PN-G bamatex

!!:6/24/H

!!:6/24/2

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!!:6/17/1

!!:6/10/1 LBJ missed the PAT on the Jaguars' first touchdown.

It was a bad attempt to either preempt a primary challenge or remind DeSantis that the loyalty among GOP base voters belongs to Trump first and DeSantis second. It appears to have backfired. We’ll see whether Trump learned his lesson.

[Hidden Content]

With only two real exceptions, publicly available polling is absolute trash. November's going to be the reddest election cycle since at least 2014. Bank on it.

They’re trying awfully hard to get more there. And they’re hiring an awful lot of lobbyists to do it. Probably not a good idea to cause a ruckus in the Speaker’s home county when that’s your goal. Or in the district of the only Texas House member who’s filed a gambling bill every legislative session for at least the last decade.

And this is why I keep going back to the reservation schools. You have Indian reservations in this country with schools charted by the tribal governments - including one such school run by a certain Cherokee chief in Oklahoma - that have adopted the Indian mascot. There’s one out west that adopted the team name “Savages.” The PC babies can scream “cultural appropriation” all they want, but guess what? That’s not against the law. Racial discrimination is against the law. The federal government can’t stretch Title VI to prohibit the PN-G Indians without also prohibiting the Sequoyah High School Indians in Tahlequah, otherwise they arguably run afoul of Title VI itself, not to mention the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Regardless of what OCR’s actually committed to writing, I think the powers that be know that, and aren’t interested in dividing tribal voters on the issue. Or permanently ceding Florida to Republicans, for that matter.

On a related note, submitted without comment: [Hidden Content]

I’m not familiar with the executive order you’re referring to, so I can’t speak to that, specifically. Generally speaking, all federal executive orders must proceed from some statutory authority. Here, the only statutory authority that’s even remotely relevant is Title VI, and implementing that policy via executive order using Title VI would be tantamount to rewriting the statute by executive fiat. Setting aside the likelihood of litigation successfully overturning the EO, the political blowback alone is enough to render it highly unlikely.

It will never come from the state. Both the Obama- and Clinton-era civil rights offices at the US Department of Education expressly stated that American Indian-themed mascots are not themselves forms of race-based discrimination cognizable to federal anti-discrimination laws like Title VI. Even American Indian activists with legal backgrounds quietly admit they’re not optimistic about that changing. I don’t think the existing legal landscape is favorable to it, either. The only possibility left after that is a new federal legislative effort. I don’t think there’s much chance that bill’s even filed, much less that it passes. Keep in mind that it wouldn’t just affect PN-G, it would affect hundreds of high schools across the country, including in blue states, and some reservation schools. It would also affect major universities like Florida State. All that makes it politically untenable. I’m not going to tell you it’s impossible, but I’m a lawyer and I work in politics for a living. A ten year timeline is not realistic. And that has nothing to do with my personal opinion that the opposition to the mascot is ridiculous, as a Cherokee descendant whose great grandfather lived on the reservation in Oklahoma until he died and whose grandfather grew up there.

I don't think you need an officer per door. I think one officer per campus is enough. That's partly based on the psychological impact. The Uvalde shooter wasn't from Uvalde, only attended the high school there for a short time, and likely had no idea he'd encounter an officer on the campus of that elementary school. He very likely picked what he believed would be a totally defenseless target. In the end, he didn't meet much of a defense, sure, but do we really think he would have picked that elementary school out if he thought he'd come across any defense at all? These shooters have a consistent pattern of picking defenseless targets, or at least what they perceive to be defenseless targets. Put a visible law enforcement presence on every campus in the state, even a minimal one, and I think you significantly reduce the odds of a shooter even attempting a massacre. Your points regarding equipment, training and leave are well taken. Even so, the Legislature and the school districts in the state's population centers have the money available, through one avenue or another. PN-GISD doesn't have anywhere near the resources on a per pupil basis of a Round Rock or Lake Travis ISD, and still manages to keep four resource officers total on three of its campuses every day.

On the one hand, I completely agree with you that this is not a gun problem. The historical evidence of that is overwhelming. Gun ownership is at historic lows in the United States and, with a few exceptions, has been consistently declining for decades. Background checks have been required for every firearm purchase from a licensed dealer (i.e., easily 95% of gun purchases) since 1986. Similarly, the manufacture of automatic weapons for sale to civilians has been functionally banned since 1986. Schools have been "gun free zones" since 1990, a stark contrast to the 1950s, '60s and '70s when it was common to see rifles mounted on gun racks in school parking lots. The so-called (and poorly named) "assault weapons ban" was in place from 1994 to 2004. And yet, despite all of those factors which would seemingly suggest school shootings are less likely now than they were prior to 1986, the first school shooting occurred in this country in 1998, and they've been happening with increasing frequency ever since. Anyone who concludes that more frequent school shootings are a function of increased access to guns, or at least increased access to guns that are arguably more deadly on account of increased rate of fire and/or magazines with greater capacity, is ignoring the clear historical evidence, which totally contradicts that assertion. I'm with you on that point. On the other hand, I disagree with you about the possibility of reaching a compromise. Whatever the cause of America's school shooting problem may be - I have my own theories, which boil down to our ever-increasing social, moral and cultural degradation - I think the solution's simple: put a cop in every school in America, all day, every school day, from kindergarten through high school. There are 8,731 schools in Texas. There are 78,318 licensed peace officers. The entry-level highway trooper in Texas, after training and the probationary period, makes $59,715 per year, which can increase up to $88,966 per year after twenty years assuming no promotion to sergeant or higher. Take the midpoint of that range, $74,340.50 per year, add in payroll taxes and benefits and the median, total cost of employment is probably right around $95,000 per year for a Texas highway patrolman. Multiply that by 8,731 schools, and you get a total cost of $829.5M per year. Let's put that in perspective. As of right now, the Comptroller's office estimates that Texas will have a $12B surplus next session. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is the premier public policy think tank in Austin and employs a corps of extremely talented economists, estimates that the surplus will be closer to $15B. TPPF also believes that the state's rainy day fund will reach its cap and return up to an additional $10B to the general fund. In total, the Legislature may have as much as $25B in extra money burning a hole in its pocket when it meets in January. In other words, it can easily find that $1.66B (recall that Texas budgets on a biennial basis) to put a DPS trooper in every school in the state. And with over 78,000 licensed peace officers, I suspect there are quite a few municipal police officers and county sheriffs' deputies out there who would gladly take a raise to median trooper pay plus state benefits. Moreover, there's a strong argument many of the state's school districts have no reason to wait for action or funding from the Legislature. We've all seen the increase in property tax appraisals. As bad as they are in Southeast Texas, they're exponentially worse in the state's major cities, suburbs and exurbs. I've seen appraisals in Travis and Williamson Counties that doubled in the space of two years. Most of the state's urban and suburban school districts are rolling in cash right now, as are their county sheriffs' offices and municipal police departments. I get why the state's rural school districts may struggle to implement school security measures on their own, but the inner city districts and the burbs would have no problem finding the money to make this happen. There's already been legislation proposed along these lines. One of our local congressmen, Randy Weber, has a bill pending before Congress right now that would eliminate federal payroll and income taxes for retired peace officers returning to work to serve as armed security for schools. That alone would reduce the cost of employment significantly while also increasing the incentive for peace officers via significantly boosted take home pay. Plus, it brings retired peace officers back into play, increasing the state's supply of capable school resource officers. This is not a politically charged solution. This solution has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, gun rights or gun control. It requires no confiscations or weapons bans, only money and manpower. The lone drawback is the cost, and with a Legislature and dozens of local governments across the state flush with cash, that's not an issue right now like it has been in the past. The potential is there. The only question is whether the will to action is there, too. That would take a much longer post to address.

The Karankawa and Atakapa Indians that inhabited Port Neches practiced cannibalism, so that isn't a bad fit.

Just as soon as y’all change to the Nederland trolls, buddy. 😉

I could not disagree more. The UIL would face tremendous political backlash in Austin for it.

Yes, because contrary to the notions of cultural exchange which were the hallmark of the diversity movement for more than half a century in this country, culture is suddenly property and anyone of a race other than the culture's own adopting its customs or practices is now stealing. Makes total sense. Let's get to the real answer. [Hidden Content] Hoskins has higher ambitions than being a Cherokee principal chief, and the Biden administration is the first one to come along that might fulfill them. He's playing to an audience, and it's neither his own voters nor Southeast Texas.

No it's not, but glad to know you, too, embrace race-based double standards. I'll wait for SmashMouth to give an answer before we get into what's really going on.

So you think Chief Hoskins embraces a race-based double standard? Interesting theory. Here's the reality. It's politically untenable for him to change the mascot. Most Cherokee citizens support the mascot, and if you do a little googling, you'll find articles indicating as much. Much like PN-G, the lion's share of the locals, students and alumni up there love their mascot. Remember, Oklahoma is staunchly conservative, Republican territory. The average Cherokee voter's views are very similar to the average white Oklahoman's. By and in large, they don't take issue with Indian mascots any more than your average Republican. Believe me, I know. My quarter-Cherokee great grandfather lived out the rest of his days up there after he couldn't find work in Texas. Though he never sought citizenship, he frequently travelled the Nation to talk with friends who were Cherokee citizens and participate in Cherokee events. My father spent his summers up there through high school. I went as a kid. Now, new question. If Hoskins can't go after the Indian mascot at the school he runs because his people like the Indian mascot, why's he so focused on a high school hundreds of miles away in Texas that most of those citizens don't even know exist?

Not as different as you think. Look up the mascot of the high school the Cherokee Nation runs in Tahlequah. Now here’s a question for you. Chief Hoskins runs all around the country telling people Indians aren’t high school mascots, but won’t change the Indian mascot at the one high school he actually directly controls. Why do you think that is?

Yeah, that point doesn’t carry as much weight as you think it does. [Hidden Content]

This is mostly spot on, but I’ll add one caveat: Disney could have said more about PN-G than they did. They, smartly, stopped their statement where they did. Disney recently made a purchase elsewhere in Texas, and has feelers out for economic development deals. The people in Texas they need to work with them have taken notice of this and other Disney-related issues the last several weeks. Disney knows it needs friends in Texas. Whether, with respect to those friends, Disney has truly ‘gotten away with it’ in the long run remains to be seen. Either way, they certainly didn’t make any of those friends last week.

If you look hard enough, you can find something offensive about every human mascot. Pirates and Buccaneers were swashbuckling murderers and rapists. The Raider archetype draws on age-old bands of thieves and bandits that robbed stagecoaches and murdered travelers on the coachroads. The Minnesota Vikings appropriate Scandinavian history and culture. The Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish and the ULL Ragin’ Cajuns elevate stereotypically drunk, stubborn and aggressive depictions of Cajun and Irish Americans. Do we let that take the fun out of everything? And more to the point, when did culture become property? This country spent fifty years believing that the hallmark of diversity was cultural exchange. That was supposed to make our country stronger. Now, seemingly overnight, any person who’s not a product of a particular culture adopting customs or practices of that culture is stealing it? What happened to imitation being the highest form of flattery? The bottom line with PN-G is, we adopted the Indian mascot because Attakapa and Karankawa Indians were the original inhabitants of Port Neches. Generations of local residents have found Indian artifacts in their backyards, and the presence of Indian burial mounds in Port Neches is well documented. Most of Southeast Texas would have no earthly idea Indians ever lived here were it not for the constant reminder that PN-G is. When the first generation of the original Port Neches High School’s students made that decision in recognition of the town’s history back in 1925, it was, ironically enough, arguably a progressive decision, by the standards of the day. This happened in an era when most of America was reviled by anything Indian. Most white people were actively trying to stamp out evidence the Indians ever inhabited America, but the people in Port Neches weren’t. At roughly the same time PNHS adopted the Indian mascot, my quarter-Cherokee great grandfather was losing the family blacksmithing practice he’d inherited from his white father because the people of Wood County, Texas, didn’t want to do business with an Indian blacksmith. My three-times great grandmother, a full blooded Cherokee woman who died a few years earlier, spent the last decade or so of her life terrified the government was going to take the family farm, round her up and send her to Indian Territory, all because my white three-times great grandfather died before she did and wasn’t around to stop them anymore. Based on the documentation we have, the probable inference is that my four- and/or five-times great grandparents walked the Trail of Tears. My eighth-Cherokee grandfather, who could pass for white, never spoke a word of his heritage publicly after he moved to Orange County, for fear of suffering the same employment troubles his father did. The hardest thing for me to reconcile in elementary school was why my grandparents were so quiet about our Cherokee lineage, when my peers thought it was pretty cool. Looking back today, I know my experience was different than theirs because anything Indian was cool at PN-G, in an era when it wasn’t anywhere else in America. Now, that striking contrast between cultural attitudes at PN-G and in the country at large, which has been inculcated for generations and was so progressive for its day, is suddenly racist? We’re supposed to give up that legacy because political winds shifted and social media makes it easy for internet low-lifes who’ve never stepped foot in Mid-County to harass elementary, middle and high school kids on Twitter? I don’t think so. In so many ways, this community has emulated exactly what the world knows American Indians to be: proud people, who produced strong warriors, that fought for decades to preserve their homes, their families and their way of life, against hopelessly overwhelming odds. I have watched this town demonstrate that same enduring spirit time and time again. Through hurricanes, explosions, cyber attacks, and national crusades against the cross in our park, we have always stood firm. This time is no different. We have never given in to all those things before, and we’re damn sure not about to give in to naked attempts to humiliate and intimidate our children now. I ran a poll in the Port Neches neighborhood watch group, which has thousands of current Mid-County residents in it, last weekend. Hundreds of responses poured in. The vast majority - 87% - said PN-G should keep all of its traditions exactly as they are. The community is as united about this as it’s ever been about anything. The Beaumont Enterprise falsely claimed the community protested the mascot in a headline because 17 people, many of whom don’t even live in PN-G, put on a protest outside a training for school board members. The reality is that the community demonstrates its actual sentiment when 8,000 purple-clad PN-G fans show up in the stadium five times a year. The best way that we can honor the Indian spirit we have revered and emulated for so many generations, is to stand up for our beliefs, our values, our traditions, our home and our kids, the same way they fought valiantly to do for nearly all of the nineteenth century. I can think of no better way to honor my own ancestors, and nothing else they’d prefer that I do. We know our history, we respect our history, and we live our history - if we didn’t, we never would have been the PN-G Indians to begin with. This community is no stranger to great challenges. Every time, it has met them with perspicacious, persevering pride, and firm, fervent faith. And every time, this community has emerged victorious. It’s who we are, and what we speak to every time we say, we are PN-G. This time will be no different. Always be Faithful.