Houston is quickly becoming one of the most diverse and progressive cities in America.  Located in Harris County, Houston doesn’t have the odor of bigotry that permeates rural Texas.

At least I thought so.

The current District Attorney in Harris County is a woman named Devon Anderson, who got herself headlines by jailing a mentally ill rape victim for 27 days to force her to testify.  Seriously, she called it “a mistake by our office” even the second time it happened.  By the way, the first victim was assaulted by another inmate while in the jail.

And she loses so much evidence that I’m convinced she lost a bar of soap in a wash cloth.

Needless to say, polls show her opponent is leading by 7 points. Her name is Kim Ogg and I wrote about her in OutSmart Magazine this month.   She’s leading because she’s an excellent candidate.

This morning, a desperate and hateful Devon Anderson went on an internet podcast and said:

“When they get a liberal, pro-choice, Lesbian District Attorney I wonder how many cases they’ll have problems with with her.” -Devon Anderson, Harris County District Attorney.

If you want to listen to the whole podcast, here ya go.

My first thought:  Kim Ogg is a lesbian?  Good God, somebody better tell her girlfriend of 30 years, Olivia, and their son!

Second thought:  Yes, she is a lesbian, the same way Devon Anderson is a blonde.

Go give Kim Ogg some love:  right here.

Okay, okay, I’m a little upset this morning.  It seems that east Texas congressslug Brian Babbin went on the electric radio to announce that Donald Trump is right – Hillary Clinton is indeed a nasty woman.

But, he explains, he only says that because he is, as he describes himself, “genteel Southerner.”

Who the holy crap uses language like that any more?  Hell, even Alan Colmes made him look like a prissy little woman-hater.

Now, why am I mad at my beloved Texas Democrats?  Because, dammit, there is no Democrat running against this guy.  If he had a Democratic opponent, I could point you there to give him a few dollars or do some phone calling for him.  No, we have ceded that seat.

That crapola has to stop.  Texas Democrats will not be taken seriously as long as we keep hiding under the table whimpering.  Get out from under that table and tell this hateful old man to shuddup.   This summer I am headed out to east Texas to find someone to run against him because I take this nasty woman crap very seriously.  Anybody want to join me?

Thanks to everybody and their Aunt Thelma for the heads up.

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Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press

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The debates are over. The closing arguments for the 2016 general election campaign have begun. Barring a Hillary melt-down, she will be the President-elect of the United States in less than three weeks and does anyone think she’s capable of melting down within sight of the finish line? Trump’s capitulation notwithstanding, the world will wake up on November 9 heaving a collective sigh of relief. Will he concede? Probably in some mealy-mush-mouthed form that leaves just enough of an out for him and his bundists to reinterpret it for years to come, but that won’t matter.

So, WILL 2016 be a Hillary blowout?

The answer increasingly looks like “Hell, Yes!” Let’s revisit the things that had to have happened

[In 2012] Obama carried 51.1% of the popular vote; that victory was largely based on carrying the following demographics: Women 55-44; AfAm 93-6; Asian 73-26; Hispanic 71-27; LGBT 76-22. Do you see Hillary’s numbers going up or down in these growing constituencies against Trump? Then consider these opportunities for growth against Obama’s performance in 2012: He lost married women 53-46; he lost independents 50-45; he lost college graduates 51-47. Do you see Trump improving or worsening on Romney’s numbers in these areas?

Hillary HAS improved in all of these areas, BIGLY, and she now leads by among Men, and among the Non-college-educated. Full stop.

What else needed to happen? Here we listed what could comprise the Perfect Storm:

• “Let Trump be Trump”- Check!
• “Perception: The media “horserace” narrative must be overcome” – Check!
• “Depressed GOP turnout – especially among women, who will be subjected to months of Trump’s misogyny…Strong Dem turnout and some crossover GOP votes – especially among women and minorities.” – remains to be seen but looking like Check!
• “Vice Presidential nominees” – no effect.
• “Election strategy – Trump is the king of earned media and very little else…Hillary should be able to out-organize him everywhere.” – Check!
• “Will: CHALLENGE EVERYWHERE.” Half a Check – getting there

That last point bears examination. Hillary has foreclosed on the typical swing states and is moving into new areas. Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana are not coming along as well as we’d hoped, and South Carolina is surprisingly close, but the Clinton campaign resisted branching out into new territory until they felt they had the old territory completely wrapped up. It was this cautious (but, importantly, winning!) strategy that has narrowed the map to the point where 500+ EV seem all but out of reach, but 400 is eminently do-able.

So where does that put us? Here is where I see the map as of today:

Toldja so!

I have a lot more in the blue column than most pundits are comfortable with right now because I am predicting that Hillary’s momentum will continue, and that GOP turn-out will be depressed. In addition, all other things being equal, a strong ground-game will net you 1-3 percentage points above predicted polls. With zero Trump ground game, and what exists of the GOP ground game torn between their local heroes and the toxic top of the ticket, the situation is dire for Republican turnout. For that reason, states that currently show mid-single-digit leads for Trump could actually end up being blue, and thus are now toss-ups.

What this map gives you is 375 Electoral Votes for Hillary, versus 86 for Trump, with 77 toss-ups. It is possible that Trump wins those 77, although I give Hillary and Evan McMullin a better chance to win Utah than Trump. But it would be strange if somehow the Trump campaign stumbled onto the formula for holding Florida or Ohio. If he wins those, it will be on the coat tails of the down-ballot races.

Rather than making it a closer race, I believe it is more possible that the entire scampaign will collapse under the featherweight at the top and a 10- to 14-point landslide could put us more in Perfect Storm range. At the very least, such a victory would flip both houses of Congress and provide a mandate for governance that would last a year. It’s more likely, however, that voter ennui and inertia will result in a solid victory for Hillary, a close but Blue Senate, and a close but Red House.

The takeaway: 270 is still a lock – always has been – but turnout and vote-splitting for a Party in such disarray as the GOP is entirely unpredictable even at this late stage. It could be a lonely landslide, or it could be a Big Blue Tsunami!

I’m voting – for the latter.

Trumplethinskin sent out a fundraising letter this morning.  Get a load of this crapola.

Trump called Hillary puppet last night?  Was I confused about who was talking?

I thought it was the other way around and so did CNN.

Either he’s delusional or he thinks his supporters are.  Probably both.  Bigly.

Okay, sick of Donald Trump’s crazy 3:00 am tweets?

Hillary’s guys have set up a program where you can donate to Hillary every time Donald Trump tweets.  You can sign up for as little as 25 cents a tweet and put a daily limit on it to as little as $1.00

I take some delight in knowing that every time that jerk tweets, Hillary benefits.

Have some fun.

Thanks to Bryan for the heads up.