Scoreboard Watching

Outrageous breaking news from the Trib:

Four members of the unit working on Gov. Greg Abbott’s border mission have been punished after whistleblowers reported the surveillance operation violated long-standing rules against state-run spy operations.

When officers from the Texas National Guard showed up to their 7 a.m. meeting with federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, they didn’t arrive empty-handed.

Six military intelligence officials turned over a list of names at the February 2022 meeting. The Texans were part of an intelligence directorate supporting Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott‘s state-run border mission. The officers, which included the group’s top two leaders, told federal agents they’d secretly infiltrated invite-only WhatsApp group chats filled with migrants and smugglers and wanted their help investigating the targets they’d identified, according to a sworn statement attached to a whistleblower complaint filed later that month.

The Homeland Security officials in the meeting rebuffed the Texans on the spot — with one official saying that they were an investigative body and “not an intelligence agency,” the whistleblower recalled.

An investigation by Military Times and The Texas Tribune has found that Texas National Guard leaders disbanded Operation Lone Star’s intelligence wing after whistleblowers reported the WhatsApp surveillance, which targeted migrant groups to track them through Mexico, because they believed it violated long-standing rules against state-run spy operations. During the same period, another team from the intelligence directorate allegedly sent classified FBI intelligence to their Texas Guard colleagues in an apparent violation of federal secrecy laws, according to an internal incident report.

Here is the entire Trib read: Texas National Guard members spied on migrants using Whatsapp | The Texas Tribune.

Arsehole Abbott’s GOP border project is one big mess and fiasco. It is a total waste of manpower and taxpayer funds. Sigh.

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Commentary doesn’t think it has sunk in yet. I am talking about Donald Trump going to trial on the January 6 federal charges the day before Super Tuesday.  That is a little over six months from today. It is real and it is going to be wild for sure. Hey, he asked for it.

Hey GOPers! Keep idolizing and rooting for this crook!

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Commentary has now tested three straight days positive for COVID-19. I will wait later today to test. What a drag.

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Scoreboard watching usually occurs toward the end of the season as fans whose team is in contention want to know how the other contenders are doing. For those that will be scoreboard watching the next few weeks, the following article that came out in the Chron yesterday is certainly handy and so is the featured photo. Here is the article:

With just a month left in the regular season and one game separating the Astros, Mariners and Rangers in the American League West, there’s going to be plenty of scoreboard watching down the stretch.

The Astros, who enter Monday tied with the Rangers and trailing the Mariners by a game, have the good fortune of owning one of the easiest remaining schedules in all of baseball. The Astros’ opponents in their final 30 games have a combined winning percentage of just .466. Only the Twins (.461) and Tigers (.440) have an easier remaining schedule. By contrast, the Rangers’ remaining opponents have a combined. 502 winning percentage and the Mariners’ remaining opponents are at .500. That puts both in the middle of the pack with the 16th and 15th easiest remaining schedules, respectively.

Nine of the Astros’ 30 remaining games are against the Royals and A’s, the teams with the two worst records in baseball. Fifteen of their remaining games are against teams with better than .500 records (three each against the Rangers, Mariners, Orioles, Red Sox and Diamondbacks). The Rangers and Mariners each have 20 games remaining against teams with better than .500 records. 

It will come down to the final week of the season when the Mariners’ last 10 games are all against the Rangers and Astros, including a four-game set against the Rangers in Seattle to finish the regular season. While the Mariners and Rangers are battling each other, the Astros will be playing the Royals and the Diamondbacks.

This article came out before yesterday’s games, so we now have two games left against the Red Sox and 29 games remain to play.

@ChronAstros put out this cool tweet after the game last night:

Astros 13, Red Sox 5: Houston brings its ‘A’ game as Altuve, Alvarez and Abreu drive in 10 runs

Jose Altuve hit for the cycle last night at Fenway. That is a single, double, triple, and dinger.  The feat has been accomplished 344 times in MLB history. Astros Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio are on the cycle list. Congrats.

Will Michael Brantley be activated today is the question we are wanting answered.

We won last night and so did the Mariners and Rangers.