Weekend brunch for 24 October 2021

News and views from around the web

Image credit: Fox Sports/YouTube

[WB1] Democratic Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the pol who actually runs Harris County, has hatched a redistricting plan that is likely further to cement Democratic power, trim a Republican seat (meaning hefty tax increases in the near future), and impose chaos on existing public services – drawing a strong rebuke from Commissioner Tom Ramsey (an engineer with many years of real-world experience in tackling area problems). He’s been a thorn in King Rodney’s side, and the Democrats intend for him to go away. The same Texas political media that engaged in histrionics over the Texas legislature’s redistricting (which has far less impact on constituent services, including flood control and drainage) hasn’t had all that much to say about this clear power grab – not that we expected they would.

[WB2] Speaking of the Legislature’s redistricting – ultimately the GOP leadership swerved on the matter of redistricting Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee out of her own district. They decided it was much more important to play nice, when the power play would have been for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to send Commissioner Rodney Ellis a message that if he messed with Harris County, the legislature would certainly follow through with its own power play.

[WB3] Ted Oberg reports the Harris County District Attorney’s office has confirmed a “pending criminal investigation” connected to City Hall. Apparently, the Chron headline writer was on vacation that day, as we’re pretty sure leading off a headline with “Everything that’s happened since….” would not pass muster in most journalism classes.

[WB4] The family of one victim of Democratic criminal justice reform in Harris County thinks it’s time to start naming the judges responsible (in their case, Judge Hilary Unger).

[WB5] Andy Kahan is not a fan of the regional newspaper’s coverage of the consequences of Democratic criminal justice reform in Harris County.

[WB6] Cypress Station is, according to Ted Oberg, the most crime-ridden area in the county.

[WB7] Reason argues that Texas Central, the hucksters trying to sell the public on a “private” Houston-Dallas train, shouldn’t get a $12 billion taxpayer-backed loan. Agreed!

[WB8] We are sometimes amazed how taxpayer-subsidized special interest nonprofits all seem to work together against those of us who drive cars in our city. Where’s our taxpayer-subsidized special interest group?

[WB9] We are also sometimes amazed that people who write entertainment articles for a living and have never run a business nonetheless have opinions on how businesses should operate. Isn’t that precious?

[WB10] The Chronicle’s editorials too often read like a college freshman’s first experience in a philosophy class (embarrassing for educated adults).

[WB11] Here’s a periodic reminder (mainly for progressives and Chron columnists – but I repeat myself) that allowing taxpayers to keep a little more of their money doesn’t “cost” the state, because it’s not the state’s money.

[WB12] How about our Astros? On to the 2021 World Series!

And with that, we’ll be taking a little fall break, but should be back at it in a couple of weeks.

About Kevin Whited 4306 Articles
Kevin Whited is co-founder and publisher of blogHOUSTON. Follow him on twitter: @PubliusTX