Tag: texas

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1/3rd of ERCOT Board Resigns: Just 2/3rds More To Go

Throughout the cold blast of last week, much news was made about the fact that three of the key members of the board of the Electric (non) Reliability Council of Texas weren’t even from Texas. In fact, it turned out the chairman lives in Michigan, the vice-chair also lives out of state, along with one other member of the 15-member board.

Well, guess what? Those news reports actually understated the out-of-state issue with this board. Turns out that there were no fewer than five non-Texans running Texas’s power grid. Happily, each and every one one of them resigned yesterday, along with a sixth non-Texan who was scheduled to move onto the board in the coming weeks:

Five members of the board of directors at the entity that operates Texas’ electrical grid will resign from their posts on Wednesday, according to a notice posted to the Public Utility Commission website.

Board Chairwoman Sally Talberg, Vice Chairman Peter Cramton, and members Terry Bulger, Raymond Hepper and Vanessa Anesetti-Parra will all resign from their posts on Wednesday, during the next meeting of the board of directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.

ERCOT has come under fire for its handling of widespread blackouts that left millions of Texans without power and water as the state faced subfreezing temperatures, snow and ice.

None of the five members resigning from their posts live in Texas.

“Our hearts go out to all Texans who have had to go without electricity, heat, and water during frigid temperatures and continue to face the tragic consequences of this emergency,” the letter reads. “We have noted recent concerns about out-of-state board leadership at ERCOT. To allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board.”

Craig Ivey, who was set to fill a vacant position on the board, said in a separate letter that he was withdrawing his candidacy “in order to avoid becoming a distraction” due to his out-of-state residency.

[End]

Look, I love non-Texans, so don’t get me wrong here. But ERCOT is a quasi-government entity – technically a 501(c)(4) non-profit – that runs the grid that supplies 80% of the state with power. It reports directly to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). In a state with 28 million residents, it seems to most of us here in Texas that we ought to be able to find 15 actual Texans who know how to manage a power grid.

I mean, we don’t elect Michiganders to our state legislature, or Marylanders to serve as our governor, do we? The governor can’t appoint Californians or Alabamans to serve on our PUC, can he? We don’t have a Louisianan as our attorney general, even though that might end up being tons of fun and all manner of shenanigans.

At the end of the day, my one and only problem with these five folks leaving the board – from which they were likely to be fired, anyway – is that the number is not 15.

My suspicion is that, like any other semi-accountable board of this type, ERCOT’s board has become a big social club, a cushy assignment with a huge paycheck that none of its members take too seriously. I honestly can find no other explanation for the fact that, when this board met on February 9, as the first of 3 arctic fronts was already pouring into the state, it spent just 45 seconds (that’s not a typo) of a 2-hour meeting discussing preparation measures for what they already knew at that point would ultimately become a major winter weather event.

The fact that not one of the 15 members had a single question or concern about preparedness for such a major event that they wanted to raise in that meeting tells me that there are no serious people currently serving on that board.

So, 5 down and just 10 more to go. If they won’t voluntarily resign, then the PUC and Governor Abbott needs to resign them. In fact, after the clownshow Texans suffered through last week – with more than 70 human beings ending up dead – the entire organization needs to be demolished down to the studs and reconstituted. Only a bold move such as that will give Texans any comfort that we won’t just be living through a replay of last week again sometime in the near future.

Are you listening, Governor Abbott?

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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What Really Happened in Texas Last Week

Just so everyone knows that all forms of power generation in Texas failed us to some extent this past week, I wanted you all to see the chart below. Here is what it shows, in terms of the % of power loss by energy source from 11:00 p.m. Feb 14 [At the peak of the chart] to 11:00 p.m. Feb 17, when 4 million Texans were without power:

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Natural Gas fell from 43 mwh to 32 mwh, a loss of 26%

Solar dropped from 1 mwh to ZERO, a loss of 100%

Wind dropped from 8 mwh to 3 mwh, a loss of a whopping 63%

Coal fell from 12 mwh to 8 mwh, a loss of 33%

Nuclear fell from 4 mwh to 3mwh, a loss of 25%

It is also key to note here that, from midnight on February 9, when the first blast of cold weather began to set in across the state, until 11:00 p.m., February 14, when output peaked, Natural Gas rose from 14 mwh to 43 mwh, or roughly 300%. Over that same span of time, Wind dropped from about 30 mwh to 8 mwh, or about 72%.

So, although a relative handful of natural gas power plants did freeze up, either due to the weather or due to lack of natural gas supply as some pipelines also lost pressure, the unarguable fact of the matter is that so-called “renewables” were utterly useless to Texas consumers during this life-threatening emergency, and that without Natural Gas, the entire state would have been left freezing in the dark.

That is according to the official data coming from ERCOT and the U.S. Energy Information Administration. So, next time you see the leftwingers at the Texas Tribune or Houston Chronicle or New York Times or CNN tell you it was all the fault of natural gas, you know they’re really failing to tell the real story.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Victory! Texas Wins Challenge to Biden Deportation Freeze.

Turns out that some Republicans aren’t just going to take all of this nonsense sitting down. – Throughout the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, every executive order he issued was immediately challenged by Lawfare lawyers in the federal courts. The leftwing activists were clever about bringing their challenges in leftist-dominated jurisdictions like Hawaii, Oregon and California, where they had the best chance of drawing a fellow leftist judge who would rule in their favor.

Many had assumed that Republicans were too dumb and timid to play the same legal games when China Joe Potato Head Biden began signing off on the dozens of orders laid out before him by his elder-abusing handlers. Frankly, given the past behavior by the GOP establishment, that seemed a pretty safe assumption.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, though, is not a part of the GOP establishment. So, when Biden issued his order freezing deportations of illegal alien criminals, Paxton immediately filed a challenge to that order. Today, the federal judge who drew the case, District Judge Drew Tipton, issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the policy nationwide for 14 days:

From a story at MSN.com:

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday temporarily blocked a move by new U.S. President Joe Biden to halt the deportation of certain immigrants for a 100-day period, a swift legal setback for his ambitious immigration agenda.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, an appointee of former President Donald Trump in the Southern District of Texas, issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the policy nationwide for 14 days following a legal challenge by Texas.

The Biden administration is expected to appeal the ruling, which halts the policy while both parties submit briefs on the matter.

Biden promised on the campaign trail to enact a 100-day moratorium on deportations if elected, a proposal that contrasted sharply with the immigration crackdown promoted by Trump, a Republican.

[End]

Note how the story – published first by the hacks at Reuters – identifies Tipton as a Trump appointee, in stark contrast to the corrupt media’s practice of uniformly failing to made such identification of the Obama and Clinton appointees who issued nationwide restraining orders against an array of Trump orders. But hey, that’s just what the corrupt, Nazi-style news media does.

So, Republicans have their first court victory against this far-leftwing administration. Let’s hope and pray it is but the first of many more to come.

God Bless Texas.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever before. Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge. It’s the tool I use to help keep up with all the day’s events, and it should be your tool, too.

Plenty of Good News for the GOP in This Election

It’s morning again in America; not the morning we necessarily had hoped for, but one filled with hope and promise for the future, as America’s mornings tend to be.

With all the angst prevailing over the presidential race still being up in the air, let’s focus on the good news out of this election for the GOP, because there was plenty to be found.

Let’s start with the U.S. Senate, which appears to be destined to remain in GOP hands:

– Mitch McConnell rolled to an easy win in Kentucky;

– Lindsey Graham overcame $130 million in Hollywood/New York money funding his Democrat opponent to roll to a landslide, 12-point re-election;

– John James appears poised to take the Michigan seat from Democrat Gary Peters;

– Tommy Tubberville has re-taken the Alabama seat from Democrat Doug Jones;

– Steve Daines rolled to an easy win in Montana over heavily-funded Democrat Steve Bullock;

– John Cornyn ran up an easy, 10-point victory over his goofy opponent in Texas;

– Not sure this is “good” news, but even Susan Collins appears to have won her re-election in Maine.

All in all, these victories and others will be enough to secure a GOP majority in the Senate for the next two years. If Sonny Perdue can avoid a runoff, that majority will be at least 51 seats, and if James can hang on and if Kelly Loeffler can win her runoff against Democrat Raphael Warnock, the majority will remain at 53 seats.

Thus, the GOP Senate majority has been vindicated for its decision to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and will now serve as a firewall against the excesses of a Biden/Harris presidency should that end up coming to fruition. This outcome was vital for the safety of the Republic, so celebrate this, even if it does mean we have to listen Susan Collins for another 6 years.

Meanwhile, in Texas… – One thing I actually got right was the fact that Texas was never really “in play” as an array of fake polls commissioned by various media outlets and opportunist universities tried to pretend.

President Trump will end up winning Texas by 6%, while Senator Cornyn and Republican Texas Railroad Commission candidate Jim Wright trounced their well-funded Democrat opponents by double digits. The GOP also retained its majorities in both houses of the state legislature and will retain 2/3rds of the state’s seats in the U.S. house.

Texas remains a reliably red state, and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

***UPDATE*** One more thing I forgot to mention about Texas: Wendy Davis and Beto O’Rourke got smacked down one more time by Lone Star State voters. Abortion Barbie was soundly defeated in her race for the state’s 21st congressional district, losing to incumbent Chip Roy by 7% of the vote.

Irish Bob wasn’t on the ballot, but he campaign heavily for both Davis and M.J. Hegar, the weird woman who attempted to challenge John Cornyn. O’Rourke was also instrumental in convincing the national Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee to establish a costly office operation in Austin, throwing millions of good money after bad.

This outright repudiation couldn’t happen to a nicer couple of people.

But what about Florida? – Florida just keeps getting redder, and that’s a great thing for America. The President won that state by about 400,000 votes thanks in large part to his making major inroads with the Cuban/Venezuelan immigrant community in Miami/Dade County. The state’s Republican Party needs to work hard to ensure those new Hispanic voters are paid attention to in the coming years, because if they feel ignored and taken for granted, that progress could be quickly lost.

GOP congressional candidates also ousted a pair of Democrat incumbents in southern Florida, including the execrable old communist hack Donna Shalala.

Ohio sets its redness in stone. – Trump won this state by 8 points, and much of that phenomenon can be attributed to the state’s new focus on oil and gas production from the prolific Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. As in Pennsylvania, Fracking politics had a big role to play here.

Some other congressional pickups. – Republicans will not flip the House, but San Fran Nan won’t be expanding her majority, either. GOP challengers managed to flip several seats, with several more still up in the air.

From a story at USA Today:

Democrats are expected to retain control of the House of Representatives but optimistic projections that they would be expanding their already robust margin are falling short.

Instead, Republicans have enjoyed some bragging rights, unseating freshmen incumbents in South Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina, while successfully defending what looked to be several vulnerable seats in Texas and elsewhere. And early Wednesday, the GOP claimed its biggest prize by knocking off 15-term Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota.

It’s a stark contrast to 2018, when Democrats picked up key seats — many in suburban areas — that helped flip the House from Republican control to a Democratic majority. Not all the news was bad, as Democrats were expected to pick up a handful of GOP seats, including two in North Carolina districts that were redistricted under court order.

[End]

The presidential contest will play itself out one way or the other, and if it goes the wrong way America will soon have its first woman president. But it may still go the right way, and there is nothing most of us can do about it one way or the other.

So, be of good cheer, folks, for all is not lost and there is much good news to celebrate today. Go live your lives to the fullest and keep your loved ones safe.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

 

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No, Texas Is Not “In Play” **UPDATED** Trump Train Runs Biden/Harris Out of Texas

We have seen lots of media reports and media-sponsored polls over the past two weeks pushing the narrative that Texas is somehow “in play” for the Biden/Harris Harris/Biden campaign this year. The only problem with these reports is that they are not supported by a shred of actual early voting information.

Take the early voting data compiled by Target Smart as a prime example. TargetSmart shows that Republican turnout is vastly exceeding Democrat turnout in Texas by an even larger margin than Republicans ran up in 2016: 51.3% R, 38.9% D, and 9.9% unaffiliated. That margin is 2% larger than in 2016, when Trump won Texas by a 9% margin.

Other than polls paid for by media outlets for the sole purpose of creating a story, what indicator do we have that some huge chunk of Republican voters are rebelling against President Trump in Texas? The answer to that would be NONE. Not a shred of real hard data exists to support that claim.

One of the media/Democrats’ favorite piece of Texas-related propaganda is the narrative that there is some big anti-Trump revolt in the state among suburban women. First of all, I live in Texas, am a voracious consumer of news, and have yet to see any newspaper or local TV station identify and interview a single such suburban housewife. If these women are all over the place, why isn’t anyone pushing this narrative in the media finding them and talking to them?

Second, TargetSmart also breaks its data down by County. Frequent contributor Larry Schweikart tweeted out some of that suburban data this morning:

Then there is the new data coming in across the country showing that the percentage of non-college educated white voters is far higher this year than it was in 2016. This is the segment of voters who turned out in droves in PA, MI and WI four years ago and served as Trump’s winning margin. Their massive turnout was not replicated in other states that year. This year, it appears that this voter segment’s outrage over having been ridiculed, slandered and portrayed as “privileged” racists for the last four years is motivating them to turn out all over the nation.

Folks, that voter segment is a huge part of the voter base in Texas.

At the end of the day, we are left with the unarguable fact that the only indicator that Texas might be closer this year than it was in 2016 – when it was not close at all – is a raft of polls that were paid for by media outlets for the purpose of creating “news” stories.

Trump will win Texas, and he will win this election on Tuesday.

 

**UPDATE**

Just for good measure, the Trump Train literally ran the Biden campaign out of Texas earlier today:

God Bless Texas.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Trump Train Waltzes Across Texas With the Biden/Harris Bus

Waltz across Texas with you in my arms; waltz across Texas with you.
Like a storybook ending I’m lost in your charms,
And I could waltz across Texas with you. – Ernest Tubb

The Biden campaign thought it had a bang-up idea to raise awareness of its addled candidate and successor-in-waiting (but not for long) running mate: Let’s send a tour bus across the Lone Start State and show the Party’s colors. And we’ll even send Kamala along with it just for a bonus!

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the dance: The ever-present Trump Train showed up to shadow Harris and her big blue bus all around the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex. It was like a big ol’ country line dance all day long.

Here was the scene in Fort Worth as a long parade of Trump cars and pickups kept the Biden/Harris /Harris/Biden bus cooped up in a parking lot as it vainly tried to escape:

So, what about that trip to Dallas? Oh, it was tons of fun, dancin’ across the Texas prairie:

 

But what happened once they made it over to Dallas? Welp, by the time they’d made the 30 mile trek, the big blue bus had a following of at least 100 aspiring Trump dancin’ partners:

And, here’s the Biden/Harris/Harris/Biden bus running a red light trying to ditch its Trump Train would-be suitors:

That was quite a dosey do, there pardners. But it ain’t against the law if the law ain’t there, right?

Right.

Glorious. Absolutely glorious.

Y’all don’t come back now, hear?

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Important Info on Texas “COVID-19 Related” Hospitalizations

Some continue to doubt me when I write that, in Texas, every person who goes into a hospital for any reason is being tested for COVID-19 and, if they test positive, their “case” is being listed as “COVID-19 Related.”

Check out this Twitter thread from this morning orginated by Alex Berenson:

Here is a reply from Amanda Carlson:

Here is the full screenshot of the reply she received from TDSHS:

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Clear enough?

So, whether you have checked into the hospital for elective surgery, a car accident, the chicken pox or a facelift, if you test positive for COVID-19 in Texas your “case” gets added to the grossly-inflated number referred to as “COVID-19 Related” in the Lone Star State whether you are showing any symptoms or not.

This explains why, as Berenson points out, the number of “cases” keeps rising while the numbers of available ICU beds and ventilators remains unchanged. It also explains why the number of daily deaths continues to fall despite the rising number of “cases”. Because a whole bunch of Texans with active antibodies but no symptoms are being classified as COVID-19 “cases” by a money-grubbing hospital system.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Wednesday News Roundup: Texans Can Take Care of Texans; The Rest of the Country Needs Help

Today’s Campaign Update (Because the Campaign Never Ends)

In case you’re wondering why Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in a press conference yesterday with the police chiefs and mayors of Fort Worth and Dallas, said that he would not be asking for military assistance from the federal government to quell any out-of-control demonstrations in our state, all you need to see is this photo taken last night in the halls of the Texas Capitol Building by Glenn DeShields:

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Those are Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, sleeping on the marble floors. I have walked those floors many times. They are 100% firm – they don’t give an inch, just like the officers getting a few moments of rest on them.

“So we will not be asking the United States military to come into the state of Texas because we know that Texans can take care of Texans. We have tremendous police forces in Dallas, in Fort Worth, in the surrounding suburbs across the entire state. We have an abundance of resources that are being provided by the Texas Department of Public safety,” said Abbott.

God Bless Texas.

Why doesn’t this Black life matter? – Dave Dorn, a retired captain of the St. Louis Metro Police Department, was murdered by thugs who were looting a pawn shop where he was working security on Tuesday. Mr. Dorn happened to be a Black man, as were the vicious thugs who killed him.

Because Captain Dorn was killed by black men, the national news media is essentially ignoring this story. A web search indicates that only ABC News bothered to file even an online story about this senseless killing, and it was reported in the context of several police killings and injuries that happened on Tuesday, with this headline: “Small-town police chief killed as officers in 3 cities wounded during violence at George Floyd protests.”

To make the story even more demeaning to Captain Floyd’s memory, it does not even mention the fact that he was a Black man. I kid you not. Read it for yourself.

Our news media is an existential threat to our country.

Here’s your Ironic Story of the Day. – Check out this tweet issued by the Associated Press on Tuesday:

Just a reminder that Joe Biden has already spent 16,089 days of his life in public office. In all of that time, his main contribution to addressing “institutional racism” was to co-author the 1993 crime bill that… wait for it … targeted Black men.

But he’s now the Democrat Party’s Great White Hope for solving all the problems faced by America’s Black community. If you’re Black and you fall for this, you truly do get what you deserve. Stop this madness.

Speaking of corrupt news media… – The Secret Service guard station that sits just outside the White House grounds was burned last night by the rioters in Washington DC:

A web search shows not a single story on this incident from our national news media. NOT ONE.

But hey, that’s not fake news, so… – One story that the entire national media focused on Tuesday is – predictably – completely fake. It is the story still being pushed this morning that the federal Park Police, in clearing the path for President Trump and his entourage to make the walk from the White House to St. John’s Church on Monday afternoon, used “tear gas and rubber bullets” to intimidate the violent rioters who have caused so much damage and injured at least 60 Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel.

I watched it all happen live, and it was very clear that none of that happened. The Park Police issued a statement Tuesday clarifying what actually did happen:

“At approximately 6:33 pm, violent protestors on H Street NW began throwing projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids,” the USPP said in a statement. “The protestors also climbed onto a historic building at the north end of Lafayette Park that was destroyed by arson days prior. Intelligence had revealed calls for violence against the police, and officers found caches of glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden along the street.

“As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls when protestors did scatter from the area.”

[End]

Reporters from NBC and the Washington Post continue to spread their fiction this morning. Because they are corrupt, fake-news-promoting enemies of the people. That’s what they are.

For those of you still holding out hope that Salt Lake City U.S. Attorney John Huber might still produce some shocking indictments of Obamagate bad actors, the President of the United States would like to disabuse you of that silly notion:

Remember, Huber was supposedly appointed by former AG Jeff Sessions to investigate the Obama FBI’s fake investigation of the Clinton email scandal way back in late 2017. He has to date produced nothing because that’s really what Sessions appointed him to do.

Now do you understand why President Trump detests Mr. Sessions, and supports his opponent in the upcoming runoff election, Tommy Tubberville? It really isn’t complicated.

Reminder: None of this rioting ever really was about George Floyd. – Rioters in Boston last night defaced a monument called “Glory.” The monument depicts heroic Union solders during the U.S. Civil War.

The solders all have one thing in common: They’re Black. They’re the members of the 54th Regiment who became the first Black soldiers to fight in the Civil War.

You could never make this stuff up.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Texas Supreme Court Orders Shelley Luther Released From Jail [3rd UPDATE]

The Mid-Day Campaign Update

***UPDATE 3: Here is a video of her leaving the jail:

***UPDATE 2: Governor Abbott, in a meeting with President Trump at the White House, just announced that Mrs. Luther has been released from the Dallas County Jail.

***UPDATE: I had a bad feeling about this. The Dallas County Sheriff, Democrat Marion Brown, is now saying that because Mrs. Luther is being jailed for contempt of court, corrupt Judge Eric Moye’ must order her to be released. Also, Gov. Abbott does not have the authority to pardon someone who is being jailed for a contempt order.

This has now turned into a full-fledged Democrat attack on the State of Texas.

Do not be surprised if you read about the Governor sending Texas Rangers to the Dallas County Jail to force the release of this abused woman if Moye’ does not relent.

[End Update]

The Texas Supreme Court has now intervened in the ongoing travesty of justice in which salon owner Shelley Luther was sentence to 7 days in the Dallas County Jail by an overbearing Democrat judge. Late Thursday morning, Judge Eric Moye’ was ordered by the Supremes to release Ms. Luther from jail, where she was sentenced for contempt of court.

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The Supreme Court intervened after Texas Governor Greg Abbott amended his shut-down order to prohibit authoritarian judges like Moye’ from throwing people in jail, an unintended consequence that the Governor obviously failed to consider when he issued his hasty and clearly unconstitutional order in March.

“Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it to happen,” Abbott said in a statement, adding that his order is retroactive to April 2 and supersedes local directives. “As some county judges advocate for releasing hardened criminals from jail to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is absurd to have these business owners take their place.”

It is indeed absurd, but it is also fair to again point out that it was Abbott’s order that set up the conditions under which corrupt judges could engage in such abusive behavior. Abbott, along with governors all over the country, acted hastily and without real forethought in shutting down their respective economies on the pretense of “flattening the curve” of the Wuhan Virus in March. He took that action without the need for a 13-committee, 39-member “Strike Force” similar to the one he is using for political cover during his carefully-planned, phased reopening now.

One of the unintended consequences of that rash action is that Mrs. Luther, along with several other business owners in Texas, have been forced by abusive judges to spend time in jail under what is in all likelihood an illegal order to begin with. In Ms. Luther’s case, she has spent 2 nights in a jail in which more than 240 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed.

This is a travesty and a scandal, and it must never be allowed to happen again.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Gov. Abbott: Texans Can Get a Haircut on Friday! Yee-hah!

The Evening Campaign Update

Yeeee-hah!!!! – In a press conference held Tuesday afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that a raft of additional businesses are fixin’ to be allowed to reopen on Friday, May 8. Those businesses include barbers, hair salons, cosmetologists and tanning salons. He also announced that gyms will be able to reopen on May 18, albeit at 25% capacity.

Excerpt from a report at the Texas Tribune website:

The businesses will be required to follow certain rules as the state continues to grapple with the coronavirus. Hairstylists will be able to work with only one customer at a time. People waiting in barber shops will have to maintain 6-foot separation or wait outside.

Meanwhile, gyms will be required to operate at a maximum of 25% of capacity. Showers and locker rooms will be closed, and equipment must be disinfected after each use.

Abbott acknowledged people may want to see another type of business reopen — bars — but said the state is still figuring out how they can do so safely and did not offer a timetable.

[End]

Finally, I’ll be able to go get my shaggy head trimmed up!

Of note, Governor Abbott’s announcement comes one day after Virginia Governor Ralph KKK Northam extended his own lockdown order through May 16. It also comes as Democrat governors in California, Michigan and Oregon, and Republicans in Alabama and Ohio are finding themselves under increasing pressure to relent on their own draconian orders.

In California, a city councilman has personally sued Gov. Newsom over his idiotic beach-closing order:

Newport Beach City Councilman Kevin Muldoon personally sued Gov. Gavin Newsom in federal court Monday over Newsom’s beach closures targeting Orange County.

Muldoon, a vocal proponent of lifting the weeks-long lockdown imposed to stem the coronavirus pandemic, filed the suit on his own behalf and was footing his own legal costs, he said. He called Newsom’s directive, handed down Thursday and put into effect the next day, unconstitutional.

Newsom’s order applies only toOrange County. A reopening date is unclear.

“Defendants have shown by their actions a willingness to ignore and to violate the fundamental civil rights of California residents,” the lawsuit reads. “Their actions … are persistent and capable of repetition unless they are enjoined by this court.”

[End]

In Michigan, the Detroit News published an editorial by its editorial board condemning Generalissimo Gretchen Whitmer for her rampant abuse of power and and endorsing the legislature’s decision to file a lawsuit against her:

Whitmer is attempting to assign a noble purpose for her unilateral power grab, saying she needed to continue her emergency powers to protect health care workers from being sued by COVID-19 patients.

But the Legislature Thursday approved a bill that would enshrine that immunity in law, proving lawmakers are capable of working with the governor to protect Michigan.

They had offered to grant her another short-term extension of her powers, with oversight. But she refused to accept any conditions that forced her to collaborate with lawmakers.

The Republican-controlled Legislature Thursday also passed resolutions authorizing the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader to sue the governor.

That lawsuit should be filed ASAP.

From the beginning of her tenure, Whitmer has show disdain for both the law and regular-order governing, looking for every loophole to avoid dealing with the Legislature.

This time, she’s taken the state to a very dangerous place.

There’s no reasonable defense, in a representative democracy, for a governor to strip the legislative branch of its constitutional authority and assume dictatorial powers in perpetuity.

[End]

In Oregon, radical Alinskyite Governor Kate Brown eased some of her own abusive restrictions after coming under intense pressure in recent days:

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced a limited opening of some state parks, outdoor recreation facilities, and other areas for day use in a partial easing of restrictions put in place because of the coronavirus.

Officials say day-use will slowly return to other state parks starting next week. The popular Columbia River Gorge parks and recreation areas and coastal areas will remain closed for now. Brown says Oregonians should recreate responsibly.

[End]

What all of this is teaching us is something most Texans have known for all of our lives: We are damned lucky to live in the Lone Star State.

Thank you, Governor Abbott, and God Bless Texas.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Gov. Abbott Announces Major Business Reopenings in Texas on May 1 [UPDATED]

The Evening Campaign Update

After being criticized for two weeks as he allowed other state governors to get in front of him in opening their economies, Texas Governor Greg Abbott finally announced at a Monday press conference that he will allow major new business reopenings in his state beginning May 1.

Here are the Highlights:

– Abbott said he would allow the “stay-at-home” order issued on April 1 to expire as scheduled at midnight, April 30.

– What the Governor refers to as “Phase 1” reopenings will include businesses such as restaurants, theaters, salons, retailers and shopping malls being able to open their doors but limiting customer traffic to 25% of their allowed capacity. UPDATE: Salons will not be allowed to reopen on May 1. They may be allowed to reopen in Phase 2, on May 18.

– UPDATE: Sole proprietorships may also reopen on May 1. One smart reader asks, what if you’re a sole proprietor who runs a barber shop? Good question.

– In less-populated counties that have experienced 5 or fewer Wuhan Virus cases thus far (which, as we have previously noted, includes more than half of the state’s 254 counties), businesses will be allowed up to 50% of capacity.

– Also allowed to reopen on May 1 are licensed medical practitioners such as doctors and dentists.

– Hospitals will also be allowed to take in additional patients and perform more elective surgical procedures, so long as they continue to reserve 15% of their bed space for COVID-19 patients.

– The Governor conditions these reopenings on the continued observation of social distancing guidelines that have been in effect since mid-March, and recommends – but does not require – citizens to wear masks while venturing outside the home.

– He also specifically notes that his guidelines supersede local orders. This would specifically include the order issued last week by Harris County Judge Lina Hildalgo requiring her citizens to wear masks, subject to arrest and fines. Abbott noted that his order disallows local officials the ability to impose such penalties in their local orders.

– Gov. Abbott also said that sports activities will be allowed to resume on May 1, but only to the extent that they involve no more than 4 participants. So basically, we’re talking about golf, tennis and other similar sports.

All of that and more is part of Phase 1. I will update this piece with further information as it comes available.

The Governor also discussed Phase 2 of his plan, which would begin effective May 18, if – and it’s an important IF – the data shows that the state has not seen an increase in the number of Wuhan Virus cases in the two weeks following the beginning of Phase 1 on May 1.

Phase 2 would include the opening of additional businesses, the increasing of capacity usage, and the allowance of additional sports activities involving more participants. It would also include permission to hold summer camps subject to social distancing guidelines.

All in all, the Governor’s plan is exactly what millions of Texans have been waiting to hear from him in recent days: An aggressive, strategic approach to reopening Texas’s economy in a way that makes sense, and clearly demonstrates an awareness of the geographic and demographic diversity of this giant state. Obviously, the voices of those Texans have been heard in Austin, and the Governor and his Strike Force responded in a way that makes sense for everyone.

It’s nice to have some good news to report for a change.

God Bless Texas.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Texas Gov. Abbott Disappoints Yet Again

The Evening Campaign Update

It’s official: Texas Republican Governor Gregg Abbott, who governs a massive state of 28 million people that has seen fewer cases of Wuhan Virus than the city of Newark, New Jersey, has lost the race to reopen the massive Texas economy to…wait for it…radical leftist Colorado Democrat Jared Polis.

Hours after Polis announced he would gradually start to lift his state’s stay-at-home order beginning April 26, Abbott called a press conference to update Texans on the progress he and his timid and apparently paralyzed “strike force” had made since his last disappointing press conference on Friday.

Guess what? They haven’t made any progress to speak of.

From a Houston Chronicle report on the Abbott presser:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott painted a positive picture of the state’s battle against COVID-19, but he said it’s not time yet to open up the economy.

Abbott said on Tuesday the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus is “leveling off” and has remained mostly under 1,000 a day even as testing has accelerated. He said on April 9, Texas had more than 1,000 people test positive for COVID-19, but hasn’t hit that number in 12 straight days.

“It’s not because COVID-19 is suddenly dispersed from the geography of the state of Texas,” he said. “The reason why it is leveling off is because our fellow Texans have done such a great job of reducing their interactions with others.”

Abbott said he is in touch with private sector employers and health professionals and is hoping to have an announcement soon to reopen parts of the economy that have been closed since he issued his initial stay-at-home order on March 31.

He said on Monday he expects to make an announcement about the “next steps for opening up Texas.”

[End]

So basically, the Governor of the State of by-God Texas reported absolutely zero progress from his vaunted “strike force” and punted the question of reopening the 10th-largest economic engine on the face of the damn earth for six more days. There was a time when Texans could confidently look to Governor Abbott for strong and decisive leadership in the face of a crisis, as he demonstrated so well in the wake of the devastating passage of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. As of today, that time is apparently gone.

Look, no one is questioning the fact that we needed to take these mitigating steps back in March to try to “lower the curve” of this plague that has been visited upon our country by the communist Chinese government. But a month has now gone by, and all we are asking is for the Governor and his plodding “strike force” to demonstrate that they are at least giving the situation some real, analytical thought.

There are still over 60 counties in Texas that have seen zero cases of this virus, and well over 100 that have seen no more than 5. Anyone who wishes can go look right now and easily determine that more than 70% of the Wuhan Virus cases in Texas are centered in 11 of the state’s 254 counties. Why are the members of this “strike force” and the Governor insisting on treating all 254 of those counties the same?

For example, Brewster County covers a geographical area that is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware, yet its population is just a little more than 9,000 people. Brewster County has yet to report a single case of COVID-19, but its 9,000 residents are subject to the same stay-at-home order as the millions of residents of the City of Houston. The “non-essential” businesses in Brewster County are shut down just like those in the City of Dallas. People in Brewster County are being thrown out of jobs just like people in San Antonio.

Does that really make sense to you? Because it doesn’t make sense to me, and it shouldn’t make sense to anyone with functioning synapses in their cranial cavities. How in the hell can it possibly make sense to the plodding people on the “strike force,” who are apparently working under the Michael Horowitz model of moving forward, which is roughly at the speed of Brian Stelter savoring a box of jelly donuts.

This is maddening, and all I can say to Governor Abbott right now is that if you’ve lost me, you’ve lost Texas, and you are right on the cusp of losing me. The Governor is very, very fortunate not to be running for re-election this year.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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GOP Governor Greg Abbott Disappoints With a Timid Reopening Plan for Texas

Today’s Campaign Update (Because the Campaign Never Ends)

In a series of Executive Orders issued on Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott laid out the initial aspects of his plan for re-opening the Texas economy. The plan will be managed by what Gov. Abbott is calling a “statewide strike force” chaired by Austin banker James Huffines. If these initial steps and the governor’s statements about them are any indication, the reopening in red-state Texas will be little different than the process in many blue states around the country.

First what the Governor did do:

– He allows all retail businesses to reopen, but most will be limited to “drive-up” shopping – where customers place orders over the phone or online and then pick the merchandise up at the curb outside the store – or delivery;

– He left all public and private schools closed for the remainder of the school year, with a target for reopening in August for the fall semester;

– He reopened all state parks beginning on Monday, but with the same social distancing restrictions in place;

– He loosened restrictions on medical appointments and elective procedures, which will be a godsend to the mostly-empty hospitals around the state, many of which have had to lay off workers due to lack of activity;

– He said that updates on places that host large gatherings, like restaurants, churches and entertainment venues, will come “later.”

All of which is in line with the guidelines coming out of the Trump Coronavirus Task Force, which is fine. Sadly, these actions will do precious little to begin restoring the jobs and livelihoods of the hundreds of thousands of Texans who have been thrown out of work by the government’s response to the Wuhan Virus.

The disappointment comes in the lack of any effort whatsoever to distinguish Texas, which has had far fewer cases of the Wuhan Virus than much smaller states on the East and West Coasts and even Louisiana, from the approaches that will be taken by those other states. For example, why no attempt to treat the 100+ Texas counties who have had 5 or fewer cases of the virus differently than the big-city epicenters of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin? 64 counties have reported ZERO cases of COVID-19. Why continue the absurd situation in which residents of small communities with names like Skidmore and Papalote and Poteet and Post and Troy remain subject to stay-at-home restrictions that make no real sense in their communities?

That latter may be more of a criticism of the Trump Task Force, which promised to deliver geographically-targeted guidelines but so far has not done so. But let’s also admit that 8 governors, all Republicans like Abbott, have never issued a stay-at-home order for their states. So, the President has certainly given governors a lot of leeway in dealing with these guidelines.

But that’s a leeway that Gov. Abbott was unwilling on Friday to take advantage of for his state. Equally as disappointing was the Governor’s apparent failure to attempt to balance his ongoing restrictions and mandated deprivations with the fundamental rights of all citizens. Indeed, in his statement on the orders, he laid out only two factors that would influence his decision-making:

“This [reopening] will be driven by two things: what our medical team advises and what the data shows,” Abbott said.

If it’s disturbing when a Democrat governor like New Jersey’s Phil Murphy admits he “wasn’t thinking about the bill of rights” when issuing his own draconian shutdown orders, it is perhaps even more disturbing when the Republican Governor of Texas admits he won’t be thinking about the fundamental rights of all Americans as he moves timidly forward to reopen his state. At least give it some lip service, Governor.

With protests now beginning to spring up in Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Virginia over the deprivations of rights of assembly, speech and religion by the Democrat governors in those states, it is only a matter of time before we see similar protest actions begin to take place in many red states as well. Abbott was sued on Friday by a group of pastors on the grounds that the Governor’s edicts violate the religious liberties of their parishioners, a contention that is manifestly true.

Yes, the governors in Texas and other states do possess extraordinary powers during declared emergencies, powers that are important for them to possess when fast decisions must be made to save lives. But there is no real “emergency” in the vast majority of the state of Texas. The seasonal flu has taken hundreds more Texas lives than the Wuhan Virus will, but there was no similar declaration of any emergency. Texas has seen 459 Wuhan Virus related deaths thus far; yet, we lose roughly 3,600 people every year to car accidents without reacting by closing down a single business or school or highway in response.

Texans like me expected more from Gov. Abbott on Friday, in large part because he has always done a fine job of delivering so much more for Texas during his time as the state’s Attorney General and Governor. Hopefully he will use the weekend to give some real thought to the fundamental rights of his citizens and start delivering more come Monday.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

 

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HUGE: Gov. Greg Abbott Preparing Order to Begin Re-Opening Texas Businesses

The Evening Campaign Update

Living in Texas is a blessing in so many ways. One of the best of those ways has been to enjoy the blessings of a state run by Republicans for the last 26 years, and current Governor Greg Abbott is proving in many ways to be the best of them.

At a news conference today, Gov. Abbott announced that he will be among the first governors in the nation to issue an executive order to authorize businesses in our state shut down due to the Wuhan Virus to begin re-opening as soon as next week. Texas has been blessed to have been fairly lightly hit by the virus, with most of its counties outside of the major population centers experiencing either no cases or just a handful. Even the state’s huge cities, like Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, have been extremely lightly impacted compared to cities in other states.

Like President Donald Trump, Abbott promises the reopening will be strategically done in order to protect human life, and will no doubt include measures like self-quarantining by those who are most vulnerable to the virus. But the existence of a clearly effective treatment regime, thanks to the hydroxychloroquine/zinc combination, and social distancing measures that can be practiced by those in the workplace now make it possible for states to begin shifting from a shelter-in-place strategy to a quarantine-plus-treatment approach.

Here is an excerpt from a Fox News story on the matter:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he plans to sign an executive order next week outlining guidelines for how businesses in the state can start to reopen after being shut down over coronavirus.

“Next week I will be providing an executive order talking about what will be done in Texas about reopening Texas businesses,” Abbott said during a Friday news conference, saying it will be done “in a way that will be safe for that economic revitalization.”

WHO IS GREG ABBOTT? HERE ARE 4 FACTS ABOUT TEXAS’ GOVERNOR

He added: “We will focus on protecting lives while restoring livelihoods. We can and we must do this,”

[End]

As President Trump has consistently emphasized, a strategy designed to safely reopen the nation’s economy will not involve a one-size-fits-all timeline. Texas, in large part to its advanced emergency management practices that have evolved from decades of practice dealing with major storm, fire, drought and hurricane events, has been able to weather this latest storm better than most.

This successful addressing of the front-end of this pandemic now positions the Lone Star State to be on the leading edge of the coming recovery – and make no doubt about it: The recovering is coming.

God Bless Texas, God Bless Gov. Abbott and God Bless America on this Good Friday.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

 

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Trump’s Texas Primary Turnout Was Nothing Short of Amazing

Today’s Campaign Update (Because the Campaign Never Ends)

Yes, friends, Donald Trump did just fine in Texas on Super Tuesday, despite what Lt. Col. Allen West said. – I know this is going back in time a bit now, but readers continue to send me notes of concern about an “analysis” posted by Lt. Col. Allen West at his website after the Super Tuesday primary in Texas. In that piece, with the clickbait headline of “Super Tuesday Results From Texas: It Ain’t Pretty,” Mr. West contends that the President didn’t do well in the Lone Star State, based on vote count comparisons with the field of Democrats, which then still consisted of at least 8 contenders.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

Ever since I was a little boy, I have always enjoyed math. It was always a treat solving equations and figuring out solutions based upon formulas. Regardless of the common core math fallacy, there are objective truths, and they can be found in the study of mathematics. I suppose that was why being a US Army Field Artillery officer was the perfect fit for me, figuring out firing solutions to put “steel on target.” Back in the day, we had to do our computations, under time constraints, with tabular firing tables and slide rules . . . those were the days.

Numbers tell a story when you know what to analyze, and they provide insight and the ability to develop plans and strategies. Therefore, our campaign staff for Texas GOP Chairman decided to take a look at some numbers from the Super Tuesday primary election here in the Lone Star State. We believed the results would tell us a story, but the story we uncovered is not a good one.

I think it is time those living in a delusional fantasy land stop kidding themselves, and realize that, well, yes, “Houston, we have a problem.” Now, I am not an alarmist, certainly not one to panic, but I am a realist. And, it is time we get real about what is happening, politically, in Texas.

It is, sad to say, a repeat of what the progressive socialist left has been doing in other once strong, conservative states.

The data found below comes from the Texas Secretary of State website. You can also see the results by county by party. This is all open-source data that anyone can find, research, analyze, and assess. What we did was to look at the major population centers in Texas, by county, and several surrounding counties, to provide a picture of what happened in this primary election cycle.

By comparison, we looked at three rural (lower population) counties. This is the data we found posted as of Thursday, March 5th. Here is what we found, with “us” meaning Republicans:

STATEWIDE (Texas) – updated 
D – votes cast – 2,076,046
R – votes cast – 2,008,385
THEY OUT VOTED us by roughly 68K
 
Harris (Houston) – registered voters 2,385,906
D – 321,903 votes cast 13.49% turnout
R – 192,985 votes cast 8.09%  turnout
THEY OUT VOTED us by roughly 129k people 

The piece goes on and on, detailing the turnout in several other big counties in Texas, but you get the picture: Because the 8 Democrats pulled more total votes than a President running essentially unopposed for re-election, that means Trump is in trouble in the Red State of Texas.

No, not really.

Look, this is really kind of simple. Texans have a long history of cross-over voting in the GOP and Democrat primaries, especially in years in which an incumbent president is running for re-election and the other party has a contested primary going on. We have a couple of 21st century examples to look at in this regard.

First, there was 2012, when Barack Hussien Obama His Own Self was running unopposed for re-election. Here are the official vote totals in that primary election:

Democrats: 590,164

Republicans: 1,449,447

So, in a state in which the Republicans that year held a statewide advantage of about 10-15% of the vote, the contested GOP primary between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and an assortment of others out-polled Obama by roughly 160%, as hundreds of thousands of Democrats crossed over to vote in the GOP presidential primary, and thousands of others just stayed at home.

Then, there was 2004, when incumbent Texan George W. Bush was running for his re-election against a Democrat field consisting of John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean and assorted other miscreants and grifters. Here are the official vote totals in that primary:

Democrats: 839,231

Republicans: 687,615

Here we see Democrats out-drawing the Republicans by about 33% in a state in which the GOP held an even larger overall advantage than in 2012. Why? Because thousands of people who would normally vote Republican either crossed over to participate in the contested Democrat primary or stayed at home due to lack of interest. That 33% margin for the contested Democrat race that year compares to an edge of just 1.7% in 2020. 

Now, let’s compare total turnout increase between 2020 and 2004, which is the most relevant case given that we have a GOP incumbent president in both years. Where the Democrat vote total was up by an impressive 150%, Trump’s total votes were right at 200% higher than the total Bush received in 2004. That is an amazing shift in just 16 years.

Col. West is right when he says that “we must be concerned about the progressive socialist expansion from these major population centers.” That’s nothing new in Texas, but its advance has been reducing the GOP advantage in the state over time. But let’s be honest: Overall, his post is a fright piece containing little if any real analysis designed mainly to attract clicks from readers.

Judging from our own readers here at the Campaign Update, West’s piece did have its desired effect of raising a great deal of concern from conservative Texas voters, and hey, that’s not a bad thing. But when you look at this year’s results and examine them through the prism of history and the dynamics of this year’s campaign, the ability of President Trump to accumulate more than 2 million votes in a basically uncontested primary in Texas this year is nothing short of amazing.

Texas is a Red state, and it is going to remain a Red state for the foreseeable future.

That is all.

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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About that “Bellwether” Texas Special Election…

Today’s Campaign Update, Part III
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

This result does not fit the Democrat/media election narrative. It doesn’t fit that narrative at all. – In what the corrupt Democrat activists in the mainstream news media spent weeks calling a “closely watched special election” in Texas, the Republican candidate won in a landslide Tuesday night.

The race was for Texas House District 28, a suburban district on the outskirts of Houston. You know, the kind of suburban area where the corrupt media has been trying to convince us that GOP candidates were struggling with Millennial-aged housewives, who supposedly don’t like President Trump and would certainly be turning my home state of Texas into a “blue” state anytime now, maybe even this year.

That was the narrative, anyway. Of course, it was the exact same narrative Texans heard back in 2014, when the Democrats, led by gubernatorial candidate Wendy “Abortion Barbie” Davis, were going to sweep into power. But then Davis got shellacked by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, in an election in which Republicans again swept every statewide office, and in which Davis won just 39% of the vote.

And it is the exact same narrative Texans were treated to in 2018, when Irish Bob “Beto” O’Rourke poured $80 million of California and New York dollars into a senate race against Ted Cruz. Despite out-spending Senator Cruz by a 3-to-1 margin, Irish Bob came up a crapper – just as he did in his presidential effort – losing to Cruz as GOP candidates once again swept every statewide office, as they have done in every Texas election cycle since 1994.

Interestingly, Irish Bob, in his new role as Democrat grassroots specialist, became very active in the HD 28 race, going door to door in the suburban neighborhoods, attempting to use his boyish charm to convince those “angry” suburban housewives to get out and vote for Democrat candidate [consults notes] Eliz Markowitz. O’Rourke’s efforts, combined with millions coming into the race from out-of-state Democrat interests, would surely turn the tide this time.

Oops. Bad plan.

As is his habit, Irish Bob came up a crapper once again. Seems his boyish charm has lost its allure to Texas suburban housewives who are sick to death of the nonsense his party is putting our country through, and pretty damn happy with the booming economy that 26 years of Republican leadership has brought to our state.

In the end, GOP candidate Gary Gates easily won the election, carrying the vote by a whopping 58-42% margin. Mind you, this is a district that President Trump won by just 10% in 2016, and which the outgoing Republican won by only 3% in 2018.

If this be a Democrat “bellwether,” then by all means, bring more bellwethers on.

God Bless Texas.

That is all.

 

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Aspiring Mass Shooter in White Settlement Learns That Texans Will Kill You Back

Today’s Campaign Update
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

A good guy with a gun saves dozens of lives, the corrupt media yawns. – When a bad guy with a gun entered a Church of Christ sanctuary during Sunday morning service yesterday, he thought he’d have easy pickings. Well over 200 Christian parishioners were in attendance, and he no doubt figured he would be able to hang around for as long as he wanted and to basically name his score of victims.

The one thing this scumbag did not account for, however, was the presence of good guys with guns in the building, one of whom shot and killed him shortly after he began shooting. And good Texas gals with guns as well. Indeed in the breakdown of the video of the shooting, you can see that no fewer than seven people present, including two security guards, drew down on the perpetrator when he opened fire:

 

The hilarious comedian Ron White had this great line about Texas and Texans:

“If you kill somebody in Texas, Texas will kill you back.”

On Sunday morning in White Settlement, Texas, Texans killed back a monster who had killed two of their own. This result was made possible by the concealed carry laws in Texas, which allow licensed citizens to carry concealed firearms into most public places, including churches. To emphasize that key point even more, the security guard responsible for taking the killer down (pictured below) has been identified as a local man named Jack Wilson, who happens to be a licensed firearms instructor.

The police in White Settlement, a small suburb of Fort Worth, have thus far chosen not to make the identity of the gunman public, which is great. Let’s hope they never name the degenerate scumbag – he doesn’t merit the attention or infamy. It’s a shame that law enforcement officials in other cities where these attacks happen don’t take the same approach, since infamy is what these people are seeking.

Of course, our corrupt news media outside of Fox News and the local news outlets in the Dallas/Fort Worth area barely chose to report on this incident. That’s not just because the number of those dead remained blessedly low, but also because of the very fact that the outcome of the incident highlights the undeniable value of concealed carry laws and of having armed security onsite at churches, schools and other public places.

Regional Director of Texas Department of Public Safety Jeoff Williams emphasized just how important those farcors were in saving lives, when he said this to the assembled press:

“The citizens who were inside that church undoubtedly saved 242 other parishioners.”

Yes, they did. But those factors do not fit the prevailing anti-gun Democrat/media narrative, thus relegating this event to something to be avoided by the corrupt editors and reporters at the national media outlets.

It must be a truly miserable existence to work inside a dying “news” operation that considers its overarching job to be creating and maintaining a false reality for an ever-diminishing audience.

God bless the people of White Settlement, and the families of those who were lost or injured in this heinous act.

That is all.

 

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Watch as Texas Cong. Michael McCaul Lays Waste to Adam Schiff

Today’s Campaign Update, Part II
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Here is a Republican House member who is unafraid to speak the truth. – Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, who has represented Texas’s 10th congressional district since 2005, appeared this morning on Fox News for an interview with Bill Hemmer. This interview is well worth the watch just because of who McCaul happens to be.

As you watch the clip below, and/or read the transcript that follows, keep in mind that Rep. McCaul is a man who is currently the ranking GOP member on the House Homeland Security Committee. From 2012 through 2018, McCaul served as the Chairman of that committee. This is a man who knows where all the bodies are buried, and who has no naivete about what Adam Schiff and San Fran Nan are really up to with their fake impeachment scam. First, here’s the clip:

For those of you who, like me, still like to read stuff, here is a transcript of this clip:

Hemmer: You were in that deposition yesterday. I know you’re not gonna say a lot – did Adam Schiff shut down your Republican colleagues in their questioning of the witness or not?

McCaul: Yeah, we haven’t objected to any of their questioning. On the other hand, Adam Schiff continues to shut down Republicans’ lines of questioning. On important issues, in terms of who was privy to the phone call, who was with the whistleblower – anything close to the whistleblower gets shut down.

I think the whistleblower is probably the most important witness, because it’s one person in Washington who launched this entire impeachment inquiry, and yet we have no access to him, we can’t talk to him, we don’t know who he is, and he won’t testify.

Hemmer: So, what’s the strategy behind Adam Schiff trying to keep you from answering those questions you just laid out?

McCaul: I have my own thoughts about that. [crosstalk] I personally think that what’s come out in the press, that there were conversations between Adam Schiff and his staff and the whistleblower, and that this complaint was all a contrived, you know, concocted event that took place to move forward with impeachment proceedings.

Hemmer: You say ‘contrived’ and ‘concocted’? What was contrived and concocted?

McCaul: Complicit. In other words…

Hemmer: In what way? Just be specific. This is, this is of the highest import here. He was complicit in what, sir?

McCaul: I think they were complicit in working with the whistleblower to come forward with his complaint and start this entire impeachment inquiry. I think that’s why Adam Schiff is so protective of the whistleblower, because he is concerned about the truth that will come out if we get access to him.

Hemmer:  Uh, the suggestion there is that the whistleblower ultimately, or even the witnesses along the line may not be that credible in the end. [Noooooo…you think?] Is that the suggestion you’re offering now?

McCaul: The best evidence is the phone call itself, which I don’t think is worthy of an impeachment proceeding. But I, my theory is that Adam Schiff and his staff had access to the whistleblower, and were complicit with this complaint being filed, which started this entire charade, this entire impeachment inquiry.

[End]

Folks, Michael McCaul is not a guy who just spouts off random accusations and theories. Nor is he one of the GOP’s rabble rousers in the house. McCaul is a guy who is always very careful and measured in this public statements.

When he publicly says that it is “my theory” that Schiff and his staff basically put the whistleblower up to it in order to create fake grounds for this impeachment scam, it’s because he basically knows this to be the case.

This little 2:18 interview is a signal that even the most careful and self-restrained members of the GOP house caucus have grown weary of Shiff’s and Pelosi’s scam and have not been moved in any way by their parade of fake whistleblowers and partisan hack witnesses.

A very good sign. Maybe even a key inflection point.

That is all.

 

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Watch These Texas Pre-K Kids Sing the National Anthem

Today’s Campaign Update, Part II
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

If this doesn’t give you hope for America’s future, nothing will. – Because our granddaughters were doing a little cheerleading during the pre-game show, the Little Wifey and I attended the early part of the game between Mansfield Legacy and Mansfield High last night.

For the national anthem, they displayed this video on the stadium’s video screen. It’s the most precious, most unabashedly patriotic thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. Thank you, Mansfield ISD, for putting it together.

God Bless America.

That is all.

 

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Facebook Jail: Not as Bad as Real Jail

Today’s Campaign Update
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Getting put in Facebook jail yesterday reminded me of the first time I got put into a real jail. It turned out to be the funniest moment of my life.

The Funniest Moment of My Life
 
So, I busted out of Facebook jail last night and then went right to bed ‘cuz I was sleepy. It was quite the 24-hour ordeal. Ok, it really wasn’t – it was actually kind of a relief if you want to know the truth. I actually got stuff done around the house for once.
 
That was not the funniest moment of my life, so don’t worry.
 
The funniest moment of my life was the first time I was in jail, which happened twice during my misspent youth. The second time was in the summer of 1974 when a buddy and I got arrested for streaking the parking lot at the Circle K store on St. Mary’s Street, but I’m not talking about that one, although it was all pretty funny, too. Maybe I’ll write about that incident in the future. Maybe.
 
But the first time I got tossed into the local lockup in my little South Texas hometown of Beeville was the night in early December, 1973 when I got arrested for running stop signs. I didn’t actually run the stop signs, but I got arrested for it because someone with a car that sadly looked like my rusted-out 1965 green Buick Le Sabre station wagon (my first car, which may Dad had bought from Wendell Duhon for $50 and a box of .44 magnum bullets) had apparently been running stop signs around town that early December Saturday night.
 
I knew I hadn’t run the stop signs because I had spent the evening at a party at the Segovias’ house – always great parties at the Segovias’ house, by the way. As luck would have it – and it was a rare stroke of luck in those days – I happened to be the only sober person at that particular party because I was taking pain medications because this party took place about a week after I had blown my knee out playing in our annual Thanksgiving Mud Bowl game on the band field at A.C. Jones High School.
 
So I couldn’t drink. Trust me, that was the only reason I didn’t also get charged with DWI that night, which would have made this story not funny at all.
 
Anyway, at about 11:30 I had gone out to the car to get something out of it – I don’t remember what exactly – and as I was about to head back to the party a police car screeched up and the police officer who I will not name because he was just doing his job ordered me to “assume the position!” Well, I watched Mannix and Hawaii Five-O, so I knew what that meant and did it.
 
As he was frisking me, the conversation went something like this:
 
“um, Officer, what’s going on?”
 
“You know what’s going on.”
 
“um, well, no, I really don’t.”
 
“Running stop signs – you know what you’ve been doing.”
 
“ummmm…see that party in that house over there? That’s what I’ve been doing.”
 
“Don’t bullshit me, son, I’ve been getting reports about this car all night.”
 
By this time, many of the party-goers had come out of the house to see what was going on, the sounds of the latest Led Zeppelin album pouring out the front door to awaken light-sleeping neighbors.
 
“Sir, if you would just ask any of those folks over there, they will tell you I’ve been here since about 6:00.” The Segovias liked to start their parties early in those days.
 
“Son, you just need to shut up before you really piss me off. Now, get in the back seat.”
 
And away we went. We got to the city jail, a small operation with a reception desk, a tiny waiting area and I think four small cells, three of which were empty. In the fourth, a very large man whose cheap-bourbon-and-vomit aroma wafted out to fill the entire facility, overpowering the otherwise omni-present smell of disenfectant, lay sleeping on the top bunk.
 
So of course, once they’d booked me in and figured out that they all knew my father very well, since he worked at the post office which was right next door to the jail, they decided to do the funny thing and tossed me into the cell with the drunk guy. Thankfully, he never batted an eye.
 
So here I am, 17 years old, never been in any real trouble in my life, no idea how I’m going to explain this all to my parents. Once I got used to the smell, I decided to just lie down on the bottom bunk and hope the drunk’s sweat didn’t leak down onto me.
 
After about an hour had gone by, just as I was about to nod off to sleep, I hear this voice coming through the small square window in the otherwise solid, grey cell door:
 
“Hey, Blackmon.” I look up to see the face of Zack Wright, a good friend who apparently had been appointed to be the spokesman by the 2-3 other wobbly friends standing there with him.
 
“Zack, what are you doing here?” I was worried because these guys were all underage, all pretty tipsy, and probably didn’t need to be hanging around the police station at that particular moment in their lives.
 
“Hey, we took up a collection at the party – we come to bail ya out!”
 
“Really? That’s great! How much money do you have?”
 
“We got, um, lessee here…39 dollars.”
 
Now, that was the funniest moment of my life, that moment when you find out that, even with such good friends doing their best to help you out of an absurd situation, you are well and truly screwed.
 
Anyway, I finally got my one phone call, and my poor sweet mother came and bailed me out. That cost $150, by the way, which is probably about $750 in today’s dollars. Which was real money to our family.
 
The next Monday, we went down and related the whole story to Kinkler Handley, one of the local attorneys who I think at the time was also the County Judge. He called the chief of police and informed him that, if this all went to trial, I’d have about 25 witnesses swearing that, not only had I been at that party all that evening, but I was the only one there who was purely sober.
It was literally the only time during my teenage years when I could have been made to look like an angel.
 
The charges were dropped that day, and Mom got her $150 back. I’m pretty sure the $39 that had been collected on my behalf went towards funding the next party at the Segovias’.
 
Life was a lot simpler in 1973.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Texas Dems Clamor for Their Precious Beto to Run Back Home

Today’s Campaign Update
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

There’s a senate race in Texas, and the Democrats have no viable candidates. – Texas Dems floated Wendy Davis’s name as a potential challenger to incumbent Senator John Cornyn back in March, and boy did that one come up a crapper. No one, it seems, not even the ghouls at the Texas chapter of Planned Parenthood, want to return to the days of “Abortion Barbie.”

But what are the Democrats to do? Who are they going to field as an alternative to Davis who might scratch the 40% mark against Cornyn? San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro – the twin brother of presidential hopeful Julian Castro – was approached, but he knows a losing proposition when he sees one. The Dems could try to run the former Dallas Sheriff who ran for governor last year, but hey, everyone’s already forgotten her name, me included. So that’s not a likely winner. You might think that Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner would make a strong challenger to Cornyn, but right now it’s looking like he’s going to have a tough time just getting re-elected to his current job this coming November.

So, what are the Texas Democrats to do? They have to run somebody in the race, don’t they? Well, sure they do, and that’s why their eyes have more recently turned back to their heartthrob from El Paso, Irish Bob O’Rourke.

Hey, they’re thinking, you’re sitting there at about 3% in the Democratic presidential horse race right now, your campaign has become a national joke even among many Democrats, the fawning fake reporters who all wanted to be your girl- or boyfriend last fall are now all making goo-goo eyes at the mayor of a mid-size town in Indiana, and your chances of making a comeback on that national stage are roughly the same chance Benny Hill has of becoming the next James Bond. So, here’s an idea – why not come back to Texas and redeem yourself for that loss to Ted Cruz last fall?

Sounds like a peachy idea, right? Sure, it does. Let our precious Beto return triumphantly to Texas and…er…ok, well, he’s sort of have to just skulk on back to Texas with his tail between his legs, but still. Texas is where his home is, where his heart is, kind of, if you ignore the fact that he has taken positions that would destroy the state’s economy by killing the oil and gas industry, take away all of our guns, and open the southern border even more than it already is to the human-and-drug-smuggling that is causing so much misery here.

With friends like Beto, Texans need no enemies.

But, boy, do Texas Democrats want him back, regardless. When Quinnipiac polled them in early June on the subject, fully 60% of them said they want Irish Bob to challenge Cornyn while just 27% said they want him to continue his joke of a presidential bid. Texas Democrats, it seems, do love their political jokes, but they just want them to run for lower offices.

So, come on home, Irish Bob. Come back to Texas where all the fake reporters at the Austin American-Statesman and Texas Tribune can fall madly in love with you again. And fall in love again they will, since you would be running against a detested Republican instead of a bunch of fellow Democrats.

You’ve made an ass of yourself on the national stage long enough; come back to Texas where you will be praised by all the local news outlets for making an ass of yourself at home. All that Hollywood money that you’ve been unable to collect for your presidential campaign is just itching to pour back into a senate race here.

This is what Texas Democrats are imagining, anyway.

To Texas Dems, O’Rourke is like the home town favorite son who rejects their pleas to stay home and make their town a better place, choosing instead to move off to the big city to make his fortune there. Now that he’s failed in that quest, they’re wanting him to come back home to recapture that magic.

The problem with such returns is that, in real life, they seldom work out too well. By the time the favorite son returns home, everyone back home has heard about his big city failures and his former glow has lost its luster. To make matters worse, a whole new crop of other favorite sons have graduated from the local high school and some of them have decided not to leave.

There is no doubt that Irish Bob O’Rourke captured a sort of political magic that we seldom witness in his race against Cruz last year. But his was a flash-in-the-pan sort of magic that dissipates as quickly as it was conjured up, and is almost never recaptured once it’s gone.

Texas Democrats are clamoring for their precious Beto to come back home right now, but are likely to end up being extremely disappointed in the results should he decide to do so.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Meet the New Beto, Same as the Old Beto

Today’s Campaign Update
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Today’s Public Service Announcement! – The “World’s Fastest Train” has been unveiled in Japan, y’all! Guess what? It is designed to sail along at speeds up to … wait for it… 224 miles per hour! Which is, lessee here…. almost half as fast as the average airliner. Almost. Oh, and it won’t be operational until the year 2030, which is coincidentally the year before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells us we’re all going to burn up and die if we don’t get rid of air travel and replace it millions of miles of rail lines.

Dear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other fans of her appeal to abject nitwits, the Green New Deal: This dog don’t hunt. Just thought I’d remind you. Plus, it’s stupid-looking. Seriously, it looks like something out of a 1960s-era cartoon:

Dubbed the Alfa-X, it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 224 mph and consists of ten carriages. Its sleek silver design is matched by its incredible long and pointed nose which stretches for 72 feet n front of it (pictured)

 

Don’t look now, but Irish Bob O’Rourke is about to “reintroduce” himself again. – But the crucial question is, will the mental teenagers in our fake news media fall in love with their former heartthrob one more time?

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text

The smart money says ‘no’ – it’s really hard to recreate the magic of that first high school crush. Once the bad breakup occurs, there is rarely any going back.

After Irish Bob let it be known late last week that he plans to “launch” his flagging presidential campaign one more time, I’ve been watching to see which U.S. national publication would be the first to do yet another fawning “profile” of him, complete with nasty comments about Ted Cruz, descriptions of El Paso and/or West Texas as “dusty”, misrepresentations about the origins of the fake nickname he gave to himself, and the required comparisons to some Kennedy or another. Would it be Vanity Fair one more time? Might Rolling Stone jump in again? How about the New York Times or the Washington Post? They’ve all done it before – would they find the waters to be still warm and give their ex-boyfriend another date to the local Pizza Hut?

Uh, no. As it turns out, the O’Rourke campaign apparently was unable to even catch coffee at Starbucks with any of its fake journalist exes, having to resort instead to grabbing a sandwich at Wichy Wich with some reporter from the UK Guardian. And what a soggy sandwich it turns out to be, which is only fitting for such a horrifically-run campaign.

Oh, the piece has the required “dusty” reference contained in literally every profile ever done about Irish Bob, when it describes El Paso as “the dusty, sunbaked border town in Texas where he was born”. The writer even goes so far as to outright lie about the fake nickname, calling O’Rourke “the tall white guy with the funny first name” in the piece’s opening paragraph. My goodness, the piece even makes the jump to include a quote from one of Irish Bob’s teenage flames (no doubt referred to him by the O’Rourke campaign), someone named Maggie Asfahani, who makes her living as – guess what? – a writer!  Because of course she does.

As if it is helpful, Asfahani says she is responsible for the famous photo of Irish Bob wearing a dress in a promo for his punk band, Foss: “I want to put on the record, that is my dress he’s wearing,” she said.

Oh.

Image result for beto in a dress

No doubt the O’Rourke campaign had longed for the standard puff piece that their candidate has become used to receiving from the national U.S. media and Texas-based outlets like the Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, but this one does not fit the U.S. media’s cut-n-paste mold. There is no comparison to anyone named Kennedy, and the Guardian’s piece is otherwise a fairly objective recital of O’Rourke’s political history and inconsistencies.

Not the launch – or re-launch – our hero was seeking.

Like everything else Irish Bob has done since losing his Texas senate race against Senator Cruz last November, this “re-introduction” comes too late, and displays nothing more prominently than a singular lack of situational awareness on this part.

In politics, it is crucial for a candidate to strike while the iron is hot, an aspect of the game that Donald Trump understands better than any national figure since Bill Clinton. Last November, the media’s best boyfriend could have made himself into an instant front-runner in the Democrat nomination race by announcing his candidacy the day after his loss.

Yes, doing that would have been ‘too soon’ and ‘presumptuous’ according to the conventional wisdom. But O’Rourke’s image at that time was made by being presumptuous and going against the conventional grain. By dawdling around and waiting to announce his campaign in March, he traded that image for one of being indecisive and unreliable, which is pretty much his life’s history.

And that’s it – he can’t get that back. The opportunity to stand out in the race is now gone – the field is too crowded and the fickle teen-mentality media has moved on to other crushes. If you want a comparison to 2016 and the crowded GOP field that sought the nomination, Irish Bob is this cycle’s Scott Walker, the “hot” candidate who everyone thought at one point would be that year’s BIG DEAL, but never was.

Walker left the 2016 race before it ever actually even got to 2016, ending his dead-broke candidacy in September of 2015, after just two months of debates in which he had utterly failed to make a good impression. Irish Bob is probably too self-absorbed and clueless to make a similarly-fast exit from the stage, but he might as well.

He’s done.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Why Californians Can’t Wait to Get to Texas, Part 6,572

Today’s Campaign Update, Part III
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Two interesting articles today on studies conducted by two different groups shed light on why so many people are leaving Democrat-run California to move to Texas, where no Democrat has won a statewide election in a quarter of a century.

The first study, from the very liberal Brookings Institution, cites Texas as having 3 of the 5 most popular destination cities for Millennial professionals: Dallas, Austin and Houston. The other two cities that round out the top 5 in this analysis are Denver and Seattle. Note the absence of any city from California, even those that reside in the Silicon Valley region of the state.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Houston has averaged importing a net 15,000 young adults between the ages of 25 to 34 each of the last five years, while cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Diego and Miami have lost between 7,000 and 19,000 each of those years. Of those five largest population-losing cities, only Miami is part of a state that is not a Democrat stronghold, although the city itself certainly is. Of the five cities leading the gainers, only Seattle is part of a predominantly-Democrat state, although Colorado is now leaning in that direction.

With Seattle’s mushrooming homeless issue and a Democrat city government that is now actively encouraging the business community to go elsewhere, it will be very interesting to see the results of the next Brookings study five years from now. Ditto Denver, where Colorado is now going through its first year of a totally-leftist-Democrat-dominated state government, which is going about implementing a whole raft of radical policies, most of which will negatively impact the business community there.

Image result for houston skyline

Houston skyline

 

Image result for california air pollution

Los Angeles skyline

The second very interesting study comes to us from the leftist American Lung Association, and its annual State of the Air report. CNN’s report on that study contains the following very interesting passage:

An increasing number — more than 20.5 million people — lived in counties with year-round particle pollution problems. Topping that list was the Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California, area; followed by Bakersfield, California; Fairbanks, Alaska; Visalia, California; Los Angeles-Long Beach, California; San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California; the Pittsburgh-New Castle Weirton, Pennsylvania-Ohio-West Virginia area; El Centro, California; the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio, area; and Medford-Grants Pass, Oregon.

So, 11 of the cities with the worst air pollution happen to be in California, despite decades of mindless radical leftwing policies implemented by Democrat-dominated legislatures and a parade of liberal governors. The CNN report naturally tries to blame it all on Donald Trump – because of course it does – but it ignores the reality that California’s air quality standards have been stricter than those of the EPA for decades now. None of that state’s issues have a damn thing to do with a President who has only been in office for two years.

Note which state does not place a single city on that list: Texas. Which, as mentioned above, has been governed by a purely-Republican state government for 25 years now.

This not a coincidence, folks.

Of course, as I’ve discussed in the past, the problem with all these migrating Californians is that they leave that state to get away from all the high-tax, anti-business policies enacted by Democrats, and then they move to a new state and just keep on voting for more Democrats. Nobody in our fake news media will acknowledge it, but that’s one of the main reasons why Colorado has transitioned from a reliable GOP state to a near-reliable Democrat state over the last 20 years.

That is also why the states of Arizona and Nevada are verging on a similar transition, and it’s why we saw the winning margins of winning GOP candidates in Texas narrow in 2018 as compared to previous election cycles in the 21st century.

So, right now Texas has far more attractive and less polluted cities than California, but as more and more native Californians leave their home state to get to Texas, that will all eventually begin to change.

As a 7th generation native Texan myself, I’d prefer that President Trump build a wall around California than along the Rio Grande, simply to preserve the health of my home state.

God Bless Texas.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Speaking of Political Losers, Heeeeeere’s Beto!

Today’s Campaign Update
(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an actress. – Everyone should watch this video. Trust me, just watch it. It’ll be the best 23 minutes you invest this week. I’m going to keep this pinned at the top of each piece I post for the next few days in order to maximize its – and her – exposure.

And speaking of political losers. – Sometimes, events just follow the Campaign Update around.  Our focus yesterday morning was on the Democrats’ Ongoing Fascination With Political Losers, and – viola! – this morning, Irish Bob “Beto” O’Rourke is formally announcing his candidacy.

All the girls – and most of the guys – who pose as fake journalists in our fake news media are swooning and cooing sweet nothings they hope will eventually meet their precious Beto’s ears. Fake news hacks from El Paso to Austin to New York City to Washington D.C. are all lining up at the door to their fake editors’ offices, er, cubicles, vying for the glorious assignment of following the jumpy, sweaty, skate-boarding, 46 year-old around the country in the hopes that he will give them a passing glance, maybe one of his crooked smiles, or even – gasp! – repeat their name back to them during an evasive answer to one of their softball questions.

Oh, the glory! What more could a girl – or guy – possibly want amid a miserable life spent faking the news for a living?

The Texas Tribune, an Austin-based digital publication that acted as a pro bono PR firm for Irish Bob’s failed senate campaign last year, led with this paragraph in its story on this morning’s announcement:

“After months of intense speculation, Beto O’Rourke is entering the presidential race Thursday, marking an extraordinary rise from little-known El Paso congressman a few years ago to potentially formidable White House contender.”

Ah, so it’s been an “extraordinary rise”, has it, this progression from little-known congressman to senate race loser to presidential candidate currently pulling 6% in the Democrat preference polls? I suppose we should feel lucky the writer resisted the impulse to use the word “meteoric” instead.

To be fair, Irish Bob has been truly extraordinary at two things thus far:

  • He raised an extraordinary amount of out-of-state money in his senate race against Ted Cruz, ultimately out-spending Cruz by a 3-to-1 margin in a losing effort; and
  • He has attracted an extraordinary amount of free media from the fawning press, possibly more than any politician in U.S. history not named Obama or Clinton.

But maybe even more impressive is how many fake media outlets have chosen to publish pretty much the exact same “profile” of Irish Bob. Hell, Vanity Fair just put another one out there yesterday, complete with a photo spread by Annie Lebovitz.

Every profile of Irish Bob published over the past year reads like the breathless prose of a lovesick college coed, and they’re all structured as if torn from a page of a paint-by-the-numbers book:

  • Beto is “Kennedy-esque. Indeed, if that word does not appear in the story, it is not an official profile;
  • His hometown of El Paso, population of 683,577, is described as “small”, “backwater”, “isolated”, or my favorite, “dusty;”
  • He sweats a lot, and it shows. Swooning fake reporters spend a ton of time admiring Beto’s perspiration;
  • He rides a skateboard;
  • Hey, didja know he used to be in a punk rock band?;
  • The perpetually-jumpy politician with more tics than a stray dog has “nervous energy.” Oh;
  • His eyes are “piercing,” because hey, how else do you describe the eyes of someone who is “Kennedy-esque?” Just be glad they didn’t say “dreamy,” because that’s what they’re all really thinking.

Pablum for the masses, all in an effort to promote the candidacy of a guy whose main accomplishment in life – outside of having an admittedly-lovely family – is having raised $75 million in a senate race that he lost.

The conventional wisdom out there today seems to be that O’Rourke is getting into the race in an effort to become Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020. While I think that vastly underestimates Irish Bob’s massive ego, wouldn’t that outcome be wonderful?

Think about it: How would the rapidly-growing social justice warrior wing of the Democrat support base react if its 2020 convention were to nominate a ticket consisting of two of the most pasty-white men ever born in America outside of Wisconsin? It would be glorious.

So Irish Bob is officially in, and the Democrat fascination with political losers continues. I would say let the fawning fake news media slobbering over “Beto” begin, but as Vanity Fair and the Texas Tribune and many others demonstrate this morning, it began long ago.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Some Stunning New Facts About Texas and its Oil Industry

Today’s Energy Update
(Because Energy Fuels Our Lives)

#GodBlessTexas. – Last week at Shale Magazine, I put up a piece detailing some “Fun Facts” about the state of the oil and gas industry in Texas. That piece began with the following statement:

“Here’s a fun fact: If Texas were an independent country, it would now stand as the 5th-largest oil-producing nation on Planet Earth, behind only the rest of the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. According to projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Texas will pass Iraq in this measure of economic might later this year.”

Boy, things sure do escalate quickly in the oil industry. Here we are, barely a week later, and the truth about that little factoid has already changed again, at least if the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has its numbers right.  EIA now says that the U.S. averaged 12 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) in January, the first time it has ever reached level. The agency further projects that the Permian Basin alone will produce 4 million bopd in March, roughly 1/3rd of total U.S. production.

So, before we get to some new amazing facts about all of this, let’s do a little math.  First, roughly 85% of total Permian Basin production comes from Texas, which in March would come to about 3.4 million bopd. Next, add in EIA’s estimate that the other behemoth Texas shale play, the Eagle Ford, will produce about 1.3 million bopd, and you are at a stunning 4.7 million. Oh, and there’s also all that oil coming out of deep south Texas, east Texas and the Texas panhandle, and all of a sudden you find Texas producing in excess of 5 million bopd.

All of which means that as of today, the great State of Texas, all by itself, would now rank 4th globally in crude oil production if it were an independent country, having now blown past Iraq.  Oh, and if the EIA’s projected trend for Permian production growth holds true, Texas will in all likelihood surpass the rest of the United States in total production at some point in either late 2021 or early 2022, and become the third-largest producer in the world.

But that’s not all.

EIA’s March projection of 4 million bopd coming out of the Permian Basin alone means that single basin, were it to secede from the union, would suddenly rank as the 5th-largest oil producing nation on earth, behind Iraq as well as the other countries mentioned above. The other amazing but little known fact about the Permian is that it ranks as one of the largest natural gas plays on earth, second in the U.S. only to the mammoth Marcellus Shale play in the northeast.

How incredible is that? Look at it this way:  Just a decade ago, the Permian Basin was considered to be a “dead” oil play. Downtown Midland was basically a ghost town, and the only real oil business going on out there was a bunch of small companies buying up old, depleted oil fields and going in to rework the wells in order to squeeze a few more barrels per day out of them.

Today, just 10 year later, it is the focal point of the global oil industry, the driver of booming economies of Texas and New Mexico, the main driver of the country’s burgeoning oil and LNG exports businesses. Because industries like chemicals, plastics, fertilizers and many, many more use petroleum products and natural gas as feedstocks, the Permian is also one of the the major facilitators of our country’s manufacturing renaissance over the last few years.

Stunning. And a real blessing.

God Bless Texas, indeed.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Apache and the Alpine High: Changing the Way the Oilfield Works

Monday Energy Update

(Because Energy Fuels Our Lives)

“My story starts in 1956 when I was one year old, and M. King Hubbard made a prediction about ‘peak oil.’ He said somewhere around 1970 U.S. production would peak at about 10 million barrels per day and then it would fall off over the next 25-30 years to about 4 million bpd, and the U.S. would be completely dependent on foreign oil.”

Steve Keenan is, to put it mildly, a high-energy individual. Apache Corporation’s Senior Vice President for Worldwide Exploration, he is a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas industry, a geoscientist who has seen it all and done most of it. As we start our interview last November, he is seated at his desk at the company’s offices on the western edge of San Antonio, trying to describe to this writer the series of events that led to the discovery of the massive Alpine High resource in the Delaware Basin of far West Texas. As we will soon see, it was a discovery that required a “cradle to grave” kind of approach, and true to form, Keenan was starting his explanation at the cradle.

“That’s important because people really believed what Hubbard was saying,” he continues. “And the amazing thing to me is that he was practically correct — oil did peak at 10 million bpd around 1970, and it did fall and we were disproportionally dependent on imports for a long time. But it didn’t fall in the logistic distribution curve that he predicted.” To emphasize this point, Keenan pulls up a line graph of the last 45 years of U.S. oil production onto his computer display. “If you’ll notice, there are changes in the slope of the curve, and it is those changes in slope that are the story of my career.

“Up until about 2005 the industry was involved in what we used to just call ‘exploration’ but which we now refer to as ‘conventional exploration,’ since we now have exploration in ‘unconventional’ or ‘resource’ plays,” he says, describing the different terms used to differentiate the sand and limestone formations from which almost all oil and gas was extracted during the industry’s first 150 years and the tight sands, coal and shale formations that have produced most of it in the U.S. during the course of the 21st century.

“All these changes in slope are important because what they represent are the introduction of new ideas, really creative and adaptive thinking, so that we could slow or arrest that decline. Or some kind of new engineering capability or new technology that didn’t exist previously. But mainly it was creative thinking.”

He points to a specific spot on the graph. “This is where I come in. I actually first got hired in 1978, after the Arab oil embargo and the discovery at Prudhoe Bay. Like a lot of people my age with my credentials (he has an MS degree, undergrad in geology with a master’s thesis topic pertaining to spectral analysis of seismic signals – most of his contemporary MS colleagues studying Geophysics were writing about the evaluation of gravity or magnetic data) I began my career working in frontier areas where all the big hopes were. The main suspects at that time were in Alaska and California.”

Indeed, the progression of Keenan’s career, which, before coming to Apache Corp. in June 2014 included stops at Cities Service Oil Company, SOHIO Petroleum, BP, Marathon and EOG Resources, reads basically as compendium of some of the largest major oil discoveries of the last 40 years.

As Keenan notes, the early years of his career, spent at Cities Service, were spent exploring for oil on the North Slope of Alaska and in California, where he worked on the huge Milne Point field 35 miles west of Prudhoe Bay, and also on the Point Arguello field in the Pacific Ocean waters offshore California, just north of Santa Barbara.

While working as Regional Project Manager and as Chief Geophysicist at a domestic independent oil company from 1985 through 1997, Keenan gained a wealth of international experience, exploring for oil faraway places like Norway, Oman, Spain, Argentina and Egypt. Keenan moved over to Marathon Oil in 1997, and spent the next five years working on assets in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Angola.

Keenan next moved to become Division Exploration Manager of the South Texas operations for EOG Resources. There, he led the company’s highly-successful development of the Middle Wilcox tight sands assets in South Texas. Then, in 2008, his team made a major new discovery when it drilled, hydraulically fractured and completed the first successful horizontal well in the giant Eagle Ford Shale formation.

Wait, you’re thinking, didn’t Petrohawk drill that first successful Eagle Ford well? That is the common story, and, to be fair, Petrohawk was the first company to publicly announce a successful Eagle Ford completion, in October of 2008.

In 2008, EOG made a strategic decision to add more liquids to its portfolio of assets as the natural gas market in the U.S. began to become over-supplied. Keenan and his team were directed by then-EOG CEO Mark Papa at that time to go find more oil, even though it had been highly successful in drilling for the natural gas in the Wilcox formation for many years by then.

In the summer of that year, Keenan’s team which included current Apache employees Chester Pieprzica, Roberto Alaniz and Navneet Behl, drilled the Tully C. Gardner #94H, a 4,200’ lateral well in Webb County, Texas, which is in the wet gas window of the Eagle Ford Shale, and brought it online in August. So, why does the Petrohawk well continue to get the credit? Because EOG made the strategic decision to not make an announcement of its new discovery.

“At EOG, we decided that there was no value to us in telling people that,” Keenan says with a chuckle. “We convinced our management to move over to Karnes County (to the east) [to start up an expanded leasing program]. We then moved our rig over into Karnes County and drilled what was the first crude oil well in the Eagle Ford Shale.

“If you think about it, what business advantage would we [EOG] have to tell anybody about that first well?” Keenan says, noting that doing so would only serve to bring new competitors into the play area. “When we drilled that first well, we had about 15,000 acres under lease in the Eagle Ford,” he notes. In the coming months, EOG’s acreage position ultimately grew to more than 575,000 acres, and the company became one of the handful of biggest players in the Eagle Ford drilling boom that lasted through 2014, and is now seeing something of a revival today.

Read the Rest at Shalemag.com

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Swalwell 2020: Nuking Gun Owners For Peace

Today’s Campaign Update

(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Hey, who is Marianne Williamson? –  I honestly have no idea who this person is, but the newsfakers at Politico think it is news that a person named Marianne Williamson is running for the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination in 2020.  According to Politico, she is a “spiritualist” – whatever that means – who ran an independent campaign for a California congressional seat in 2014, and failed. That race was won by Ted Lieu, one of the most despicable Democrats in today’s congress, so maybe we should be wishing she had won instead. She certainly could not be any worse.

Williamson’s main claim to legitimacy in the political arena appears to be that she is a “pal of Oprah Winfrey.”  Given that the two high-profile Democrat candidates Oprah campaigned for this year – Florida’s Andrew Gillum and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams – have been declared loooooooooosers in their gubernatorial races over the last 24 hours, it’s hard to see what value the Oprah seal of approval really has any more.

But hey, in case you’re interested and have actually heard of Marianne Williamson, she’s running. There you go.

Speaking of despicable California congressmen, Eric Swalwell did this on Friday:

Yes, all you gun owners out there, Democrat Rep. Swalwell responded to a guy on Twitter who said that the government would have to kill him to take his guns away by assuring the guy that the government would indeed kill him, with nukes. This promise to nuke gun owners will no doubt play extremely well with the demented Democrat base voters and dramatically enhance Swalwell’s chances in his 2020 presidential run.

Can’t wait to get me one of them “Swalwell 2020:  Nuke ’em for Peace!” bumper stickers.

Holy crap. You seriously cannot make this stuff up.

And since we’re speaking of despicable Democrat politicians… – The aforementioned Oprah acolyte Stacey Abrams “halted” her Georgia gubernatorial run on Friday, but made it clear she would never “concede” the race to the actual winner, Republican Brian Kemp.

In keeping with the Democrat Party’s 25-year campaign to declare every Republican win to be somehow illegitimate, Abrams blamed her loss not on the fact that she received more than 50,000 fewer votes than her opponent, but on “voter suppression”, which is her way of saying all Republicans are racists and she only lost because of their racism, or something. Because of course she did.

No, Texas is not turning blue anytime soon. – We’ve seen a lot of elections “experts”, i.e., liberals in the fake news media, offering sage analyses of the Texas election results and coming up with the conclusion that the state of Texas is going to turn blue as soon as 2020.

Let me assure you, as a 7th generation Texan, that ain’t gonna happen.

Yes, the Democrat Party made gains in Texas in the 2018 elections. The Dems flipped two congressional seats, 2 state senate seats and a dozen seats in the state’s house of representatives. It’s a BLUE WAAAAAAAVE, right?  Um, no, not really.

What those results mean is that the Texas congressional delegation is now 23 Rs and 13 Ds. The Rs will hold a 19-12 edge in the state senate, and 83 of the 150 seats in the state house.

Oh, and here’s the other thing all these “experts” fail to mention:  The Republicans won every statewide election held this year. Every one of them, from the governor’s office all the way down to the land office race. Yes, the winning margins were closer than they have been in the past 5 election cycles, but let’s think about why that happened.

I can explain the majority of it in two words:  Beto O’Rourke. His race against Ted Cruz was the first race on everyone’s ballot this year. O’Rourke, thanks to a flood of money from Hollywood and New York, was able to pour about $80 million into that race, outspending Cruz by a factor of about 3 to 1. Just above the senate race on the ballot was the option to vote straight Republican or straight Democrat tickets.

O’Rourke ran a mostly-positive campaign that excited a lot of voters in Texas. And thousands of those voters, perhaps hundreds of thousands of them, who might have otherwise voted for many Republicans, expressed their excitement for Irish Bob O’Rourke and saved a bunch of time by simply marking the box for the straight Democrat ticket.

There is simply no question that the ability to pour such a gargantuan amount of money into a single statewide race heavily influenced every race down the ballot. If you think the Republicans in Texas are going to get caught flat-footed in the money race again in 2020 or subsequent election cycles, you are going to be highly disappointed when those years come around.

I first started working Texas politics in 1996, two years after George W. Bush had become governor by defeating Ann Richards. At that time, all the “wise people” in Austin, all the analysts and lobbyists and reporters, assured me that this Republican thing was just a temporary aberration and that the Democrats would sweep back into power in the 1998 elections.  Instead, the Rs won every statewide office and took control of the state’s house of representatives and senate.

After that election, all these “wise people” kept assuring me that by 2002 or 2004, the state’s growing community of Hispanic voters would sweep the Democrats back into power. Here it is 2018, and it’s now a quarter of a century since any Dem won a statewide election in Texas.  Why?  Because the Republicans keep getting a higher and higher percentage of Hispanic votes as more and more Hispanics move up into the middle and upper classes of society. Republican candidates in this year’s election also saw a significant gain in their percentage of black voters.

Now, there is no doubt Texas Republicans have some work to do, especially with suburban and rural women, where they saw significant erosion of support in this year’s voting. Some of that is the Beto effect, but you sure can’t blame it all on that.

That is where the narrowing of the GOP majorities in both houses of the legislature could turn out to be a blessing in disguise, because those smaller margins are likely to force Republican leaders to focus on the state’s economic and budget matters in the upcoming legislative session, and leave all the social issues that tend to turn off those women voters on the sidelines.

In any event, any Democrat thinking they can just chalk up Texas’s mass of electoral votes to their party’s candidate for the presidency in 2020 or even in 2024 is just whistling past the graveyard.

That is all.

 

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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Pro Tips for Election Night Results-Watching

The Evening Campaign Update

(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

[I will be live-blogging the mid-term election results here starting at 6:00 p.m. Central Time Tuesday.  Please join me in the comments section for tons of fun as the results either make me look like the smartest guy on the planet or a damn fool.  Could go either way.]

Some pro tips for Election Night Results-Watching:

  • We may have a very good idea on how the House balance of power will end up fairly early in the evening. – A large number of the “tossup” seats in this election are in closely-divided districts in Florida, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania, all in the Eastern time zone.  So, by 8 p.m. Central Time, we should have a pretty good idea of what the trend in those districts is, or if there is no trend at all.
  • There aren’t many other key House districts in the Central or Mountain time zones. – Once you get out of the states on the Eastern Seaboard, you only have a handful of key House districts until you get to California, where the Democrats are heavily contesting 10 remaining GOP-held seats.  If the Ds haven’t clinched the majority in the House by the time polls close in California, it’s going to be a long night.  If they have, the state loses its importance in the grand scheme of things, though it will still be interesting to see if Rs like Dana Rohrabacher can hang in there for one more term in office.
  • If the House goes early, the Senate probably will, too. – Here is where Florida is such a key.  The Republicans are going to end up at least 60,000 votes ahead of 2016 in the early voting results.  Trump won Florida by 117,000 votes in 2016, so if you add 60,000 to that, you get a fairly high hill for incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson to climb in his run for re-election against sitting GOP Governor Rick Scott.  If we see Scott losing this race by, say, 5% or more when the early returns come in, then that will likely mean it’s going to be along night for the GOP.  If we see Scott keeping it closer than that in the early returns, that means good news for Republicans is probably going to be coming in all night long.
  • Georgia’s governor’s race is also key. – This race shouldn’t be as close as the polls claim it is.  If the early returns show a neck-and-neck race here, then you can probably expect a pretty late night overall.
  • Don’t be surprised if Irish Bob O’Rourke leads Ted Cruz early in Texas. – The major metro areas in Texas lean Democrat as a whole, and their returns always come in earlier than the rural counties.  Hillary Clinton led Donald Trump by ~160,000 votes when the early voting was reported at 7:00 by the Secretary of State’s office.  But then the rural counties started to come in and that more than reversed.  In total, rural Texas went for Trump by more than 1 million votes in 2016.  Expect to see a similar dynamic in this race.
  • Ignore leaked “exit polls.” – At some point around mid-day, one more more major media outlets will report on “leaked” exit poll information showing Democrats well ahead and moving towards their long-coveted “blue wave.”  Ignore those reports.  First of all, these “exit polls” are commissioned by those same damn media outlets, and the “leaks” are designed to depress GOP turnout on Election Day.  They’ve been playing this despicable game since 2000.  The good news is, it never works.
  • It’s Ok to watch CNN. – Aside from the obvious benefits of seeing all the long faces over there if the Republicans have a good night, John King was actually much better and more even-handed at reporting on results and trends than anyone else on Election Night 2016.  Fox News was actually the worst place to be on Election Night 2016, as they focused far more on giving everyone with a contributor contract time to weigh in on stuff they know nothing about than on actually reporting on election results.  Thus, Fox News was among the last to recognize the reality that Trump was actually about to win.
  • Whenever Juan Williams or Shep Smith appear on your TV screen, change channels. – Trust me, it’s better for your blood pressure.
  • Pace yourself on your favorite beverage. – Don’t hit the juice too hard early, because it could be a long night, just like 2016.  And don’t break out the champagne too early like all the Democrats did two years ago – it’ll go flat in just a few hours, and that’s never good.

Personally, I’ll be drinking Tito’s and Topo Chico with a twist of lime and a couple of cubes of sugared ginger root – my own personal Texas Mule recipe.  If Florida goes bad early, that’ll probably start showing up in my updates around 8:30 Central Time.

Be careful out there.

That is all.

 

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

Open post

To Donald Trump, it’s all About America

Today’s Campaign Update

(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Well, of course she did. – Bad comic Amy Schumer – niece of Chuck Schumer – held a press conference in which she announced all the Democrat candidates who she, in her infinite wisdom, wants everyone else to vote for.  Almost as an afterthought, she also announced she was pregnant.  We all have our priorities in life, and these are hers.

America’s Biggest Mistake suddenly reappears on the campaign trail, and boy is it rich. – Barack Hussein Obama – who had mysteriously disappeared from the campaign trail after making a big announcement promising to campaign all over the country back in early September – suddenly materialized before a mediocre audience out in Las Vegas.  There, in a 38-minute TelePrompter speech in which he referred to his own self 92 times, he also had this to say:

No word if he then went on to say “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Those manufacturing jobs are never coming back. I didn’t know anything about Uranium One.  I found out about Hillary’s private server when everyone else did. Same thing with all that gun-running Eric Holder was doing down in Mexico. You can’t just wave a magic wand and get 3 percent growth…”, but it seems pretty likely.

Why you should be following @GDBlackmon on Twitter, part 5,351 – 

Is that mean-spirited?  Yeah, I guess.  But we put up with waaaayyyyy too much BS in this society, and it’s time to start walking some of it back.

And speaking of walking things back… – The newsfakers at NBCNews continued the steady walking-back of their year-long “Blue Wave!!!!!” fantasy with a Monday article headlined “Republicans Out-pacing Democrats in Early Voting in Key States, NBC News Finds.”  Wow, who knew?

The piece looks at early voting numbers from Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Montana, Indiana and Georgia.  In every state but Nevada, Republican-affiliated voters lead in the preliminary mail-in and early in-person voting totals.  Republicans usually lead in mail-in ballots in most states, but do not normally lead in early in-person voting in some of the states studied.

In this particular analysis, the most crucial states to keep watching are Nevada, where Republican Dean Heller is really the lone GOP incumbent senator in trouble this time around, and in Florida, Montana and Indiana, where it is somewhat unusual for Republicans to be leading in these early totals.  If these leads continue, the Democrat incumbents in those states are in a ton of trouble given that Republicans will dominate the turnout on Election Day itself.

Man, nobody could have seen that one coming…oh, wait…

Monday was another bad day for our favorite Creepy Porn Lawyer. – A judge in California has ordered the Creepy Porn Lawyer to pay $4.85 million that he has owed his law partners for several years while living an extravagant lifestyle.  Other reports indicate that CPL was recently evicted from his Los Angeles law offices in relation to the dispute.  The Daily Beast also reported last week that CPL owes $1.2 million in back taxes to the federal government.  Hey, how come CPL doesn’t have his own GoFundMe account?  Surely all those liberal suckers who gave millions to Stormy Daniels and Christine Ford would pony up for their Creepy Porn hero too?

Oh, hey, and President Donald Trump (I never tire of typing those three blessed words) was in Houston last night! – Boy, was it epic.  You had 19,000 people sitting or standing inside the Toyota Center, and another 19,000 or so watching the event on huge video screens that had been set up outside the arena.  Below is a shot of a portion of the huge crowd that had gathered on the Downtown Houston streets by mid-afternoon:

The President was there stumping on behalf of the guy he used to call “Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”  Before he even left Washington D.C. Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump set the White House fake press corps into a frenzied set of the vapors, telling them as he boarded Marine One that  “He’s not Lyin’ Ted anymore. He’s Beautiful Ted. I call him Texas Ted.”  Much tsk-tsking and tut-tutting immediately materialized on the Twitter accounts of fake journalists all over Washington and New York.

The newsfakers at CNN were further scandalized when the President embraced the fact that he is an American nationalist, saying:

“A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about the country so much. You know, we can’t have that,” Trump said, prompting boos from the crowd.  “You know what I am, I’m a nationalist,” he added, as the crowd erupted in “USA! USA!” chants. “Use that word.”

Millions of Americans in Texas and all over the rest of Flyover Country heard that and said, “Hey, #MeToo!” But of course, the leftwingers in the Democrat Party and our fake news media have spent the last 25 years turning the term “nationalist” into a political cussword, so they’re all in a fury about it this morning.

The Houston Chronicle noted that “Trump acknowledged that he and Cruz ‘had our little difficulties’ and ‘it got nasty’ during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when Trump called Cruz ‘Lyin’ Ted.’ But he commended Cruz for doing a ‘beautiful job staring down an angry left-wing mob’ during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” all of which is absolutely true, but we can be sure that a bunch of leftist “fact-checkers” in the Texas and national news media will determine it isn’t.  Because that’s what our fake news media does to this President.

In the end, having both America’s Biggest Mistake and President Donald Trump book-ending the political day served as a perfect object lesson about why our country is so blessed to have Trump as Obama’s successor: While Obama’s speech was filled with “I” and “me” and carefully read off of a TelePrompter, Trump’s speech was all about “we”, and largely extemporaneous.

For Obama, everything was always all about him. For Trump, it’s all about America.

What else do we really need to know?

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

Open post

I Am Shocked – Shocked! – To Learn of Democrat Voter Fraud Happening in Texas!

Today’s Campaign Update

(Because The Campaign Never Ends)

Texas Democrats everywhere are wondering why this is a problem as they write down names off of tombstones to get them registered, too.  – The Texas Democrat Party has allegedly been sending out voter registration cards to illegal immigrants with the citizenship box already checked “yes”, according to multiple complaints filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

Even better, according to the report in the Washington Times, “The applications were pre-addressed to elections officials, which is likely what left many voters to believe they were receiving an official communication from the state.  But the return address was from the State Democratic Executive Committee, and listed an address in Austin that matches the state Democratic Party’s headquarters.”

Anyone who thinks this is anything unusual in Texas has never lived in Texas.  Were it not for this kind of Democrat-organized voter fraud effort, Lyndon Johnson would have never been anything more than a teacher at some backwater school in the Texas Hill Country.

And hey, it’s not limited to illegal aliens in the state – it’s a Democrat tradition to go after all the dead voters, too, because, after all, there are no dead Republicans in Texas.  “Sam Taylor, spokesman for Texas’s secretary of state, said they heard from people whose relatives were receiving mail despite having passed away 10 years ago or longer. One woman said her child, who’d been dead 19 years, got a mailing asking to register.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would order an investigation, and “If true there will be serious consequences,” but Texans have heard such promises from Texas governors going all the way back to the 1948 senate race between LBJ and Coke Stevenson and the infamous “Box 13” incident, and seldom seen any real results.  This is just what Democrats do down here – they believe they’re entitled.

Speaking of entitled Democrats… – Irish Bob O’Rourke was given an hour of free air time by CNN last night, because with CNN’s ratings, all the air time might as well be free these days. More people were watching re-runs of SpongeBob SquarePants than tuned into see the fawning CNN fake journalists pepper Irish Bob with Nerf ball questions like “Why are you so darn handsome?”, and “We know you aren’t really Hispanic, but you would be if you could, right?”  Ok, I just made those up, but the actual questions weren’t any harder.

Next Monday, President Trump will be in Houston doing a rally for Ted Cruz.  That’ll be shown on Fox News, where a 300% larger audience tunes in each night.

You do have to give Irish Bob credit, though: He has the most tireless fundraising machine ever seen in Texas politics.  My poor little wifey received no fewer than six fundraising calls from his campaign yesterday alone, every one of them from a different number.  They quit calling me a month ago after I told one of them to “kiss my a**”.

This guy has raised more than $60 million in a Texas senate race, where winning candidates of the past have spent less than $20 million, and he still wants more.  No wonder all those other losing Democrat senate candidates are angry at him for refusing to share the wealth a little bit.  After all, the Democrats are openly admitting they are the Socialist party now after decades of pretending not to be, so a little redistribution of the wealth and control of the means of production seems to be in order here. But Irish Bob is having none of it – the money is his, all his.

He’s entitled.

But…but…but…we have been assured by our fake news media that this is not happening! – The Associated Press, believe it or not, is actually reporting on the fact that a South African city is openly seizing land from private landowners with zero compensation in what is being called a “national test case” for adopting land seizures as a formal national policy.

The city council of Ekurhuleni – which, with 4 million people is the size of Houston – voted to move ahead with the stealing of hundreds of acres of land without compensating the landowners in what the AP refers to as a “legal tool that the ruling African National Congress says is necessary to correct the historic injustices of apartheid and distribute land more equitably.”

In other words, the landowners are white, and those seizing the land are black, which is why our fake news media has refused to cover the story.  This has in fact been going on for years in more rural areas of the country, with many landowners being murdered in the process, but suddenly the AP wakes up and decides, I guess, that because it is happening in one of South Africa’s larger cities, it is worth covering.

Journalism is truly a dead profession in this country.

That is all.

Follow me on Twitter at @GDBlackmon

Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger.com is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.

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