Tag Archives: Texas News

Carson Crowd Trashes Cruz

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Ben Carson’s presidential bid appears to be on the fast track to Nowheresville, but he was still able to attract a crowd Tea Party hotbed Tarrant County on Sunday.  The most surprising aspect of the overflow event, was the hostility of attendees towards Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas).  The Texas Tribune has the skinny on the increasing disillusionment with Cruz in his “home state.”

[O]ver and over in conversations, members of this racially diverse, mostly evangelical crowd expressed revulsion toward the other GOP candidates, including home state U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cathy Singleton, a Frisco flight attendant, has admired Carson since she heard him speak at an event in Branson, Missouri. 

“I think he has a big shot. We were discussing it earlier today,” she said gesturing to her husband, James. “So far, he is the only candidate we haven’t caught in a lie. I don’t like to vote for people that have lied consistently. He’s an honest campaigner.”   

Singleton confirmed her comments alluded to Cruz’s recent campaign turbulence: accusations that his campaign deceived Iowa Republicans into believing Carson was dropping out of the race there, and charges that a Cruz staffer shared an online video that falsely purported to show U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida making a negative comment about the Bible. 

“Before that, I was looking at some of the other candidates thinking, ‘Yeah, well, you know, maybe’,” she said. “But if someone’s going play that dirty with someone in their own party, they’re going to do that to anyone.”  

The Carson supporters who gathered Saturday showed no bias for the Texas candidate. The overriding sentiment expressed was disillusionment.  

Carolyn Nelson is a retired educator and real estate agent from Irving. She said she voted early for Carson because he serves as a positive contrast to the “bullish stupid activities that’s going on with the other candidates.” 

“I have no anger toward him,” she said of Cruz. “But I have no trust in him at all. He makes me nervous. I think he is dishonest. I thought he was dishonest before Trump called him a liar. I just would not vote for him.” 

Linton Davis is an operations manager at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant. He called Cruz “a politician,” as if the term was an ad hominem attack. 

“The thing that makes Ted a politician is… not what he says, but the way he says it and the things he will do,” he said. “He plays dirty pool… There’s a sense with Ted that it’s an ends-justifies-the-means type attitude.” 

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

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) fired his communications director and top spokesman Rick Tyler, after Tyler promoted a video that wrongly depicted Sen. Marco Rubio (Est.-Florida) as trash-talking the Bible.

The Cruz campaign linked to a story showing a video of Rubio walking by a Cruz staffer and Cruz’s father Rafael, who were reading the Bible in a hotel lobby.  The subtitles on the video showed Rubio saying to the staffer, “Got a good book there, not many answers in it.”

Rubio communications director Alex Conant later tweeted out the same video with what he says are the correct subtitles.  Speaking of the Bible, Rubio says, “All the answers are in there.”

If there is a single person out there who doesn’t think this kind of campaign trickery begins and ends with the Junior Senator himself, then Red has some interesting investment options for you.   Tyler is a fall guy that had to go when this kind of abject dirty trick was exposed.

Jeb!!!!$$$$? Pulls Out

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Jeb!!!!$$$$? suspended his presidential campaign after a lackluster 4th place finish in South Carolina on Saturday.  Red is relieved because another Bush presidency might have just driven him over the edge.   With that in mind, here are the best comments overheard yet about Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s withdrawal.

“What, he was still running?”

“Looks like his mom was right.”

“He certainly was . . . a tall candidate.”

“Damn, now we won’t get to invade another country that doesn’t pose a direct threat to the U.S.”

” And there goes the only man who could make his big brother look smart.”

“I was looking forward to seeing him get 7% of the vote in Texas and show the nation we aren’t quite as dumb as we seem.”

“What’s George P. up to – besides hating his job?”

“Giving new meaning to “Bush League.”

“His college roommate said he was the dumbest man he had ever met.  Guess he didn’t know Marco Rubio.”

“$2800 per vote just doesn’t go as far as you might think.”

“What, he was still running?”

 

Relief for Stalled Drivers

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The Texas Department of Transportation has revealed a $1.3 billion plan to reduce congestion on Texas’ most jammed freeways.  The Texas Tribune reports that TxDOT will focus on 14 hotspots in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth.

The largest amount of state funding — $262 million — is going toward relieving congestion on parts of I-35 and U.S. 67 in Dallas. Another $210 million is also going toward I-10 in Houston. The proposal also allocates $148.6 million toward three different projects on I-35 in Austin, a portion of which topped TxDOT’s most recent annual list of the 100 most congested roadways in the state.

While TxDOT regularly allocates funding for road projects around the state, the size of Wednesday’s announcement and the focus on the state’s five largest cities was unusual. 

Bugg said the agency is focusing on cities because they are home to two-thirds of the state’s total population, which means they also possess some of the most jam-packed roads.  “Kind of a corollary of being home to two-thirds of the Texas population, those five major metropolitan areas are also home to 99 percent of Texas’ top 100 congested roads,” Bugg said. Bugg said Wednesday’s proposal is only the initial phase of a larger effort by TxDOT to clear Texas roads, something that would require further funding down the line. 

Ted Cruz Doesn’t Debate

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has mastered the art of the non-debate.  Here are the 10 basic rules:

  1. Never actually answer a question, it’s a sign of weakness.
  2. Never admit you made a mistake – other than a clerical error.
  3. Have a bag full of ready-to-deliver snarky comebacks and veiled insults.
  4. Talk over your opponents during their time.
  5. Attack the media whenever possible – especially when they are reporting truthfully about you.
  6. Perfect a disgusted, dismayed look that says – I can’t believe they aren’t smart enough to take everything I say for the gospel truth.
  7. Use that finger.
  8. Begin response with vicious attack on questioner – then segue to warm and meaningless family anecdote.
  9. When disgusted, dismayed look doesn’t work – turn to icy stare.
  10. Never actually answer a question.

Is it Just Red, or is Ted Cruz’s New Ad Just Plain Weird?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) launched a new TV ad in New Hampshire featuring hordes of well-dressed “accountants and lawyers” invading the US across what is supposed to be the Rio Grand and a border fence (notably, no one is seen actually scaling the fence).  The focus of the ad is a claim that if the aforementioned hordes of accountants, lawyers and presumably other professionals were illegally crossing the border and driving down salaries for those occupations, then the swells would be up in arms about illegal immigration.  First, this presupposes that illegal immigration has actually suppressed wages and implies that GOP policies which have helped to keep real incomes flat ever since Reagan’s inauguration have nothing to do with the problem.  Second, it’s just plain weird.

Button Up Your Overcoat

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The Weather Channel is predicting a colder than average winter for Texas and most of the Southern U.S.

For the first three months of 2016, WSI says the best chance of colder-than-normal temperatures lies in roughly the southern half of the Lower 48 states, from Southern California into the Southern Plains, Deep South, Florida and the Carolinas.

However, there’s a January catch.

“We expect a ‘tale of two months’, with a cold-West, warm-East first half of the month, followed by a reversal during the back half of the month towards potentially much colder eastern U.S. temperatures,” wrote Dr. Todd Crawford, WSI chief meteorologist, in their outlook released Friday.

Interestingly, one factor in this pattern reversal may have been brought about by an Icelandic storm that tugged above-freezing air to the North Pole between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. 

“The rapid and unexpected destruction of the tropospheric polar vortex, via the historically strong North Atlantic storm this week, has thrown a significant monkey wrench into the January forecast,” said Crawford.

Specifically, the more “blocked up” the upper-level flow is in the higher latitudes, the more likely cold air is going to be forced south into the U.S. The stronger and more persistent the blocking, the longer the cold air will stick around.

Crawford said whether the colder East pattern relents later in January is uncertain, as upper-atmospheric blocking, such as is forecast for mid-January, often lasts longer than numerical models suggest.

Red isn’t exactly sure what upper-atmospheric blocking entails, but it sounds bad and he is stocking up on fire wood.

Adele!

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Adele is coming to Texas.

  • November 1 – American Airlines Center Dallas, TX
  • November 2 – American Airlines Center Dallas, TX
  • November 4 – Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX
  • November 5 – Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX
  • November 8 – Toyota Center Houston, TX
  • November 9 – Toyota Center Houston, TX

Tickets go on sale this Thursday.

Now Red is not much of a pop music – arena concert fan, but he would go see Adele.

Texas Sues the Federal Government to Stop Syrian Refugee Resettlement

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Gov. Greg Abbott (TP-Texas) has authorized the Texas Dep’t of Health and Human Services to sue the US, Sec. of State John Kerry and others to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees into Texas.  The suit seeks to immediately stop any such resettlement efforts and claims, as legally required, that Texas will suffer irreparable harm if a couple of Syrian families (who already have relatives in Texas) are placed in the Dallas area.  The suit quotes the FBI Director and others who have expressed some concerns about the ability to vet the Syrian refugees who are applying for status in the U.S.  The suit also quotes the Director National Intelligence as saying, “We don’t put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.”

Whether those concerns create the prospect of irreparable harm (a required showing for the temporary relief sought) is perhaps questionable.  What is not questionable is the complete and total authority of the federal government over immigration including matters relating to resettlement of refugees.  There is no likelihood of success on the merits (another required showing to obtain temporary relief) here because Texas cannot and will never have any authority over immigration matters.

This lawsuit is a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources and clearly does nothing other than to burnish Abbott’s already glowing Tea Party credentials.  The Dallas Morning News has the petition filed by the State for your reading pleasure.

Houston to Host Games for Copa America Centario

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Houston will be hosting at least 3 games for the Copa America Centario – the second biggest soccer tournament to ever be played in the U.S.  Not since the 1994 World Cup has the U.S. been host to such a high-profile tournament.  In 1994, detractors wondered whether the U.S. would support the world’s biggest single sport event, but those questions were washed away with all time record attendance numbers and a smoothly run tournament.

The Copa America Centario –  to be played from June 3 to 26, 2016 –  is essentially an expanded version of the bi-annual Copa America tournament which determines the champion of South America.  Since there are only 10 countries in COMEBOL, the South American federation, tournament organizers have traditionally invited 2 other teams to create a 12 team tournament.

The Copa America Centario will feature 16 teams – all 10 from South America, plus the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the winners of playoffs between Panama v. Cuba and Trinidad-Tobago v. Haiti.  The tournament will feature world renown players such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, James Rodriguez of Columbia, Neymar, Jr. of Brasil and Giovanni Dos Santos of Mexico.

Other cities that will host games are New York, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

Red will be first in line for tickets and is hoping the Argentina will return to Texas for at least one game.