Monthly Archives: November 2015

Gregg Abbott Takes Action Against Non-Existent Texas “Sanctuary Cities”

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Gov. Gregg Abbott, Tea-Party Wannabe, is cracking down by threatening to withhold funds from so-called “Sanctuary Cities.”  There are a couple of problems with Abbott’s plans.  First, the funds he wants to withhold are miniscule in the scheme of things for the larger cities and counties in Texas.  Second, it is really unclear if there are in fact any SC’s in Texas.  The essence of an SC is that it’s law enforcement officials will not indefinitely hold an undocumented alien in custody for a minor crime until the Feds can get there and take the UA into custody for immigration violations.  It does not appear that any major law enforcement agencies in Texas are actually refusing to do just that.  So our poor idiot Governor (who is just one in a seemingly unbroken line of OPIG’s) is doing nothing more than his typical and customary grandstanding for his Tea Party base while ignoring the real issues that are facing our state.  If you want more on Abbott’s latest sad effort to look gubernatorial, you can check out FoxNews.  Even they have the correct take on Abbott’s folly.

Today in Texas History – November 5

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From the Annals of Neutrality –  In 1806, the United States and Spain established the “Neutral Ground” between Louisiana and Texas.  After the Louisiana Purchase, the US and Spain had been unable to agree on the boundary between Louisiana and Texas despite Spain having once controlled the area.  To avoid an armed clash over the disputed land, Gen. James Wilkinson and Lt. Col. Simón de Herrera, the American and Spanish military commanders, entered into an agreement establishing a Neutral Ground between Texas and Louisiana. Even the boundaries of the NG were never exactly prescribed.  The NG was generally described as being bordered by the Arroyo Hondo on the east and the Sabine River on the west.  The Gulf of Mexico clearly constituted the Southern boundary and most likely the thirty-second parallel of latitude formed the northern boundary. Despite an agreement that no settlers would be permitted in the NG, settlers from both Spanish and American territory moved in.  Predictably, the NG became fertile ground for illegal activity and the US and Spain cooperated in sending joint military expeditions in 1810 and 1812 to enforce order and expel undesirables. The US obtained ownership of the NG with the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1821.

Red’s Texas College Football Game of the Week

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We travel to Seguin this weekend for the showdown between Texas Lutheran and Austin College.

The TLU Bulldogs who are having an excellent season marred only by losses to powerhouses Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor bring a 6-2 record into the game led by Senior QB Trenton White who is completed 65% of his passes with 23 touchdowns.  White probably has the distinction of being the shortest (at 5′ 9″) high performing quarterback in all of college football.  The tandem rushing attach of Marquis Barrolle and AJ Saucedo compliments the dynamic passing attack with Jekovan Holmes as the main target with 13 touchdowns.  TLU looks primed to claim another Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference title.

The Austin College ‘Roos come into the game at 5-3. Senior Madison Ross has been carrying the offensive load with 112 yards per game and a 5 yard per rush average.  The passing attack under Junior Quarterback Cooper Woodyard has been somewhat anemic with only about 175 yards per game through the air.  The defense led by linebackers Brooks Ward and Charles Eneh has managed to keep most game close, but the ‘Roos looked overmatched by the Bulldogs this weekend.

Red calls it TLU 55 AC 30.

Photo of Bulldog Stadium from http://www.scacsports.com.

HERO Ordinance Goes Down in Defeat

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Houston’s HERO ordinance went down in flames last night as voters overwhelmingly rejected the attempt to provide civil rights protection for a broad range of persons.  The radical right and Tea Partisans were successful as portraying the HERO ordinance as a bathroom fight, raising all kinds of fears about the possibility that transgender men would use women’s restrooms.  Red doesn’t have the energy today to go into the long and tortured history of the HERO ordinance.  Suffice it to say, that its supporters completely bungled this every step of the way and made the worthy ordinance vulnerable to the kind of right wing hysteria that ultimately brought it down.  Houston voters (or at least about 60 of them) should be ashamed that they fell prey to this kind of nonsense.  The supporters of HERO should be ashamed of the pathetic campaign they ran and the legal bungling that allowed this to become a major political football.  Houston will now be the only major Texas city without a similar ordinance.  The complete lack of problems resulting from the passage of similar ordinances by Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Dallas should have been a major selling point.  But now, Houston can wear its bigotry proudly. So go out today and discriminate against an L, a G, a B or a T and feel good about yourselves Houston.

Check out the Houston Chronicle which has lots of photos of some very happy bigots.  Some day we will look at these images the way we look at photos of the angry mobs confronting civil rights protestors in the 1960’s.

Today in Texas History – November 4

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From the Annals of the Little Known Battles – In 1835,  one of the smaller engagements of the Texas Revolution occurred. The battle of Lipantitlán was fought on the east bank of the Nueces River in San Patricio County, directly across from Fort Lipantitlán.   The Fort was one of the last two garrisons of Mexican troops remaining after the initial engagements of the revolution.  Most of the Mexican forces had left the fort for operations in the field.  While they were engaged elsewhere a Texian force of around seventy men from Goliad under the command of Capt.Ira J. Westover seized and dismantled the fort.  The  Mexican force of about ninety men under the command of Capt. Nicolás Rodríguez encountered the Texians as they were attempting to cross the rain-swollen Nueces River on their return to Goliad.  The short battle lasted only about 30 minutes, but the Texian long rifles proved decisive in a longer distance fight against Mexican troops armed with close range muskets.  The Mexican troops were forced to retreat with between 3 and 5 soldiers reportedly killed in action.  The Texans reported only one relatively minor casualty.

It’s Election Day – Go Out and Vote

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Red urges all Texans to vote in today’s election.  Even if you don’t have a local election, the constitutional amendments are on the ballot and all but one of them should be voted down.

So exercise your franchise and participate in the democratic experiment that is the United States of America or quit your damn complaining.

Today in Texas History – November 3

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From the Annals of the Founding Fathers – In 1793, Stephen F. Austin was born in Virginia.  Austin often referred to as the “Father of Texas”, was actually following in the footsteps of his father Moses Austin.  Austin was raised in Missouri, but educated back east gaining a degree from Transylvania University and then studying as a lawyer.  He was pursuing a legal career in New Orleans, when his father traveled to Texas and received an grant that would allow him to bring 300 American families to Texas.  Moses Austin caught pneumonia soon after returning to Missouri. He left his empresario grant to his son Stephen. Though Austin was reluctant to carry on his father’s Texas venture, he was persuaded to pursue the colonization of Texas by a letter from his mother written two days before Moses Austin died.

At the age of 24, Austin led a party of potential settlers to San Antonio covering 300 miles in about 4 weeks.  Austin sought a reauthorization of his father’s grant. While in transit, Austin learned Mexico had declared its independence from Spain, and Texas had become a Mexican province rather than a Spanish territory. Jose Antonio Navarro, a San Antonio native with ambitious visions of the future of Texas, befriended Stephen F. Austin, and the two developed a lasting association. Navarro, proficient with Spanish and Mexican law, assisted Austin in obtaining his empresario contracts.  With a reauthorized grant, Austin began to explore the area between San Antonio and the Brazos River to find a suitable location for a colony – eventually settling on San Felipe in present day Austin County.

Does Texas childrin have to lurn much in there home skoolin?

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The Texas Supreme Court will tackle home schooling in Texas this week in a case pitting home schooling advocates against the El Paso Independent School District.  The case involves Michael and Laura McIntyre from El Paso who have been home schooling their 9 children since at least 2004.  Allegations were that the children were mostly singing and playing instruments and that little or no actual education was occurring because the children were going to be raptured at the second coming.  The problems were somewhat confirmed when one of the McIntyre children ran away from home in an attempt to actually get an education.  The school district was unable to confirm what level of education the girl had received and she was place in a school almost 2 years below her age level.  That prompted El Paso educators to make some attempt to determine what was going on at the McIntyre’s “home school.”  They were rebuffed at every turn with the McIntyres being assisted by the various home schooling associations, and truancy charges followed.  The McIntyres sued, predictably claiming that their religious freedom had been interfered with by the state attempting to make sure their children were getting some basic education.  The El Paso Court of Appeals found that no parents have an absolute constitutional right to home school their children completely free of any state supervision, regulation or requirements.  The McIntyres appealed to the Texas Supreme Court which will hear arguments this week.  The Washington Post has the full story.

Today in Texas History – November 2

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From the Annals of Cattle Ranching –  In 1912,  the XIT Ranch of Texas sold its last head of cattle.  The XIT was once one of the largest cattle ranches in Texas, and the land was received in exchange for financing the construction of the state capitol building in Austin.   Thus, the XIT it was not owned by the iconic independent cattle ranching pioneer popular in Western mythology.  In fact, many of the biggest cow operations in the 1800’s were owned by big-city capitalists and stockholders. The Chicago capitalists behind the XIT—also known as the Capitol Syndicate Ranch—were leveraging their capital and banking on the growing American appetite for fresh beef.

The CSR determined that ranching would be the only profitable use for their new land. The built a a large and highly efficient cattle-raising operation that stretched over parts of nine Texas counties. At its peak, the XIT had more than 160,000 head of cattle, employed 150 cowboys, and operated on 3 million acres of the Texas panhandle.

Increasing land prices and declining beef prices, convinced the CSR that they could make more money by selling their land. By 1912, the XIT abandoned ranching altogether with the sale of its last herd of cattle.  As the land was sold off the XIT holdings shrunk.  By 1950, the XIT consisted of less than 20,000 acres.

Map from the XIT Museum.