It gets worse. Turns out that Sessions was at a fundraiser when the Oath was given.
Hi. I’m on deadline, so I’ll make this brief: Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O’Hare, who by all accounts spearheaded the effort to pass a rental ordinance targeting illegal immigrants that is now winding its way through the courts, announced he would not run for re-election, mostly so he can make some babies (that’s what “expand” family means, right?).
So, with O’Hare gone, will the council and new mayor have the same taste for justice, and be willing to continue to spend millions on the case?
Dave Player at Huffington Post puts his cost-per-win at $1,020,000.
Pete Sessions somehow missed his swearing-in and then commenced to casting a number of votes on the House floor, which is against the rules. Which is funny. Because he’s on the Rules Committee. From Jonathan Allen, as quoted over on Politico: “House officials were searching for a precedent to follow but had not yet found a previous instance of members-elect voting without having taken the constitutionally required oath of office.”
Go, Texas!
New safeties Complete autonomy Jerry Jones to be caught with, like, 20 keys of coke A mustache A sweet, sweet nickname!
Yes, I’ve heard. Red Ball. Garrett Top. Maybe a couple of others. Pretty decent, sure. Oh, Redheaded Jesus, but I think that’s sort of one of those opposite things, like how we call Tim Rogers “Dr. Sensitive.” But just because a few others got there first doesn’t mean we can’t take it out back to the workshop, no? Kick the tires? Take it out for a spin? Generic cliche? Sky blue paper plate? Any random thing followed by a question mark?
ANYWAY. Garrett’s new nickname. I’ll start. Let’s, oh, I don’t know, jump I guess.
The Dallas Safari Club’s annual convention and expo is opening today, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Why’s that, you ask? Because it’s about to get a bit cold around here. So really, why would risk braving Mother Nature’s harsh conditions when you could head to the Dallas Convention Center, stay warm and toasty, and pretend like you’re outside at the same time? While you’re there, you can peruse wildlife exhibits, partake in live and silent auctions, and even pick up one of those sharp-looking safari hats.
Or maybe you’d rather support our local athletic institutions by attending tonight’s contest between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Full disclosure: Dirk’s probably not playing. Caron Butler’s definitely not. But the Mavs are still second-best in the West, and with NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant coming to town, there’s still plenty of reasons to go.
Looking for something else? Find it here.
I knew this day would come. For years, I have been seeding the internet with images of myself that make me look like a drunk and a buffoon. You know, someone of no consequence. But it was all a smoke screen. See, I’m actually one of Dallas’ power brokers. I have a standing Friday afternoon tee time at the Dallas Country Club, where members scramble to host me for a round. Between swigs of Johnnie Walker Blue, they tell me how, exactly, they control the city, and I come up with the way to spin their message in the magazine. Till now, the arrangement has worked.
But now Jim Schutze has gone and blown the lid off the whole racket. In his column in the Observer this week, he reveals how the next mayor was chosen by the Dallas Citizens Council and then how that selection was announced in the pages of D Magazine. He’s talking about our January cover story, “20 for 2011,” in which I wrote that Mayor Tom Leppert would not run for reelection and that Councilman Ron Natinsky will win the job. Here’s how Schutze explains it:
How do relatively unknown colorless persons who have never taken notable positions on much of anything suddenly become the excitement, and how does D know about it in advance? But you really don’t need to ask that question, do you?
It’s what makes Dallas Dallas. It is the Dallas way — the way things always have been. Every few years when the current excitement gets worn out from being so exciting, a small coterie of business leaders scans the local horizon to choose someone who can be trusted to fill their new bill. And then D announces the name.
Actually, it’s a lot more democratic than Schutze makes it sound.
If you’ve been following along at home, you know that four Dallas cops sued D Magazine for libel in 2008. For those who need to catch up, you can read about how the whole deal started right here. Needless to say, we and our fine lawyers and Haynes and Boone believe the suit is without merit. Nonetheless, it drags on. We won a judgment against them. They’ve appealed. It’ll be another six months probably before we get a ruling from the appellate court.
One of the plaintiffs in the suit against us is Jeffrey Nelson, who is now known to the fine folks of Seven Points, Texas, as Police Chief Jack Nelson. Or he was until recently.
It started with Paul Krugman yesterday publishing a chart that showed Texas unemployment trends roughly similar to New York’s. The Economist replied with a chart of its own showing that Krugman’s chart was misleading, but warning that people should not read too much into Texas’ good fortune because the reasons for it are “idiosyncratic.” It concluded, unhelpfully, with this:
Texas is different from other states, but the policy implications of that difference are far muddier than many writers would have you believe.
A commenter said rubbish to that.
Jeffrey Leonard at the Washington Monthly makes a persuasive and sensible argument for the return to free enterprise in the energy sector. The new Congress should eliminate the federal government’s attempts to shore up old industries and choose the winners in emerging technologies. It should cut all subsidies, tax breaks, incentives to solar, wind, coal, nuclear, natural gas, replacement materials, and oil.
Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn have already proposed doing away with the ethanol subsidy, one of the great boondogles of the modern era, put in place and defended solely by the prominence of the Iowa caucus in the presidential primaries. (That caucus idea was a masterful stroke, Iowans.)
1. Well, none of us won the $380 million. We didn’t really need it anyway, right? But James Emerson of Oak Cliff did match five-of-five and played the megaplier (I have no idea what that means) to win $1 million. The best part of the story? He bought the ticket from the Hampton Texaco he worked at for nine years. He quit just a few months ago to start his own company. I’ll bet a million dollars he’s got a few new friends today.
2. A Plano teacher learned the importance of double-checking e-mail and text message recipients. He accidentally sent his wife a message that was meant for one of his 16-year-old students. This is the second time the wife has caught her husband saying “I love you” to the student. So she did what any scorned woman would do—she called the cops.
3. I have my own advice for Fran Harris, who has been named a finalist for a position as an advice guru for Good Morning America: humility goes a long way. “I don’t think anybody has the width and breadth of experience I do, so I’m the clear winner — at least in my mind,” she says. “I’m a legend in my own mind, so what can I tell you.”