If you joined in The Race Across Texas, your first question should have arrived this morning.  I got mine at 7:30.  If you didn’t, check your spam box.  It’s coming from “Brian Bollinger, Texas State Historical Association.”

It’s an open book test and they tell you where to find the answer.  So winning boils down to who has the most people on their team and how many on that team take the time to look up the answers.  (It will not kill you to look up the answers and you’re able to learn something.)

It’s not too late to join our team and help get ballots by mail to Texas voters over the age of 65.

Thank you to those who did join!

The Twitter Machine catches this one from Newt Gingrich.

I swear to all that is sparkling, Newt Gingrich is bean dip dumb.

Look, it ain’t brain surgery or even Vatican Ambassadorship smart. Trump is not accused of committing any crimes in West Virginia. If he ever is, there will be a grand jury there.

I got a speeding ticket in Bastrop once and that’s where it went to trial, even though I have far more friends in Del Rio.  Whine, whine, whine.

Soon enough, a grand jury may be empaneled in New York for Trump’s financial crimes, where Trump only got 36% of the vote.  I’m sure Newt will whine that it should be empaneled in Alabama where Trump got 63% of the vote, except that they couldn’t find 12 people in Alabama who know how a checking account works.

West Virginia?  Hell, let’s just move it to Mar-a-Loco so Newt will think it’s fair.

Does this remind you of anyone we both know?

Once the transcripts of the phone conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto were leaked, things got really weird.

The transcript shows that Trump admitted he knew damn well that Mexico was not going to pay for the wall and that he couldn’t make them.  So he whined to Peña Nieto.

Trump pleaded with Peña Nieto to not say publicly that Mexico wouldn’t pay.

“Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about,” Trump said, “but politically this might be the most important talk about.”

Peña Nieto insists he will continue to firmly say Mexico will not pay for the wall: “But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.”

Trump responds: “But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that.”

“He’s the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt,” that official quipped to Guajardo about Trump. “He speaks loudly and carries a small stick.”

By now, we’re all familiar with the tumult that is now Trump Washington.  The idiotic tweets, nasty insults, petty feuds, and the lies, lies, lies are now fundamental to our daily diet of TrumpWorld’s pollution of the news 24/7. Trump has brought his genetically encoded slum-lord personality to the White House, running the government like he ran his business and television shows.  In a word, he’s simply an asshole who couldn’t care less about anything except is own comfort, status, supremacy, and dominance.  He’s not governing the US; he’s infesting it as a gigantic parasite sucking the very life out of our society.  And his party is following along as lemmings; right before our eyes, we’re seeing politicians supporting policies that are even worse than they endorsed before he burst onto the scene.  They celebrate racial and religious discrimination; they endorse disenfranchising millions of voters, taking healthcare away from millions of Americans, and pumping millions of dollars into Trump’s personal empire.  Simultaneously, they are looking the other way while Trump accepts graft from foreign governments and demands absolute loyalty from our highest law enforcement officers.

The hardest feature to accept, though?  The mindless cruelty.  Banning entire populations from the US; slashing programs that only help the poor; insulting everyone who’s not rich, while simultaneously stoking the fires of hatred, racism, and grievance to prop up the base.  The latest injustice came to light this week.  Eight German exchange students, arriving in Denver for a 4 week English language program in Colorado, were deported  on the same day. The program they were to participate in, Rocky Mountain Language Adventure,  was designed to improve their English speaking skills by staying with local families in Salida, Colorado while volunteering in local businesses so they could use the language.  Up until this week, the program has been bringing in exchange students for 5 years.  Why were they deported?  Some genius at Customs and Border Enforcement at Denver International Airport decided that, since they were volunteering at local businesses, they were taking jobs away from Americans and should have work visas; their visitor visas weren’t good enough.  After making this decision, this idiot orders the students deported back to Germany immediately.  Efforts by the governor’s office, Congressmen, and Senator Michael Bennet could not delay or stop the deportations.  They’re back in Germany, and will likely never come back.

One would like to believe that this case is just some moron at CBP being over-zealous.  But it’s not…this is our new reality under Trump where intolerance creates an environment where arbitrary, unjust, and illogical decisions that impact thousands of lives just happen.  Agents of the US government now feel empowered to deny entry to anyone without regard to the impact to people’s lives or even our own reputation as a society.  This decision was especially egregious simply because of its cruelty.

The Texas State Historical Association is sponsoring a virtual Race Across Texas.  It’s an online contest on Texas trivia.  There are weekly prizes.

Couple this with Glen Maxey and I raising money for the ballot by mail application program for Texas Democrats that you, yes you!, help get done every election year with your generous donations.

Glen wants to win this contest real bad because he fancies himself some kind of expert on Texas Trivia and would like a title to prove it.  The better part of Glen’s ego-quest is that we will auction-off every prize he wins and put that money directly into the ballot by mail program.

Here’s how you can help.  Glen gets 25 points for every person he can get to join the contest.  It’s free and you can unsubscribe after the contest is over.  You do NOT have to join the Texas State Historical Association for Glen to get the points, you only have to sign-up for the contest.

Plus, then Glen gets extra points every time you answer one of the trivia questions correctly.  (I’ll help with hints if you need them.)

Through Facebook, he’s already gotten 85 people to sign up.  I promised him at least 15 more.  Don’t make me go stand under a street light in a floozy dress to get more people to join.

Just click right here.

Be sure to click the small box beside the “Send These Credentials Via Email” before you click the big green START THE RACE bar.

Click Start the Race to get your email.

It’s a good way to RESIST without having to get out of your pajamas.

Thank you, guys.