Playoffs

The world was caught by surprise Saturday morning. Nobody saw the attack on Israel coming.  It is certainly an epic intelligence failure. How do you miss something like this?

_____

Commentary doesn’t care who throws out the first pitch at MLB games. Unless it is a neo-Nazi or someone like that. The Chron cares. See this from this past weekend:

HOUSTON – Founder of Houston’s Gallery Furniture Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale claims his competitor, Mattress Firm, blocked his opportunity to throw out the first pitch for yesterday’s ALDS opener.

Mack appeared in a video on his twitter saying, he was scheduled to throw the first pitch by the Astros, but got a call retracting the offer just before the game.

Mack said the Astros told him Mattress Firm, a MLB sponsor, would not to let him throw the first pitch. 

Mack said this isn’t the first time Mattress Firm stop some of his public appearances.

 “I was scheduled to judge the police dog contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo last year. My friend Constable Mark Herman has a police dog named Mattress Mack, part of his unit. Mattress Mack catches criminals and sniffs out drugs, so I was very excited to judge him. Mattress Firm was also a sponsor of the Houston rodeo, but they said you couldn’t judge it”. Mack said.

In the video he also relayed a direct message to Mattress Firm:

There’s plenty of business out there for all of us, what we need to do is promote bedding, promote a better night sleep, not snipe at our competitors. Let’s all be better than that and Go ‘Astros!”

Mattress Firm also released a statement in response to Mack’s claims:

While we love being the Official Sleep Partner of Major League Baseball, we don’t determine who throws out the first pitch. We’re here to help Astros fans crush their sleep, not their dreams. Go ‘Stros!”

So, what.

_____

In 2018, Harris County voters did right by ousting Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. Emmett had an op-ed in yesterday’s Chron opposing Prop B. That is the measure before City of H-Town voters that gets us out of the Houston-Galveston Area Council if we don’t get more representation on their board of directors. Emmett is okay with the same old same old.

_____

Today, the Chron E-Board endorsed City Council Member Sallie Alcorn for reelection to At-Large Position 5.

_____

As the Texas legislature goes into its third called special session, this is what is in today’s Trib:

Headline

Texas speaker condemns conservative PAC leader for hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes

Sub-headline

The Tribune reported Sunday that Jonathan Stickland, the leader of Defend Texas Liberty PAC, hosted Fuentes, a white supremacist and antisemite, in Fort Worth for nearly 7 hours on Friday. Phelan called on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other officials to redirect any money they received from the PAC.

From the story:

House Speaker Dade Phelan strongly condemned a major Republican donor and demanded that elected officials return money they received from the group, one day after The Texas Tribune reported that it had recently hosted well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

“This not just a casual misstep,” Phelan said in a statement. “It’s indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long. Anti-Semitism, bigotry and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican party. Period. We cannot – and must not – tolerate the tacit endorsement of such vile ideologies.”

Here is the entire read: Texas Speaker Dade Phelan condemns PAC leader for hosting Nick Fuentes | The Texas Tribune.

I am glad the GOP Texas House Speaker finally found out there is rot in the Texas GOP. Lots of rot.

_____

Commentary went to both playoff games this past weekend. We played great on Saturday. We played lousy yesterday. The featured photo is from Saturday’s game – Fred, Charlene, Senator Alvarado, and me.

We have today off then resume play tomorrow at Target Field.

#Ready2Reign.