Today in Texas History – July 26

Leave a reply

From the Annals of Cowtown –  In 1887, the Fort Worth Union Stock Yards were chartered.  John Peter Smith, J. W. Burgess and Morgan Jones obtained the charter to build the yard in north Fort Worth.  They raised $200,000 for construction which began in 1888.  The Union yard was the first step in a plan to convert Fort Worth from a temporary way station on the route from Texas to Kansas City and St. Louis into a major stock yard and meat packing center.  Over the next 30 years with the addition of several meat packing plants, Fort Worth which had already earned the nickname “Cowtown” truly became one.  

Walls of the Alamo?

Leave a reply

Researchers working to restore the Alamo have unearthed Spanish colonial adobe bricks at a dig site in Alamo Plaza.  What is not yet known is whether those bricks may have comprised part of the historic shrine’s original western wall.  More analysis may reveal the architectural function of the colonial-era bricks.

According to archaeologist Nesta Anderson, there is a possibility that the bricks uncovered only two feet below the surface are part of the original mission because they clearly form part of a larger wall structure .  “Because we’ve got something from the Spanish colonial period, we know we are digging in the right place. Now we know we can get information from the ground over here that will support the master plan and the reinterpretation.”

The dig is part of a plan by the state and local officials to restore and refurbish the Alamo.  According to the officials in charge of the Alamo project, their work will hopefully  unearth the original western and southern walls.   In December, the state purchased three buildings on Alamo Plaza that housed tourist traps such as Guiness World Records Musuem and a Ripley’s Odditorium.  The purchase was the first step by the Alamo Endowment Board and the city of San Antonio to move forward with plans to de-campify the area around the historic mission.  Last October, the endowment, city and Texas signed an agreement to develop a master plan for the district with a focus on historic preservation and a dignified treatment for the site.

Discovery of the bricks on Friday marked a major step toward uncovering the construction history of the world-famous Texas landmark.

Texans Play Small Role at the Democratic National Convention

Leave a reply

Texas delegates do not play a large role at either of the two major party conventions under the current political state of affairs.  The Republicans pay scant attention to Texas because it is currently the reddest of the red states.  If Trump cannot win Texas, he cannot possibly secure victory and there appears to be no doubt about his ability to win the Lone Star State no matter what he says or does. He might even be able to violate the Edwin Edwards Rule (who claimed he would be okay unless caught with a dead woman or a live boy) and still win the Lone Star State.

The Democrats ignore Texas for similar reasons.  Why pay the slightest bit of attention to a state where your party has not won a state-wide election since 1994 and has not voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.  After the abject failure of Battleground Texas in 2014, it’s almost amazing that the Democrats even acknowledge that Texas exists.

Nonetheless, at least of couple of Texans will soak up some of the spotlight in Philadelphia this week.  On the deserving side, there is HUD Secretary Julian Castro – who might be the only hope for Democratic Governor in Red’s remaining time.  Castro is a polished politician who has parlayed his success into serious consideration for the Vice-Presidential nod – only to lose out to Tim Kaine.  On the undeserving side is Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.  Lee is notorious for staking out any opportunity to bore the public.  Never discount a woman who managed to push her way into a speaking spot at Michael Jackson’s funeral.  Red hears that is one of SJL’s favorite stump opportunities around Houston.  There are tales of SJL showing up at a funeral and just taking possession of the altar uninvited and pontificating on someone she barely knew.

Red will tune in for Castro and tune out SJL.

 

Today in Texas History – July 25

Leave a reply

From the Annals of the Civil War –  In 1861, the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution was passed by the U.S. Congress.  The resolution sought to reassure the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland and pro-slavery Unionists that the Civil War was being fought to restore the Union and not to eradicate slavery.  The implication was that once the war had been won, the Confederate states would be returned to the Union fold with slavery intact.  The resolution was named for its sponsors Rep. John Crittenden of Kentucky and Sen. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.  The resolution passed with an overwhelming vote in both houses.  The plan to reassure the border states worked as none of them left the Union.  However, by December of 1861, sentiment had changed so drastically that the resolution was repealed largely through the actions of Pennsylvania Senator Thaddeus Stevens.

Red’s Version of Trump’s Speech

Leave a reply

Thank you. Thank you. Wow.  How about my daughter Ivanka.  Wouldn’t every red-blooded male in the room like to be stupping that – except for that Peter Thiel guy – he can go after Lyin’ Ted. Yeah!

You know I crushed him and all the other pathetic losers in the primaries – without breaking a sweat.  And when I do sweat, I sweat profusely.  Nobody sweats like me. My sweat could irrigate the desert.  There are winners and losers – and face it most of you are pathetic losers who need a winner like me to take control so that we can win some more.  Winning – that’s what its all about.  You are going to be tired of winning.  When I am finished with this country – everyone will utterly despise winning.   I might even be a little tired of it.

We are going to win the trade war by some unspecified and unknowable means.  We are going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it – again by some unspecified means.  We are going to kick ISIS’s butt – do I have to spell it out for you.  Hopefully not, because I flunked spelling.  Get used to it.  Winners don’t tell you how they are going to win – you just have to take my word for it.  Like all those folks who enrolled at Trump U or took it in the shorts in my multiple bankruptcies.

Here’s the most important thing.  We are all going to Hell in a handbasket.   ISIS, criminals, cop killers, terrorists, illegal aliens, gypsies, tramps and thieves.  Not to mention famine, plague, pestilence and death.   And it’s all Hillary’s fault with a touch of Obama added for good measure.  And there is only one solution to the problem – ME!  That’s right, without me taking the helm you are all f@#ked!  Royally.  I am the only solution.  I am the chosen one.  I am the second coming.  Everybody kneel!  Hail the Donald!

And Crooked Hillary.  She cannot even imagine what I am going to do to her.  When I am through with her, she will beg for death.  She is so crooked – believe me it takes a crook to know one.  Did I say that.  Who cares?  Ha Ha!  Really, I can’t wait to destroy her – it will be fun.

We are going to stop leading from behind.  In fact, we are going to stop leading.  Let the rest of the world take care of itself.  If Putin – a really great guy by the way – wants Estonia – who are we to say no.  And if they are a member of NATO – screw that.  They’re losers and losers get eaten.  You know by who?  By winners like me and my buddy Vlad.

We are going to defeat Islamic terrorism quickly.  Just like that.  I think it will only require killing about 100,000,000 folks.  I could do that before dinner tomorrow right now.  Imagine how easy it will be when I have nukes!

And all those weak-kneed Republicans in Congress who hated on me.  Well guess what bozos, there’s going to be a new sheriff in town and he is coming to kick ass and take names – I’ve got one right here it says “Mitch McConnell.”  Another paunchy, sad-sack loser.  Just ask Lyin’ Ted.

Okay, I’m really tired of you people worshipping me so I am going to leave.  Like I need more loser love.

Today in Texas History – July 22

Leave a reply

From the Annals of the Weeklies –  In 1887, Henry Harold Brookes published the first edition of the  Panhandle Herald.    The Herald is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Texas Panhandle. The paper has been mostly a weekly except during about 3 years during the 20’s when it was published semiweekly. The paper has been owned by the Panhandle Publishing Company since 1932.

Quote for the Day

Leave a reply

“He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And he had a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook. His response is to accuse everybody else of lying. He accuses everybody on that debate stage of lying, and it’s simply a mindless yell. Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing. The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.  . . . Everything in Donald’s world is about Donald. And he combines being a pathological liar, and I say pathological because I actually think Donald if you hooked him up to a lie detector test, he could say one thing in the morning, one thing at noon, and one thing in the evening, all contradictory, and he’d pass the lie detector test each time. Whatever lie he’s telling, at that minute he believes it, but the man is utterly amoral.”

Ted Cruz speaking about Donald Trump.

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

Leave a reply

At the first Republican debate, Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) emphatically agreed that he would support the GOP nominee.  His pledge was unequivocal.  The curious thing about the question is that it was largely directed at Trump – who was already hinting at a third-party run if he couldn’t get the GOP nod.

But on Thursday morning speaking to the Texas delegation  – which largely worships at the fount of all things Ted Cruz – the junior senator refused to back down from his failure to endorse or even tacitly support Donald Trump during his prime-time speech on Wednesday.  When asked by a member of the delegation why he was back-pedaling on his previous pledge, Cruz claimed it was because of Trump’s attacks on his family.

“I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father. And that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you slander and attack Heidi I’m going to nonetheless go like a servile puppy dog.”

No Cruz is not a servile puppy dog – he is a vicious Rottweiler-Chihuahua mix that will chew up anything that stands in the path of his enormous ego and his overweening ambition.  Cruz obviously believes that Trump will be defeated in November and he is not going down on the USS Donald.  Trump’s attacks on his family are just a convenient excuse for Cruz to play the wounded warrior standing up for truth, justice and the Canadian way.   It is so hard for Cruz to stand to the side and see such a lesser man – as indeed all men are compared to Ted – take the helm of the GOP.

 

 

Today in Texas History – July 21

Leave a reply

A photo of Solitario Peak in Big Bend Ranch State Park

From the Annals of the Big Parks – In 1988, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission purchased Big Bend Ranch in Presidio County to form Big Bend State Natural Area now known as Big Bend Ranch State Park. The acquisition of the 311,000 acre ranch more than doubled the amount of park land under state control.  The park offers hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing and boating on the Rio Grande and even has a 5500 foot landing strip.

Photo of Solitario Peak from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Ted Cruz Booed Off Stage at GOP Convention

Leave a reply

Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) refused to endorse GOP nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday and exited the stage to a chorus of boos.  Even Cruz’s wife Heidi had to be escorted from the hall as epithets and insults rained down on her.  Cruz, perhaps the greatest narcissist to ever run for the Presidency (and that would be setting quite a standard), congratulated Trump on winning and then went on to give a speech that did not again mention his name.  Instead, Cruz took the opportunity to undermine the building sense of unity at the convention and instead lay the groundwork for a 2020 run in the event that Trump loses.  Seldom has there been a more naked attempt to promote a future candidacy at the expense of party unity and victory for the current nominee

As reported by the Texas Tribune, Texas delegate Shaun Ireland said it worked against party unity: “There was so much good feeling and unity at this convention for three days, and Ted Cruz just came in and cravenly threw it against a brick wall just so he could set himself up for 2020.” 

Anyone who knows anything about the Texas junior senator could not be in the least surprised that he gave a speech that was largely about his future and not focused on his previously beloved and now hated rival Trump.  It must be hard for Cruz to stand aside and let lesser men – and that would be every person alive other than Cruz himself – take the reins of the party and possibly the country.   So Cruz has either set himself up for a 2020 run or poisoned the GOP well.  Time will tell.  The only certain thing is that we have not heard the last of Tea Party hero and that his ego will demand at least three more attempts at winning the GOP nod.

.