Today in Texas History – February 16

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From the Annals of Rome -In 1927, Arthur Jerome Drossaerts was consecrated as the first archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio in San Fernando de Béxar Cathedral. Drossaerts, a native of Holland, was ordained in 1889 and posted to Louisiana.  He served as a pastor in New Orleans, Broussard, and Baton Rouge. In 1918, Drossaerts was consecrated bishop of San Antonio. Drossaerts built more than sixty churches and fifty schools, the most significant of which was St. John’s Seminary. When the Diocese of San Antonio was made an archdiocese, Drossaerts became its first archbishop.   One of his significant contributions to Texas History was his work to keep the old San Antonio missions alive.

W Speaks, Red Translates

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George W. Bush hit the campaign trail for the first time since his overdue retirement in South Carolina.  He hopes to revive brother Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s flagging hopes to bring yet another Bush to the White House.  Apparently, the former President’s favorability ratings in the Palmetto State among Republicans are as high as 84%.  Which means those folks either have very short memories or really like a legacy of incompetence and failure.

As always, Red is there to translate for you.

Thank you South Carolina, Laura and I have very fond memories of our previous times campaigning in this State (because this state saved my bacon by buying into the lies that I told about John McCain – if you crackers were dumb enough to believe that BS then you just might be stupid enough to vote for my little brother Bush).

Americans  (mostly Tea Party backers) are angry (how did we let a darkie get elected twice) and frustrated (because Whitey is no longer King), but we do not need someone (and that would be anyone not named Bush) in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our frustrations (believe me I know all about frustration inflammation – my approval rating was about 20% at the end),” the former president said. “We need someone (a Bush, a Bush or a Bush) who can fix the problems (Dick Cheney is too damn old now) that cause our anger (read racial prejudice) and frustration (that Whitey thing again) and that’s Jeb Bush (did you think I was going to say Kasich?).”

Jeb is a man of deep and humble faith (dude better be humble because he makes me look like a freakin’ genius) that reveals itself through good works (making money trading on the ol’ family name), not loud words (or intelligible ones for that matter).  All of the sloganeering and all of the talk doesn’t matter if we don’t win (but we will spend all of the millions he has raised nonetheless because the Bush family is really a cottage industry when it comes to campaign consultants).

We’ve become tree farmers (finally something that’s really hard to screw up). It gives me some time to practice my stump speech (I made a funny, ha ha, get it?). I’ve been one to defy expectations (mostly because I was expected to do nothing more than trade on the family name, screw up, lose money and repeat – oh wait a minute, that kind of describes my presidency). I’ve been mis-underestimated most of my life (not really, as President I pretty much hit the mis-underestimated mark square on).”

Ted Cruz Pulls Ad Featuring Porn Actress

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The latest in a series of increasingly lame ads for Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has turned out to feature an actress that appeared in soft porn movies including Carnal Wishes, Milf, Deviant Whores, Confessions of a Lap Dancer and Insatiable Desire.   Cruz’s campaign confirmed late Thursday that it had pulled a commercial slamming Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over illegal immigration after discovering that Amy Lindsay had previously appeared in pornographic films.   For her part, Lindsay, who grew up in Houston and graduated from UT-Austin with a degree in Journalism, describes herself as a Christian conservative and a Republican and tweeted her disappointment with Cruz pulling the ad.

Damn, Red finally had an excuse to watch a Ted Cruz ad.

Photo from @amylindsayLA

Today in Texas History – February 12

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From the Annals of Incompetence – In 1869, sixty-one men, women, and children died when the sidewheel steamboat Mittie Stephens caught fire on Caddo Lake.  The MS had been running the New Orleans-Red River route since 1866. At that time Jefferson was the head of navigation via Caddo Lake due to the great log raft that obstructed traffic on the Red River. The MS left New Orleans on February 5 with 107 passengers and crew and a cargo that included 274 bales of hay.  The boat caught fire when a breeze blew a spark to the hay stacks from torch baskets that lighted the bows of the boat.  The blaze quickly spread and the boat headed for the shore only 300 yards away.  The boat grounded in three feet of water near Swanson’s Landing. Most of the passengers were killed by the incompetence of the pilot.  He kept the paddlewheels turning in an attempt to make the shore but ended up killing most of those lost when they were struck by the wheels while in the water.

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

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has reached a new low in his latest mass mailing.  The Cruz mailing looks like it is on his official Senate stationery and on the front states there is a “Check Enclosed.”   The check turns out to be a phony and not a check for the recipient.  Rather, it is a supposed matching contribution check that will go to the Cruz campaign if the voter makes a contribution to the Cruz campaign.

The mailer may violate  a 2015 Texas law requiring solicitations with a fake check to have “clearly and conspicuously printed in at least 18-point type: ‘SPECIMEN-NON-NEGOTIABLE.'”  Progress Texas has filed a complaint with the Texas attorney general’s office claiming a violation of that law.

“This is the kind of mail my legislation was trying to prevent,” said state Rep. Gene Wu (D). “It certainly breaks the spirit of the law, and I agree that the Texas’ Consumer Protection Division should look into whether or not it breaks the letter of the law, as well. Texas consumers should not be tricked into sending anyone their money, especially to elected officials.”

But what does the law matter when your campaign is a crusade to elect the only man capable of saving our nation and indeed humanity from the abyss.   The super-narcissist Cruz clearly does not think the law applies to him.

Image from the Huffington Post.

Today in Texas History – February 9

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From the Annals of LBJ –  In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed a Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion to Da Nang.  LBJ sent the troops to provide protection for a U.S. airbase.  This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war.  Red China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the U.S. became further involved in propping up the South Vietnamese regime. In Moscow, some 2,000 demonstrators, led by Vietnamese and Chinese students, attacked the U.S. Embassy. Britain and Australia supported the U.S. action, but France called for negotiations.

And For Those Suffering From Football Withdrawal . . .

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Fear Not!  SB Nation has already begun it’s 128 team preview of – wait for it – all 128 FBS college football teams.  And it starts with the worst team from last season – your University of North Texas Mean Green.  For the UNT-MG diehards, Bill Connelly at SB Nation has a mind-numbing array of statistics and other metrics which explain in great detail exactly why your team sucked last season.  He does provide the MG faithful with a small dash of hope in the hiring of head coach Seth Littrell – a Mike Leach protégée who has brought on former record-setting Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell to run the offense.

Jeb!!!!$$$$? Throws Eminent Domain Stone

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Jeb!!!!$$$$? attacked Donald Trump at the latest GOP slugfest in New Hampshire for using eminent domain to take an elderly woman’s house in Atlantic City for a parking lot.  Trump, however, was a piker compared to Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s big brother W when it comes to enriching yourself through the power of ED mixed with excellent family connections.

W had pretty much been a failure at every possible enterprise until he stumbled into an ownership position of the Texas Rangers.  His $600,000 investment somehow turned into over $14 million allowing him the financial security to make his first run for Governor.  But exactly how did that happen.  First, through some slick political maneuvering, he and his partners (primarily business genius Richard Rainwater) persuaded Arlington and Texas to directly subsidize the construction of a new stadium for the Rangers.  That taxpayers should foot the bill to make a billionaire like Rainwater and his cronies even richer was offensive enough.  But it did not end there.  In order to build the magnificent temple of baseball, W and his fellow owners successfully used the power of government to take land from other private citizens so it could be used for their own private purposes.

The details are complicated, but here is what happened. W and his partners in the Rangers convinced Arlington officials to: pass a half-cent sales tax to pay for 70% of the stadium; use the government’s powers of eminent domain to seized land the Rangers either could not or would not buy in a fair market transaction; give the Rangers near complete control over the stadium and environs; and allow the Rangers to buy the $191 million stadium for just $60 million. After 12 years as the sole occupant and primary beneficiary of the stadium project, the Rangers, a privately owned business, will receive title to the stadium for the $60 million worth of rent and expenses that they will have already paid.  Has Trump ever put together a deal that lined his personal pockets at the expense of the taxpayer that compares to this one?  Red doubts it.

So poor old Jeb!!!!$$$$? picks exactly the wrong stone to throw at Trump – a stone that will likely bounce of the billionaire’s Teflon and crash right back into the Bush family’s glass house.  Someone that politically inept doesn’t deserve to be President.

Today in Texas History – February 8

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From the Annals of the Old West –  In 1887, “Longhair Jim” Courtright was killed in a gunfight with Luke Short.  This particular violent episode actually matched the largely inaccurate movie legends which typically involve a face-to-face showdown at high noon in the middle of the street.  Most such shootouts were more of the ambush or hide behind the water trough while taking potshots variety.  However, this famous gunfight lived up to the classic Hollywood image.

Courtright had been at various times a jailer, Fort Worth City Marshal, deputy sheriff, deputy U.S. Marshal, hired killer, private detective and racketeer.  What was not disputed was Courtright’s ability with a gun and willingness to use it with deadly results.  After losing a race for another term as City Marshal he decamped to New Mexico where he participated in the killing of two men in a range war.  He escaped back to Texas where he had friends and resisted extradition ending up back in Fort Worth.

Luke Short was a gunfighter, gambler and bar owner who came to Fort Worth from Dodge City where he had dabbled in gambling, and befriended such legends as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp who were also friends of Courtright. In Fort Worth, he managed the White Elephant, a saloon and gambling house in the area around the Fort Worth Stockyards known as Hell’s Half Acre.  HHA contained numerous bars and whorehouses and was largely left alone by law enforcement.

Most historians believe the gunfight arose from Courtright’s protection racket.  When Short refused to pay for protection for his saloon, Courtright apparently felt the need to make him an example.  Short also had a reputation as a gunfighter mostly due to an 1881 gunfight with gunslinger Charlie Storms at the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone.  At 8:00 in the evening, Courtright called Short out of the White Elephant.   Short came out and confronted Courtright in front of a bar and brothel appropriately called the Shooting Gallery.   Few words were exchanged until the men faced off.  Courtright, who was probably drunk, said something about Short having a gun. Short claimed he was unarmed – a flat lie.  Probably for the benefit of future witnesses,  Courtright loudly exclaimed, “Don’t you pull a gun on me,” while drawing his own pistol.   Courtright’s gun hung for a second on his watch chain allowing Short to draw.  Short’s first shot blew off the thumb on Courtright’s shooting hand. As he attempted to shift the pistol to his other hand, Short fired four more shots in quick succession killing the notorious Courtright.

Two weeks later a prostitute named Sally was murdered and combined with the earlier gunfight, efforts to clean up the area gained irresistible momentum.  HHA would remain a rather wild spot for many more years but its days of abject lawlessness were coming to an end.

Today in Texas History – February 3

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From the Annals of Incompetence – In 2005, former Texas State Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic attorney general. The 60-36 vote was largely along party-lines, reflecting a divide between Republicans and Democrats over whether Gonzales’ role in propping up George W. Bush’s illegal counterterrorism policies had led to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere.  In his post as White House Counsel, Gonzales had written several memos that supported use of torture in the so-called War on Terror.  Gonzales provided cover for CIA agents who were already engaging in universally condemned acts of torture.

After taking office, controversy over Gonzales’ actions quickly surfaced.  He fired several prominent and well-respected U.S. attorneys and defended Bush’s domestic surveillance measures which were in fact a program of wide-scale unauthorized eavesdropping.  The unsupportable firings became the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007.  Gonzales was caught in several lies in his Senate testimony and it had become all too apparent that he was in way over his head as attorney general.  He was almost completely ignorant about the right of habeas corpus claiming that it was not in the constitution and his  Senate testimony was widely viewed as a public embarrassment.  Democrats and Republicans began calling for his resignation and for more investigations, but President Bush defended his appointee, saying that Gonzales was “an honest, honorable man in whom I have confidence.” That was the kiss of death and Gonzales resigned in September of 2007.  Gonzales now teaches at the Belmont University School of Law in Nashville.