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It's about politics and money.

Politics and money.

Shame we have to live with the result.

EastTexasRancher wrote:meh, never mind.

Texas edged closer to becoming a blue state this year than any in recent past.

"Meh" is pretty much an attitude no Texan should take right about now. Or ever.

The biggest population centers in Texas, some of the largest in the country, are now fully blue. If you haven't looked at a county-by-county map, you should. Almost all of the southern border counties are blue (think that's from the southern ranch land-owner vote?) and our electoral results November 8 were far closer than I would have liked.

If you don't care about Houston politics, fine. Don't post here.

If you're saying you don't give a squib about Texas politics in general, I have an issue with that.

And now Jose Altuve finishes only 3rd as American League MVP. Third? Seriously?

Yep: Kim Ogg defeating Devon Anderson was an absolute travesty. She did it with outside money, many attack ads, and a Houston demographic that slides more left each year. But this one kinda surprised me. If the left side of the scale is pure blue, and the right fire-engine red, Ogg is off the bell curve...maybe indigo. And her ads were patently false. In no small part, she kept repeating she had enacted laws. She was never in a position to enact even a law against the chewing of gum. And, bloody heck, she hasn't tried a court case in a prosecutorial role since 1996.

I have five professional certifications that have lapsed in the past decade. Maybe I should run for a public office because, clearly, demonstration of current experience and current qualifications does not matter.

Not gonna talk about Ron Hickman. Not a friend, but an acquaintance. This is a good man, an honest man, a man of faith and a Republican who has served in Houston Law Enforcement since 1971, promoted all along the way. Did the idiots voting know that he had been an HPD Underwater Search and Recovery diver, and a Bomb Squad technician? That he had grown up here? When officers put their lives on the line, it helps to know your leader has seen the adversity himself.

Ron Hickman has been in Houston all of his storied career. And this is a guy who also graduated from the prestigious FBI National Academy.

Ed Gonzalez promised to treat offenders with gentle gloves. To essentially ignore minor offenders. To make education and skill-building and social skills the goal of the jail system rather than incarceration. Like a summer camp for criminals.

Because, I guess...global warming.

Because these "minor" offenders who already live off the government's dole just, well, they just need a little more dole to make everything right.

And Samuel Pena, from El Paso, was also named today as Houston's new Fire Chief. Houston's department is evidently five times the size of El Paso's, and far more active in terms of number of calls per person per day.

Understandably, Houston's firefighters are reserved about the appointment and issuing no responses but official politi-speak. A friend of mine told me this afternoon that they were fully expecting one of their respected insiders to be promoted rather than seeing an unknown hired from the outside.

I wasn't overly upset when Sylvester Turner won the mayoral election. Heck, anybody but Anise Parker. But today may be a bit much.

This is what happens when you write five times as much text, and somebody beats you to the post by three minutes.

I'll merge mine in here.

Acevedo has accepted Mayor Sylvester Turner's offer to become the chief of the Houston Police Department.

http://kxan.com/2016/11/17/art-acevedo- ... ice-chief/
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/apd-chie ... /352953846
http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/ne ... r-houston/

A quick search of Acevedo's name on this Forum will give you some idea of opinions of his actions and leadership in Austin. In essence, it seems to be additional padlocking of the City of Houston's political infrastructure on the ultra-blue side of the scale. Two very capable and honorable individuals--for whom I could and did vote as a resident of unincorporated Harris County--were District Attorney Devon Anderson (unseated by ultra-liberal Kim Ogg who hasn't prosecuted a case in 20 years) and Sheriff Ron Hickman (unseated by Democrat Ed Gonzalez and who has, since 2009, been not a law enforcement officer or leader but a career politician).

And now Acevedo.

Here's a brief article from the Austin American Statesman about disciplinary action against APD Chief Acevedo last April surrounding his public actions during the case of the officer-involved shooting of David Joseph, an unarmed, Black teenager. Acevedo held a news conference barely 48 hours after the incident, while the investigation was underway, invited several community groups to join him including Black Lives Matter, and implicitly prejudged his officer, Geoffrey Freeman, as guilty. That drove the Police Union into a fervor. A few weeks later, Acevedo spoke at APD's training academy and again discussed the shooting.

The union filed a formal complaint with Acevedo's boss, City Manager Marc Ott. Ott appointed an independent investigator who did not determine a violation of law or written city policy, but noted that he did "believe that the department and city of Austin would have been better served if he had refrained from discussing the Freeman case at that time."

Evidently Acevedo has had a contentious relationship with Ott--and the Police Union--for several years. Then followed the post-election, anti-Trump protests in Austin last week where Acevedo actually joined the protesters as they marched up Congress.

Clearly, Marc Ott, the union, and others had had it with Acevedo. And while they strove a few years ago to block his moving to San Antonio, when the Houston opening was offered to him I can only imagine that someone bought champagne and had a pen ready to sign the contract release papers.

Congratulations, Blue Houston.