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.

Today in Texas History – December 7

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From the Annals of the Colonists – In 1830, Texas pioneer and memoir writer Noah Smithwick was banished from Texas as “a bad citizen.” Smithwick came to Texas in 1827 as a young man settling in San Felipe. He came to the aid of a friend who was accused of murder and chained in leg irons.  Being a blacksmith, Smithwick furnished the prisoner with a file and a gun so he might escape.  Smithwick was tried and declared and banished from the colony. Smithwick returned to Matagorda in the fall of 1835 and reached Gonzales the day after the opening battle of the Revolution.  He served in the Texas Army and after the Revolution, tried cattle ranching before establishing a mill near Marble Falls.

Smithwick was an ardent Unionist and after receive receiving threats from secessionists he left Texas with a number of friends and moved to  southern California in 1861.  He dictated his memoirs to his daughter. After his death in 1899, she had the manuscript published by Karl H. P. N. Gammel as The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days.

Message From Loving Christians Who Want to Kill a Lot of People

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Jerry Falwell, Jr. really preaches the essential message of Jesus of love and forgiveness by advocating slaughter of Muslims.

“I always  thought that if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could in those Muslims before they walk in and kill.”  Falwell also confirmed that he was packing heat while speaking at a religious  based institution of higher learning.

Falwell’s remarks drew wild applause from Liberty University’s students at the weekly convocation.  Meanwhile, Jesus wept.

Red’s Texas College Football Game of the Week

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Until bowling season begins, this will be the last of Red’s TCFGOTW.  But this one may be a doozy.  The UT Longhorns travel up I-35 to the unfriendly confines of McClain Stadium on the banks of the Brazos to face the Baylor Bears in the last Big 12 game of the year.  Texas is a huge 21 point road dog coming off of what was their second best performance of the year in a losing effort to Texas Tech.  Of course, the best performance was the butt-whipping they laid on the eventual national champion OU Sooners.  Yep, Red is calling that one right now before the final 4 field is even set. Amazing to think that OU’s only loss of the year might be to the lowly Horns.

Baylor is coming off its own disappointing loss to TCU on Thanksgiving weekend which shattered what dreams it had left of making the final four playoff.  Red is tired of the Bears already.

Baylor has nothing to play for except a possible New Year’s Bowl bid, but even that is looking unlikely and a trip to San Antonio seems almost inevitable now.  UT has absolutely nothing left to play for but pride and possibly salvaging head coach Charlie Strong’s job.  Red thinks the players really like Strong and are not about to let the first African-American head coach in UT history go down the tubes without a fight.  Red’s key to the game is freshman running back Chris Warren.  His incredible 276 yard, 4 touchdown performance in the loss to Tech on Thanksgiving had longtime Longhorn fans reminiscing about past greats such as Jim Bertelsen, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams – none of whom ever had a breakout performance like Warren.  Red thinks Warren is the real deal and a mere 150 yard, 2 touchdown performance may be enough to beat the despondent Bears.

Red calls it UT 29 Baylor 28.  Take the Horns and the points.

 

 

Texas Takes Step Back in Syrian Refugee Litigation

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Texas will no longer seek a temporary restraining order preventing resettlement of Syrian refugees scheduled for next week in Dallas and Houston.  Texas is apparently going forward with a request for a preliminary injunction, but that will come too late to stop the current refugees from joining their families in Texas.  The step backwards by Texas came after the Justice Department and the ACLU filed lengthy briefs on behalf of the embattled relief agency establishing that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission sought “unwarranted veto power over individual federal refugee resettlement decisions.”

The Dallas Morning News has the full scoop.

Today in Texas History – December 4

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From the Annals of the Ships of the Line –  In 2010, the USS Fort Worth was launched.  The FW is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship.  She is the first ship to be named after Fort Worth, the 16th-largest city in the United States.   The FW is currently on a 16-month rotational deployment to Singapore in support of the U.S. Navy’s “strategic rebalance” to the Pacific. She is first LCS to use the “3-2-1” manning concept, swapping fully trained crews roughly every four months.  FW also deploys with an aviation detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35 (HSM-35) “Magicians”, the U.S. Navy’s first composite expeditionary helicopter squadron.

Photo from en.Wikipedia.org

Texas Sues the Federal Government to Stop Syrian Refugee Resettlement

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Gov. Greg Abbott (TP-Texas) has authorized the Texas Dep’t of Health and Human Services to sue the US, Sec. of State John Kerry and others to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees into Texas.  The suit seeks to immediately stop any such resettlement efforts and claims, as legally required, that Texas will suffer irreparable harm if a couple of Syrian families (who already have relatives in Texas) are placed in the Dallas area.  The suit quotes the FBI Director and others who have expressed some concerns about the ability to vet the Syrian refugees who are applying for status in the U.S.  The suit also quotes the Director National Intelligence as saying, “We don’t put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.”

Whether those concerns create the prospect of irreparable harm (a required showing for the temporary relief sought) is perhaps questionable.  What is not questionable is the complete and total authority of the federal government over immigration including matters relating to resettlement of refugees.  There is no likelihood of success on the merits (another required showing to obtain temporary relief) here because Texas cannot and will never have any authority over immigration matters.

This lawsuit is a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources and clearly does nothing other than to burnish Abbott’s already glowing Tea Party credentials.  The Dallas Morning News has the petition filed by the State for your reading pleasure.

Today in Texas History – December 3

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From the Annals of the Cold War – In 1989, Presidents George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev indicated that the Cold War era was closing at a meeting in Malta.  The Malta meeting was the first-ever summit held between the two leaders.  Bush was optimistic about the summit and expressed his desire to continue arms control negotiations begun by the preceding Reagan administration. Gorbachev was more effusive about his desire for better relations with the United States and clearly indicated that the talks marked an important first step toward ending the Cold War.  “The characteristics of the Cold War should be abandoned,” he declared.  Gorbachev went on to suggest that, “The arms race, mistrust, psychological and ideological struggle, all those should be things of the past.” Bush’s statement was less direct. “With reform underway in the Soviet Union, we stand at the threshold of a brand-new era of U.S.-Soviet relations. It is within our grasp to contribute each in our own way to overcoming the division of Europe and ending the military confrontation there.”

The 355th “Mass Shooting” This Year Alone

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If that statistic doesn’t make you pause and wonder what has gone wrong with American society, then there simply is no hope for you.

Red remembers his first mass shooting at UT-Austin in August 1966.  It was so extraordinary, so bizarre, so surreal and unbelievable that such things could happen in his hometown, that Red was completely unable to process it for many years.  In fact, maybe he never has. And it remained an isolated occurrence for a long time.  It was not the norm.  Red remembers that it was 2 regular police officers and a civilian that went into the UT-Tower and killed the gunman (Red refuses to identify these SOB’s by their names whenever possible).  Just two ordinary beat cops and a volunteer armed with their service revolvers.

Compare that to the response yesterday in San Bernardino.  Large numbers of members of tactical weapons squads and para-military equipment were deployed. Tank-like vehicles and remote control bomb disposal equipment are apparently routinely available.  Our police have become militarized and perhaps necessarily so because of the prevalence of such violence.  Red doesn’t like it, but what is the alternative in the face of insanity on the levels we are seeing it in this country.

Red sends out his condolences to the grieving, but that is clearly insufficient.  There will be and already are the predictable calls for more gun control countered by calls for even more guns.  There must be measures that can be implemented that are consistent with the spirit of the 2d Amendment (however perverted and bowdlerized by the U.S. Supreme Court) that can perhaps help curtail if not prevent the abject crazies and identified threats from having free and open access to high-powered weaponry.   And the idea that more armed citizens and more heavily armed citizens will prevent such attacks is just a Tea Party wet dream as far as Red is concerned.  Find some actual evidence of more than a handful of instances where an armed citizen has done something to prevent or foreshorten one of these kind of attacks and we can talk.  Until then, please shut up.

Red doesn’t have the answers, but he can clearly see the problem.  That is the first step that so many in our c0untry are unwilling to take.   This is a major problem and it is getting worse.  What are we as a nation going to do about it?

Today in Texas History – December 2

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From the Annals of the Boomtowns – In 1907, citizens of Peck renamed their community Tomball in honor of former U.S. Congressman Thomas Henry Ball. Ball was strong supporter of the development of the Houston Ship Channel and a renown prohibition advocate. Tomball later rose to prominence in 1933 when drillers struck oil. The population of Tomball tripled as numerous oil and gas operators moved in and set up worker camps, and built new housing and recreation facilities.   In 1935, Humble Oil and Refining Company granted free water and natural gas to Tomball residents in exchange for drilling rights within the city limits.   Ball’s influence is still seen today as parts of the town remain dry.

Photo of Thomas Ball Statue from tripddvisor.co.uk.

Non-Profit Defies Bogus Order from Gov. Abbott

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The fight over the right to resettle Syrian refugees in Texas is heating up.  Gov. Greg Abbott (TP-Texas) previously declared that Texas will not accept Syrian refugees despite having no authority whatsoever over the matter and in apparent violation of legal protections against discrimination based on national origin or religion.  Abbott then threatened non-profits who are doing the hard work of creating conditions for a better life in the U.S. for these refugees with legal action if they did not kowtow to his demands.  Well, at least one such non-profit is fighting back against Abbott’s baseless blustering.  The Texas Tribune has the details.

The New York-based International Rescue Committee said in a Monday letter to Texas health and human services chief Chris Traylor that its Dallas affiliate would continue to provide resettlement assistance to all refugees “who have been admitted lawfully to the United States.”

The nonprofit had received a letter earlier on Monday from Traylor urging the International Rescue Committee’s Dallas branch to discontinue resettling Syrian refugees or risk losing its state contract “and other legal action.” The International Rescue Committee — one of about 20 nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas — had previously informed the state that it would resettle two families in the Dallas area in early December. Both families have relatives in North Texas, the nonprofit said.

The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement last week warned Abbott and other governors that they do not have the power to reject Syrian refugees, telling them they would be breaking the law if they denied benefits or services to refugees based on their country of origin or religion. States that defy the law could face suspension or termination of their refugee resettlement programs, according to a letter signed by Robert Carey, director of the office.

Abbott has insisted he has the legal authority to refuse to accept Syrian refugees, citing a specific part of federal law requiring resettlement nonprofits to work “in close cooperation and advance consultation” with the state.

Abbott is a well-versed constitutional lawyer who should know better than to put forth absurd claims of authority  based on statutory language that does not actually give the state any power to control the resettlement of refugees.  But that wouldn’t play well with his Tea Party base – now would it?