Astros Baseball

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Red likes baseball but going to more than 5 or 6 games a season starts to seem like work.  Red was out at Minute Maid Park for the second time this season to see the suddenly stagnant Astros against the Detroit Tigers.  But even though they lost, Saturday night was fun because they welcomed back the 2005 NL Champions.  That will be the first and only National League Pennant the ‘Stros will ever win barring another realignment.  Red shares some random observations with the loyal readers:

  1. Luis Valbuena is pretty darn good defensive first baseman. Too bad defensive first basemen are a dime a dozen and there are too many nights when LV can’t hit his way out of a paper bag.
  2. Preston Tucker seemed to catch Ian Kinsler’s sinking line drive to end the 5th inning.  When the call was overturned on replay, the umpire determined that the baserunner would likely have scored from second and the Tigers took a 1-0 lead and the Astros defense was called back into the field.  How do you make a credible determination in real time that the runner would have scored?  If Tucker had come up throwing instead of trying to sell the catch, it could have been a close call at the plate.
  3. The Detroit Tigers’ bat boy is bigger than most of the players.
  4. Orbit looks like he needs a good dry cleaning. Red aint touching that fur.
  5. The Astros’ Dugout Girls (Red has looked for their official name and can’t find it) all have rag arms.  Only one of them can throw a free T-Shirt 12 rows.
  6. The waffle cone stuffed with mashed potatoes and fried chicken with honey mustard is pretty damn good.
  7. Saturday night games should not start at 6:10.
  8. From the 2005 team, Brad Lidge still looks damn good.  Jeff Bagwell – not so much.
  9. If you are picked to sing the National Anthem – don’t start off with God Bless America.  To her credit, the young lady admitted her goof and then belted out a very credible version of the Star Spangled Banner.
  10. It was cool that Brad Ausmus (now Tigers manager) could join his mates from the 2005 team in the pre-game festivities.  Then he had to go ruin the occasion by winning.

Sid Miller Formulates Foreign Policy

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Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is wandering far afield during his current junket to China.  Miller is supposed to be promoting Texas agricultural products, but took time out to share the following post on Facebook.

Sid Miller's Sunday night Facebook post.

So we now have an Agriculture Commissioner who is in favor of nuclear war with the “Muslim World.”  That’s over one billion people at last count.  That’s a lot of bombs.  Sid, when we want your opinion on foreign policy matters, we will ask for it.  Don’t hold your breath.

Today in Texas History – August 17

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From the Annals of Bad Luck –   David Crockett was born in what is now Greene County, Tennessee (technically a part of N. Carolina at the time of his birth).  Crockett’s family traversed Tennessee in a series of failed attempts to establish businesses.  Crockett himself was first employed as a drover in a cattle drive from Tennessee to Virginia and was also indentured at various times to pay off his father’s debts.  Crockett’s political career began with his appointment as a justice of the peace in 1817.  From there he sought and won office to the Tennessee state assembly in 1821 and served several terms representing different districts.  He lost in his first run for Congress in 1825, but after being encouraged to try again, he won election in 1827.  Crockett was a consistent champion for the rights of poor settlers whose property rights were endangered by a complicated system of land grants. He introduced a bill to abolish West Point which he viewed as providing free education for sons of the wealthy.   He served two terms before being voted out for his opposition to the Indian Removal Act.  He was returned to Congress 2 years later and served 2 more terms before being defeated in 1835.  Crockett arguably was the best known American of his day – especially after publishing his autobiography.

His decision to go to Texas was likely motivated by a desire to continue his political career.  Crockett was 49 and his military service had been largely limited to work as a scout and hunter finding food for the troops.  Some have speculated that he believed his fame would translate into the presidency of a newly formed Texas nation.   The details of his death at the Alamo have been hotly debated.  More on that on another Today in Texas History.

Today in Texas History – August 14

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From the Annals of Print Journalism –  In 1819, Eli Harris published the first edition of the Texas Republican  in Nacogdoches.  The paper is believed to be the earliest newspaper published in Texas for which records exist in contemporary St. Louis and New Orleans papers. It is unknown how many issues of the Republican were printed.  It was short-lived as  sources indicate that the Texas Republican  had discontinued publication by September 1819.

Open Carry for All

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A group of New Black Panthers staged a protest in front of the Waller County Jail in  Hempstead.  The protestors were exercising their Second Amendment rights and their rights under Texas law and were armed with shotguns, hunting rifles and assault weapons. In an apparent panic of seeing black men legally armed in their streets, Waller County authorities called Harris County for support.  Harris County sent 75 deputies and a plane to monitor the entirely legal protest by the 15 NBP’s.  Fortunately, there were no incidents and no one was arrested or injured.  Red wonders what the reaction of the Waller County authorities would have been to a similar group of armed Rednecks marching in their fair community demanding a return of Jim Crow.  For the Redneck spin on the protest see Breitbart.

Today in Texas History – August 13

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From the Annals of Discrimination –  In 1906, an alleged attack by soldiers from the  black  25th Infantry Division stationed at Fort Brown resulted in the largest summary dismissals US Army history.  The troops fresh from duty in the Phillippines arrived in Brownsville on July 28.  . The First Battalion, minus Headquarters and Company A, arrived at Brownsville.  The town greeted them racial hostility and discrimination with many local businesses refusing to serve them.  After reports of an attack on a white woman on the night of August 12,  Maj. Charles W. Penrose, after consultation with Mayor Frederick Combe, declared an early curfew the following day to avoid trouble with the increasing tension.  Sometime around midnight, a locol bartender was killed in a shootout that also critically wounded a police officer.   Some townspeople blamed the troops and made unverified claims that the soldiers were running through the streets shooting.

A series of investigations followed, but no individual soldiers were ever identified as having committed criminal acts.  Maj. Augustus P. Blocksom, of the army’s Southwestern Division, found that the soldiers were uncooperative and recommended dismissal. The troops for their part denied any knowledge of the shooting. Texas Ranger Cap. William J. McDonald arrested 12 men but none were ever indicted. Inspector General Ernest A. Garlington claimed there was a “conspiracy of silence”  and urged dismissal of the men. On November 5 President Theodore Roosevelt summarily discharged “without honor” all 167 enlisted men who had been stationed at Fort Brown.

A Senate investigation of the matter instigated by Roosevelt rival Sen. Joseph B. Foraker (R-Ohio) resulted in conflicting majority and minority reports and no action for the men who had been summarily dismissed.   When some of the men reapplied for enlistment, Roosevelt was forced to appoint a board of retired army officers to review the applications. After interviewing about half the applicants, the Court of Military Inquiry approved only fourteen of the men for re-enlistment.

The matter lay dormant until 1972,  when  Rep. Augustus Hawkins (D-California) took up the cause of the wrongly dismissed soldiers. The Nixon administration concurred and awarded honorable discharges without back pay. Dorsie Willis, the only surviving veteran, received a $25,000 pension.

Cruz Going After JEB!!!!$$$$$?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas), who has refused to criticize Donald Trump for attacking Mexicans, Gays, Weenies and  oh, my gosh Fox News, has finally found another GOP candidate that he is willing to use as a punching bag.  And it’s the doughy, sad sack, scion of the Bush dynasty – JEB!!!!$$$$$?  Cruz, who has refrained from uttering the dastardly accusation of being a RINO at JEB!!!!$$$$$?, is leaving that epithet for use by his supporters.  Cruz, however, is going after him with bacon-wrapped guns blazing. The Texas Tribune has the details.

Cruz, who wraps up his bus tour through the South today, has become increasingly critical of the former Florida governor “as a prime example of what’s ailing the GOP,” and his crowds are liking that message . . .

During campaign stops Monday and Tuesday in Tennessee and Mississippi, Cruz’s references to the former Florida governor, now a staple of the senator’s stump speech, often elicited loud booing, sometimes accompanied by scattered shouts of “Establishment!” or “RINO!” (Republican In Name Only). …

“We’re tired of losing,” Cruz said Tuesday when asked why he thought Bush’s name was drawing such strong reactions on the campaign trail. …

In an interview aboard his campaign bus Tuesday in Mississippi, Cruz praised Bush’s “candor” in a seemingly backhanded compliment.

“He has been quite candid in embracing amnesty, in embracing Common Core,” Cruz said. “Now those policy positions are dramatically out of step with Republican primary voters, but I have commended his courage of convictions that he sticks with his defense of amnesty and his defense of Common Core.”

Them’s Fighting Words.

Floods, Drought, Plague, Pestilence

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The heavy rains of late spring and early summer have been followed up by unrelenting heat and no rain.  It rained at Casa Red for the first time in over a month last night, but it was about enough to settle the dust and make it really steamy.  There’s nothing like it being 102 degrees and raining.  And it aint only Red’s begonias that are suffering – many cities in the state had a record dry July.  The Weather Channel has more.

No rain was recorded in Waco during July and this rainless streak has continued through the first 11 days of August. The last time there was measurable rainfall was June 30 when 0.01 inches fell. That makes 42 consecutive days with no rain. There are two other Julys on record with no rainfall (1993 and 1930) and the average rainfall for the month is 2.03 inches. This comes after Waco experienced their 11th wettest May, with 9.27 inches of rainfall. 

Tyler recorded its driest July on record with no measurable rainfall and no rain has been seen through August 11. At the opposite end of the spectrum May was the wettest on record with 11.83 inches recorded. It was a very wet spring as the city saw its second wettest April with 8.68 inches of rain, and second wettest March with 8.02 inches. 

It has not rained in Dallas since July 8 when 0.92 inches of rain fell making 34 consecutive days with no precipitation, making it the longest dry streak since 2000 and placing in the top-ten longest dry streaks on record. This is quite the change from this spring which saw the wettest May on record when 16.96 inches of rain drenched the city. April and June also saw above average rainfall. 

Austin-Bergstrom just saw their driest July on record with only 0.01 inches recorded, which beat the previous record of 0.02 inches set in 1994, 1986 and 1951. On the opposite end of the spectrum, May was the second wettest, courtesy of the 13.44 inches of rain that fell. Austin at Camp Mabry saw its second driest July with only a trace measured and this is after seeing their wettest May with 17.59 inches of rain recorded. No rain has been observed through August 11.

Another city that has gone from flood to drought is Houston. Only 0.61 inches of rain was measured in Houston this July, which is 3.18 inches below average. This July, in fact, was the fourth driest on record which comes after the fifth wettest May and eighth wettest June when 14.17 inches and 11.39 inches, respectively, were recorded. The end of May was also marked by extensive flooding in the Houston metro area.

West Texas Investors Club or Rattlesnake Tank?

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Red happened to stumble on a new show last week while searching for a Premier League game.  Inc.com  profiles the latest reality series from CNBC – a take off on Shark Tank called West Texas Investors Club.  The premise is the same as Shark Tank as budding entrepreneurs seek funding for their start-up – but the setting and vibe could not be more different.

CNBC’s new reality series West Texas Investors Club takes the Shark Tank model of entrepreneurs pitching business ideas and adds a crucial new ingredient: beer.

The one-hour show stars self-made millionaires Michael “Rooster” McConaughey (older brother of Matthew) and Wayne “Butch” Gilliam, two veterans of the oil-and-gas pipeline industry who listen to startup pitches mostly while drinking Miller Lite.

The first season of the show premiered on Tuesday, August 4 and will run for eight episodes.

One big difference between West Texas Investors Club and Shark Tank is how McConaughey and Gilliam test out the startup models before deciding to invest.

For example, in the show’s first episode, the pair brought entrepreneur Adam Garfield’s drink-ordering app SpeedETab to a local bar to see how it would be received by customers. 

“For every entrepreneur that comes to us, we’re going to try to figure out a way to put them in a real-life scenario,” Gilliam says. “We want to put them under the gun and see what their character is all about.”

Red may want to try to get funding for a website about Texas history, current events, politics and drinking.