"Seniority" is a terrible reason to vote for anyone...ESPECIALLY Pete Sessions

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

We've seen some chatter on social media about Pete Sessions telling people that his Seniority will allow him to do good things if he gets back to Congress. Don't believe it. At least, don't expect him to do anything good for central Texas.

We actually addressed this argument last fall, in the context of a different federal official:

Obviously, this website doesn't *really* support pork-barrel governance. Taxpayers elsewhere in the U.S. shouldn't *really* subsidize I-35 expansion. Still, for such a situation to emerge under the jurisdiction of a U.S. Senator who claims to "work within the system" indicates said U.S. Senator's incompetence.

Put differently: $23 Trillion national debt...and John Cornyn STILL can't secure funding for (already federal) I-35.

It's quite something.

Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn may have been completely wretched. But at least Texas got some infrastructure out of them. With John Cornyn, we get the wretchedness without the infrastructure.

Here's what's funny: When we originally wrote that post, we came very close to including Sessions. The only reason we didn't is that Sessions wasn't currently in office. But if Sessions is trying to use this argument to get back into office, then it's worth considering the same thing.

Pete Sessions was a congressman in Dallas for twenty years. Did traffic in Dallas get better or worse during that time?!? If Pete Sessions couldn't secure federal funding to address the I-30/35/45 cluster[REDACTED], what makes anyone think Sessions "seniority" will mean anything good for anyone besides Pete Sessions?!?

Again, this is **NOT** an endorsement of pork-barrel governance, but it is to say that if Pete Sessions alleged "seniority" meant anything...Dallas would have had a lot more bacon.

After twenty years of Pete Sessions, Dallas remains largely bacon free.

Bottom Line: Dallas traffic tells you everything you need to know about whether or not Pete Sessions' alleged "seniority" bears fruit for his constituents.

Cuellar probably wins big (if the results are close, however....)

"Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;"
Proverbs 23:10

The Texas Observer has a write up on the Democrat primary in CD-28.  Interesting read, but mostly what you'd expect.  This nugget about Henry Cuellar's 2006 race...however...stands out (rather significantly):

While Cuellar may have been viewed as a turncoat by plenty of Democrats, many in Laredo were eager to have their first hometown congressman in 20 years. Laredo was becoming a verifiable boomtown thanks to its lucrative trade and energy industries, and business leaders wanted a champion in Congress.

Cuellar, who had nurtured relationships with the region’s power brokers and business elite for nearly 20 years, was the perfect fit. As he ramped up his primary campaign, he tapped into a ready-made coalition of Webb County’s bankers, ranchers, oil and gas barons, and trading moguls who eagerly pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into his coffers. Cuellar said he was better equipped to represent the new district and often quipped on the trail that “Ciro has done zero.”

Rodriguez won by a razor-thin margin of 145 votes, but Cuellar demanded a recount. Election officials found nearly 500 new votes in Webb County and neighboring Zapata—enough to swing the election in Cuellar’s favor. The batch of new votes immediately prompted suspicions of vote tampering, evoking comparisons to the infamous “Box 13” ballot-stuffing scandal in South Texas that helped Lyndon Johnson win his 1948 Senate race. “There is no way on God’s green earth that 177 ballots showed up for Cuellar [in Webb County] and zero for Rodriguez,” Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said at the time. “You have to look at this as one that will go down in Texas lore as a stolen election.”

Cuellar’s campaign declared victory. Rodriguez filed a lawsuit alleging voter fraud, which the courts eventually shot down. When all was said and done, Cuellar had eked his way into Congress by a margin of 58 votes.

Laredo had itself a congressman.

[Note: Emphasis added.]

Wow.

We said our piece about this race back in August.   We stand by it.  The TL,DR version is that we suspect, in a district that contains 70% of the Eagle Ford shale, Jessica Cisneros' support for the Green New Deal will play very poorly.

Thus, we suspect Cuellar wins fairly easily.

That being said, "we suspect" is not the same thing as "guaranteed outcome."

In the event this race does end up closer than expected, would anybody put...shenanigans...past the vote counters in Laredo?!?

We certainly wouldn't.

Bottom Line:  Keep an eye on this race tomorrow night.

#TXLEGE: Regardless of outcome, Frank Pomeroy will being needed perspective

"Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me."
Nehemiah 4:18

Good:

Frank Pomeroy, the pastor of the Sutherland Springs church where the 2017 fatal shooting took place, announced Sunday he is running for Texas Senate.

Pomeroy said he will run as a Republican for District 21, currently held by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. It will be a uphill battle: The district is solidly Democratic, and Zaffirini has served since 1987.

“If I can bring civility and godliness and help stymie the downward spiraling of the great state of Texas, that’s what I’m choosing to try to do, Pomeroy said Sunday afternoon at his church after the service there. “I feel as though that morality and integrity is disappearing rapidly and I feel as though the direction Texas goes — if Texas falls, the country falls.”

....

District 21 stretches from Austin down to the Rio Grande Valley, wrapping around San Antonio, jutting out to near Corpus Christi and taking in Laredo to the south.

Let's get one thing out of the way: This author stopped endorsing candidates a looooooooong time ago, but as a resident of and voter in Senate District 21, we fully intend to vote for Pomeroy.

That being said, we should be realistic: The odds of Frank Pomeroy winning this district, especially with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, are minimal.

Nevertheless, Pomeroy can serve several useful functions.

Primarily: Southerland Springs was stopped by a good guy with a gun.  In an environment where everyone from the Governor on down is using El Paso as an excuse to attack lawful self defense, this point that cannot be stressed enough.  If Pomeroy's campaign accomplishes nothing else, keeping this fact front and center is a public service.

Beyond that, however, Pomeroy could serve a longer-term purpose.

Senate District 21 covers territory that has hosted some of the most staggering corruption in the history of this state:

• Duval County -- Books have literally been written about the wretched politics in this obscure corner of South Texas.  Learn more about Archie Parr here.  Learn more about George Parr here.

• "Landslide Lyndon" -- The 1948 U.S. Senate election that Lyndon Johnson stole (with generous assistance from the Parrs) hinged on Jim Wells county.

• Zaffirini herself -- Let's not forget that the incumbent Senator from this district swindled her cousin out of $35 million.  That's before you consider her living large off of campaign contributions or the various funny business related to admissions at UT law.  At a minimum, there's plenty of material to make Zaffirini's re-election painful.

Bottom Line: You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

TCRP makes Lemonade....

"In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him."
Ecclesiastes 7:14

For obvious reasons, we've refrained from discussing the Robert Morrow/TCRP situation; that being said, we attended Morrow's swearing in ceremony and the subsequent business meeting and we think they've handled the whole situation about as well as they could have.

The most important takeaway is that the executive committee approved changes to the party bylaws that remove all powers from the chairman that can be removed under state law.  The executive committee created a new "executive vice chairman" position to oversee the party's day-to-day operations.  They also elected a steering committee to assist the executive vice chairman.

As for Robert Morrow: Morrow was Morrow.  During his 27 minute inaugural address, he outlined the crimes of which he accuses the past half century of senior American political leadership.  He specifically discussed Lyndon Johnson's role in the Kennedy assassination and George Bush 41's pedophilia.

That being said, following his inaugural address, Morrow called the meeting to order and presided over the bylaw changes without incident.

Truthfully, this incident reveals a shortcoming in state law.  Regardless of how we got here, it's absurd that there is no path for a county party's executive committee to remove a chairman for cause.  The legislature really should act next session.

We spoke last night with steering committee member T.J. Scott who asked "for every precinct chair to pray over how they could best serve their party"; T.J. called the current situation an "all hands on deck" moment.

Bottom Line: This too shall pass....

Movie Review: SELMA

"But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men."
Acts 5:29

Regular readers won't be surprised to learn that a film which gave the U.T. administration a conniption fit caught our attention.  Furthermore, we understand the need to set the historical record straight about Lyndon Johnson.  Ava Duvernay's masterpiece, Selma, does not disappoint.

Selma catalogs the 1965 campaign designed to make voting rights too politically hot for Lyndon Johnson to ignore.  At the time, despite passage of the 1964 Civil Rights act (which Johnson obstructed in 1957), local officials in Dixiecrat states enacted absurdly high barriers to voter registration.  Johnson was determined to ignore the situation so that he could focus his political capital on creating new entitlements and expanding the war in Vietnam.

Martin Luther King Jr., who led the campaign, chose to stand in Selma for political reasons.  The Dixiecrat county government, which controlled voter registration, was notoriously hostile to civil rights.  At the same time, the image-conscious City of Selma was (relatively) sympathetic to the protesters (most of the time).  This dynamic enabled organizers to move (relatively) freely in the city while setting up the county courthouse as a media friendly setting for a confrontation with Dixiecrat county sheriff Jim Clark (who controlled access to the voter registration office).  Nonetheless, King's presence was not universally welcomed among local activists.

Selma uses FBI monitoring of King (originally ordered by Bobby Kennedy) as a plot device.  In the film, Lyndon Johnson specifically orders the FBI to find out "what Martin Luther King intends to do next."  The film depicts events like the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson (enabled by Dixiecrat Governor George Wallace), Turnaround Tuesday, and the murder of James Reeb with a precision for which a seven paragraph review cannot do justice.  From the Dallas County Courthouse, to the Edmund Pettus bridge, to the Alabama Statehouse, Selma illustrates King's masterful use of the court of public opinion.  Eventually, of course, events on the ground forced Lyndon Johnson to move on King's issue.

While Selma portrays King favorably, the film is not hagiographic.  The film deals openly with King's serial adultery.  One of the most poignant scenes in the film depicts Coretta Scott King's heartbreak upon receiving proof of her husband's dalliances.  Even here, however, the villany of Lyndon Johnson and his FBI is evident.  Johnson ordered the FBI to send the (illegally obtained) recording to King's wife in a (vain) attempt to intimidate King into abandoning the Selma campaign.

One artistic note: in addition to it's moving plot, Selma's cinematography is spectacular.  While the scenes where people were beaten were tragic, they were an artistic tour de force that leaves the viewer feeling like events are less than 10 feet away.  This author can only imagine the painstaking labor that went into finding costumes, props, and vehicles consistent with this 1965 period piece.

Public opinion is the most powerful weapon activists can use to change government policy.  Unfortunately, it is also extremely difficult to mobilize.  In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. and his allies masterfully choreographed their Alabama campaign to force a recalcitrant Lyndon Johnson to move on their issues.  Ava Duvernay's Selma is essential viewing for anyone serious about changing government policy.  Make them feel the heat until they see the light.

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The preview below is an accurate representation of the film:

"Dreamers" Crash LBJ/Obama "Civil Rights" Party

"Do not remove the ancient landmark
Which your fathers have set."
Proverbs 22:28

University of Texas -- In case the first Black President speaking at a 'civil rights' forum at the Presidential Library of a white, segregationist, Dixiecrat wasn't ironic enough, at 11:30 A.M., concurrent with President Obama's speech, a group of 'Dreamers' set up shop outside the LBJ Library today in Austin.  Apparently unaware that they were being left alone by the myriad law enforcement presence one would expect to accompany any Presidential visit, the 'Dreamers' drew repeated, absurd, comparisons between themselves and Martin Luther King.  These videos speak for themselves.

The dreamers approach LBJ library:



At least, they ain't skairt!!!



We shall overcome!!!



Because, if there's one thing your amnesty rally needs, it's a crying fat chick demanding 'administrative relief,' who needs that whole pesky rule of law thing?!?



And if you're going to have people get deliberately arrested, obviously they need to be entitled narcissists:

Personal Note: Of course he's gay!!!

That being said, we were amused that the Longhorn network cropped their shot perfectly so that it cut off right before the protest:

Because nothing screams civil rights like corporate sponsorship:

Sigh, this is why we can't have nice things America....

Obama helps to expand Julian Castro's machine

"So taxpayer revenue is used to hire sate workers, who are always unionized. Those state workers (who are unionized) must pay union dues. In many states, the deduction of dues is automatic. The employee does not write a check. It's simply deducted from his state payroll check or deposit. So when a public sector employee pays union dues, where does that money end up? A portion of it ends up somewhere in the giant Democrat Party nationwide, statewide campaign apparatus. So private citizens, in Wisconsin and elsewhere, end up donating to the Democrat Party via state and public workers. It's a money laundering operation, and that's what the Porkulus bill was. It was to make sure that during the recession, state workers did not lose their jobs so that Democrats did not lose their campaign money. Pure and simple, that's it."
Rush Limbaugh

Last week, President Obama five new federal 'promise zones.'  San Antonio made the cut.  According to the White House:

San Antonio, TX (Eastside Neighborhood) 

The City of San Antonio’s key strategies include: 

• Focusing on job creation and training, including through a partnership with St. Philip’s College, in key growth areas including energy, health care, business support, aerospace/advanced manufacturing, and construction. 

• Empowering every child with the skills they need by increasing enrollment in high quality pre-K programs; installing a STEM focus in the local school district; expanding enrollment in Early College Programs; and improving adult education opportunities. 

• Expanding public safety activities to facilitate neighborhood revitalization; improved street lighting and demolishing abandoned buildings; and integrated public safety activities with social resources.

San Antonio's mayor reacted predictably:

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro said “this is a promising investment in creating more job opportunities and revitalizing neighborhoods on the East Side.” 

Castro said the federal application process can be “labyrinthine” and difficult to complete correctly. 

“So to have the technical assistance and have the red tape cut will make a difference in the likelihood of having success at getting funding in the future,” Castro said.

Obama's 'promise zones,' are an ass-backwards economic development strategy.  But Obama's 'promise zones' aren't about economic development.  Obama's 'promise zone' is a smokescreen for Battleground Texas.

In 1966, Lyndon Johnson launched the 'model cities' initiative.  Detroit was one of Johnson's targets.  While model cities was economically cataclysmic, it was a political windfall for Lyndon Johnson's coalition.  Inserting a progressive machine into America's industrial heartland fundamentally transformed its culture.  Productive citizens fled, while the dependent underclass that remained reliably voted for more government.  Detroit hasn't voted for a Republican mayor since.  George Bush 41 was the last Republican presidential candidate to win the state.

Julian Castro, to be fair, knows a thing or two about building a political machine.  He uses the people's money to reward friends.  He attempts to destroy opponents.  But Julian Castro has well documented statewide ambitions.  An army of progressive organizers, masquerading as federal 'promise zone' facilitators, allows Castro to expand the coalitions of power he'll need for a statewide run.

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Update: It gets better; turns out the 'promise zone' is in JOAQUIN Castro's Congressional district.

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Update II: Welcome Director Blue readers!!!

Our Daily Texan Letter to the Editor

It is impossible to overstate how excited we are about George Washington's Inaugural Bible coming to town.  Cahnman's Musings would love to attend without controversy.  Unfortunately, the Daily Texan used this joyous occasion as an excuse to push Bill Powers' dishonest anti-Christian agenda:

As a resident of Central Austin I am grateful to the University of Texas for bringing George Washington's Inaugural Bible to town. I am likewise grateful to the Daily Texan for informing me of this event. Friday's Article "George Washington Inaugural Bible on display at LBJ library Monday" makes the argument for the Daily Texan's continued existence better than I ever could.

That being said, this statement from 'history professor' Henry Brands cannot stand:

“It is interesting because George Washington himself was not especially religious,” Brands said. “He believed in a god but not necessary Christ. But he knew most Americans were believing Christians, and knew that this would be important to them.”

Perhaps 'history professor' Henry Brands has never read George Washington's farewell address:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

Why tell the truth about George Washington when you can advance the bogus narrative that's America's founding fathers were Athiests, Agnostics, and Diests?!?

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Cahnman's Musings (www.acahnman.blogspot.com)
Austin, TX
December, 7 2013

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George Washington's Inaugural Bible Coming to Austin!!!

Oh baby:

The George Washington Inaugural Bible will be on display at the LBJ Presidential Library on Monday, opened to the same pages — Genesis chapters 49 and 50 —  Washington placed his hand on as he took the oath of office.

At the time of his inauguration, Washington borrowed the Bible from St. John’s Lodge No. 1,  of the Ancient York Masons, which has owned the Bible since 1770. Since then, it has been used at the presidential inaugurations of Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush. When it is not on tour or in use by St. John’s Lodge No. 1, the Bible is normally displayed at Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street in New York City, the site of Washington’s inauguration ceremony.

The Bible, an ornate King James Version printed in London in 1767, will be in Waco for the installation of a new Masonic Grand Master of Texas. After the ceremony, it will be displayed at the State Capitol and lastly at the LBJ Library. At all times, three Masonic brethren will accompany the Bible to protect it.

We can't wait!!!

History Lesson: How Lyndon Johnson 'won' his first election

A fantastic, quarter-century old, piece from the New York Times explains the looong tradition of Democrat Party voter fraud in Texas:

A study of Lyndon B. Johnson provides new evidence that the 36th President stole his first election to the United States Senate, in 1948.

....

It has been alleged for years that Johnson captured his Senate seat through fraud, but Mr. Caro goes into great detail to tell how the future President overcame a 20,000-vote deficit to achieve his famous 87-vote victory in the 1948 Democratic runoff primary against a former Governor, Coke Stevenson. A South Texas political boss, George Parr, had manufactured thousands of votes, Mr. Caro found.

Starting in the town that would later elect Julian Castro:

On primary night, a Saturday, the first tallies of the Democratic primary showed Johnson trailing his opponent by 20,000 votes. Still unreported, however, were the votes from San Antonio, where Stevenson had defeated Johnson 2 to 1 in the first primary. When those votes finally came in, Johnson had won a stunning victory, carrying San Antonio by 10,000 votes.

Moving along to another Democrat stronghold:

Later that evening, the rural counties in the Rio Grande Valley further eroded the Stevenson lead, which was reduced to 854 votes.

 Followed by the coup de gras:

Also on Friday, Jim Wells County telephoned in its amended return, ''and suddenly, with virtually all the counting in the election over, Coke Stevenson was no longer ahead,'' Mr. Caro said. Johnson had won by 87 votes. Challenge and Affirmation Mr. Caro confirmed the charges made at the time by Stevenson supporters that county officials had cast the votes of absent voters and had changed the numbers on the tallies. For example, he said, Jim Wells County provided an extra 200 votes for Johnson merely by changing the 7 in ''765'' to a 9.

Johnson's victory was upheld by a 29-to-28 vote of the Texas Democratic Party's executive committee, and he went on to defeat Jack Porter, the Republican candidate, in the general election. And although a Federal District Court had ordered his name off the ballot pending an investigation, the order was voided by Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black on a petition from Abe Fortas, who was Johnson's chief lawyer.

That would be the same Abe Fortas who, 17 years later, Johnson would appoint to the Supreme Court.

But, at least the Johnson people have a credible defense:

''The irregularity in the voting was caused in most instances by the local races - for a county commissioner, sheriff and county judge. It was just incidental that there were also votes stolen for Johnson and Stevenson.''

 Well THAT'S convincing....

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Johnson's 1948 'victory' is a depressing story.  It is also, however, a necessary one.  Voter Fraud in Texas is real.  It has a looong history.  And it helps the dirtbags....