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Ted Cruz Confused?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) was pontificating on the recent shooting rampage at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility while campaigning in Iowa on Sunday.  When asked about the accused killer Robert Lewis Dear, Cruz claimed that the media wanted “to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there’s very little evidence to indicate that.”

When a reporter told Cruz that Dear is alleged to have yelled out “no more baby parts” after his arrest Cruz responded, “Well, it’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is.”  Cruz was probably talking about a report from a right-wing blog, that uncovered a Colorado state voter registration form which lists Dear’s sex as female.

So in Ted Cruz’s topsy-turvy world having your sex recorded incorrectly on a voter registration card potentially makes you into a “transgendered leftist activist” that attacks PP facilities.

Cruz tells a different tale  about the Black Lives Matter movement – claiming that BLM activists are “literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers.” Cruz went on to claim, “If you look at the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most disturbing things is more than one of their protests have embraced rabid rhetoric, rabid anti-police language, literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers. That is disgraceful.”

Cruz has no such words for his pro-life supporters who have advocated violence.  Their escalating rhetoric apparently does not faze the Tea Party favorite at all.  Cruz proudly touted the endorsement of Troy Newman who has repeatedly advocated for the defense of justifiable homicide for killers of abortion providers and called for the U.S. to execute abortion providers as murderers.  “We need leaders like Troy Newman,” according to Cruz.   MediaMatters has the details on Newman’s incendiary rhetoric.

Today in Texas History – December 1

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From the Annals of Broadway – In 1913, Mary Martin, star of stage and screen,  was born in Weatherford, Texas.  Martin was encouraged to perform in local theater as a child and began voice lessons at age twelve. Her first success was on Broadway in Cole Porter’s Leave It To Me . Martin sang the show-stopper “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and was an instant hit with Broadway audiences. Although she appeared in at least 10 films, Martin’s greatest success came in musical theatre – starring in productions of South Pacific , Peter Pan , The Sound of Music, and I Do, I Do among many others.

#AskJerryJones

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The NFL Network created a hashtag – #AskJerryJones – seeking to solicit questions for the publicity hound Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  It turns out, just about everything.  Find out for yourself at #askjerryjones.   Red’s personal favorite –

Mike Gessner ‏@calbears96 Nov 25

if you could go back in time and murder baby Hitler, would you do it or sign him as a defensive back?

Followed closely by –

#1 Cat Step-dad™ ‏@moleloco Nov 25

Which prisons do you plan on visiting in the off-season looking for new players?

Why Red Plays Golf and Other Thoughts on Life, Cont.

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Red, as they say, is no spring chicken.  A few years ago he could still play soccer – albeit with the players on the U10 team he was coaching – but the lines on the curves crossed and soon it was best to watch from the sidelines during practice.  So as to competitive sports, the options were considerably narrowed.

Thinking himself still a bit too young for shuffleboard, Red continued playing golf and even surprised himself at times with a respectable round here and there.  The good rounds are fun, but golf is mostly in the doing.  Too much of life is watching – movies, football games, theatre, music and other events.  Red likes to be the one doing and golf – however ultimately pointless it may seem – consists almost entirely of doing.  Yes, there is the camaraderie and exercise – Red likes to walk the course whenever possible and challenges any normal human over age 45 to go out and walk 18 on a steamy August afternoon and tell him they aren’t just a little bit tired afterwards.  But mostly, it is the doing of golf – picking the right club, making the correct swing, lining up the putt properly –  all while attempting to craft a decent score on the hole that you are playing.  Golf at its best consists entirely of that improbable  moment when Red takes a crooked stick and makes a small white ball do exactly what he wants in the garden that is any particular golf hole.

And finally there is this – on any given hole on any given day, Red can do better than the absolutely best athletes in the sport.  That could have never happened on a basketball court with NBA players; but it could happen at Pebble Beach where with a respectable drive and a well-placed 7-iron Red might just have a better score than Phil Mickelson on the par-4 16th.  And just like that, Red takes a skin from Lefty.  How sweet would that be?

Today in Texas History – November 30

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From the Annals of Lawlessness –  In 1890, Texas pioneer and author John H. Jenkins was killed in a gunfight in Bastrop.  Jenkins was attempting to save his son, the County Sheriff, from an ambush when he was shot down.  Jenkins had moved to Texas as a young boy with his family eventually settling on the banks of the Colorado near present-day Bastrop.  After his father was mysteriously killed while working his fields, Jenkins became the ward of Edward Burleson.  Jenkins joined the Texas revolution at age 13 fighting in Burleson’s First Regiment of the Texas Volunteers.  He is reputed to have been the youngest Texian soldier in the San Jacinto campaign although he was not present at the battle having been dispatched to aid his mother and siblings escape from the advancing Mexican armies.  He later served in the Texas Rangers and with the Confederate Army in the Civil War.  Jenkins is best known for his well-written and colorful memoir – Recollections of Early Texas – published by the University of Texas Press in 1958.

Texas Woman Wants Her Father’s Film of JFK Assassination Back

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Gayle Nix Jackson has sued the National Archives and Records Administration seeking the original film taken by her grandfather Orville Nix in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.  Nix gave the film to the UPI news agency with the stipulation that it would be returned after 25 years.  The film, though less famous than the Zapruder footage, does show part of the assassination of JFK.  Jackson said her grandfather’s film shows Zapruder across the street and the grassy knoll –  where some witnesses claimed they heard at least one shot fired.  The film was obtained by the Warren Commission and then never returned.

Unbelievably, no one seems to know where the original film is now located.  Jackson believes that NARA has it because it is in possession of most of the Warren Commission materials.  The lawsuit says the agency has told Jackson that it does not have the film.

 

Today in Texas History – November 24

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From the Annals of Law Enforcement – In 1835, the Republic of Texas authorized a special law enforcement unit known as the Texas Rangers. Stephen F. Austin had hired ten experienced frontiersmen as “rangers” as early as 1823, but the 1835 legislation formalized the organization.  The Rangers have a mixed history at best.  They were instrumental in securing the early Republic, but at the expense of various Indian tribes who had claims to the land and not all of whom were aggressive warriors like the Comanche and Kiowa.   The Rangers  were also employed to restore order during various blood feuds, border disturbances, and civic upheavals. In the early twentieth century, however, certain renegade Rangers abused their positions of authority predated on Hispanics, African-Americans and other powerless groups.  The force was decimated in 1933 when Gov. Ma Ferguson dismissed the entire squad in an overt act of political retaliation for the Rangers open support of her opponent Ross Sterling.  When the Department of Public Safety was created in 1935, the Rangers took on a new role.  Today they are recognized as an elite unit of 150 commissioned officers drawn from the ranks of DPS officers with at least 8 years of law enforcement experience.  Prospective Rangers undergo rigorous selection, testing and the position requires specialized training.  Their responsibilities include major incident crime investigations, unsolved crime/serial crime investigations, public corruption investigations, officer involved shooting investigations, and border security operations.

 

Weekend Improvement Project – Not for the Squeamish

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Keep on moving if viewing a dead wild hog is going to ruin your day.  Red understands and is not judgmental about those who are judgmental about Red.

Red was out exercising his new and entirely superfluous constitutional right to hunt in Texas this weekend.  Red clearly understands that hunting is not for everyone and that not everyone will approve.  That said, wild hogs are a complete menace in Texas.  They harm the land, cause erosion and soil loss, destroy vegetation, displace and predate on native fauna and are on rare occasions dangerous.   The weekend tally was Red 1 Hogs 1.   Red will be distributing a lot of sausage to friends and family this Christmas.

Evan Hog

Red Out

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Red will be mostly out for the next week and posting only sporadically – if at all.

This weekend, Red will be exercising his new and entirely superfluous constitutionally protected right to hunt in Texas subject to reasonable regulations – whatever the heck that means.  For Red, the annual hunting trip or two is more of an excuse to enjoy the outdoors in beautiful fall weather, sit around the fire with old friends, sip some whiskey, perhaps even enjoy a cigar, walk through the woods with a gun pretending he is going to kill something, and occasionally take down a deer for venison or a wild hog just because wild hogs need killing.

After that, Red will be returning home to prepare the Thanksgiving feast and then head out with the family to meet up with the rest of the clan somewhere in the Hill Country.  This year Red will be roasting an organic turkey on the Weber, making a sweet potato casserole, fresh cranberry relish, a delightful green salad, yeast rolls, and a chocolate fudge pie.  Someone else is bringing the pecan pie.  And in case you didn’t know, Red is a helluva good cook.

So Red wishes everyone safe travels and a happy Thanksgiving – even Ted Cruz (TP-Texas).