Today in Texas History – June 13

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From the Annals of Higher Education –  In 1920, Sul Ross State Normal College began operations. The school which is located in Alpine is now known as Sul Ross State University.  The school is named for Lawrence Sullivan Ross a Texas Governor and Confederate General.  SRSU became the cultural and educational center for remote Big Bend region of Texas.  A major draw is the Museum of the Big Bend which serves as a depository for materials which depict the multicultural society and history of the Big Bend region.  The Archives of the Big Bend in the Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library collects documents reflecting the history and culture of the region.  SRSU offer 41 undergraduate and 27 graduate degree programs and has an enrollment of around 2000 students.

Today in Texas History – June 10

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From the Annals of Extracurricular Activities –  In 1940, 108 boys participated in the first annual Lone Star Boys’ State program. The program provides teenage boys with training in functional aspects of citizenship and teaches constructive attitudes toward the American form of government. Nationally the program was begun in the 1930s to counter Fascist-inspired Young Pioneer Freedom camps. Participants are grouped into mock cities, form a mock state government, and elect state officers. The program is held each summer, usually in June, at the University of Texas at Austin. Two boys are chosen to attend Boys’ Nation in Washington, D.C., each July.

Red’s Still Here

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Not that anyone really cares, but Red has been pretty darn occupied with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the last week or so.  Sometimes each category requires an undue amount of attention to keep from turning into death, incarceration and onset of misery.  It aint really that bad for Red, but as they say, it’s hard to remember your goal was to drain the swamp when you’re up to your ass in alligators.

Anyhow, Red is pretty good about posting some nonsense most week days and expects to continue that pretty soon.  So as they say – Watch this Space.

 

Quote for the Day

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“Those changes are fine with me because I want to facilitate the continued functioning of the Travis County Republican Party.  However, I will continue to hold the bully pulpit and continue to hold political criminals of both parties accountable.”

Rob Morrow – Incoming Chair of the Travis County GOP commenting on changes to reduce the role and power of County Chair.

Lord knows there are enough political criminals to keep Morrow busy.

 

Red Calls the Copa America Centenario

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Red will be watching a lot of soccer over the next few weeks with the Copa America Centario and the European Championship overlapping.  Here are Red’s picks for the CAC starting tonight:

Group Stage

Group A   – 1st Columbia; 2d USA

Group B   – 1st Brazil; 2d Ecuador

Group C  – 1st Mexico; 2d Uruguay

Group D – 1st Argentina, 2d Chile

Red doesn’t think that any of the CONCACAF teams other than the US and Mexico stand a chance to make it out of group play with the possible exception of Jamaica.  The Reggae Boys got a tough draw with Uruguay and Mexico in Group C.  They clearly  could make it out of a weak group like B.  And perhaps Haiti will surprise and knock off Ecuador for the second spot in Group B. Costa Rica might have had a chance but with ace goalkeeper Navas out it is a tough road.  The “match” of group play comes early with the Argentina-Chile pairing on June 6 in Santa Clara.  The match between the last two teams left standing in the tournament last year will be must see TV for all soccer fans.

Quarterfinals

Columbia 3 Ecuador 0

Argentina 1 Uruguay 0

USA 2 Brazil 2 (USA advances on PKs)

Mexico 2 Chile 1

A bit of a stretch to think that the US can beat Brazil but Brazil is playing with Neymar, Jr. (who decided to play in the Olympics) and this is not an outstanding Brazilian squad.  Argentina will be at full strength and has numerous weapons but is weak on the back line.  Columbia breezes by virtue of a relatively lucky draw.  And Mexico is fielding perhaps their strongest team ever with Javier Hernandez in good form joined by Peralta up front and a strong back line anchored by Layun and Marquez.

Semifinals

Argentina 3 USA 1

Mexico 2 Columbia 1

The US gets a bad draw here and suffers from not winning its group. Argentina should be the class of the field and Messi needs to prove that he can lead his team to something better than the usual second place finish.  Mexico gets a Columbian team that has an off form James Rodriguez and is missing their best defensive players from their remarkable 2014 World Cup Finals run.

Final

Argentina 2 Mexico 1

This could go either way but Los Albicelestes finally get a big trophy to put up on the mantel.

 

Copa America Centario Kicks Off Tonight

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The second biggest soccer tournament ever to be held in the U.S. kicks off tonight with the USA taking on Columbia in Santa Clara, CA.  The Copa America Centario  is a celebration of 100 years of South American futbol and will be played outside of S. America for the first time ever.  The tournament typically features all ten COMEBOL national teams from South America and two invitees to make up a 12 team field.  But in honor of 100 years of competition, this year’s edition includes all of the S. America squads and national teams from the U.S. (host), Mexico (CONCACAF Champion), Jamaica (Caribbean Champion), Costa Rica (Central American Champion) and Haiti and Panama who won entry in qualifying rounds.  The field includes powerhouses such as Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile (the defending champion).   Games will be played in ten venues (including 3 games at NRG in Houston) from tonight until the final on June 23 in New Jersey.

Keep your eye on this space for Red’s predictions.

 

Today in Texas History – June 3

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From the Annals of Space –  In 1965, Astronaut Ed White of San Antonio became the first American to take a stroll in space.  The so-called “space walk” occurred during the Gemini 4 mission.  The extra-vehicular activity (according to NASA jargon) started on the third orbit when White opened the capsule’s hatch and used the hand-held manuevering oxygen-jet gun to push himself out into space. The EVA started over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and lasted 23 minutes, ending over the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, White propelled himself to the end of the 8 meter tether and back to the spacecraft three times using the hand-held gun. After the first three minutes the fuel ran out and White manuevered by twisting his body and pulling on the tether.

Photo from NASA archives.

Did Greg Abbott Kill Lawsuit Against Trump U?

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After documents were released pursuant to a open records request, it was revealed that the Texas Attorney General’s office had determined that Trump University was a scam worthy of pursuit under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.  But now the Dallas Morning News reveals that a potential lawsuit against good ol’ Trump U was scuttled by none other than Our Poor Idiot Governor Greg Abbott.  Did Abbott – who was not shy about suing the federal government when he was AG – stop action against Donald Trump?  And did he get his reward in the form of campaign contributions from the self-proclaimed billionaire?

According to a DMN investigation, plans for the lawsuit and settlement negotiations had been carefully prepared; the AG’s office was ready to take action  and was looking at damages of at least $5.4 million for the violations – at least until the plan was killed by Abbott.

John Owens, the former deputy chief of the AG’s consumer protection division smells something rotten in the decision to let Trump skate after fleecing Texas consumers for millions of dollars.

“It was swept under the rug, and the consumers were left with no one to go to bat for them,” according to Owens who also claimed that the decision to not sue Trump was clearly political.  His consumer protection division routinely got approval to sue schools who offered bogus diplomas.  The only difference in this case was Trump’s status as a political player.

And what was the payoff for Greg Abbott?  A few years later, Trump donated $35,000 to Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign.  Other sources are reporting that Florida AG Pam Bondi dropped her office’s investigation and refused to join in a lawsuit against Trump just days after receiving a $25,000 campaign contribution from Trump.

So now we know just about exactly how much Texas consumers can be bought and sold for.  It’s a little more expensive than in Florida, but not much.

What Greg Abbott’s Office Had to Say about Trump University

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Our Poor Idiot Governor Greg Abbott has resoundingly endorsed Donald Trump for President of these United States.  But when his office investigated good ol’ Trump U back in 2010, it reached the conclusion that the whole scheme was a scam designed to fleece the gullible.   The Texas Attorney General Office’s investigation of deceptive trade practices at Trump University determined that the promises made to students were “virtually impossible to achieve.”

In the documents unearthed by a Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, Assistant Attorney General Rick Berlin stated that Trump University seminars  targeted real estate novices and promised “to teach these novices everything they need to know to be a successful residential real estate broker — in 3 days.”  But Berlin also noted, that in Texas, “to become licensed as a real estate broker you must have 900 hours of classroom instruction and 2 years selling experience.” Berlin also concluded that the information provided to students by Trump University “is essentially unusable,” and students “will be unable to recoup their investment in the course, much less make a profit, as promised by Trump U.  .  . . In addition to encouraging unlicensed activity (which is a misdemeanor in Texas), the course materials in a number of respects are simply wrong under Texas law.”

Apparently the AG’s investigation was enough to drive the Trump U hucksters out of Texas as the “University” stopped doing business in Texas shortly afterwards.

So kudos to OPIG for having driven a con man out of the state.  So exactly why does he want to bring him back now?  Does Red smell a vice-presidential hope in the air?