Who are you going to believe – Trump or your lying eyes?

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Trump and his press secretary Sean Spicer both made claims that Friday’s  inauguration was attended and viewed by more folks than any event since – well any event ever.  Red for one believes them.  Those vast empty spaces in the aerial shots from the Trump Washington Monument of the Trump National Mall (bordered by Trump Ave North and Trump Ave South) looking towards the Trump Capitol Building were clearly fabricated by the dishonest members of the disgusting national media (or disgusting members of the dishonest national media if you favor that iteration) who are hell bent on destroying the Trump administration before it self-implodes.

Not only was the crowd enormous, the TV numbers clearly do not reflect the vast numbers of folks  who belatedly switched over from Hogan’s Heroes reruns to catch Trump deliver his moving and spirited inaugural address accurately describing the United States as an utter and total hellhole to be saved only by the magic elixir of trade wars, military spending and continual patriotic repetition of the Trump Pledge of Allegiance (formerly to the flag).

Trump clarified the mendacity of the malignant and cancerous media during his speech at the Trump CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA on Saturday.  In front of the Trump Memorial Wall of CIA Heroes, the new chief executive pointed directly at the leprous media members in the back of the room while excoriating them for underreporting the size of the crowd at his inauguration.  The crowd which Trump advisors estimate to have numbered about 17,535,000 was woefully underreported as being no more than maybe 400,000 by the aforementioned smelly and rat-infested national media.  Members of the Trump CIA in the audience cheered, stormed the dais and carried Trump off on their shoulders in triumph.

Back at the Trump White House Plaza Suites (Deluxe Trump Lincoln Bedroom Suite now available for a mere $275,000 per night – two night minimum  with continental breakfast included), press secretary Sean Spicer came out for an extended period of two minutes to excoriate (get used to lots of excoriation) the sinful and unrepentant Trump White House press corps for their vicious lies about the size of the inaugural crowd in attendance.  According to Spicer, the crowd was bigger than any crowd ever attending any inaugural and its TV ratings dwarfed the Superb Owl.  Wisely refusing to take any questions from the correspondents present (all with oozing open sores), Spicer quickly retreated.

That was followed  on Sunday morning by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, who when confronted with an allegation from escaped convict Chuck Todd of NBC, told him off with a quick “Neener Neener” and pointed out that S. Spicer had not in fact lied but was merely presenting “alternative facts.”   Ms. Conway set the stage for the Trump playbook for dealing with the rapists and serial killers comprising the vast majority of the mainstream media (Fox News excepted of course). If your regular facts just aren’t standing up to mild scrutiny, then whip out your aerosol can of “alternative facts”, spray liberally on the lice-infested and vile national media members and watch those “alternative facts” go to work.  Red for one digs that scrubbing action.

Today in Texas History – January 23

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From the Annals of the Civil War -In 1863, Martin Hart was executed in Fort Smith, Arkansas for treason against the Confederate States of America.  Hart was an attorney from Hunt County who had served in the Texas Legislature as a representative and senator.  He was opposed to secession, but after Texas passed the vile screed known as the Ordinance of Secession, he resigned from the Legislature and organized the Greenville Guards, pledging the company’s services “in defense of Texas whenever she is invaded or threatened with invasion.”   He was, however, a Union spy.  In Arkansas he led a series of rear-guard actions against Confederate forces, and is alleged to have murdered at least two prominent secessionists. He was captured on January 18, 1863, by Confederate forces, hung five days later and buried in an unmarked grave under the hanging tree.

Today in Texas History – January 20

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From the Annals of the Governors –    In 1891, James Hogg was inaugurated as the 20th Governor of Texas.  Hogg who was born near Rusk in 1851 was the first native-born Texan to serve as Governor.  Hogg, a newspaperman and attorney, served as County Attorney of Wood County, District Attorney for the 7th District and Texas Attorney General before serving three terms as Governor.  Hogg was remarkably progressive for his day.  His main targets were the railroads, foreign land companies.

Our New Treasury Secretary

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One needs take only a glance at Steve Mnuchin to form an opinion that he is a weaselly little lying scumbag that would do anything to anybody in order to put another penny in his pocket.  His real fortune was made running a foreclosure mill that routinely violated the law and profited from the misery of the less fortunate.  Which makes him an absolutely perfect choice for Treasury Secretary in a Trump Administration.  A more perfect tool to implement policies designed to make the rich richer on the backs of working Americans could not be found.  That principle will be the cornerstone of the Trump Regency; so let’s get on with it.   Red fully supports his nomination as a key to implementing the Trump/GOP agenda.

Rodriguez and Bagwell into Baseball Hall of Fame

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The Baseball Writer’s  Association has selected Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines for the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2017.

Pudge Rodriguez leads the class as a first ballot HOFer even though he barely got in with 76% of the vote.  PR deserves the honor.  For about a decade, Red’s view was that if he was building a team, Pudge would be the first player taken.  He is the greatest catcher ever by any metric.  In his 21 seasons, PR hit 311 home runs, drove in 1332 runs, scored 1354 runs, had 2844 hits and sported a .296 batting average. Throw in 14 appearances in the All Star game, 13 Golden Gloves, the 1999 MVP award and the fact that he played the most difficult and demanding position in all of sport and you have to wonder – who didn’t vote for this guy?

Tim Raines, who has long been touted by the sabermetrics crowd received 86% of the vote in his 10th and final year of eligibility.  Raines’ stat line is not as impressive as PR’s, but Red will defer to the experts on TR.  He never hit 20 home runs in a season and only once topped 70 RBI’s.  His 808 stolen bases are impressive, but Red thinks that Raines owes his new HOF status to a vigorous internet campaign.

Red will not make any friends here, but he really doesn’t think Jeff Bagwell is among the 220 or so greatest baseball players of all time.  Okay he has a better stat line than either PR or TR, but his greatest years were almost certainly tainted.  Never thought of as a great fielder, he played a relatively easy position and never earned a Golden Glove or Silver Slugger award.  He does have 4 All Star appearances and the MVP award from the strike shortened 1994 season in his favor. But having watched a lot of JB over the years, Red has a hard time seeing him in Cooperstown – but there he will be.

Today in Texas History – January 18

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From the Annals of the NFL –  The Pittsburgh Stealers beat the Irving Cowboys 21-17 in Superb Owl X at the Orange Bowl in Miami.  The Stealers scored 21 the hard way with 2 TD’s, 1 PAT, 1 Safety and 2 Field Goals.  The margin of victory might have been greater if not for Stealers’ kicker Roy Gerela being injured tackling Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson when the Cowboys ran a trick play reverse on the opening kickoff.  Gerela suffered bruised ribs and missed two short field goals and an extra point. Stealers quarterback Terry Bradshaw (who had been much maligned during the regular season) was an efficient 9-19 for 209 yards and 2 TDs, but it was the Stealers defense that won the day.   Cowboys’ quarterback Roger Staubach had one of his worst games throwing up 3 interceptions and getting sacked 7 times.   Still, down 21-10 in the 4th quarter, the Cowboys mounted a comeback driving 80 yards in 5 plays topped off with a 34 yard touchdown pass to tight end Percy Howard.  Remarkably, it was the only reception of Howard’s NFL career.  After failing to recover the onside kick, the Cowboys defense held and the offense came on with 1:22 needing a touchdown to win.  It was not to be as Staubach threw up his third interception in the end zone as time ran out.

Red’s NFL Picks – Conference Championships

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NFL Picks 2016 – Conference Championships

The dream of an all-Texas Superb Owl to be played in Texas died a harsh death last weekend. It wasn’t much of a dream anyway and it keeps alive the curious streak of the home team never hosting the big game.

The Texans never had a chance against the Patriots – although they did keep it close for a whole half as Red predicted. Red almost believed for an instant after Brady’s second interception.

Meanwhile in Arlington, the Cowboys must be sitting around muttering “I could have been somebody, I could have been a contender.” The problem is that Aaron Rodgers is somebody and is always a contender. But now Jerry’s Boys will be spending the off-season wondering what could have been and not making any real changes to a lineup that had a magical year – a year that is not likely to be repeated any time soon.  The Cowboys defense has real problems and the rookie phenoms – may just be rookie phenoms.  As Red has said, he is perfectly okay with the Cowboys winning one playoff game every decade. So, sorry Jerry, the win for the 10’s is already in the books.  Talk to me in 2021.

For Round 2, Red was a spectacular 4-0 and made good on both Sure Bets with the Stealers covering and the under paying off.   Good things come to those who wait and wait and wait and . . .

Prime Time Pick of the Week – Stealers smack Patriots.    About the only good thing to come out of the Texans’ defeat on Saturday was that the defense beat the everloving crap out of Tom Brady.  Even Mrs. Red was getting excited when Chris Covington body slammed TB and Whitney Mercilus dragged him to the ground.  Brady took more hard shots in that game than he usually does in a month.  The Pats running game was also exposed.  Brady won the game with repeated strikes downfield against  Texans defensive backs who always seemed to be clueless as to where the ball was going.  That won’t happen against the Stealers.  Brady will face even more pressure (the Stealers had 30 sacks in the last 8 games). And the Pats are not likely to run against the Stealers any better than they did against the Texans.  But the real question is for the Stealers.  Can they score against the Pats league-leading defense?  The mid-season matchup tells us – well, not much.  The Stealers didn’t have Ben and Pats still had Gronk. Landry Jones had to chuck it up 47 times that day in a losing effort for the Stealers – which is something Ben almost never does. LaGarrette “Fat Pig” Blount rushed for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Pats to victory.  That does not happen Sunday.  The Pats also will not be bailed out by Dion Lewis – who had more touchdowns on Sunday than in the rest of his career going back to 2011.  Red doesn’t know how the Stealers are going to win, but he knows they are going to win and thus, cover the spread whatever it is.  The Stealers are getting 5.5 just in case you are interested.  The O/U is at 51.  Which strikes Red as way too high. Take the under here.   Pittsburgh 21 New England 20.

Sure Bet Pick of the Week – Packers pelt Falcons.  Aaron Rodgers – great family man that he is – will always have a place in Red’s heart.  Driving a stake through the heart of the Cowboys’ season will do that for you.  And the Packs’ reward is to be a 4.5 point dog on the road against the Falcons.  The Falcons looked like a well-oiled machine on Saturday – with the big exception of letting Devin Hester run wild on kick and punt returns.  Without Hester, the game was not even close.  With him, the game wasn’t that close.  The Pack has no one like Hester.  Although Ty Montgomery’s brilliant play during the Lions-Packers game showed that he is the thinking man’s kick returner.  One of the Lions’ kickoff was dying at about the Green Bay 3 yard line.  But since it was near the sideline.  TM stepped out of bounds and fell on the ball (still in bounds).  Under the very complicated NFL kicking rules, that made the ball out of bounds and put the Packers at the 40 yard line.  It pays to know the very complicated NFL kicking rules.  Red has been duly impressed by the Falcons this season.  He has picked them repeatedly in the past – only to be disappointed.  The long-suffering Falcons fans are not disappointed – well not yet anyway.  It’s a little too good to be true and reality is coming home.  The first meeting of these teams at mid-season was a complete shootout with Rodgers and Ryan combining for 7 TD passes, 534 yards and no INTs. Expect about the same on Sunday.  The oddsmakers sure do.  The O/U on this one is a whopping 61.5.  Red sees them getting there.  The Packers defense is suspect merely by virtue of having Dom Capers in charge.  The Falcons defenses has toughened up considerably over the last month of the season, but these are the Packers after all.  This one could last 4:15 and conceivably goes to OT.  Okay, Red calls OT.  Take the Pack and the points and the over. Green Bay 35 Atlanta 29.

And of course, that gives us a Packers-Stealers Superb Owl.  Who doesn’t want to see that?

Trump’s “Landslide”

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As readers know, Red fully supports the full implementation of the Trump/GOP agenda – beginning with putting Hillary in jail – because Red believes that the people should get the government they deserve.  And in this case the people deserve to get screwed by Trump, something that he has distinctly mastered in his business career.

But Red’s full-throated support for –  building the wall (at Mexico’s expense), deporting 11 million aliens, jailing (or if you really believe abortion is murder giving the death penalty or life without parole) to women who get abortions and the doctors who perform them, eviscerating environmental regulations, making the wealthy wealthier and letting Vlad Putin rebuild the Evil Empire, –  does not and will not get in the way of Red calling “Bullshit” where he sees it.

The number one piece of bullshit being touted by the Trumpistas right now is that Trump won in a landslide.  It’s  always TRUMP WON IN AN electoral college LANDSLIDE!!!  In typical Trump fashion, the belief apparently is that if you repeat Bullshit often enough, people will come to believe it.  Well Bullshit is Bullshit and this landslide talk is utter Bullshit.

We all know Trump lost the popular vote by a wide margin.  He got a smaller percentage of the popular vote than Romney, McCain and Kerry – the last 3 losers.  He did win the Electoral College – but hardly in a landslide.  He will be president because he won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.  Let’s break it down.

Michigan – Trump wins by 11,000 votes out of over 2.5 million votes cast

Pennsylvania – Trump wins by 45,000 votes out of almost 6 million votes cast

Wisconsin – Trump wins by 23,000 votes out of about 2.8 million votes cast

That is 79,000 votes that swung 46 Electoral College votes to Trump –  which is more than his “Landslide” margin of victory in the EC.  To put it in perspective that is about like Beaumont deciding the presidential election.

So stop with the “Landslide” nonsense.  Here is what a real Electoral College Landslide looks like.

Sorry Jimmy, but Ronnie put a butt-whipping on you in 1980.

 

 

Today in Texas History – January 17

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From the Annals of the Empresarios –  In 1821, New Spain awarded Moses Austin of Missouri a grant to settle 300 families in Texas.  Although Anglos had previously travelled to and settled in Texas, this agreement began the process of Anglo-American colonization of Texas.   Moses Austin never acted on the grant as he passed away after his initial success in obtaining permission.  The task fell to his son Stephen F. Austin who  was recognized as his successor. The success of the Mexican War for Independence put the grant at risk. But  a special decree issued in April 1823 allowed the younger Austin to begin the colonization that resulted in 300 families settling in Austin’s Colony near San Felipe.

Photo of Moses Austin statue from tshaonline.org

Today in Texas History – January 13

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From the Annals of the Big Thicket  –   In 1939, Thomas Jefferson Golemon was arrested for the first time.  Known as the “Red Fox of the Big Thicket”, Golemon’s short but serious crime spree began at Corpus Christi,  where he and two others  were arrested and charged with the murder of a rig builder who had been killed in a drunken fight. Golemon was released on bond and predictably failed to show up for trial.  In July of 1939 he resurfaced in Hull where he and partner in crime Francis Alva Smith robbed the Hull State Bank making off with  $12,000.  Golemon eventually headed to Houston where he holed up with relatives one of whom gave up his location to the police.  He was delivered to the Liberty County Sheriff. By December 1939 Golemon was unbelievably out on bond again and of course failed to appear for trial.  He hid out in the Big Thicket where he robbed, kidnapped and stole from the local residents.   He was also accused of robbing and shooting a cab driver in Beaumont.  Golemon was also wrongfully accused of robbing the Kirbyville State Bank.  The search for Golemon continued until April 11, 1940, when he was cornered at his parents home in Hardin County and was killed in a barrage of gunfire.