The 10th Justice

This morning, for the first time in a long time, I began to feel optimistic about the upcoming election. In Lawrence Wright's book God Save Texas he says that according to the polling Texas is a blue state where folks don't vote. He means that the Republicans, partly because of greater turn out at the polls and some gerrymandering, elect more candidates than Democrats. If everyone in Texas voted the Democrats would win. Maybe in this upcoming election that will happen. I feel optimistic partly because I watched Beto O'Rourke on Stephen Colbert. He is running for the senate in Texas against Ted Cruz. O'Rourke, in case you haven't kept up with Texas politics, is a congressman from El Paso and an ex-punk rocker. He has visited every one of Texas' 254 countries in his campaign. His feeling about the people of Texas echos the feelings of Lawrence Wright, also a native Texan. Texas is the most diverse state in the country, led by Houston the most diverse city. The ...

In an interview yesterday on Fox News, our president said the following about Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General of the United States, “And by the way, he was on the campaign,” Trump said on Fox. "You know, the only reason I gave him the job is because I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter.”  In the same interview Trump also said, “Jeff Sessions recused himself, which he shouldn’t have done, or he should have told me,” Trump said. “He took my job, and then he said, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.’ I said, ‘What kind of man is this?’ ” For these two statements alone Donald Trump should be kicked out of office. In the first statement Trump admitted that he had not appointed Sessions because he thought he was the best candidate for the job of attorney general but because he was loyal. The appointment of Sessions was a payback for support during the campaign. I know that all politicians appoint like-thinking persons to positions of power. However, the fir...