Friday Aside: R U Delusional?

Over on my sports/gambling blog, The Public Money, I wrote about the recent kerfuffle between University of Houston Football Head Coach Tom Herman and John Lopez and Nick Wright of AM 610.

I stated in that article that who you sided with is largely dependent on your feelings toward the University of Houston.  In short: If you're a fan of UH then you think that Herman did no wrong and if you're of the opinion that the put-down "Cougar High" is witty and meaningful then you sided with Lopez. If you're of the belief that idiocy is a character trait to be aspired to, or you have the mental capacity of a 18 year old Bro, you sided with Wright.

We do this in life all the time, ignore context (and consequence) in lieu of our predetermined scripts.  Because of this our reactions to events like this often have little to do with the facts.  In this case, the fact is pretty clear that Lopez, acting on "sources" from Texas aTm, reported incorrectly that Allen, Herman and some UH Boosters met in Houston. Amazingly, this morning on his show, Lopez doubled down on the lie that the meeting still could have happened despite evidence that Allen was in Arizona at his mother's house when this meeting supposedly took place. Fans of Aggie are STILL insisting that this meeting happened.

But why?

Part of it is because, too often, we tie our sense of self worth to outside influences. If you attended, or graduated from, a certain school you tie who you are to that school. Therefore graduates from Texas aTm or UT-Austin view themselves as somehow elevated over the rest of the State because their universities rank well in paid-by-the-same-universities studies.

In reality, almost all university education is equally horrid these days. The true benefit of college choice is found within the patronage system. Where a manager from aTm is more likely to hire a college grad out of aTm, rather than from Houston, because of a shared educational experience. If you've been out in the working world for any period of time, you know that there are both geniuses and idiots emerging from all schools.

Unfortunately it's the idiots who are sucking up all the oxygen.

For some odd reason "Bro" radio has become a thing in a society that, rightly, directs a lot of derision at "Bro" culture. While most of the derision is justified some is not. In some cases the ideas of "male bonding" can be a good thing for the young developing male psyche. Like anything, the problems result when excess levels of exposure are reached.  We know all of this, but we let AM talk radio plumb the depths of Bro culture with little to no consequences. Then we let them turn-around and claim some sort of journalism purity that they have not earned. It's ridiculous for sure, but we do it in other areas as well.

The most egregious example of this is in politics. If you're a hard-core partisan, then one of the requirements is to have the cognitive dissonance to fake the fainting vapors every time someone from the other party does anything remotely resembling a slight while acting as if identical transgressions by your party are no big deal. As an example of this: The same people who chastised Nixon (correctly) for the Watergate scandals give Hillary Rodham Clinton a free pass (wrongly) on thousands of e-mails. Many of them of a classified nature.

Why do they do this?  For no other reason than that she is a Democrat and they want, desperately, for their side to win the office of the Presidency in this next election. Because their self-worth is so tied into these politics, they are willing to ignore serious signs of malfeasance in order to say that they are on the winning side.

Republicans do it too. Do you think there's any difference between the lies that Trump fans are telling themselves versus the lies of Clinton fans?  How about Rubio fans as they come to terms with both his immigration policies and policy on economic favoritism?  Cruz Fans? They ignore the fact that he's turning out to be a crass opportunist who will say seemingly whatever it takes to get elected?  Sanders? Do you really think it's OK that someone running for higher office doesn't understand basic economics?

To make up for the pain that this might cause we lie to ourselves, and our self-talk often includes just how delusional the 'other side' is, whether or not they really are.

This type of self-delusion has darker tones as well. Not only do we build up fake constructs of the other side, but we then pile on them the worst of motivations. In short, in order to preserve our sense of superiority, we make them evil instead of just different.

The problem with relying on good/evil as a filter for your life, is that quite often a majority of people don't operate according to the scripts you've assigned to them. It also serves to blunt your attentiveness to real evil. Do you think it's a mistake that President Obama truly believes the "strongest rebuttal" to ISIS was the Paris Climate Change Conference?

Obama's biggest problem is that he can no longer differentiate real evil (ISIS) from his scripted evil (Climate change opponents). It's clear during his time in office that he's lost the cognitive ability to determine true enemies from political opposites and now views the latter as the former. In case you're wondering, this is not a good thing.

One of the reasons this is such an insidious problem is because it's almost impossible to eliminate. Many people have zero self-awareness, so some of the biggest labelers of false-evil would read this and sagely nod in agreement. "You're right!" they'd say, "Those folks on the other side are demonizing me for no reason!" Then they'll go on their way merrily secure in the thought that they, and those who think like them, are superior in every way.

To end I'm going to provide you with a short example that has the benefit of being absolutely true.

I am, as you probably know, a Michigan fan.  No, I did not go to the school (I attended University of Houston-Downtown, which is about the most looked-down upon school in Texas) but I grew up a fan and (as is the case with the 49ers) I never left them behind. Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr and you get the picture.

Probably because I wasn't smart/wealthy/organized coming out of high school to attend Michigan I root for the sports teams but I never developed a hatred for Ohio State, Michigan State etc.  Sure, they are rivals and I want to beat them but I don't "hate" people who attended those schools. As a matter of fact, I don't hate anyone for choosing to attend a particular college.

My wife, is a fan of Ohio State because she grew up in Ohio, before moving to Texas and attending Sam Houston. Obviously, we have fun with "The Game"  and joke about it but it's really no big deal.

On one trip to Las Vegas we decided to spend a College Football Saturday inside a sport's book. At 8 AM (the games start at 9AM in Vegas) we started walking over, me in a Michigan t-shirt and my wife in her Ohio State t-shirt.  As we approached Mandalay Bay we passed a guy in a Michigan State t-shirt.  As he walked by both my wife and I said "good morning".  He paused, looked at the two of us and said without a hint of humor:

"I hate both of you"

Then he walked on and we never saw him again.


That's a sad way to live life.  Try and do better than both Michigan State Guy, the Bros on Bro radio and Hyper-Partisans.  Your life will be better for it.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Unless you love one another, you can't lower a flag to half-mast.

These are the kinds of things that become stories on slow news days:

Mayor Turner makes 'rookie mistake' on flag lowering. Gabrielle Banks, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

One day before his inauguration ceremony, Mayor Sylvester Turner took what may have been his first executive action. El Franco Lee, a pillar of the region's political elite, died suddenly Sunday, and Turner ordered the flags lowered in honor of the veteran Harris County commissioner.

A fitting idea, thought Ed Emmett, the county judge who would follow suit a day later. But Turner had committed a rookie error in Emmett's view: A local official can't lower flags without permission from the proper authorities.

A little further down in the story, newly appointed Turner spokesperson, and former Parker flack, Janice Evans provided the news that our former Mayor flouted the law constantly:

Turner's spokeswoman Janice Evans, who also worked for Turner's predecessor, said former Mayor Annise Parker had lowered the flag for fallen police officers and firefighters without seeking anyone else's permission - with the understanding that she had the authority to regulate the flag honors at city buildings.

Of course, Ms. Parker was never one for following the law (or writing good laws) when it didn't suit her priorities so maybe we shouldn't be surprised?

For progressives however, this is a tailor-made opportunity to ramp up their 'local control' resumes on an issue that doesn't really involve much risk. This is perfect wrapped-in-the-flag campaign material for a group that, quite honestly, has been lacking it of late.

OF COURSE the Mayor should have the ability to order folks to lower flags to half staff in the City when they decide. What's the point of being elected Mayor if you can't?

Think about it, if you can't order people to mourn, then how in the hell are you going to have any success telling them how to drive? Or where to live? Or what to eat? Flag position is a gatekeeper drug to all of these powers and the Democrats in Houston should petition their elected counterparts in Austin to change this law that places too much power in the hands of the Governor.

This then is the first real test of Turner's mettle, and true first measurement of his influence in Austin. If you can't win on the Mom and Apple pie issue of flag decorum, then what in the world can you win on Mr. Mayor? After all this sir, do you have no sense of protocol?


Either all of that, or it's just Thursday.

I'm pushing for the latter.

 

Presumptuous Blogging: Things you Should Read (01/06/2016)

Up the New Year.......



Bill White caused this mess by kicking the can down the road during his Mayoral tenure. Now, politics being what it is, he's coming back to save the day with unsolicited advice. Thanks William.

Apparently, the worst thing in the world is: Regular citizens deciding they should involve themselves in politics. Far better to leave it to the professionals I'm guessing.

Houston: You're all Islamaphobes.

No, really, you ARE!  REPENT!

Oh, nevermind. - Funny that the Council on American Islamic Relations hasn't commented publically about the accused arsonist being one of their own.

The picture of Cruz the opportunist is starting to come into focus. - That's probably not a great look for him going forward.

If Rubio is no longer conservative (and a RINO) then I'm no longer conservative (and a RINO) and so, probably, are you.

In the on-going battle between the Federal Government and the States (travel edition) - It's always the citizens that lose out. Not usually.  Always.

Suddenly love has conditions.-  Who you choose to marry, and spend your life with, now has political strings attached according to those who worry about such things.

Charles C.W. Cooke's required reading on the 2nd Amendment - Everyone should read this. It should be required reading in High School civics class.

2015: The year of foolishness.

Houston invents the "arrow" of affluence - Which sounds like a bad 70's era weapon that Wonder Woman would use.  But the "Two Houstons" meme from Turner has taken full root within the editorial offices of the Chronicle. That much is obvious.

Amazon is using better technology to deliver things to you faster. Naturally, the government fears this.  Until, that is, former fiscal conservatives figure out a way to have Amazon pay for it.

A grand celebration for all of Houston!! Bring out the finest wine and cheeses for all the land!

The REAL anger about Uber surge pricing is that.... There are a ton of people, many with college degrees, who don't have a basic understanding of supply and demand. For the most part we call them Democratic voters. (Or Feeling the Bern)

I believe that this idea will be widely accepted. - Ask anyone.

At it's heart, Gray Matters is really just a forum. - Primarily for middle-aged progressives to vent their spleens. It's also Houston's "Best Blog" which is depressing.

Andy Taylor gets his Chron Treatment. - Oh NO!!! He's political! And not in the touchy-feely, do-what-the-mayor-wants Feldman type of way. Which is his true unforgivable sin.

Little known Cypress dance hall closes. - People who have either never been there or had not been there in years decry Houston's lack of historic preservation in the comments.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

News people love being the news. - The myth of dedicated employee doing whatever they can to keep their bylines out there.  So touching, such hooey.

RIP El Franco Lee.

Now the trough-feeders are going to kill you all over again. - It's sad that the thing people are worried about most is the $3.9MM that can be doled out to either the party, charity or other campaigns. Were I the treasurer I'd give the lot to charity and tell the other trough feeders to go screw.

The battle over Daily Fantasy Sports is coming to Texas. And it's pretty clear early that the TLSPM doesn't have much of a clue what it's about.

And finally.....


In case you still think Obama's executive order was about reducing guns.  Even supporters admit that it likely won't.  What the order is about is moving toward criminalizing gun ownership.  And power. It's always about power.  The government under Obama views itself as the hammer of justice. This makes all of the citizens, even the ones who support him, nails to be hit repeatedly.

The New (Revised) Houston Political Dictionary (Version 4.1.208) [Part Five]

I.

I: Lisa Falkenberg's absolute favorite word of all the words. Used more often in her writing than "the".

IAH: Officially, Houston Intercontinental Airport. In reality: A key cog in Houston's business community whose primary purpose has been obscured by City Hall in an attempt to promote New Urbanism.

Idea: Actually, there are none of these anymore dreamt up by the ruling class. In fact, most ideas come from the private sector are then recycled and pushed back out to the citizens as tax incentives.

Identification: A plastic card signifying that the State 1. believes you are who you claim to be and 2. that you have paid them enough money for them to issue verification of that fact. 

Identification (Gender): The only proper answer to the survey question is Sex: "Occasionally"

Identification (Race): Another box on a survey whose sole purpose is to convince a bureaucrat that racial quotas have been fulfilled without them actually having to do any verification of the fact.

Idiocy: See common sense.

Illness: Usually cured by rest. Often a problem that the ruling class believes can be eliminated with a costly government solution.

Imagination: Outlawed, except in cases of extreme budgetary difficulty.

Imagine: Something the unproductive class likes to do very much. Better than working.

Inbred: An insult typically leveled at one's political opposites to show the backward thinking surrounding their political beliefs. Taken in historical context this makes little sense.

Income: The primary purpose of the State is to extract as much of this from the citizenry as possible without damaging the incumbency.

Incumbency: God of the ruling class. Worship of other deities is strictly forbidden.

Inequality: A method for preserving incumbency by convincing the have-nots that it is not the ruling class whose shoddy governance has led to their state but the rich who have rigged a game that is not being actively played.

Inmates: A political tool to be used only around election season when suddenly the ruling class tries to convince the citizens that how they are treated is a reflection of modern society because of a quote made by a Russian author whose works few have actually ever read.

International Trade: A bogeyman pulled out of the closet, dusted off and given a shave by populist politicians when they believe that the citizens are not buying their stump speeches and need to be presented with new villains in order to scare them into voting for the correct candidate.

Internet: Once held up as a sign of inequality that needed to be addressed which has now morphed into a political afterthought due, primarily, to the realization that food deserts are fuzzier concepts that have more opportunities for cronyism in the fix.

Irradiated: We don't like to think of our food as being doused with radiation, despite the fact that this practice has been proven to prevent food borne illness and a host of other maladies. Instead we prefer to put America's food safety program in the hands of minimum-wage workers and then become very irritated when they fail.

Irritated: Mayor Parker's perpetual emotional state when the peons dared disagree with her.


J.

Jade Helm: A political Rorschach Test for idiocy.

Jalapeño: The triumph of marketing over taste.  We all know that Serrano peppers taste much better.

January: The first month in the calendar year which, for some reason makes us think that the actions of the past will not repeat themselves in the future. 

Jewelry: Adornments primarily designed to distract from the fact that one's plastic surgery did not go entirely as planned.

Journalism: The Dodo Bird of professional skills.

Journalist: 1. Former professional name for news reporter. 2. Current term used to describe Internet content engineers whose grades weren't good enough to procure employment elsewhere.

Judgment: In a court of law, judgment is the key factor that keeps the legal machine churning. In polite society we use it to reinforce our own sense of superiority over our fellow citizens.

Jury: 12 people to dumb to find a bias in the case allowing them to avoid serving on one who could potentially then be asked to pass judgment on complex financial matters.

Just Cause: An pronoun that always proceeds the forced takings of income from the citizenry.

Tales of a Sub-Par Media Outlet: Live! Nude! Girls!

I didn't click through the slide show that accompanied this headline:

But I'm going to assume that There is no nudity on display

Secondarily, there's the Twitter beat.

I imagine it must be quite the disappointment to go to Journalism school, graduate with visions of Woodard and Bernstein dancing in your head, and then find out that your job is to scour Twitter for what is really just a take off on Mean Tweets because some dunce of an editor thought that is what journalism should be in the 21st century.


One final thought: For a publication that editorializes strongly against the objectification of women, they sure do run a ton of slide-shows that......objectify women.


Do as I say, not as I do one guesses.


UPDATE: Look! It's Rousey!!

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: How to raise taxes of those you love.

Houston now has a new Mayor, Sylvester Turner, a man whose already demonstrating a penchant for selfies and long-winded speeches.

Turner calls for shared sacrifice in battling city's woes. Mike Morris, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

"I ask everyone to be prepared to sacrifice for the greater good of the city," he said. "All of us need to come to the table prepared to give to make sure that this city is on a course of financial stability. You just can't be territorial, you just can't say, 'This is mine, don't touch me.' "

Roughly translated this means: "I'm going to move to raise the hell out of taxes preferably for those who don't support me and whose vote I'm not counting on for re-election but for those I am as well."

Of course, tax increases of this type always have collateral damage among supporters so you throw in some clap-trap about shared sacrifice and other nonsense. By "shared sacrifice" he doesn't mean the elected officials and their staffs, or any of the higher ranking officers in City Government. Those are going to be viewed as critical to getting Houston out of this mess. The sharing in the shared sacrifice is going to come from home-owners, apartment renters and businesses within the city limits of Houston.  As I see it Turner is only going to have one option to raise revenues, he's going to have to push to remove the voter-imposed, pillow-soft, revenue cap at the first possible opportunity.

Oh sure, there will be small, ancillary cuts around the edges of the city budget in the short-term. Services will be pared back, budgets slightly restricted etc. These are the types of things that must happen since there is a wait, until 2017, mandated in Texas law about cities and charter amendments. But all of this is just going to be a diversionary tactic in a two-year PR program against the cap.

After sequestration, at the Federal level, we got a preview of what Turner is going to do here. When Obama made the cuts to the federal government he made them in ways that caused the public the most pain, and which were calculated to provide the appearance of pain, all while ensuring the important business of donor service was kept intact. So National Parks and monuments were shuttered, constituent services took a beating. Anything and everything to shift the burden of sequestration away from the government and on to the private sector.

Expect a repeat of this in Houston. I'm sure that the library system will be the first to feel an impact. This is a rather benign cut that gives the media a case of the vapors and results in many angry community groups. Eventually, when the weather improves, Houston can find additional savings by not mowing medians or public areas, resulting in blight and "potential dangers" to youths. A good thing to do would be to shut-down after school programs, that would generate some outrage.

The point is that, whatever the City cuts back on, cuts will be done with the idea that the voting public should suffer the brunt of the burden. Also, despite the fact that public safety expenditures are exempted from the cap, an increase in the size of the police force is going to be tied to the caps removal. The argument will be that, because the cap limits full funding of other areas, monies for police expenditures cannot be fully realized. Expect the municipal unions to fall behind this proposal 100% as they understand that they are TheMachine that is getting fed.

The real trick, for Turner, is going to be his ability to sell these tax increases to his, predominantly poor, voting base. For that, he's going to have to make the pain of the cutbacks be disproportionately felt in the areas where they live. Call it tough love.

That kind of tough love that usually works and that's something  that shouldn't be overlooked. At this point I'd say Turner has a better than average chance of convincing enough low-information voters in Houston that the removal of the cap is mandatory to their happiness that we'll see the measure pass by a narrow margin. He's going to have to work to do it, but he'll have the full apparatus of City Government at his disposal to do so.

At this point I'd recommend holding on for dear life. 2016 could be a year of turbulent skies.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Turner's First Order of Business

The party (which seems odd until you realize what it means being Mayor) was Sunday and the advice on how to spend everyone's tax money came that same day. For the first few days Sylvester Turner's tenure as Mayor is going to be back-slapping and taking a victory lap.

And that's fine. Selfies for everyone. When you try for over 20 years to get elected to a position, and finally get there, some self-congratulations (and some reminders by your friends that you now have the power to make them (very) rich) are in order. As are the reminders from supporters (who think they alone got you there) that they have priorities that you had better address post-haste.

This is politics, and it would be the same regardless of whether or not Sylvester Turner won.

They all overlook what will be the first order of business for Mayor Turner however: Tamping down out-of-control expectations.

Expectations that this political wunderkind is going to step into the office and amaze us with both his political skill, and oratory brilliance, are unfounded. What Turner's going to need to do is assure Houstonians that it's going to be OK because, and we seem to have forgotten this, the budget has a gaping hole in it that's getting bigger.

Turner is going to have to remind everyone of that, and he's going to have to do so without stepping on Annise Parker's toes.

And this is before he even gets his aides to work on actually crafting the budget itself.  That is work to be done by the little people, the nuts and bolts work. Turner's true challenge is going to be to assure everyone that the gravy-train of City Hall is going to keep doling out favors despite there being no money to do so. He's going to have to instruct his staff to find ways to support his patronage. Sylvester Turner got elected promising the poor and those who feel disenfranchised that he would fix "two Houstons". He realized all of the time however that the key to retaining power was ensuring the continued well-being of the only one that matters to the ruling class: The one with money. The one that expects to be repaid for it's support with interest.

Turner's supporters will first have to be assured that The Houston Way still works despite the current financial picture. After all, that's why TheMachine worked to get him elected.

The second order of business will be to review the budget that his staffers came up with. How he responds to that will be critical when bumped up against the realities of task number one.

For all that Turner promised on the campaign trail his most difficult job as Mayor will be delivering on what has always been implied.

Until then, selfies and glad-handing, smiles and baubles.  Bread and circuses.





Of note: Charles Blain of Empower Texas has penned a good summary of issues Turner will likely look to address during his first term.