days on October 21st.  

* Donald Trump says brutal policing will solve crime. Here is what he said--

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for “one real rough, nasty” and “violent day” of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime “immediately.”......“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said. 

Authoritarianism will require a local infrastructure. Many Texas police unions support Ted Cruz for re-election despite his role in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection attempt. Trump is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police.    

We should know the views of the six Republicans on Houston City Council on these threats of police violence by the person they support for president of the United States & on the backing of political extremism by police unions.    

Houston City Council has a Public Safety Committee. I'd say police with a blank check to terrorize citizens is a public safety threat. The Chair of the committee is Republican Amy Peck. The other Republicans on the committee are Twila Carter, Mary Nan Huffman and Julian Ramirez. The two Democrats are Joaquin Martinez and Tarsha Jackson.

Call or e-mail them and ask where they stand on the prospect of police having little or no constraints & the backing of police unions for candidates in favor of this violence. Ask Chair Peck if the committee will address this matter when it next meets on October 8? The local political press should be asking these questions as well.      

​* The law Ken Paxton used to violently raid the homes of both a rank and file activist and a candidate for the Texas House has been invalidated by a federal judge. You can read the links for more details. The upshot is more Paxton election-subversion for the purpose of implanting Project 2025, encouraging violence against immigrants and making our lives lousy.   

* There is a story in the Houston Landing about the race for Tax Assessor-Collector. Annette Ramirez is the Democrat and Steve Radack is the Republican. One duty of this position is to be in charge of voter registration in the county. Ms. Ramirez has been active in trying to get out the full Democratic vote and has been discussing the protection of democracy as a Harris County issue in 2024. I appreciate her efforts. As the story details, Mr. Radack thinks ineligible voters have tilted the outcomes of elections in the county. What he asserts is simply not true. It's a lie meant to take our freedom.        

* On Twitter--I know it's a sewer--there are posts on right-wing accounts with large numbers of followers talking about how Hurricane Helene was manipulated to go over Republican-voting portions of North Carolina to keep those folks from voting. It's easy to laugh at this stuff. But it's all about the setting up the doubt and absurdities that will permit Republicans to disregard election results and advocate violence.    

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