Cowards

Associate Judge Beth Arnold is celebrating her birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Judge!

Just so you know, this will be our first president named Joe.  We’ve had multiple Andrew, Franklin, George, James, John and William.  We finally got our first Joe. There has only been one Joe vice president.  Joe Biden.

Nice job for naming an all-female communications leadership team at the White House for 2021, Biden-Harris Transition.

If Donald Trump doesn’t concede and continues his rants, President-Elect Joe Biden should ask him not to attend the inauguration on January 20, 2021.  Pretty simple to me.

When former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got beat by Trump in 2016, most Democrats I know took the loss painfully.  We got more popular votes, but the electoral college is what matters and we lost.  I didn’t like it, but it was what it was.

Secretary Clinton made the early morning call to Trump to concede and gave her concession speech that afternoon.  I don’t recall her, her campaign and other Democratic stalwarts crying that we had been cheated out of millions of votes.  Instead, it was Trump who said a few million folks without papers had been allowed to vote.

Democrats, like Commentary, bided their time and waited for the 2018 elections and the November 3, 2020 to get our payback and we did.

The GOP needs to own losing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fair and square.  To stay your current course is frankly un-American and unpatriotic.

If you know anything about how elections are conducted, you know there are systems in place to prevent massive fraud.  You know that what Trump and Rudy Giuliani are claiming is outright BS. They have been shut down by state and federal courts, recounts and elections administrators in the challenged states.

GOPers need to stand up against Trump and say enough is enough.  You are allowing damage to our country and processes.

This isn’t how we in America wrap up elections. Where is your dignity? Fuc_ing cowards.

Before the election, I took my Dad to see his cardiologist for his check-up.  On the way out, they gave me the paperwork that included the scheduled time and date for his next appointment. When I got back to my place that evening, I looked at the paperwork and his appointment was scheduled for the afternoon of January 20, 2021.  I waited until after the election to reschedule.  You know, the jinx thing.

I was watching “What’s Your Point” yesterday and the 2022 election was brought up.  Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo would face an opponent in the Democratic Primary.  My friend Bill King went a bit further and said that Judge Hidalgo would face an African American or former H-Town Mayor Annise Parker in the primary.  Huh? 

Anyone can plop down the $1,250 filing fee to run.  I am not hearing among Democrats that Judge Hidalgo is doing a lousy job.  I think she is doing a pretty good job.  She’s promoting issues that Democrats like.  What is wrong with rental assistance and supporting small businesses during a pandemic. She would be tough to beat in the Democratic Party Primary if you ask me.

I wonder where Bill and Mark are getting their local Democratic Party intel.

Former Astro Luis Valbuena would have been 35 today.  He died a couple of years ago in a car accident.  He was our third baseman the year we went to the playoffs in 2015.

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Not Much Friday

There is not much going on today.

Donald Trump won’t tell the media if he is going to President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.  He has decided but won’t say. I prefer that he does not.  I don’t want Biden riding in the same car with that fella.  Trump and his administration are super spreaders.

I would add “Christmas Canon” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra to the Best Christmas Tunes list.

42 years-ago today, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered at the San Francisco City Hall. 42 years ago.

47 years-ago today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Gerald Ford as President Richard Nixon’s Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned.

A few years ago, someone gave me a nice bottle of wine.  I finally opened it yesterday at dinner.  Silver Oak 2011 cab.  Nice.

It is hard to get worked up over a Texans win and a Cowboys arse kicking since they are both lousy this season.

Ivan Rodriguez is celebrating a birthday today.  The Hall of Fame great played for us for part of the 2009 season and had 8 dingers.  Happy Birthday, Pudge.

No word yet and where #SpringerDinger will land.

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Thanksgiving Day

Happy Birthday to my best friend Al Luna today.  I will let him tell you how many birthdays he’s had. I wonder how many times his birthday has fallen on Thanksgiving Day.

A good buddy of mine had the virus and it was a struggle.  She is better now.  I was worried. Thank goodness.

I don’t understand all these folks ignoring CDC guidelines and travelling all over the place.  We deserve what is coming, I guess.

The Thanksgiving Day prayer before dinner today ought to be interesting for sure.

Try to stay safe today.

Happy Thanksgiving Day and enjoy your dinner and go on ahead and overdo it.

I am.

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Christmas Tunes

If you are worried about catching COVID-19, today’s probably a day not to go to the grocery store or to Spec’s.

I wonder if Vegas has a line on whether former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a prominent role in the Biden-Harris administration. The progressives including @AOC are gunning for him.  Some Latinos blame him for not getting immigration reform passed during the first two years of the President Barack Obama administration when he was Chief of Staff and Democrats had control of Congress.  CNN contributor Paul Begala, who is good friend of Emanuel’s was on CNN yesterday saying Emanuel could make a good Transportation Secretary because the Transportation Department really isn’t partisan political.  Begala’s case for Emanuel was pretty weak.

My take is President-Elect Biden doesn’t need this headache.  There is nothing that Emanuel brings that you can’t get from someone else.  He has been a mayor, a member of Congress, and a White House Chief of Staff.  He’s not worth bringing on.

It is Christmas tune season.  “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is being played.  Did you know that on that tune, not a single woman has a solo?  A few months later, “We Are the World” came out.  It has five women soloists.  Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Karnes. Now you know.

On the “Today” website, they put out a list of the Top 25 Christmas tunes.  Hey, everyone has an opinion.  Here is the list minus those I removed.

1. Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

6. Andy Williams, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

7. Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

8. Bobby Helms, “Jingle Bell Rock”

9. Band Aid, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (1984)

10. Frank Sinatra (feat. B. Swanson Quartet), “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

11. John Lennon & Yoko Ono, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”

12. Bing Crosby, John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra, Ken Darby Singers, “White Christmas”

13. José Feliciano, “Feliz Navidad”

16. Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)”

17. Paul McCartney, “Wonderful Christmastime”

19. Elvis Presley, “Blue Christmas”

22. Burl Ives, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”

I am not set on the order above.  How can you not have “White Christmas” at number one.” Or Nat King Cole? Or Feliciano?

Here are the ones I removed:

2. Wham! “Last Christmas”

3. Ariana Grande, “Santa Tell Me”

4. Michael Bublé, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas”

5. Justin Bieber, “Mistletoe”

14. Michael Bublé, “Holly Jolly Christmas”

15. Chris Rea, “Driving Home for Christmas”

18. Sam Smith, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

20. Kelly Clarkson, “Underneath the Tree”

21. Coldplay, “Christmas Lights”

23. Shakin’ Stevens, “Merry Christmas Everyone”

24. Michael Bublé, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”

25. The Ronettes, “Sleigh Ride”

First of all, Commentary is a Christmas tune afficionado.  With all due respect, of the “Today” list, Mariah Carey is the only one who has come out with a Top 25 worthy tune the last couple of decades.

In no particular order, here are tunes that need to be added, in my opinion.  A couple are from within the last couple of decades:

Stevie Nicks, “Silent Night”

Johnny Mathis or Gloria Estevan, “Silver Bells”

Perry Como, “O Holy Night”

John Denver and The Muppets, “Twelve Days of Christmas”

Eartha Kitt, “Santa Baby”

Eydie Gorme Y Trio Los Panchos, “Noche De Paz”

Dean Martin, “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”

Bing Crosby and David Bowie, “The Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth)”

Bruce Springsteen, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”

The Carpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling”

Robert Earl Keene, “Merry Christmas From the Family”

Jessalyn Gilsig, “Twas the Night Song”

Faith Hill, “Where Are You Christmas”

The Lennon Sisters, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

John Williams, “Somewhere in My Memory” from the “Home Alone” flick

I am sure I missed some.  I will come back and add some if I did.  As you can see, I am not tied to only having 25 tunes on a Top 25 list. 

The Gilsig tune really wasn’t recorded for distribution.  You can find it on YouTube from the “Angels and Ornaments” Hallmark flick.

Nothing from The Yard today.

Stay safe this Thanksgiving Weekend and wear a mask.

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Biden Transition

Donald Trump finally figured out there was no election fraud.  He and his folks have been spending the last two and a half weeks trying to steal the election by kicking African American voters off the tally sheets and the systems and processes in place wouldn’t let him. No election fraud.

My address is pretty much at the tail end of the mail route.  We are the second to the last street to get the mail.  The mail got delivered last night at 7:30 pm.  Can we please fix the post office?

Yes, my pancake mix did arrive.  Thank you.

President-Elect Joe Biden is starting to roll out his Cabinet and other key aides.  They are a diverse and highly qualified bunch. 

Commentary is going to try not to get worked up on who gets picked to key spots.  I will let others do that.

The GSA finally let loose the resources for the transition.  I am really looking forward to the federal government functioning again.

Sigh.  Gov. Greg Abbott put out on something on vaccinations yesterday.  I kind of wish he would get out of the way when it comes to distribution. He will screw it up for sure.

The Chron’s Mike Morris has a story about the theme park the H-Town Mayor opined on a while back.  Here is from Mike’s piece that struck me:

(Mayor Sylvester) Turner spokeswoman Mary Benton said this month that the mayor was in the process of asking people to join his theme park task force when the pandemic arrived and became the administration’s main focus. Still, she said, Turner has not abandoned the goal.

Here is Mike’s article: What happened to Mayor Turner’s plan to open a theme park in Houston? – HoustonChronicle.com.

I thought back to this from the Chron on the H-Town Mayor’s task forces:

“After not seeing some basic recommendations move forward, I stepped away to focus my energy elsewhere. I was done,” said Ginny Goldman, chair of the equity task force and a co-chair of Turner’s 2016 transition team. “I’ve got to say, if asked to join a task force or committee under this administration today, I would certainly turn it down. It’s a terrible use of people’s time right now writing reports that sit on his shelf, rather than bring people together for meaningful action.”

Turner’s critics say his approach to controversial or systemic issues follows a predictable pattern: Appoint a task force, often accompanied by a speech brimming with sweeping progressive language, before passing on most or all of the advisory group’s policy recommendations.

The reports generated by Turner’s task forces typically come months later, when the public has refocused its attention elsewhere. His task force on Confederate statues, appointed shortly after the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., took seven months to recommend the removal of Houston’s statues. Nothing happened until June of this year, when Turner ordered them taken down — 17 days after Floyd’s death, which set off widespread removal of Confederate symbols.

Here is the Chron piece on task forces: Critics accuse Turner of using ‘powerless’ task forces to deal with controversies – HoustonChronicle.com.

I am not going to put my money on H-Town getting an amusement park.

Luis Salinas sent me this after my mention of rate of unsolved homicides in H-Town:

The research says: Police scaling back because of protests, 2.1 million guns sold this year and Quarantining loosens our social restraints. https://www.univision.com/local/houston-kxln/preocupacion-por-incremento-de-tasa-de-homicidios-en-houston-a-que-se-debe-el-alza-video.

Former Astro pitcher Charlie Morton is now with The ATL.

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Thanksgiving Week

Commentary started to listen to Christmas tunes on SiriusXM and 99.1 FM.  I am slowly getting off of CNN now that the results are final.  I really don’t give a rat’s arse if the dipsh_t Donald Trump concedes or not.  Se acabó, baby!

Commentary doesn’t agree much with what former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has to say these days.  He called Trump’s legal team a “national embarrassment” yesterday on “This Week.” Hard to disagree with Christie.

I was watching “What’s Your Point” yesterday and the Breitbart fella and the Urban Reform guy both were not ready to say President-Elect Joe Biden.  What a pitiful response from them. I guess both are okay with Trump and the GOP trying to knock African American votes off of the board. Sigh.

This headline came out on the Chron’s website a few days ago:

Houston’s rate of unsolved murders is soaring. Experts say the police department is to blame.

This is part of the hard copy headline in yesterday’s front page:

… experts pin blame on the police department

I tweeted on the headline last week.  Who else are you going to blame the rate of unsolved murders on?

Me? You?

Did I tell you the price of my Chron subscription went up a few weeks ago?

The Chron gave U.S. Sen Ted Cruz the lead headline in today’s hard copy.

Give me a break.

Cruz was deservedly ridiculed nationwide this past weekend because of his dumbarse tweet.  This fella just takes up space.

Did I tell you the price of my Chron subscription went up a few weeks ago?

The Chron does have a frontpage story in the hard copy today about Trump and the RNC and what happens after January 20, 2021.  I hope it gets real messy.

This is the beginning of Thanksgiving Week.  HISD has the week off. Stay safe.

Nothing to report from The Yard today.

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Ninth Inning

Happy Birthday, President-Elect Joe Biden!

Gov. Greg Abbott said yesterday we are entering the “ninth inning of our challenge with COVID.” That’s a bad analogy.

When did we have the seventh inning stretch?  They stop selling Saint Arnold at The Yard after the seventh inning.  What’s the score?  We’re getting clobbered.  If this were softball, they would have imposed the mercy rule in the summer.  Too many of our folks got put on the IL.  Do we get to bat in the bottom of the ninth and knock if out of the park for a walk-off? You get the bad picture.

This fella completely bungled the state’s response to the pandemic.  What a coward.  Not a profile in courage.

At least they are admitting it.  Commentary is talking about Donald Trump’s and his crazy lawyers’ strategy on winning the election they just lost.  They want GOP legislatures to overturn election results in states President-Elect Joe Biden won. 

For those trying to say it’s okay because Democrats were doing the same thing in 2000. Shut the f_ck up!  In 2000, everyone had agreed that 49 states and DC had been settled.  We were just trying to make sure all the votes were counted in Florida.

The GOP standing behind the image of a profusely sweating Rudy Giuliani pretty much explains it all these days.

Commentary said this last week:

There were some smaller precincts that voted over 100% according to Harrisvotes.com.  Precinct 830 along Holcombe had 84 voters and they list 57 registered voters for a 147.37% turnout. Precinct 837 in the NRG Park area had a 116.92% turnout with 76 voting and 65 registered voters.  Don’t even ask me to try and figure it out.

I also tweeted out part of it yesterday.  I got this tweet from @gregwythe yesterday:

Two factors: new construction and the timing of the county to submit their count of RVs. These two are small Med Center pcts w new high-rise properties that started leasing in 2020. Both were growing at the time the RV count was officially submitted.

That makes sense.

Greg also sent me the numbers with the new registered voters factored in:

Precinct 830 has 96 registered voters with 84 voting for an 88% turnout.

Precinct 837 has 105 registered voters with 76 voting for a 72% turnout.

I thanked him.

My neighbors down the street really put the rest of us to shame. Commentary is talking about the folks in Woodland Heights and Sawyer Heights.  Those that live in Precincts 3 and 4 voted at a 99% and 91% voter turnout.  My Precinct 57 went 81%.  Not bad at all.

Royko responded to my take yesterday on the FBI investigating the Texas AG who is a GOPer with this:

Sadly, there is a two tiered system at the Dept. of Injustice, infested with Obamanites. They went out of their way to protect Hillary and ignore the Clinton crime family operation. Further, they sat on the Hunter Biden laptop and the China bribes for the “Big Guy.”

They seemingly only go after Republicans, mostly to inflict revenge for slighted Democrats.

Dude.  The FBI was invited to this by half a dozen former top AG aides who are also GOPers.  The top GOP aides in a letter made public raised concerns about the AG’s alleged criminal behavior.  Stop deluding yourself with this deep state BS.

Stuffing won the “Today” bracket deal on Thanksgiving Dinner sides.  I predicted this no brainer.

MLB.com’s  Alyson Footer has a piece on free agents including #SpringerDinger and she asked Tags if the Astros would sign #SpringerDinger and here’s Tags’ response:

No, I don’t. I think there’s a couple of things in play. First, I think the money might get to be too much for the Astros, who are now facing Carlos Correa entering free agency after the ’21 season and some upgrades they’ll need to make in their pitching staff.

Secondly, I’m not so sure he wants to stay in Houston. As you may know, the atmosphere here hasn’t been great for the past year, though a surprising run to within a game of the World Series helped. Still, I could see him wanting to escape Houston and try to distance himself from the sign-stealing scandal. The players who were on the team in ’17 and have gone elsewhere seemed to have had an easier time putting it behind them than those still in Houston.

Here is the entire Footer piece: https://www.mlb.com/news/george-springer-where-will-he-sign.

Oh, well.

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Cult Status

The GOP isn’t a political party these days.  Here is the definition of cult:

A cult is a social group that is defined by its common interest in a particular personality.

That is what it is folks. Y’all didn’t even bother to adopt a platform at your national convention.  As long as you guys keep paying attention to him, you will be a cult.

We now have over 250,000 COVID-19 dead in the USA.  A quarter of a million folks. Wear a fuc_ing mask!

I hear that the Biden-Harris administration will have a climate czar.  When they rollout this person, the walkup tune should be “Nature’s Way” by Spirit unless you have a better tune.

The FBI is investigating Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.  That’s never a good thing.  Now that he has the feds looking up his arse, will he continue to act like a complete arsehole.

I forgot to mention that all 254 counties in Texas now have COVID-19.  Welcome to the party, Loving County! Nice job Texas!  I knew I could count on you.

Alright, alright, alright created some buzz yesterday when he said he would be interested in running for governor.  Folks stated piling on.  You know, the experience and celebrity thing. The fella who currently has the job has been in office for nearly three decades and I am not impressed.  I mean, we lead the nation in COVID-19 infections after all.

The latest Texas Monthly hard copy issue cover claims this is The Year of the Taco.  It has photos of five very exotic looking tacos.  Commentary is a taco purist. My go to is a refried bean and bacon taco in a flour tortilla.

That is how I was introduced to the taco by my Mom growing up.  My Mom made the best flour tortilla in the world.  She also could make sauteed bologna or weenies in a spicy tomato sauce flour taco – a true delight.  When we would go on vacations, she would pack some for the drive.  Like I said, I am a taco purist.

Commentary has a favorite whole wheat pancake and waffle mix.  I used to get it at Kroger, then Kroger stopped selling it.  I complained but that didn’t get me results.  HEB didn’t sell it.  I had to drive over to Central Market to get it.  Just as the pandemic started, I bought two boxes just in case.  I finally ran out a couple of months ago and drove over to Central Market.  They didn’t have any on their shelves.  I checked online and it was no longer available on Central Market’s website.  In fact, nobody had it.

I went to the company’s website and they had it online and you could order it by the case.  I called their customer service line and they told me that they had new ownership and would be back in stores in the winter.

A couple or so weeks later, I went back to the company website and it was available by individual boxes, but the shipping cost was like five time the price of a box.  Not a good deal.

I went back to the website yesterday and now the shipping is free.  I ordered a couple of boxes.  We shall see.

In case you are wondering, it isn’t one of the complete mix types. You know, the type that only requires adding water.  It requires eggs, oil and milk.

Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is 27 today.  Happy Birthday, Framber!

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Goodbye, Luby’s

63 days.  Nine weeks from today we get President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Counting down the days.

Think about this.  For about an hour yesterday, the GOP was considering trying to take over half a million votes – mostly African American – off the board in Michigan.  The GOP is not even subtle about destroying our right to vote.  This is as un-American as it gets folks.

The fella from the federal government who said we had the safest election ever was fired by Donald Trump last night.

It is sad that the GOP won’t acknowledge the will of the American people and say who won the election.

Teneshia Hudspeth was sworn-in as our new County Clerk last night.  Congrats!

The Chron has a story today about local African American leaders holding a press conference yesterday to say they were not happy that the HISD Interim Superintendent was not made the permanent Superintendent.  One of the participants was a State Rep from Fort Bend County.  Huh?

Here is from the Chron:

(Bishop James) Dixon called Tuesday on the city’s Hispanic leaders to “engage in a meaningful dialogue and discussion” around the superintendent position. At the same time, Dixon and others made clear their belief that Lathan had been racially discriminated against by board members.

Interesting.  There are four Latinas on the HISD School Board. Presumably they have the support of the H-Town Latino community.  What would this accomplish?  Aren’t the Latina Trustees representing us at the School Board?  Just saying.

Luby’s is closing down.  No mas.  Bummer.  I just went there a couple of weeks of weeks ago through the drive-thru to pick up dinner for my Dad. He likes the Baked Almondine Fish Luann with tartar sauce, mash potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese and a roll. Oh, my.

Big Papi is 45 today.  Happy Birthday, David Ortiz.

In case you are wondering.  Big Papi hit 7 of his 541 career dingers off of Astros pitchers – 2 at The Yard.  Now you know.

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Sorority Girl

In the opening scene of the first ever “Newsroom” episode, Will is at a college forum and is asked by Sorority Girl why is America the greatest nation in the world.  Will replies it is not and rattles off stats and stuff to make his case.

If Will were at a college campus today and asked the same question by Sorority Girl, he would have the same response.   This time he would point to America leading the world in COVID-19 infections.  He would say that we have way too many folks who don’t believe in science.  He would also point to our educational system that has failed miserably in teaching a significant segment of its citizenry basic math.  He would say that way too many folks, all GOPers by the way, haven’t figured out that 78.9 million votes are greater than 73.2 million votes.

It is criminal that the GOP will not recognize the winner of the presidential election and allow the transition to begin.

Meanwhile, President-Elect Joe Biden will be announcing key staff positions today. Good.

I think everyone knows by now that Lindsay Graham is a piece of sh_t.  Don’t argue with me.

President Obama put out his playlist while he was in office.  A tune that caught my eye was “Michelle” by the Beatles.  Aww! Nice.

Here is an interesting tidbit on the 2020 Harris County vote.  Only 12% of the total vote was cast on election day as compared to 26% on election day in 2016.

“Today” is having a bracket deal on Thanksgiving Day sides.  Why bother?  Everyone knows stuffing/dressing will rule.

Commentary likes the Rockets, but I don’t fret over them.  I am not going to get riled over The Beard wanting to leave H-Town.

This was a surprise.  The Skeeters will be our Triple A affiliate.  How about that?

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