First things first.
From the Chron today:
TORONTO — The domestic assault charge against Astros reliever Roberto Osuna was withdrawn in Canadian court on Tuesday after available evidence yielded there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction.”
A tweet from the Chron’s David Barron on the statement from the Astros:
David Barron @dfbarron 8h8 hours ago
2/2 The #Astros remain committed to increase our support regarding the issues of domestic violence and abuse of any kind. We have engaged with a number of local, state and national organizations – and we look forward to working with them in the short term and over the long term.”
Blah, blah, blah.
Don’t be fooled by the Astros. See this from the Chron story:
Reacting to Tuesday’s developments, Cindy Southworth with the National Network to End Domestic Violence said, “While the case being resolved through a peace bond is not unusual, I am disappointed that, in his statement, Roberto Osuna did not take any ownership for his own actions. He missed an opportunity to communicate to his fans that he commits to being a role model for treating women with respect.”
The Astros are committed to winning a World Series. Their statement yesterday on domestic violence is pure BS and we all know it.
Remember when they said we would get the full story on the incident. That was BS. They are not going to tell us squat. They are not going to let Osuna talk on the issue. Jeff Luhnow and the front office let us know where they stand on domestic violence when they signed Osuna. Pure and simple if you ask Commentary.
Here is from Chron columnist Jenny Dial Creech, first more of the Astros statement:
“The Astros remain committed to increase our support regarding the issues of domestic violence and abuse of any kind. We have engaged with a number of local, state and national organizations – and we look forward to working with them in the short term and over the long term.”
From Creech:
How has Osuna been a productive and caring part of the community? And while the Astros have engaged with organizations, have they actually done anything to bring awareness to domestic violence?
It seems like this whole ordeal has come and gone and a lot of people have moved on. As long as a team is winning, everything else is overlooked.
Hopefully some good will come of this situation. So far, none has. Osuna’s day in court changed nothing. There are still few answers, no apologies, no remorse and no signs that Osuna or the team are doing anything to help victims of or bring awareness to domestic violence.
Here is the entire Creech column: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/texas-sports-nation/jenny-dial-creech/article/No-answers-or-remorse-as-Roberto-Osuna-s-13257514.php.
The front office is AL West Chumps for sure.
Here is the Chron story: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Domestic-assault-charge-against-Astros-Roberto-13256979.php.
No MLB question today.
Royko sent me this yesterday on my Sen. Ted Cruz take:
To blame the reprehensible and asinine behavior by zealots on Senator Cruz is insane. They are the intolerant ones. What if this were turned around, and this happened to you?
Building baby jails is insane.
From the world embarrassment department, see this tweet:
Evan 20XX Retweeted
Mark Landler @MarkLandler 2h2 hours ago
The laughter at Trump’s UN speech underscores a hard reality for him: After 20 months of bombast, he’s now viewed by many foreign officials as a source of humor rather than fear.
Commentary was going to spend time today on how the H-Town Mayor was working to defeat Prop B but Kuffer beat me to the punch here:
The firefighter pay parity proposal sure seems like it’s going to pass
Sep 26th, 2018
by Charles Kuffner.
What are ya gonna do?
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is holding town halls to try to convince voters that the city can’t afford Proposition B, a ballot measure that would tie firefighters’ pay to that of police. It’s turning into an uphill fight.
Mayor Turner argues that full pay parity would cost Houston nearly $300 million, at a time when the city is wrestling with chronic deficits. But Turner is having a hard time getting voters to see this as anything other than attacking the firefighters.
“The default mode is not only to support equity pay but to support it by very big margins,” says Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice University.
That’s particularly the case if Democrats turn out in larger-than-usual numbers. “You’ll have a lot of voters coming out who are predisposed as Democrats to support equity pay for public employees,” Stein says. “On top of that, the firemen not only have a good campaign message, but they’re going to get national support from national public employee associations and unions to support this equity pay raise.”
I’ve already seen three pro-Prop B signs in my neighborhood. Mayor Turner has been busy holding town halls and writing op-eds, but beyond that I’ve not seen much of a campaign. So yeah, I expect this to pass, quite possibly by a lot. And I’d say Mayor Turner is making the same judgment.
Mayor Sylvester Turner has instituted a hiring freeze across the city government’s roughly 21,400 positions, ordering department directors seeking exceptions to meet with him or his chief of staff in person.
The directive, he wrote in a memo dated Friday, will be reviewed “at a later date this year.” Executive positions are exempt from the freeze, but those already require mayoral approval.
Mayoral spokeswoman Mary Benton said the order was spurred by Proposition B on the Nov. 6 ballot. That measure would give firefighters the same pay as police officers of corresponding rank and seniority, costing the city an estimated $98 million annually.
“The impact would financially cripple the city and force layoffs and cutbacks to services,” Benton said. “The mayor believes it is not prudent at this time to hire additional city of Houston employees, who would lose their jobs as a result of the election.”
I mean, what did you expect? At this point I’d say the city’s best strategy is to find some plaintiffs for the ballot language lawsuit, and hope to get an injunction preventing it from being implemented while it gets hashed out in court. I wouldn’t bet my own money on that outcome either, but the odds have to be better than beating this thing at the ballot box.
And these tweets:
Brian McTaggart @brianmctaggart 22m22 minutes ago
The Astros beat the Blue Jays, 4-1, for their 100th win of the season, including team-record 54th on the road. The magic number to clinch the AL West is 1, which means they can clinch tonight if the A’s lose to the Mariners. That game is just starting.
And this one:
Julia MoralesVerified account@JuliaMorales 17m17 minutes ago
100 wins for the Astros. Just the 5th defending WS champion to win 100 games in a season since 1970.
The A’s lost.
We are now AL West Champs.
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