Used To

Yesterday’s Chron front page in one word: powerful.

Thank you, Houston Chronicle.

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State Sen. Carol Alvarado, Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and her fellow Caucus members in a letter asked the worthless Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to deal with gun violence.  Here is what the Senate Democrats are demanding:

Raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21;

Require universal background checks for all firearm sales;

Implement “red flag” laws to allow the temporary removal of firearms from those who are an imminent danger to themselves or others;

Require a “cooling off” period for the purchase of a firearm; and

Regulate civilian ownership of high-capacity magazines.

Here are the two best lines from the letter to Abbott:

After each of these mass killings, you have held press conferences and roundtables promising things would change. After the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, those broken promises have never rung more hollow.

And:

Laying the blame at the feet of a broken mental health care system—that you and other state leaders continue to underfund severely—is not enough.

Very outstanding takes.

The GOP has been in total control of Texas state government for a couple of decades or so.  When it comes to gun violence and mass shootings, what they have enacted has not worked, and it is never going to work.

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It was a disgusting performance put on by Abbott in Uvalde on Friday. He said he was “livid” that he had been given bad info.

Nope.

That is the info he was craving last Wednesday. The problem is there are too many questions being asked by the family of the victims, the media, elected officials, activists and concerned citizens. 

Col. Steven McCraw, who heads the DPS, just couldn’t continue to stand behind this false narrative.  He laid it all on the locals. Don’t forget, he had one of his staffers out there the day before not coming clean.

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I watch Fox 26’s “What’s Your Point” on Sunday mornings, not because I am a fan. I watch it to monitor it to see how Greg Groogan and some of his hosts try to promote a right-wing agenda without the facts.  Usually, he will let the panelists give their take for about 30 seconds to a minute max for their responses.

Yesterday, he gave the Texas Breitbart panelist five minutes to open the show and defend and explain why the 19 Uvalde area law enforcement officers waited about an hour to take down the shooter last week at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Such a disgraceful display on a Sunday morning. The Breitbart fella went on to say that Col. McCraw, who said it was a “wrong decision” to wait, probably had more info.

I reckon so you moron. The Colonel is on the scene.

Commentary would pay to watch the Breitbart fella give the same presentation in front of Robb Elementary just so I could watch him get deservedly dismembered by the locals.

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If a Texas U.S. Senator doesn’t hold town hall meetings or is not accessible. If the Senator only goes on Fox News and to the NRA convention three days after 21 of the Senator’s constituents are gunned down in a classroom. If the Senator high tails it to Cancun, when millions of the Senator’s constituents like Commentary are freezing in their own homes, then I don’t have a problem if one of his constituents interrupts his dinner at a fancy H-Town eatery to ask a question or two.  If the Senator has a problem with that, order curbside.

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Speaking of chickensh_ts, Doorknob Cruz said what the Democrats have proposed would not have prevented the shootings last week. How about not selling guns to 18-year-old folks.

This moving the gun buying age limit to 21 is a no-brainer. Having an age limit of 18 should be on America’s used to list.

In my lifetime, we used to be able to smoke on airliners.

We used to be able to watch tobacco ads on TV.

We used to be able to drive without seatbelts.

We used to be able to drive with open containers of alcohol in the car.

We used to not require car seats for infants.

We used to be able to sell alcohol to 18-year-olds.

As Neil Diamond wrote, “but ‘used to be’s’ don’t count anymore.”

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My Dad and I were watching the game yesterday. Bottom of the ninth. We have a one run lead. Mariners have the bases loaded with one out. Our closer Ryan Pressly is missing the zone and has walked two. It looked like we were in deep doodoo. Bam! 5-4-3 double play. Ballgame over. We win and avoid getting swept.  30-18.  We are in Oakland tonight.