GRANGER'S Fundamental Problem is that she's Completely and OBVIOUSLY LYING

"A righteous man hates lying,
But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame."
Proverbs 13:5

Came across this drivel scrolling through Twitter:

Few things in politics are more cynical than a leader’s (or prospective leader’s) eleventh-hour “conversion” on an issue that for many of us is simply a matter of principle.

Who can forget President Barack Obama’s “evolution” on gay marriage?

Or Sen. Mitt Romney’s flip from pro-choice governor to pro-life presidential candidate?
A bit closer to home, we have the declared evolution of Fort Worth’s own Rep. Kay Granger on abortion, a transformation some voters are meeting with skepticism.

....

As recently as 2007, when she was serving as a campaign surrogate for (quite ironically) Romney, Granger called herself a “pro-choice Republican.”

There must not have been many Republicans watching that MSNBC interview 13 years ago, because when video of her pro-choice declaration re-surfaced as part of an aggressive primary challenge from businessman Chris Putnam, many conservatives, myself included, were shocked.

The article goes on to argue that we should trust Granger because she's been endorsed by a couple of allegedly "pro-life" money laundering organizations and...something about Trump.

Poppycock.

Granger's problem, no matter how she wants to beat around the bush, is that she's a 24-year incumbent.  In that time, she's never actually lifted a finger to do anything about it.  O.k., fine, she voted for a couple bills that tinkered around the edges.  Anyone who thinks that's even remotely close to good enough is, at best, a cheap date.

But where the piece becomes particularly asinine is in the comparison to Trump.

Trump was running in a general election against someone who was known to be completely terrible.  In that instance, there's a case to be made for going with the unknown over the guaranteed bad outcome.  While this website never found that argument particularly satisfying, it doesn't take a genius to understand it.

Granger, by contrast, is running in a primary.  For a safe Republican seat.  Chris Putnam, meanwhile, has been endorsed by the only credible pro-life organization in this state.  In this case, upgrading makes total sense.

None of this is difficult to understand.

Bottom Line: After 24 years, a record of doing (at best) the absolute bare minimum isn't good enough.

Disgraced, Liberal, (Kinda Psycho) Bishop Leading Attacks on Pro-Lifers

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."
Matthew 7:15

Bishop Michael Olson of Ft. Worth has been problematic for awhile.  In recent months, however, he's become worse.  Texas Right to Life has more:

[E]very election cycle the liberal establishment deploys one tool to deceive Pro-Life voters: the political organization known as the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops (TCCB).

Rest assured, even for Catholics, the TCCB has no magisterial or canonical authority; rather, the TCCB is simply a lobbying and administrative entity with no governing power.

Last election, the TCCB launched a politically-motivated (and FALSE) attack to intimidate faithful Catholics against voting for authentically conservative Pro-Life candidates. The TCCB not only favors moderate politicians who are weak on the Right to Life, religious liberty, and homeschooling, but most bishops actually have a history of voting Democrat!

That’s right: Most Texas bishops actually have a history of voting Democrat!
....

The TCCB lobbyist and disgraced Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson (who is under investigation for multiple scandals and has been called to Rome to try and account for his behavior) are behind these attacks on Texas Right to Life.

The Star-Telegram cataloged Michael Olson's various issues about a month ago.  The piece is too long to quote in full.  But we strongly recommend reading the whole thing here.  Dude's psycho.

Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone whose watched the so-called "Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops" for more than ten minutes.  They're not an actual faith based organization.  They just exist top give a quasi-religious patina to the crony capitalists who run this state.

None of this is new.  Under Michael Olson, however, the mendacity has become blatant.  Kudos to Texas Right to Life for calling it out.

Bottom Line: Wolves...sheep's clothing...beware...etc.

Did Cornyn just, unintentionally, open up a new lane for a primary?!?

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
Philippians 2:3

On Monday, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram ran a hatchet job story about how Texas' federal officials are reacting to the state level lawsuit against Obamacare.

From John Cornyn:

“People ought to just take a deep breath and see what the Supreme Court does, maybe in a couple years from now,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican. He’s up for re-election in 2020.

In other words, John Cornyn wants to do ** LITERALLY NOTHING** to address health care until some vaguely defined point in the future.

How typically Cornyn.

Of course, whatever baggage exists from the health care fights of the past decade, none of it changes the fact that health care remains one of the biggest economic/social policy challenges we face.

Sure would be nice if our elected officials would address it.

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That being said, Cornyn's admission he's comfortable with the status quo creates an opportunity.

If a credible candidate were to challenge Cornyn on a platform of fixing the health care system...it just might work.

Such a campaign would be forward looking.  It wouldn't be about punishing the mistakes of the past.  It would be about seizing the opportunities of the next decade.

Such a campaign also wouldn't, really, be about Cornyn.  It would be about fixing one of the biggest economic challenges Texans face.  To the extent Cornyn was discussed, it would be more in sorrow than in anger.

The temptation is to go after Cornyn as a traitorous RINO.  That's because it's true.  But that sort of messaging has a ceiling, and that sort of campaign would be doomed to failure.

Earlier this month, we splashed cold water on the idea of a Cornyn challenge.  But that's a Cornyn challenge in the context of the preceding paragraph.  What we're talking about now is different.

A disciplined, forward looking, campaign to fix the health care system might just work.

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It should be noted that we don't have a clue who to run as a candidate.

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Bottom Line: Based on his comment Monday, Cornyn clearly isn't interested in moving the ball forward on health care.  But the public still cares about that issue...a lot.  If a credible candidate were to credibly address the issue, it just might work.

Baylor truthers can't help MIND-BLOWING, GROTESQUE, CRASSNESS (even this past week)

"Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly."
2 Samuel 13:19

All they had to do was shut up.

With Ohio State dominating the headlines, it would have been easy to keep quiet and let the spotlight move elsewhere.

But, apparently, the Baylor/Art Briles truther's can't help themselves.

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First, human ringworm Mac Engel (of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram) is back:

All of you with your burn-in-the-hot place judgment of Art Briles, please stop talking

....

Former Baylor coach Art Briles is tentatively scheduled to head to Italy to begin working with his new football team in Florence in October, but his stay in Europe may only last a couple of months.

When the next round of college football coaching layoffs comes this fall, Briles should be No. 1 on an college AD’s speed dial.

The man has previously been approached by Purdue and Texas Tech, but both times administrators ran from the PR hit.

If Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t work out at Texas Tech, Briles in Lubbock is the ideal fit.

All of you with your self-righteous indignation and burn-in-the-hot place judgment of Briles, please stop talking.

If the Baylor situation makes you so sick, and now the Urban Meyer/Ohio State fiasco makes you so upset, stop watching the game.

Those who stop watching the game are free to complain, while the rest of us are merely drunk enablers of a system that has made all of these scenarios from Waco to Columbus, and all other Power Five points in between, not only possible, but likely.

....

The most important item gleaned from Ohio State’s suspension of Urban Meyer? #BeatMichigan.

The rest of you, men and women alike, don’t matter. Because the only that thing that does matter is #BeatMichigan.

Because this decision is not necessarily about degrading the seriousness of domestic abuse, rather the priority of maintaining status quo of a system that routinely knows how to #BeatMichigan.

And generate a pile of cash. And free media ad buys. And make money.

There is a woman involved here who was once a part of Buckeye Nation, but ... who cares? You say you do, but you continue to watch. Just #BeatMichigan.

As Baylor learned with its decision to fire Briles, there is no satiating the rest of you with any decision, so why even try? Just #BeatMichigan.

....

The business of college football morphed into a soul-selling endeavor years ago, so don’t act surprised when Urban Meyer was allowed to stay on as the leader of young men; don’t be insulted when, in due time, he will return to hero worship status in Ohio. Provided he can #BeatMichigan.

Umm, no.

Believe it or not, there are actually those of us out there who love football, but who don't like it when the game goes to psycho extremes.  Some of us even believe in asking tough questions about our favorite program.

But, of course, this is nothing new with Mac Engel.  He's been doing it for several years.  We only noticed because, earlier this month, he made a claim that our own reporting disproves.  And this is what makes Mac Engel a human ringworm.

That being said, if human ringworm Mac Engel's only solution to the excesses of college football is to stop watching, he should check in with the indispensable Olivia Messer:

Football’s Turning Point? Decline in Numbers Finally Hits Texas Amid CTE Fears and Sexual Assaults

New figures show participation numbers dropping all across the country, including in the Lone Star State. What took so long?

OLIVIA MESSER

08.24.18 1:12 PM ET

In the place where Friday night lights shine brightest and solidify even the tiniest of communities, the national decline in high-school football has finally hit home.

New figures out Friday show participation numbers dropping all across the country, including in Texas, according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

About 1.1 million players were participating in high-school football in the U.S. in the 2009-2010 academic year, but that number has fallen 7 percent. The loss has accelerated in the past two years, according to NBC News, with participation falling in 40 states during the school year ending in spring 2018.

In Texas specifically, the total number of students playing high-school football fell 2 percent from its peak during the 2010-2011 academic year.

So, with all due respect to Mac Engel (and all the other human ringworms), be careful what you wish for.  You might get it.  In the meantime, some of us will sound the alarm.

And, yes, some of us will even ask tough questions about our own favorite program.

Because, if Football ever does lose its current position in both Texas and the U.S., human ringworms like Mac Engel will be a big reason why.

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Ken Starr's wife also had this gem:

Alice Starr, a local civic leader and spouse of former Baylor University President Ken Starr, urged a Waco Independent School District trustee last month to consider Art Briles for Waco High School’s then-vacant head coach position, an email shows.

In the July 19 email to trustee Stephanie Korteweg, obtained by the Tribune-Herald under the Texas Public Information Act, Alice Starr vouched for Briles’ skill and character and asserted that the former Baylor head football coach’s firing in 2016 was not for cause. Korteweg did not respond to Starr, and Waco High School the next day announced Kwame Cavil as its head coach.

In the email, Alice Starr waded into the controversy over the Baylor sexual assault scandal that cost Briles, Ken Starr and athletics director Ian McCaw their jobs. She said Briles was dismissed because then-Baylor board Chairman Richard Willis “decided to use the football program as a scapegoat to fire my husband Ken.”

Seriously?!?

Starr's e-mail is a piece of work.  There's no contrition.  This isn't "Art Briles made some terrible mistakes but has learned from them and would like a second chance."  She doesn't accept responsibility.  She doesn't even acknowledge catastrophic mistakes happened.  Everyone's out to get her husband and Art Briles.  But what else would you expect from this crowd?!?

But the best part: If Waco ISD had hired Briles, it would have been at taxpayer expense.

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Bottom Line: All they had to do was shut up and let the attention shift to Ohio State.  But they couldn't even manage that.  At least Urban Meyer had the good sense to pretend to apologize....

The Ft. Worth Star Telegrams APPALLING Water Carrying for the Baylor Coaching Staff

Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.”
2 Samuel 13:17

We first discussed how the Ft. Worth Star-Telegrams has acted like glorified press agents for Art Briles et. al. a few weeks ago, when they made a claim about Kendal "White Women" Briles that directly contradicted this author's original reporting.

They did it again this past week:

Don't forget this gem from last month:

We've linked the articles in question, and you're welcome to read them for yourself, but the TL,DR version is that they're full of the same lame, half-assed, excuses we've come to expect from the "Art Briles was framed" crowd.

To cite each individual example would quickly become tedious, but a longer search of the startlegram's Baylor coverage from the past three years quickly illustrates that they consistently spin stories to paint the coaching staff in the most positive light.

Here's the most mind-boggling part: The Star-Telegram just went though massive layoffs...yet the guy carrying water for the Baylor coaching staff continues to have a job.

Bottom Line: Mind-boggling, but also reality....

ABSURD anti-Burton attacks beget UNLIKELY Defender....

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

You know you've entered bizarro world when the Ft. Worth Star Telegram defends Konni Burton:

State Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, has filed Senate Bill 242, expanding current law dealing with parent’s right to school district information about their children.

Burton would expand language in the Education Code to make sure all knowledge about students — not just written records — would be available to parents.

Some parents and LGBTQ advocates have warned that the changes would require teachers and/or faculty to reach out to parents to tell them about a child’s sexual orientation.

“The focus of our bill has nothing to do with issues of sexuality and gender, and everything to do with how parents are treated by the government entities they fund,” Burton says in a statement posted on her website.

....

She wants to change the language in the existing law to reflect a more ironclad policy: If parents ask; faculty and teachers must tell.

But the key word is ask. Parents would have to ask teachers for the information. Nothing in the language of the bill requires faculty to be proactive with any knowledge about or from students.

“The bill does not require a school district employee to stop everything they’re doing and reach out to a parent,” Burton wrote.

Nor does it remove the existing child abuse exemption. Texas law allows school faculty to make judgment calls and withhold information if a student’s safety is endangered.

....

If the student’s safety isn’t in danger, parents have the right to know what’s going on with their children — even if causes awkwardness at home.

If there is reason to believe a student would be kicked out the house, neglected or in any way their safety is undermined, that would fall under the child abuse exemption and schools should protect the student.

This bill isn’t the disaster that some say it is, but it requires careful examination of its language.

Read the whole thing here.

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It's impossible to overstate the significance of this editorial.  Since the Tea Party became a significant force in Tarrant County, the Star-Telegram has become notorious for cheap shot attacks against various grassroots activities.  This kerfuffle was tailor-made for them.

That the Star-Telegram, of all media outlets, decided this non-troversey was absurd speaks volumes.

Attempting to insult Konni Burton, media unintentionally praises her!!!

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
Genesis 50:20

In endorsing her opponent, the Ft. Worth Star Telegram threw a HILARIOUS temper tantrum:

Political newcomer Konni Burton of Colleyville, a Tea Party activist who first grew concerned over the federal debt, somehow finds it easy to dismiss Shelton’s career and success.

When he talks about working with Texas Republicans on conservative budgets and education policy, she replies as if something has gone horribly wrong: “So — how’s that experience working out for us?”

Instead of campaigning for the district, Burton seems to be campaigning against Austin leadership in general and for an ideology.

She strongly opposes runaway federal spending and wants to stave off any hint in Austin.

But the closing line is the best:

Burton is more dynamic and more in touch with this year’s trend.

Trolling for Offense at Calvary

"But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless."
Titus 3:9

Well, THIS is awkward; it's not often we agree with Bud Kennedy, but he reports the relevant detail of the H-E-B ISD Good Friday kerfuffle:

Some students thought Friday would be a holiday.

Now, thanks to the icy winter, it’s a school day.

....

Good Friday was one of two makeup “snow days” written into the H-E-B calendar more than a year ago, district spokeswoman Judy Ramos said.

(Many schools use Good Friday and Memorial Day as makeup days instead of adding school days on Saturdays or extending the calendar into June.)

Parents were notified in a January email newsletter that Good Friday and also a half-day of school on May 30 would make up for ice days Dec. 6 and 9, Ramos said.

....

“I was concerned why we were having a makeup day Good Friday, and they informed me this has been going on for years,” he said.

....

The district needs a parent’s note or some written proof to qualify for what little money the state of Texas provides.  [Emphasis added]

In other words, the root cause is strings attached to education funding that comes from Austin.  This is certainly a teachable moment for local control and parental choice in education.  But it's no assault on the free exercise clause.

There are plenty of genuine examples of government schools suppressing the gospel; just this morning, we learned about this case out of Missouri.  But this Tarrant County case isn't one of them.  Crying wolf over small potatoes isn't helpful.

Sigmund Freud is rumored to have said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."  Similarly, sometimes a bad decision by government school bureaucrats is just a bad decision by government school bureaucrats.  Get over yourselves....

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Neglects a Key CSCOPE Fact

A disappointing piece in today's Ft. Worth Star-Telegram uncritically regurgitates talking points from the so-called Texas Freedom Network; according to the Star Telegram:

“Sen. Patrick seems to think someone has appointed him Texas classroom czar, with the power to dictate to local teachers what they can and can’t do in their own classrooms,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/06/05/4914217/demise-of-cscope-curriculum-leaves.html?utm_source=MRT+Morning+Email+List&utm_campaign=0319d183fe-060613_230am_CT6_6_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a93afa5aa-0319d183fe-26289625#storylink=cpy

Unfortunately, the Star-Telegram neglects to mention that grassroots pressure forced CSCOPE into the spotlight in November 2012, but Senator Patrick didn't get involved until January 2013.

Senator Patrick was reacting to a story that fell under the purview of his committee that had already been in the news for several months.

But, you know, other than that the story is accurate....

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Contact the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:

Phone: 817-390-7734
E-Mail: grav@star-telegram.com
Facebook: Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Twitter: @StarTelegram

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's bizarre attack on a Political 'Non-event'

Cahnman's Musings had never hear of Bud Kennedy before the Ft. Worth Star Telegram published this strange rant on Saturday.

Kennedy attacks next week's Women on the Wall conference in Austin for, well, I'm not sure what exactly.

Apparently, Bud Kennedy is shocked that conference organizers would attempt to recover their out-of-pocket, upfront, costs for hosting the event:

Like wrestling promoters, Tea Party groups are taking a financial interest in stirring up a fight.  They've invested [author's note: emphasis mine; invested, as in, covered the costs of the conference out of pocket and upfront.] in staging a two day Austin political rally around the Speaker's election and the opening of the legislature.

Imagine the nerve!  A group of concerned citizens holding an event to express those concerns to their elected officials, and they're even covering costs!!!  Troglodytes....

Cahnman's Musings has no idea what to make of Bud Kennedy's temper-tantrum, although we are curious if Mommy was late getting little Buddy his juice and cookies.

For everyone else: Women on the Wall would love to have you at their conference next Monday and Tuesday (1/7-8) in Austin.  I'm sure they'd also love assistance covering the costs of the event.  Obviously, the Speaker's race will be a major topic.  Beyond the Speaker's Race, however, Women on the Wall will train activists in effective lobbying.  Help start the 83rd Texas Legislature off right!!!

Contact:

Ft. Worth Star Telegram:
John Gravois
Deputy Managing Editor
Politics and Government
(817) 390-7734
grav@star-telegram.com