Author Archives: Red from Texas

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About Red from Texas

I'm proud to be Red. I have lived most of my life in Texas and I love this place. Here are a few things you should know about me. 1. I am happily married and intend to stay so. 2. I live in a house that is older than you, unless you are really old. 3. I own 2 rifles and a shotgun. I think handguns are just trouble. 4. I have never killed a man, but have taken out some deer and hogs. 5. I was a good student, but never close to being valedictorian. 6. In no particular order I like the Houston Texans, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Astros, FC Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Texas Longhorns and Houston Dynamo. 7. I hate Dallas but always have a good time when I go there. 8. I was a Dallas Cowboys fan for 26 years but declared that I was no longer a fan during the 1987 strike. 9. I don't own any pets. I like cats, and a good dog and I have met at least 3 of them in my lifetime. 10. I think the best part of Texas is west of I-35. 11. I own two pairs of cowboy boots, but don't wear them very often. 12. I don't have a pronounced Texas accent, but can affect one when needed. 13. My last meal would be fried shrimp with tartar sauce, a baked potato with all the fixins', a dinner salad with 1000 Island dressing, yeast rolls and chocolate fudge pie for dessert. 14. I'm an old Dad, but my children are none of your business. 15. I have two degrees from UT-Austin and somehow managed to fall in love with and marry an Aggie. 16. Most of my family are right-wing nut jobs but I love them anyway. 17. When I get to play golf on a regular basis, I shoot in the low 80's. 18. I don't get to play golf on a regular basis. 19. I think Fort Worth is the best town in Texas by a long shot. 20. I have a mean herb garden. Regards, Red P.S. Remember it's not a color, it's a state of mind.

Copa America Centenario Matches in Houston

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Sunday night’s group draw for the upcoming Copa America Centenario has established what matches will be played in Houston.

On June 11, Columbia and Costa Rica will face off.  Columbia is a highly talented squad featuring stars James Rodriguez of Real Madrid and Juan Cuadrado of Juventus.  Costa Rica is an up and coming squad having qualified for the 2014 World Cup Finals and having won the Central American championship.  CR may feature the best keeper in the tournament with Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas.

On June 13, Mexico will take on Venezuela.  Expect NRG Stadium to be rocking with a rabidly pro-Mexico crowd.  Mexico features a strong attack with Javier Hernandez of Bayer Leverkusen (finally getting to play after riding the pine with Man U).  Chicharito has now scored 21 goals while winning 3 Bundesliga player of the month awards.  Giovani Dos Santos of the LA Galaxy also knows how to find the net as an attacking midfielder.  And Mexico is strong in goal with Memo Ochoa.  Venezuela will have a tough time on hostile ground.  They do have a strong defense led by center back Oswaldo Vizcarrondo Araujo of Nantes.

Red is predicting that the semi-final match to be played in Houston on June 23 will feature Argentina and – wait for it – the United States.  That match would likely shatter TV viewing records in the US for any non-World Cup Final match.  Hopefully, Red will finally have a chance to see Lionel Messi in action.

 

Today in Texas History – February 23

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From the Annals of the Revolution –  In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began when Mexican troops under the command of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna entered San Antonio de Bexar and began to encircle the crumbling mission.   Despite knowledge that the Mexican Army was on the move, the Texian troops at the Alamo commanded by the inexperienced Col. William B. Travis were almost completely surprised by their arrival.  Historians have speculated that the Texians were still recovering from an all night party celebrating George Washington’s birthday.  The Mexican troops were no more than 1.5 miles from Bexar when they were finally spotted by a sentry in the San Fernando Church bell tower. Advance Mexican cavalry under the command of Gen. Joaquin Ramirez y Sesma would likely have taken the mission in a surprise attack but were delayed by rains which flooded the Medina River.  At the time, the Texians had only 156 able-bodied troops in the Alamo and almost no provisions.  They were able to herd a few cattle into the compound and scrounged enough corn from local houses to last for maybe a month.  By late afternoon, Béxar was occupied by about 1500 Mexican troops, who quickly raised a blood-red flag signifying “No Quarter.”  Travis answered Santa Anna’s request for a parlay with a cannon shot.  Believing that Travis had acted foolishly, James Bowie who was in command of the volunteers at the Alamo, sent Green B. Jameson to meet with Santa Anna.  The General refused but did allow Jameson to meet with some of his officers.  The Mexican officers conveyed the following message:  “I reply to you, according to the order of His Excellency, that the Mexican army cannot come to terms under any conditions with rebellious foreigners to whom there is no recourse left, if they wish to save their lives, than to place themselves immediately at the disposal of the Supreme Government from whom alone they may expect clemency after some considerations.”

Is There Anything Ted Cruz Doesn’t Lie About (cont.)?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) fired his communications director and top spokesman Rick Tyler, after Tyler promoted a video that wrongly depicted Sen. Marco Rubio (Est.-Florida) as trash-talking the Bible.

The Cruz campaign linked to a story showing a video of Rubio walking by a Cruz staffer and Cruz’s father Rafael, who were reading the Bible in a hotel lobby.  The subtitles on the video showed Rubio saying to the staffer, “Got a good book there, not many answers in it.”

Rubio communications director Alex Conant later tweeted out the same video with what he says are the correct subtitles.  Speaking of the Bible, Rubio says, “All the answers are in there.”

If there is a single person out there who doesn’t think this kind of campaign trickery begins and ends with the Junior Senator himself, then Red has some interesting investment options for you.   Tyler is a fall guy that had to go when this kind of abject dirty trick was exposed.

Cruz the Big Loser in South Carolina

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Jonathan Tobin of Commentary explains why Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) and not Jeb!!!!$$$$? was the biggest loser coming out of South Carolina.

[T]he most decisive result in South Carolina was the blow dealt to Cruz’s campaign.

With its huge evangelical vote and a large number of veterans and conservatives of all stripes, South Carolina seemed to be a place that Cruz ought to win in much the same manner as his Iowa triumph. His ground game was the best of the candidates, and Trump’s abandonment of conservative positions on a host of issues should have convinced religious conservatives to resist the temptation to vote for the reality star. But it didn’t. Trump beat Cruz among evangelicals and every other conservative demographic.

This is a staggering blow to Cruz’s belief that he can win conservative states, like those in the south that will vote in the SEC super primary on March 1st. If Cruz can’t beat Rubio, let alone get anywhere close to Trump in South Carolina, how can he possibly do it elsewhere in the south? Perhaps, Cruz is counting on winning his home state of Texas, but even that is not a certainty.

Cruz’s assumption was that once other candidates that appealed to social conservatives like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum dropped out, he could count on a united evangelical vote. But what Trump showed us in South Carolina is that there is no such thing as a united bloc of religious conservatives. Or even of Tea Party voters that should, in theory, also be flocking to Cruz. What’s killing Cruz is that a lot of people who ought not to be voting for someone with Trump’s record are doing so. Cruz is right that he is the principled conservative that represents the beliefs of these voters. But they are still voting for Trump.

South Carolina did give us one firm conclusion about the GOP race. By losing his base voters to Trump, Cruz seems to have no path to the nomination. That makes him, and not Bush, the big loser in South Carolina.

Jeb!!!!$$$$? Pulls Out

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Jeb!!!!$$$$? suspended his presidential campaign after a lackluster 4th place finish in South Carolina on Saturday.  Red is relieved because another Bush presidency might have just driven him over the edge.   With that in mind, here are the best comments overheard yet about Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s withdrawal.

“What, he was still running?”

“Looks like his mom was right.”

“He certainly was . . . a tall candidate.”

“Damn, now we won’t get to invade another country that doesn’t pose a direct threat to the U.S.”

” And there goes the only man who could make his big brother look smart.”

“I was looking forward to seeing him get 7% of the vote in Texas and show the nation we aren’t quite as dumb as we seem.”

“What’s George P. up to – besides hating his job?”

“Giving new meaning to “Bush League.”

“His college roommate said he was the dumbest man he had ever met.  Guess he didn’t know Marco Rubio.”

“$2800 per vote just doesn’t go as far as you might think.”

“What, he was still running?”

 

A Britain Looks at Texas

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The Guardian’s Matthew Teague takes a look at bright red Texas and wonders if the color of the state may be changing ever so slightly.

The third most diverse zip code in the United States is on Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay. The second is in New York City’s Queens. But the most diverse – the neighborhood with the most even balance of ethnicities and cultures – is here in Irving, Texas, a Dallas suburb. Which means that, however improbable, the African Village restaurant hasn’t cornered the market on Cameroonian goat. There’s competition.

Today in Texas History – February 22

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From the Annals of Broken Promises –  In 1819 the Adams-Onís Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams for the United States and Luís de Onís for Spain.  The treaty fixed the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase and had the effect of renouncing U.S. claims to Texas.  The newly fixed boundary began at the mouth of the Sabine River and ran along its south and west bank to the thirty-second parallel and thence directly north to the Río Roxo (Red River).  The boundary then followed the course of the Río Roxo westward to the 100th meridian and then due north to the Arkansas River.  From there the boundary followed the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source near the 42nd parallel and then following the 42nd to the “South Sea” (Pacific Ocean).  Spain delayed ratification of the treaty and in the interval Mexico declared its independence.  The newly formed country refused to accede to the terms of the treaty and never recognized the negotiated boundary.

Today in Texas History – February 19

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From the Annals of Belated Racial Tolerance – In 1988, Curtis Guillory was installed as the was installed as auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston.  He was  the first black Catholic bishop in Texas.  Guillory now serves as the Bishop of Beaumont. He is a member of the Society of the Divine Word. While an active bishop, he remains a member of that community but is not under its jurisdiction.

Guillory earned a bachelor of arts degree from  Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa and a Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.  He received priestly ordination at his home parish of St. Ann in Mallet on December 16, 1972, from Panamanian Bishop Carlos Lewis, also a member of the Divine Word Community. Father Guillory later earned a master’s degree in Christian spirituality from Creighton University in Omaha.

His father’s side of the family has been traced back to France. His mother’s side of the family has been traced to the island of Dominica in the West Indies.

 

Is There Anything Ted Cruz Doesn’t Lie About (cont.)?

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The Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) sponsored website TheRealRubioRecord.com has posted a photo of Sen. Marco Rubio (?-Florida) – GASP! – actually shaking hands with the President of the United States.  This treasonous act of actually extending your hand to the duly elected leader of our country would clearly disqualify Sr. Rubio from himself being President.   For his part, Cruz claims to have never shaken hands with any Democrat – preferring instead to do the “old tie trick” where he points to a spot on your tie and then flicks your chin.  What a card!

But the revelation of this scandalous photo of a sitting Senator displaying common courtesy (something not likely to be a problem in a Cruz administration), has instead again raised questions about the tactics of Cruz’s campaign.  Why? Because it is an obviously altered photo.  As a matter of first impression, Red would note – who shakes with their left hand?  We know the Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist, Terrorism-Sympathizing President is, of course, left-handed.  But even Steve Carlton shook with his right hand – that is, when he wasn’t throwing a high hard one at your head.  Second, the Rubio campaign has clearly shown that the photo is a poorly executed “Photoshop” job.

Todd Harris, a Rubio mouthpiece, insisted, “This is not Marco Rubio. This person, we don’t know who that is, but they Photoshopped Marco’s face onto somebody else. This is how phony and how deceitful the Cruz campaign has become. Marco Rubio doesn’t own that tie, he doesn’t own that watch, he doesn’t own that suit . . . There is so little honesty left in the Cruz campaign that they’re actually willing to Photoshop a fellow Republican’s face onto the body of some other person to completely invent an attack on Marco Rubio.”

Rubio’s campaign backed up its claim by showing the stock photo used by Cruz.

View image on Twitter

But all this sniping may actually backfire on Rubio, Red knows that true red-blooded, patriotic, evangelical Christian voters in South Carolina would never truck with anyone foolish enough to not take a knee shot at Obama’s nads when close enough to actually shake hands with the devil incarnate.

The Mystery of Resting Bitch Face Resolved?

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Young Red was often told that he looked too serious.  Red’s fourth grade teacher went so far as to claim that she had never seen him smile.  Red recalls that he was too busy working out the analytics of long-division to sport a shit-eating grin for that old biddy.  But looking back at Red’s first grade class picture (recently supplied by an old friend), even Red had to admit that he was the only kid in the group of 32 that was not smiling – except for one boy known to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. The irony is that Red is almost preternaturally happy.   But now Red knows that he suffers from the dreaded Resting Bitch Face – a condition that causes one’s normal facial expression to range from slightly peeved to perturbed to downright contemptuous.   How sad to endure a malady of unknown complexity.  All these years, Red could have simply responded, “It’s my RBF, man, back off” when confronted with comments about his apparently Quixotic doleful countenance.

Fortunately for RBF sufferers everywhere,  researchers Jason Rogers, Ph.D. and Abbe Macbeth, Ph.D. have analyzed the perception of RBF in their groundbreaking study  Throwing Shade:  The Science of Resting Bitch Face.   Not to spoil the exciting conclusion, but Rogers and Macbeth have concluded that the “answer may lie in our brains, which have evolved the fusiform face gyrus, an area that specializes in recognizing faces, as well specific regions of the right parietal cortex that are specifically activated when analyzing facial expressions” (footnotes omitted – you’re welcome).  It’s all perfectly clear now.