News Ticker: July 25

Greg Abbott has a conniption, Hillary Clinton owns the polls, and Lee Leffingwell makes friends with a crackhead. Connections are on the News Ticker.

• The big news today was U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice will once again seek pre-approval of Texas voting laws. Like Carrie before the gym went down in flames, Greg Abbott wasn't having it.

• To be fair, he does have some support on the issue. In a recent poll, a majority of Texans were fine with Texas calling the voting shots. Then again, Texas also elected an Aggie for governor.

• Speaking of the maroon marauder, he had an opinion too. But we're only linking to it because of the embarrassingly small flag he is carrying in the banner photo. We can't help viewing his entire political career as overcompensation.

• Perry is after all doing worse against Hillary Rodham Clinton than any other potential GOP presidential challenger. And her flag is bigger.

• Today's #AskWendy Twitter Town Hall went about as well as the #AskAbbott debacle, with anti-choicers taking up much of the feed. One troll asked Sen. Wendy Davis if she preferred "Hail Satan" or "Praise Satan" to be yelled at her rallies. Another asked why she was racist. Our favorite was from the since suspended account @dillon_abrams. After asking a series of straw man questions, he too gave in to Wendymania. He was just dying to know what type of bread she gets on her Subway sandwiches.

• You know things aren't going all well for GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Pauken when every one of his news releases include a line confirming that Tom Pauken, "candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination," is indeed a GOP gubernatorial candidate. At this point he should just give up on campaign buttons. There's no way all the text will fit.

• We might be mistaken, but it appears that the Austin Police Department is filming a shot-by-shot recreation of classic 80's film Mannequin. We hope Chief Art Acevedo is playing the role of Hollywood.

• Police have nabbed the suspect in the recent death of 360 Condo resident David Villarreal.

• Today Mayor Lee Leffingwell announced a musical partnership between Toronto and Austin, aptly called the Toronto-Austin Music Alliance. Given the recent hullabaloo about Toronto Mayor's Rob Ford reported crack habit, it might not be the best time to include his statement on a press release. It definitely isn't the best time for Ford to be calling anything a "pipeline."

• Partially melted deodorant stick Louie Gohmert continues his proud tradition of idiotic remarks, this time comparing minorities who want protected rights to insects and rodents.