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Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be pretend cowboys; and other tone deaf politics.
After 40 years of using hypnosis to investigate crimes, the Texas Department of Public Safety has finally snapped out of it, officially confirming they have ended the practice. As the Dallas Morning News reports, despite scientific evidence that hypnosis can distort witness memories, the Texas Rangers used hypnosis as late as last year and have conducted at least 1,700 sessions since the ’80s. At this point, we’re going to need you to take a deep breath and relax … because you are going to be feeling very, very angry once you read that the debunked technique has been used to send dozens to prison and some to death row. If it’s any consolation, although it’s apparently taken decades to drop a 19th century practice, “DPS has developed more advanced interview and interrogation techniques that yield better results,” an agency spokesman said. Good. We just hope leeches aren’t involved.
Speaking of things best left in the past, former Trump administration official Sery Kim brought the fire to a recent congressional candidate forum in Arlington but forgot to leave the racism at home. Attacking China and potential immigrants, Kim didn’t mince words. “I don’t want them here at all,” she said. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.” You needn’t be outraged, though, since Kim said it’s OK for her to talk that way. “Quite frankly I can say that because I’m Korean.” You would hope someone in the audience would point out that as far as excuses for racism and xenophobia, that ranks up there with “my best friend is Black” or “my favorite food is Mexican,” or Seinfeld’s dentist converting to Judaism so he could make Jewish jokes, but sadly there were no takers.
Kim is not the only candidate vying for the late Ron Wright’s congressional seat to be in the spotlight for making questionable choices. “Big Dan” Rodimer, a former pro wrestler and always New Jersey boy who unsuccessfully twice ran for office in Nevada, has cranked it up to 11 and gone full Texan in a bid to rustle up some votes. In an ad that leaves you wondering if there is such a term as “white face,” Rodimer puts on a gravelly voice and an un-placeable Texas twang as he dons a cowboy hat and “rides” a bull, warning Lone Star State voters that “commies are ruining America” and that those in power hate Texas because, you know, freedom. His wrestling roots showing, Rodimer was clearly aiming for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, but landed on Yosemite Sam. After some backlash over the video, the would-be congressional cowboy told CNN he wasn’t faking an accent, his voice was just (Southern?) fried from campaigning. Sure. Anyway, we look forward to seeing his Tony Soprano impression during his inevitable run for office back in Jersey.
We can spot a phony through 5 percent tint — and also authentic efforts to further our democracy. There seemed to be no fronting involved in a voter registration drive hosted by Slim Thug, along with fellow hip-hop artist Trae Tha Truth, in Acres Homes and Third Ward. In a week that saw the Texas Senate pass legislation that makes it harder to vote in a state that already reigns supreme in obstructing voter access, it’s good to call out people who support an expansive view of democracy before we move on to those who don’t.
On a party line vote, with all 18 Republicans in favor and all 13 Democrats opposed, the Senate signed off on SB7 Thursday, a bill that would further restrict voting in Texas and which shamelessly targets minorities and large urban counties. GOP senators can rationalize or tell themselves that the bill “is about making it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” as state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said, but until they can answer why doing away with drivethru voting and 24-hour polling places — predominantly used by Black and Hispanic voters for reasons that have nothing to do with cheating — makes anything other than partisan sense, they are avoiding the truth.
While we can argue whether we’ve reached the lowest point in the GOP’s cynical quest to protect “election integrity,” we can all agree that the delusional obsession with nonexistent widespread voter fraud reached its nadir when Mark Aguirre, a former Houston police captain, forced an innocent AC repairman off the road and held him at gunpoint to prove Democrats were trying to steal the election. According to Aguirre, who was working on behalf of Houston right-wing activist Steven Hotze, he believed the repairman had about 750,000 fraudulent mail ballots in his truck signed by “Hispanic children” (Why? Because the kids’ fingerprints would not appear in databases, duh). Needless to say, authorities did not find four tons of paper in the truck, only air conditioning parts and tools. David Lopez, the repairman, filed a lawsuit this week against Hotze and his organization for civil conspiracy, civil theft, and aiding and abetting Aguirre. We’re glad Lopez is trying to hold someone accountable for the wild accusations and conspiracy theories around voter fraud, but in going after the brains of the operation, we fear he may come out empty handed.