Nobody does post-season Magic Numbers like Red.
Magic Numbers:
3 to win AL Division Series
7 to win AL Pennant
11 to win World Series
Astros Magic Number Update
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Texans Take Note – It’s Now Okay to Damage, Mutilate, Deface and Burn Your Flags
The often obscure but powerful Texas Court of Criminal Appeals handed down its decision in State v. Johnson holding that Tex. Penal Code 42.11(a) is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Texas statute made it a crime to damage, mutilate, deface or burn a flag and was passed in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision 26 years ago that found Texas’ previous flag desecration statute to be similarly unconstitutional. Terence Johnson was prosecuted for violation of the statute when grabbed a flag from a storefront and threw it into the street. There was no evidence that the act was politically motivated as Johnson claimed he did it because he was mad. The Court looked beyond motivation and held that the statute was unconstitutional on its face because it criminalized expressive activity that is protected as free speech under the First Amendment. The decision is a victory for free speech advocates. As the flag is a hot button issue for the right, expect a host of bloviators who know nothing about constitutional law taking aim at the Court for protecting the free speech rights of Texas citizens. And while Red has to except former Supreme Court Clerk and Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) from those who know nothing about constitutional law, Red would be shocked if he is not leading the charge.
Today in Texas History – October 7
From the Annals of the Red River – in 1759, a Spanish troop led by Diego Ortiz Parrilla was defeated by a group of Native Americans at a fortified Taovaya (Wichita) village near Spanish Fort. Parrilla’s expedition was intended to punish the Norteños (in this case the Tawakonis, Tonkawas, and Wichitas) for their destruction of Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission in1758. Parrilla’s force consisted of 400 troops from the provinces of northeastern Mexico and the Texas presidios and 176 mission Indians and Apaches. The need for retribution was reinforced by continuing attacks. In December 1758, a Comanche band accompanied by members of eleven other groups surprised a group of Apaches near the presidio and killed twenty-one. In March a native force reportedly made up of the same tribes responsible for the mission attack massacred nineteen men guarding the presidio’s horse herd, leaving only one survivor.
On October 7, the troop was attacked by sixty or seventy warriors who led the Spaniards into a well-laid trap. In pursuit, the troop was led to a sandbank at the edge of the Red River, before the fortified Taovaya village. The Spaniards attempted to withdraw to regroup but found the road cut off by mounted Indians firing muskets. The Spaniards were trapped in the sand with horses sinking up to their knees. The resulting 4 hour battle went badly for the force. Facing a superior force of Comanches, Yaceales, and Tawakonis, and Taovayas, the Spaniards were attacked from the fort and the field. The troop eventually unlimbered two cannons but they did not affect the course of the engagement. The Apaches, Mission Indians and a number of Spaniards deserted. As darkness fell, Ortiz Parrilla managed an orderly withdrawal, leaving the cannons on the field but with losses of nineteen men killed, fourteen wounded, and nineteen by desertion.
Ruins of San Saba Mission from Texas Escapes.
Texas Sports Quadruple-Header
On Thursday we have the rare weekday/night Texas sports Quadruple-Header:
3:30 pm Texas Rangers at Toronto BlueJays
7:00 pm SMU Mustangs at Houston Cougars
7:25 pm Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans
7:30 pm Houston Astros at Kansas City Royal
Red’s Texas College Football Game of the Week
This week the brilliant schedulers have a Thursday night match-up between SMU and University of Houston at lovely but usually empty TDECU Stadium (it just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it). This normally would not matter much as the Cougars are clearly an afterthought on the Houston sports scene these days. But the Houston Texans are also playing the Indianapolis Colts Thursday night in Houston. Not only will no one be at the game, no one will be watching it either. But they might just miss a good one. The Dallas Morning News reports that the cocky Cougars are reported to have taped Mustang jerseys to the floor of the locker room so that they can walk on them all week. That’s just the sort of thing that can occasionally result in a come-uppance for a superior team. There is absolutely no rational reason to think that the 1-3 Ponies can come into Houston and upset a team that is averaging 48 points and over 600 yards a game and is on the verge of its first Top 25 ranking in years. UH quarterback Greg Ward is starting to get Heisman talk and while everyone focuses on the high-flying UH offense under new head coach Tom Herman, the Cougar defense has shown some mettle against a quality opponent like Louisville. Well, all that isn’t going to deter Red from picking the upset here. SMU 37 UH 31.
Bastrop Chickens Out?
Red was unaware that Bastrop had a free-range chicken sanctuary. But the formerly bucolic tolerance of the fearless fowl is waning as residents complain of chicken overpopulation, noise and chicken waste. Residents of Bastrop having led the charge against Jade Helm 15, now have something real to complain about. Red has observed that the greatest myth about roosters is that they crow at dawn. They crow all the damn time. The Wall Street Journal reports on chicken controversy.
A flock of feral chickens has been protected by law in Bastrop since 2009, given free rein to roam on a stretch of a paved road named Farm Street.
On a recent afternoon, cars slowed as roosters and hens crowed and clucked and strutted across the street, which is lined with bright yellow signs declaring, “Slow: Farm Street Historic Chicken Sanctuary.”
The flock is believed to date back to bygone farms in this town of 7,856 people some 30 miles southeast of Austin. The birds are beloved by the neighborhood, and when the city attempted to round them up, Farm Street residents pushed for sanctuary status.
Now, however, some in Bastrop are squawking. The birds are proliferating and migrating to other parts of town, where their all-night crowing and indiscriminate release of avian feculence isn’t considered charming.
Mayor Ken Kesselus has a message for the chickens who wander beyond the Farm Street sanctuary: You’re fair game.
A “bad rooster” responsible for flower-bed scratching and other offenses personally spurred the mayor to action last December.
“I organized a posse,” says Mr. Kesselus, a 68-year-old retired Episcopal preacher, “but we didn’t have any luck.”
The problem was that it was a “senior posse,” he says, and the bird easily flummoxed the older men for hours with his ability to scamper and fly. Undeterred, Mr. Kesselus returned the following day with some neighborhood teens and a fishing net. It took some effort, but they got their prey, he crows.
City council member Kay Garcia McAnally, author of the chicken ordinance, says the birds shouldn’t be blamed for straying from Farm Street.
“Unfortunately, they can’t read the signs,” she says.
Photo from www.365bastrop.com
Today in Texas History – October 6
From the Annals of the Code Duello – In 1839, Reuben Ross and Ben McColluch fought a duel in a field north of Gonzales. The dispute was actually between McColluch and Alonzo B. Sweitzer and arose during their 1839 race for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and came to a head during their subsequent involvement in the pursuit of Indians who had raided Gonzales County. Following a lengthy exchange of insults, Sweitzer’s friend Ross delivered a formal challenge to McCulloch, who refused to accept on the grounds that Sweitzer was not a gentleman. Ross, however, was an acceptable substitute. Ross, an trained and experienced duelist, seriously wounded Ben McCulloch in the rifle duel. A shot to his right arm left McCulloch permanently crippled. Ross sent his personal surgeon to attend to McCulloch and expressed regret at having to have engaged “so brave a man in a private encounter.” McCulloch was indicted for accepting the challenge but was not prosecuted. Ross himself was later killed by McCulloch’s brother Henry in an alcohol fueled confrontation. And Sweitzer died in a duel in 1841. The encounter was one of many foolish examples of code duello tradition that persisted in Texas despite the antidueling law passed by the Congress of the republic in 1836.
Why Vote?
Seem like your vote just doesn’t matter anymore? You may be right. Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune explains how your state representatives and senators have rigged the system to protect incumbency and secure themselves the benefits of office at the expense of any real electoral choice. The chances of a Texas incumbent actually losing his or her office to a candidate of the opposing party are practically nil. The only possible challenges are in the primaries which tend to skew further right or left and leave us represented by many politicians who cater to the fringe of their parties. Look at the map above which shows how Texas Republicans chewed up Austin to prevent it from electing more than one Democrat from the bastion of Texas liberalism.
Not counting their U.S. senators, Texans elect 217 federal and state legislators, and all but 15 of those seats will be on the ballot next year.
Voters will dump some people. Other officeholders will hang it up — some already have. This, however, you can take to the bank no matter how many of the faces change: fewer than a dozen of those 217 positions will see a change of party. Probably not even that many. The maps are rigged to favor the parties that are in power in each district.
Start with the congressional maps. In the average competitive statewide race in Texas in the last two presidential years — 2008 and 2012 — the Republican candidate beat the Democratic candidate by 11.7 percentage points. The margins in congressional districts range from a Democratic high of 58.1 points to a Republican high of 52.4 percent. It’s safe to say that Dallas’ Eddie Bernice Johnson and Clarendon’s Mac Thornberry don’t have anything to worry about in next November’s elections. Their primaries could always be interesting, but you’re not going to beat either of them with a candidate from the opposing party.
The Slaves Were Just Workers Without Choice of Employer, Salary or Freedom
Think Progress reports on the utter stupidity that has come from Texas’ control on textbook content. Textbook publishers must kowtow to the ultra-right Texas Board of Education in crafting textbooks because Texas is a huge market.
A Texas mother spoke out against part of McGraw-Hill’s textbook, “World Geography,” when she noticed that the language erased slavery by calling slaves “workers” and including them in the section “Patterns of Immigration.” One example of the text:
The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.
Roni Dean-Burren, who taught English for more than a decade and is now a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston, pointed out that the language of “worker” suggests compensation and “immigration” suggests that people weren’t kidnapped and brought to North America against their will. She first learned about the textbook section when her son sent her a photo of the text.
The real political correctness is now coming from the right-wing. We can’t really mention the inconvenient fact that much of the early U.S. economy was built on slave labor.
Astros Magic Number Update
Astros Magic Number: 0
Red isn’t quite sure how they pulled it off, but the Astros are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. They will play a Wildcard game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday at 7:08 pm. Red congratulates Mgr. A.J. Hinch and the entire ball club on surprising the baseball world. But for the September swoon they would have won the AL West going away. As it stands, fans will have to hope that they can eke out one more road win to keep the magic alive for at least a few more games.
With probable Cy Young award winner Dallas Keuchel on the mound Tuesday, the Astros have a shot. Keuchel has not exactly been a road warrior. Keuchel is 5-8 away from Minute Maid Park this season with all of his losses coming on the road. The good news is that this season, Keuchel is 2-0 against Los Yanquis with a 0.00 ERA. The Astros really need something like a 3 hit complete game from their Ace on Tuesday.
