From the Annals of Bogus Celebrations – In 1934, the first ever Mother-in-Law’s Day was celebrated in Amarillo. MIL day is now celebrated on the 4th Sunday of October.
Red is fairly lucky on the In-Law front. Yet, he has never felt the need to celebrate this one.
From the Annals of the Revolution – In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Following a meeting on March 1 at Washington-on-the-Brazos of delegates from the seventeen Mexican municipalities of Texas and the settlement of Pecan Point, George C. Childress and a committee of five were tasked with preparing a resolution calling for independence. In the early morning hours of March 2, the convention voted unanimously to accept the resolution prepared by the committee. Fifty-eight members of the delegation signed the document announcing to the world that Texas had declared itself to be the independent Republic of Texas. Less than two months later after the Battle of San Jacinto, actual independence was secured. The Republic would last only about 10 years until Texas was annexed by the United States.
A Republican candidate for the Third Court of Appeals in Austin is stretching what are traditionally considered the limits for appropriate campaigning. Mike Toth a card carrying Tea Party member and protégé of embattled AG Ken Paxton is embracing Donald Trump and conservative identity politics in his campaign for a seat on the influential Austin Court of Appeals. Despite being in Austin, the Court is firmly in Republican hands because it covers a 28 county area stretching all the way to San Angelo. Toth is also accepting contributions in excess of the standard $5000 limit. Judicial candidates in Texas typically pledge to not accept contributions over $5000 as anything more than that gives the appearance of buying justice. Toth is apparently blowing through that limit and accepting gifts of money for the education of his children from a Florida lawyer, as well as embracing our Realty TV Show President. The Texas Tribune has more.
Candidate Michael Toth, a special counsel in the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, has pulled in $151,000 so far in the 3rd Court of Appeals GOP primary contest, and more than a third of it comes from out of state, records show.
[O]ne of Toth’s major non-Texas donors, former hedge fund manager John Thaler of Greenwich, Connecticut, has notified the Texas Ethics Commission that he plans to exceed a $5,000 expenditure cap the candidates agreed to; that allows Toth’s opponents to ignore donation and expenditure limits.
Toth isn’t shy about touting his Tea Party bonafides and running on the same issues that non-judicial candidates use to attract Republican primary voters. In one mailer, Toth brags that he fought for “tougher border security, defended President Trump’s travel ban, sued to crack down on sanctuary cities” and “supported extreme vetting of refugees.”
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips, a Republican, said he’d “never seen anything quite like” the mailer Toth sent out.
“I’m concerned anytime a judicial candidate suggests, even indirectly, that his or her election will lead to a particular policy outcome,” Phillips said. “To conduct a campaign based on your view of hot-button political issues confuses rather than than enlightens the electorate.”
The Greenwich Time reports that last week the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops formally cut ties with the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life. The TCCB is the church authority that sets policy for parishes which serve approximately 8.3 million Texas Catholics.
Texas Right to Life is the oldest and probably most influential anti-abortion group in Texas and is primarily funded by big time GOP donors. TRL largely functions as a wing of the Texas GOP and its endorsements carry a lot of weight in the Republican primary.
“We’ve asked our pastors, parishes and Catholic schools to refrain from asking (Texas Right to Life representatives) to come onto our premises because their teachings don’t always align with what the Catholic Church teaches regarding certain life issues,” said Bishop Joe Vasquez, head of the 25-county Austin Diocese.
It’s a bad sign when you are so radical in promoting the anti-abortion agenda that the Catholic Church gets fed up with you.
“I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon.”
Donald Trump on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS mass shooting.
Red really believes that Trump really believes that he really believes that he would be heroic if only given the chance. Like on 911, when he sat in the comfort of Trump Tower gloating that he now had the tallest building in New York after the World Trade Center towers fell. Now that was some heroism.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a mountain lion was captured in a Laredo subdivision on February 25. The secretive cats are rarely seen in the wild – much less observed in urban areas. The lion was tranquilized after being located in the Santa Rita subdivision. The cat has been turned over to the State Game Warden who will assess its condition and likely release it back into the wild in a more remote location.
Photo from the Laredo PD’s facebook page. Nice of them to cover the lion’s head to protect its privacy rights.
From the Annals of Segregation – In 1946, Heman Sweatt met with University of Texas President Theophilus S. Painter and other university officials to present a formal request for admission to the UT School of Law. Sweatt was accompanied by representatives of the NAACP. Sweatt had already agreed to sue UT if he was denied admission and present a test case for the integration of higher education in Texas. UT denied him admission. Painter informed him that although his credentials were adequate enough he could not allow him to enter UT. As one court put it, “he possessed every essential qualification for admission, except that of race, upon which ground alone his application was denied.” The Texas Attorney General Grover Sellers backed up Painter’s decision. Sweatt filed suit against Painter on May 16, 1946. The trial court found that under the “separate but equal” doctrine, Texas had to build an equal law school within a six month time frame. After six months had passed the judge threw out the case because Texas A&M had planned a resolution to provide a legal education for blacks. Sweatt, with the backing of the NAACP, appealed. The case finally reached the United States Supreme Court in June of 1950. The Supreme Court held that black students were not offered an equal quality law education in the state of Texas, and as a result UT would have to admit qualified black applicants. On September 19, 1950, Sweatt registered for classes at the UT School of Law. However, as a result of the tremendous amount of stress and emotional trauma from the long drawn out court cases Sweatt’s mental and physical health had taken a turn for the worse. He later withdrew from the school.
From the Annals of the Revolution – In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began. The Texian defenders of San Antonio de Bexar were unaware of the impending arrival of the Mexican Army. After hearing some reports, Col. William B. Travis place a sentry in the bell tower of the San Fernando church. Advance scouts of the Mexican Army were surprised to find the town entirely undefended and the Texian troops were not alerted until the first columns of the Mexican Army were within about one mile of the town. The Texians were unprepared for a long siege and scrambled to find food and supplies as they retreated to the Alamo compound. By midafternoon, the town was filled with over 1500 Mexican troops who quickly surrounded the crumbling mission and began the 13 day siege. When they raised the red flag of “no quarter”, Travis fired a cannon shot in response. Jim Bowie thought this was a foolish response and sent an emissary in an attempt to negotiate an honorable surrender. When it became clear that Gen. Santa Anna would only accept unconditional surrender, the fate of the Alamo defenders was sealed.
From the Annals of the Border – In 1819, U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish foreign minister Luis de Onis y Gonzalez-Vara signed the Adams-Onis Treaty also known as the Florida Treaty. Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. in exchange for settling the long simmering boundary dispute between the U.S. and New Spain. Spain was frankly interested in jettisoning Florida as it was already overwhelmed with wars for independence in South America and periodic upheaval what was soon to be Mexico. The treaty set the U.S./New Spain boundary at the Sabine River and on through the great plains and Rocky Mountains following the Red River and Arkansas River – basically according to the terms of the Louisiana Purchase – and then on west to the Pacific Ocean along the 42nd Parallel. The U.S. renounced any claims to Texas and agreed to pay residents’ claims against the Spanish government up to a total of $5,000,000. The treaty was short-lived as Mexico was granted independence from Spain in 1821. Mexico ratified the boundaries of AO Treaty by agreeing to the Treaty of Limits in 1828. The boundary stood until the Texas Revolution and the later the Mexican-American War.
Something seems different this time. Maybe it is because of the articulate and formerly somewhat carefree students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS like Sam Zeif, Chris Grady, Jose Iglesias and Isabella Pfeiffer to name a few. Maybe it is because they are getting support from their parents and the community to try to make a difference this time. Maybe it is because people are truly scared. Maybe it because Americans are fed up with legislators running scared from the NRA. Maybe it is because enough is finally enough. Maybe it is because they are tired of hearing the one and only answer that comes from the bought and paid for GOP weasels in Congress and State Legislatures (and clearly some Democratic weasels as well to be fair). And that answer is as always – WE NEED MORE GUNS!.
That is what our Reality TV Show Sick Joke of a President proposed again yesterday with his preposterous plan to arm teachers. Only a complete fool could believe that having a gun in classrooms with our children is a good idea. Teachers across the nation have responded to Trump’s proposal with scorn, disbelief and derision.
Red supports more safety measures for schools. Sadly, we may need metal detectors and secure perimeters around our schools and we may need trained and armed licensed peace officers at every school. We need to severely restrict access to semi-automatics the same way we have done for automatic weapons since the 1930’s. We need background checks. We need mental health services. We do not need guns in the classroom.
We don’t need a President who has kowtowed to the gun lobby by rolling back a regulation that would have added people who are getting Social Security disability for mental problems to the list for background checks, who purged about 500,000 fugitives from the ATF list and changed the definition of fugitive to only include someone who has crossed state lines to avoid arrest under an outstanding warrant, who revoked a ban on lead ammo in federal wildlife refuges and made it easier for people to carry guns on public lands, who has proposed cutting millions of dollars from the national background check system. We need a President who doesn’t need notes (see photo) to instruct him on how to behave like a normal compassionate human being. We need lots of people with the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and say that finally “enough is enough.”
Unfortunately, Red doesn’t really think that this time will be different. A guy can hope though.
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