Silly and Serious

For you rock and roll aficionados, may I recommend you setting the DVR or whatever to PBS this evening at 10 pm and record the “The Dave Clark Five: Glad All Over” show. The DC5 along with The Beatles and Rolling Stones were part of the British Invasion back in 1964. The DC5 ended up being on “The Ed Sullivan Show” like 17 times. For those that were too young to be around, you will recognize some of their songs. Check it out.

Senator Wendy Davis had a brief meeting with The President yesterday up in Austin. Here is some silly stuff that AG Abbott’s mouthpiece put out:

“Sen. Davis stated last month that she would not shy away from President Obama’s visit to Texas, yet in another flip-flop, she instead decided to meet with him in secret – away from the public and refusing to mention what they discussed. We can only assume President Obama and Sen. Davis bonded over their shared support of Obamacare and limiting Second Amendment rights. Texans want a governor who shares there values, not someone who wants to bring Obama’s big government agenda and failed liberal values to our great state.”

Well, maybe they talked about how The President was going to get some of his rich buddies to help out her campaign.

Maybe The President wanted to know how she did on her bracket.

Maybe she asked The President if he would do some robo calls for her in October.

Maybe they talked about the White Sox visit to Globe Life next weekend and maybe he asked her to snag him a Yu Darvish bobblehead they are giving away next Saturday.

Maybe he asked her if the Mavs would end up with the 7th or 8th seed and she asked him if the Bulls would hold the 4th.

Maybe he asked her what she thought of Colbert replacing Letterman.

Maybe she gave The President an autographed pair of pink sneakers.

Maybe she took a selfie with The President and they just didn’t want the whole world to see and then compare to Big Papi’s selfie.

Maybe they talked about Olivia Pope and Francis Underwood.

Maybe she just told The President that he made a pretty good speech at the LBJ Library that reminded folks about LBJ’s accomplishments.

Maybe The President told her that the First Lady recommends dropping by Triniti on South Shepherd the next time she’s campaigning in H-Town.

Maybe The President thanked her for not being in Odessa yesterday.

Maybe The President asked if she became governor would she pack heat when she went jogging.

Maybe she asked The President if they would ease up on deportations as an “act of love.”

Maybe The President told Sen. Davis that if she became Governor and expanded Medicaid in the Lone Star State the GOP would call it Wendycare.

Maybe The President told her he got to check out the maroonbonnets some Aggies planted around the UT Tower.

Maybe, maybe, or maybe.

The HISD Board President changed her mind and put an elementary school closing issue back on the agenda and her colleagues didn’t follow her lead yesterday. Oh well!

The ‘Stros are in Arlington for three. How many no-nos have been tossed by Rangers pitchers?

Talk about wow and ouch, the Chron E-Board really put it on HPD today. I wonder what the Mayor and Police Chief are thinking this morning. Check it out:

Why is the Houston Police Department so prone to mismanagement? This is the question that City Hall needs to answer. It is time for a third-party investigator to take a look at HPD and determine exactly where management breaks down and provide solutions.

Years of controversy at HPD’s crime lab led to an independent report by forensics expert Michael Bromwich, which helped set the lab on the right track. The rest of HPD needs to take the same medicine.

It seems like a month can’t go by without HPD landing itself in another controversy. There were two HPD lieutenants who retired, with full benefits, amid allegations of sexual harassment. The crime lab faces an internal investigation after reports that a former employee did not follow proper procedures over the last two years. This comes on the tail of untested evidence, faked results, inaccurate fingerprinting and contaminated blood tests. We thought those days were over.

HPD has also yet to properly address a lauded two-part article by Texas Observer writer Emily DePrang documenting rampant and unpunished police brutality in Houston. Nor has HPD taken significant steps to address police shootings, even after a series of articles by Chronicle reporter James Pinkerton revealed that a quarter of civilians shot by HPD over the past five years had been unarmed.

Now we’re learning that the homicide division simply ignored stacks of cases and failed to keep track of documents. The problems go all the way to the top: City Councilman Ed Gonzalez, a former police sergeant, kept homicide case files after leaving the force (“Council member imposes penalty on self,” Page A1, Thursday). Because of this incompetence, a man charged with murder now sits out of reach in Honduras. How many other murderers roam free because Houston’s police officers refused to do their jobs?

Neither Mayor Annise Parker nor District Attorney Devon Anderson should be satisfied with HPD’s performance. The department’s failures undermine its reliability in the courts and its trustworthiness in the hearts of citizens. All of Houston suffers when HPD falls down on the job, yet it seems like officers get off with a slap on the wrist.

Gonzalez is punishing himself with a self-imposed 5-day suspension without pay. This voluntary shaming is similar to the consequences faced by eight police officers implicated in the probe that found the homicide department had poorly investigated or totally ignored at least 24 cases. Still, it feels all too much like something you would read in a 1980s book on Japanese management styles. Houston doesn’t need self-pitying. We need answers.

Like I said – OUCH!

Ranger pitchers have tossed five no-nos of course.

Three dingers helped us get a win last night. We are now 4-6.