Over There

In the aftermath of Friday’s massacre in Paris, many here in the U.S. want us to have a much, much bigger military presence in Iraq and Syria. They are ready to dust off this George M. Cohan tune:

Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We’ll be over, we’re coming over
And we won’t come back till it’s over
Over there!

What a mess.

Who led all MLB shortstops in dingers this past season?

Well these folk aren’t going away anytime soon. I am talking about what was in the Chron this past weekend. Here is part:

Opponents of Houston’s repealed equal rights ordinance have placed 300,000 calls and will release a new TV ad next week warning about a possible City Council revival of the controversial non-discrimination law.

All that despite no certainty that Mayor Annise Parker will find the political will and, most importantly, the time, to bring forward new equal rights legislation in the dwindling weeks before her term is over at the end of December. Several City Council members are battling heated Dec. 12 runoff contests and unlikely to willingly delve into the politically charged law that 61 percent of voters opposed this month.

And:

Opponents have been “emboldened” by the margin of their victory, said Rice University political scientist Mark Jones. “There’s no way … that HERO is coming back” before Parker leaves office, he said, but the ad gives critics an opportunity to galvanize anti-HERO voters.

“The way those candidates get in is by maintaining engagement with social conservatives,” Jones said. “It gives them another opportunity to cast a vote against HERO.”

(Jared)Woodfill and fellow conservative activists have also shifted some of their attention to Dallas, where the City Council just updated its own non-discrimination law to more explicitly include protections for transgender residents. But Woodfill said they are prepared for a second battle in Houston.

Here is the entire read from the Chron: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/HERO-opponents-plan-new-TV-ad-6630763.php.

There is no doubt that this has been an unusual election year in H-Town and it will continue to be so. All bets are off.

And from the Chron E-Board this past Saturday:

(Thumbs down) Has engineer/term-limited city councilman/failed mayoral candidate Steve Costello drawn up a blueprint for his next venture: Metro board chairman? Costello, a sixth-place finisher in the mayor’s race with 6 percent of the vote, endorsed Sylvester Turner even though there was little policy daylight between him and Bill King. Politicians are known to scratch each other’s back. We’ll watch this with interest.

Carlos Correa of course led all MLB shortstops with 22 dingers and he only played in 99 regular season games. And this from the ‘Stros website:

Correa, who made his big league debut on June 8, is the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award — as voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — and for good reason. He was not only the top rookie in the AL, but by the end of the season, was one of the best shortstops in baseball. The winner will be announced today at 5 p.m. CT on MLB Network, with additional coverage on MLB.com.

Correa was the youngest position player in the big leagues in 2015, hitting .279 with 22 home runs, 22 doubles, 68 RBIs, 14 stolen bases and an .857 OPS in only 99 games. Among AL rookies, he ranked first in homers, slugging percentage (.512) and OPS, while ranking second in RBIs and on-base percentage (.345) and third in batting average.

I sure hope so!