Category Archives: Texas

09/20/18

The Great Debate – Texas Senate Race

Big Red Car here on a gloomy Thursday morning in the ATX. Texas politics is fun in a roller derby kind of way. The race for the Texas Senate will be a barn burner though recent polling suggests Cruz is looking at a ten point victory.

For the Senate we have a faux Hispanic running against a real Hispanic who doesn’t seem Hispanic.

[At this point, please allow me to make a preemptive apology for all the offenses I have committed against good order and decency thus far and for the rest of the blog post. I am sorry.]

U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso (left), and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Robert Francis O’Rourke, the Dem challenger, faces off with Teddy Cruz, the incumbent in three debates.

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08/21/18

Texas Oil

Big Red Car here talking Texas oil, y’all. One of the worst reported business phenomenon is the enormous strength of American oil production and Texas’ part in that.

Y’all know all about the enormous flows from shale oil, fracking, and horizontal drilling, right? But, you ask, “How big is it, Big Red Car?”

As you can see, it is an impressive curve with a May 2018 monthly flow of 4,243,000 barrels per day. This is larger than any Middle East country other than Saudi Arabia. Hello, America!

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09/1/17

Gasoline Prices

Big Red Car here (with a full tank of regular, y’all) telling you what’s going to happen with the price of gasoline in Texas and the rest of the country.

[Note: The country is actually divided between Texas and the “rest of the country.” Sorry. Deal with it. If y’all had better barbecue and wider acceptance of breakfast tacos, this wouldn’t be happening, but, no, you don’t. Do you? Whose fault is that?]

This is what’s going on in Texas. The people are fighting back. The Texas National Guard is there. The Colorado National Guard is there. Help is pouring in faster than the rain. This is after all, Texas. Just for the record: No KKK, white supremacists, Nazis, BLM, ACLU, SPLC, or Antifa. Texans, National Guard, serious people doing serious work. God, this makes me proud of our Nation, my State, and our people. This is who we are.

Hurricane H [we are not longer saying THAT name, son-of-a-bitch] has knocked out all of the Gulf Coast refineries. This has dampened supplies of gasoline and other products.

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05/8/17

Sanctuary Cities and Texas

Sanctuary cities, Big Red Car? Pray tell?

OK, so the People’s Republic of Austin (really Travis County) has a Sheriff — Sanctuary Sally Hernandez — who took it upon herself to decide which laws and what level of cooperation with ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) she thought, in her opinion, was advisable. Criminals were being assisted in avoiding capture and deportation because she didn’t like the idea.

She got cover for this nonsense from the County Attorney, David Escamilla. He’s a good guy, but way out of his depth and lacking judgment. This decision resulted in the loss of millions of dollars of state aid for Travis County which hurt veterans programs. You know The Boss is not going to like messing with veterans, right?

County Attorney Escamilla and Sheriff Sanctuary Sally had no right to inject their vanity into veterans benefits. Shame on them.

Copy of Jeff Minch June 13 2007 005

Texas Capitol, where they make the laws in the great State of Tejas.

I know, you think a Sheriff should enforce all the laws, right? Silly goose!

So, what happened?

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05/6/17

Big Red Rules — 2017 I Edition — Debutantes and Values

Debutantes and values? Huh?

Big Red Car here on another glorious ATX, on Earth as it is in Texas, morning. Little late getting to the computer this morning.

Back in the day, I used to send y’all some Big Red Rules — rules for regulating your life and view of the world. When we blew through Big Red Rules X (twice as I recall), we shelved the project. Recently, I’ve gotten a lot of heat for some new rules and a redux of the old ones. So, here goes.

Today we review Values and Debutantes. An oldie and a new goodie. Enjoy.

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05/12/16

Balmorhea Springs, Texas

Going to be a great day here in the ATX. Why not? It’s Texas and Texas has a lot of very interesting places.

One of them is Balmorhea Springs. It is, technically, a cienega which is a spring located at the foot of a mountain. A cienege is often a wetlands. In this instance, it (an underlying 22-28 million gallons per day spring) was converted into a pool. There is still a cienega from another set of springs. Cinenega — new word for y’all?

Balmorhea Springs

It is a great place to visit and it is a great place to cool off as the water is a constant 72F even in the summertime.

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