Speaking as only one person who was there (and will be returning), the constant flow of support on Jez/Twitter/FB etc. was very helpful. It was a morale booster to know that people were paying attention and cared.

Love it. Be it now or later, we WILL win.

Agreed. I need another orange shirt.

There was a huge pizza delivery downstairs around 6:30PM :D Of course, if you have a seat in the gallery, you have to give up your seat to go get it and then get in line to get back in (if being in the gallery itself is a priority for you). And last night after a certain point nobody was getting up.

I know I keep saying this, but we were there last night, and we will be back. Despite another special session, we need to respect last night for the victory it was, and use it as the momentum we need to continue moving forward.

Yes. We WILL be back at the capitol. We will bring friends. And snacks.

Honestly, we were pretty sure this would happen anyway. Unfortunate but true. We'll just go hang out at the capitol again, with more people, and we'll bring snacks.

It was very clear that most of the GOP present had no idea what to do. They had no plan. The house parliamentarian (the woman in white standing next to the Lt. Gov.) was on overdrive. She had to coach him through *everything.* The last time during our cheering that LtGov banged the gavel, he half-heartedly banged it…

*clink*!

Absolutely. And if they try to do it again, I will be back, with more battery life and electronics chargers. :)

Oh my goodness, y'all. I was in the senate chamber until we were starting to get cleared, which was probably around 12:30AM? I can't articulate how incredible it was. This is the stuff you read about in 9th grade American History and don't quite grasp the gravity of until you find yourself a part of it. My hands are…

I sometimes forget that buying a plane ticket to go from one side of the state to the other isn't completely unreasonable.

Here's the KXAN article detailing that hot mess!

It's a little long, but I'm an Austinite and here is the letter I recently sent to my senator (Judith Zaffirini):

Just in case any other fellow Texans are following this thread, here is where you can find out who your state senator is, in case you don't know:

Some of these are the same people who use this argument about firearms: "banning guns won't keep people from having them!" Yeah, well, banning abortion won't keep people from having them, either. It just means they probably won't be safe and women will be injured and/or die, along with the fetus these folks are so…

Good to know. thank you!

Ditto. I'm in Austin and will clear my Tuesday night calendar.

The only thing I admire about this guy are his tightlining skills. It says something about a person when their most admirable trait is "skill with eyeliner."

There was an episode of Lockup a few years back that featured a prison with a similar program but with cats. The inmates clearly loved the animals and in many cases, put "their" cats above themselves. It was endearing and just thinking about it makes me misty.