Guest: Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda............The new GOP House ......Trump 2024.....The Biden agenda 2023.........and other stories..
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Is reality finally sinking in? Over the last couple of days, I saw two stories about the border and Democrats.
First, The Dallas Morning News is pointing that the border crisis is real and urges Texas Democrats to do something. This is the editorial:
We hoped that Texas Democrats’ drubbing in statewide races on Nov. 8 would push them to look in the mirror and reflect on why their message didn’t land with voters. So we were glad to see the stirrings of introspection in an internal post-election party memo that was obtained by the Texas Tribune.
Bullet point No. 5 includes this passage: “Here’s a tough truth we as Democrats must realize on border security: it’s a hugely important issue to our state.”
That voters in a border state think of the border as a top issue, particularly in a year when migrant crossings reached the record-breaking number of 2.4 million, should have been readily apparent to Democrats since the beginning. Still, better late than never. Texas needs both Republicans and Democrats to agree there is a problem before we can even begin to work toward meaningful solutions.
In the memo, Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Jamarr Brown noted that Democrats across the country tried to pretend the border was not an issue even as Republicans made it a leading issue.
Wake up Democrats -- or something like that.
Over in Arizona, newly reelected Senator Mark Kelly issues a similar statement:
The Washington Post asked Kelly if Democrats have “recognized the complexity of the issue and the frustrations that people have”
“Absolutely not,” Kelly told the paper in an interview published Monday. “Not even close.”
He added: “When I first got to Washington, it didn’t take me long to realize that there are a lot of Democrats who don’t understand our southern border and a lot of Republicans who just want to talk about it. Don’t necessarily want to do anything about it, just want to use it politically. So my approach has been -- to the extent that we could and can -- to make progress on securing it, but also doing it in a way that’s in accordance with our ethics and our values, not to demonize people.”
Better late than never, I guess. However, I am a little surprised that it took a tough reelection for Senator Kelly to figure out that his party does not understand the border. Also, why didn't Senator Kelly say something when the Biden administration made bad decisions about the border on his state?
Elections will often force politicians to change course. I hope that Kelly and Texas Democrats understand that the border is a serious problem that requires some action, such as enforcing the law.
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We say happy birthday to the great Tiant.
Luis Tiant was born in Marianao, Cuba on this day in 1940. His father was Luis Eleuterio Tiant, who pitched professionally in the old Negro Leagues in the US as well as in Mexico.
Tiant made his debut in 1964 with Cleveland: 10-4, 9 complete games, 3 shutouts and a 2.83 ERA. A few years later, Luis led the AL in 1968 with a 1.60 ERA! By the late 1960’s, El Tiante was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Suddenly, he suffered a series of arm injuries in 1970-71, was released and passed up by several teams who thought that he was finished.
Everything changed when the Red Sox gave him a chance in 1972: 15 wins and a AL leading 1.91 ERA. Tiant won 81 games over the next 4 seasons and became the darling of Fenway Park
We remember Tiant and the 1975 post-season. He shut down the A’s in game 1 of the ALCS, beat the Reds in games 1 and 4 of the World Series. And his aforementioned father had a chance to watch him pitch. It was a wonderful post season for father and son.
Luis Tiant retired with 229 wins, a 3.30 ERA and 189 complete games. In my opinion, he should be in The Hall of Fame. Let’s hope that he goes in the next time around.
