Positive

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis sent this tweet out this morning:

My heart is with all students, parents, teachers, and staff on your first day of school in the state-occupied Houston Independent School District.

Heights High School is five blocks from Commentary’s crib. I wonder if arsehole Gov. Greg Abbott has DPS troopers in full riot gear stationed on campus.

Here is what City Controller Chris Brown tweeted this morning:

Wishing all #HISD students and educators a great start to the 2023 school year!

Different takes from different elected officials and both are Democrats.

_____

H-Town got awarded the 2028 GOP National Convention. I guess that is a good thing.  Who knows how crazy the 2028 GOP will be.

_____

On What’s Your Point yesterday, the H-Town mayoral race was brought up.  Panelist Sergio Lira said this about candidate Gilbert Garcia: “dark horse candidate,” “watch him,” and “starting to resonate.” Former Harris County GOP chair Gary Polland, also a panelist, kind of agreed with Sergio.

During the program, last week’s local hot political rumor was also brought up. In case you missed it, for a couple of days last week, the hot rumor was Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was supposed to resign.

She didn’t.

_____

The Urban Reform fella had an op-ed in yesterday’s Chron on who conducts the elections in Harris County.  Here is a part:

“Democracy in Harris County and the State of Texas took another blow today with the Texas Supreme Court ruling that allows the Legislature to target Harris County and exercise unprecedented control over our elections,” Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

And this:

That seems a bit much, given that Harris County has had an elections administrator for only three years. Every prior election was overseen by the offices of the clerk and tax assessor-collector. So this “blow to democracy” is a return to a system that worked then.

And finally, this:

Harris County is not in uncharted territory, nor is the change of electoral oversight a “blow to democracy.”

Here is the entire op-ed: Democracy will survive without Harris County’s elections administrator (houstonchronicle.com).

Everyone knows how Commentary feels about a Harris County Elections Administrator Office. I support the concept. I just think we moved too fast on it and picked the wrong person to run it in the beginning.

We should not have made the move during the pandemic. We should have had a lengthy discussion and town hall meetings on the change so more folks would buy in. We should have explained it better. Then we should have had an extensive national search for an administrator.

What the Urban Reform fella doesn’t get, is that Harris County was following then state law on switching to an Elections Administrator. We had the right to determine how our elections are run. Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature took away our right. So, that is a “blow to democracy.” I think the Urban Reform fella knows that. He is just going the other route to make his op-ed read the way it does.

_____

It finally got my arse.

This past Friday afternoon I felt kind of sluggish. I went to the Super Neighborhoods Mayoral Forum that evening. When I got home, I had a couple of Saint Arnolds and went to bed early.  I had chills throughout the night. When I got up Saturday morning, a tad groggy, I put the thermometer under my tongue, and it came up 100.3 degrees. I then self-administered the COVID-19 test and bingo, it came up positive. See the featured photo.

I let folks know who I had come in contact with the previous days just in case.

It feels like a head cold. Scratchy throat. I have an appetite and I am not achy. Running a little fever.

I guess I will be at home alone for a few days. Lucky, I have plenty of grub in the fridge and freezer to last me.

_____

That was an impressive win yesterday as we took 2 out of 3 in Detroit. The AL West has tightened up for sure. We are at Fenway for 3 starting this evening.