Mr. Irrelevant

Folks know that Commentary worked on Mayor John Whitmire’s campaign for H-Town Mayor all last year, like the entire year. Mayor Whitmire said last year that he would end the pay dispute with the H-Town Firefighters – period. The Mayor said it time and time again.  Here what the Mayor said yesterday in the today’s Chron:

“I was elected – among other things – to end this dispute, and this deal was the best available alternative to settle this long-running litigation with Houston firefighters. Monday morning quarterbacks may choose to ignore the fact that Texas law mandates firefighter pay to be based on private-sector compensation comparisons, not public sector, but as mayor and lead negotiator, I cannot ignore that fact.”

Here is how the Chron article starts:

Houston Controller Chris Hollins faced fierce criticism from firefighters union president Marty Lancton, after estimating that equalizing past pay for Houston firefighters with their peers in other major Texas cities would cost about half of the $650 million backpay currently under consideration.

Here is the entire Chron article: Houston Controller faces criticism over firefighter pay estimate (houstonchronicle.com).

Here is from the Houston Landing on the same issue:

The city would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars if it had raised Houston firefighter pay six years ago compared to a proposed $650 million back-pay settlement, City Controller Chris Hollins said Monday in an analysis Mayor John Whitmire swiftly rejected as irrelevant.

Here is the entire read: Hollins says HFD raises could have saved Houston millions (houstonlanding.org).

Irrelevant. Mr. Irrelevant. Help solve the problem, please.

Commentary wants the H-Town firefighters to be the highest paid firefighters in Texas and what is wrong with that.

_____

“Today” had a story on self-checkout lanes. The story that aired said that up to 20 million folks stole items using the self-checkout lanes. That sure is a lot of thieveries.  I prefer the self-checkout lanes. I use them at Kroger, HEB, Target, CVS, and Walmart. Yes, I go to the Walmart on Yale because they have certain items that I use that are not available at the other retail outlets.

_____

Stormy Daniels is now taking the stand in Donald Trump’s trial. It certainly ought to be a very interesting day in court. I wonder if Trump will fall asleep during her testimony. I wonder if any of Trump’s family is sitting behind him. We all know Trump is a scumbag, so he is getting his well-deserved due today.

_____

We started the season getting swept at home by the Yankees. We start a three-game series this evening at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. See the featured photo. We need to get a series win.