On Sunday morning, in yet another example of the current trend of politicians exerting outsized influence, the 29-year-old CEO of Harris County, Texas, County Judge Lina Hidalgo, told people in her constituency to inform on businesses that were open or restaurants at full capacity and report them to the state.
Hidalgo tweeted, “See a restaurant at full capacity? Businesses open that shouldn’t be? Help us save lives. If you see violations of Governor Abbott’s order, please report them at bit.ly/Covidform1.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
See a restaurant at full capacity? Businesses open that shouldn’t be? Help us save lives. If you see violations of Governor Abbott’s order, please report them at: ➡️<a href="https://t.co/mOaXNNI1by">https://t.co/mOaXNNI1by</a>⬅️
&mdash; Harris County Judge (@HarrisCoJudge) <a href="https://twitter.com/HarrisCoJudge/status/1256955387066101760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
By Sunday night, that web address triggered a message stating, “This form is currently unavailable!”
On Saturday, Hidalgo <a href="https://abc13.com/club-onyx-new-stay-at-home-order-lina-hidalgo-coronavirus/6145227/">announced</a> a new stay-at-home order in Harris County to extend through May 20. She tweeted, “I&#8217;ve signed a NEW stay-home work-safe order. Non-essential Harris County businesses and others that were not &#8216;reopened&#8217; by the Governor&#8217;s order need to stay closed through May 20th. We need to remain vigilant for a phased reopening to work.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;ve signed a NEW stay-home work-safe order. Non-essential Harris County businesses and others that were not &quot;reopened&quot; by the Governor&#39;s order need to stay closed through May 20th. We need to remain vigilant for a phased reopening to work. <a href="https://t.co/ppykvLeLkj">pic.twitter.com/ppykvLeLkj</a>
&mdash; Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/LinaHidalgoTX/status/1256609772763258882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/karen-townsend/2020/05/03/county-ceo-turn-friends-neighbors-okay-save-lives/">HotAir</a> noted, “In March, Hidalgo issued a countywide <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/karen-townsend/2020/03/24/update-americas-fourth-largest-city-goes-stay-home-mode/">stay at home order</a>. Harris County is the nation’s third-largest county so that was no small order. Houston is the largest city in Texas. Overnight the economy screeched to a halt, the same as experienced in other places around the United States. By April 22 she issued <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/karen-townsend/2020/04/24/mask-mandate-harris-county-isnt-off-great-start/">an order</a> mandating the wearing of masks.”
Hidalgo may have infuriated the local citizens with her actions but former Congressman Beto O’Rourke was <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/With-Hidalgo-running-Harris-County-a-pandemic-15241315.php">delighted with her</a>, ejaculating, “To have Judge Hidalgo take strong, decisive action in the face of this pandemic; some people are going to be upset. But for the vast majority of us — I’m not talking as a Democrat, but as a Texan — it’s really exciting to see that kind of leadership.”
After Texas Governor Greg Abbot announced his plan to reopen the state, Hidalgo stated, “We can’t ignore what is right around the corner. Some see today as a day of celebration…my message to them is not so fast. Reopening doesn’t mean mission accomplished, it doesn’t mean the virus goes away.”
The <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Hidalgo-announces-fourth-approach-to-mitigation-15240228.php">Houston Chronicle</a> reported last Friday that Hidalgo announced the last step in her four-step plan to restart Houston’s economy; The Chronicle added, “Hidalgo said in a previous press conference that despite her desire to reopen the economy, Abbott&#8217;s unexpected timeline was much sooner than she had originally planned for Harris County&#8217;s roughly 5 million residents.”
The <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/23/harris-county-face-mask-lina-hidalgo/">Texas Tribune</a> reported on April 23 that a Houston-area doctor was suing to block  Hidalgo’s order requiring residents over 10 years old to wear face masks places for 30 days when they appeared in public.
Dr. Steven Hotze stated in his petition to the Harris County District Court, &#8220;The rights we enjoy under the Texas Constitution are being trampled on by Judge Hidalgo, while millions of individuals have lost their jobs and thousands of businesses are on the brink of bankruptcy. If Judge Hidalgo&#8217;s Order is not declared unconstitutional and void, once this virus passes, the rights we are afforded under the Texas Constitution will forever be damaged.&#8221;
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

FC Bayern Muenchen Audi Summer Tour 2019 &#8211; Day 6

Houston-Area Judge Urges Citizens To Inform On Businesses Open ‘That Shouldn’t Be’

Coronavirus

Houston

Not every story in the COVID-19 pandemic features Americans mobbing each other at Costco for the last roll of toilet. Some stories, such as one out of Houston, Texas, show us that Americans are using this crisis as an opportunity to come together as good neighbors.
According to <a href="https://www.cbs17.com/news/check-this-out/coronavirus-couple-leaves-9400-tip-at-restaurant-to-help-staff-during-closure/?fbclid=IwAR0-55Dc_Wz8YVJvLHDMol8az-LKpJn6cIk-otqRADWeSU1iDq9zN4uB1kg">CBS17</a>, a couple left employees a $9400 tip at a restaurant after hearing news of the coming shutdown during the pandemic.
&#8220;Irma’s southwest restaurant in Houston, Texas, says a person came in on Monday after Harris county announced a mandatory shutdown of bars and nightclubs,&#8221; reports the outlet. &#8220;That’s when, restaurant employees say, a customer left them a $9400 tip.&#8221;
The couple left a note on the receipt that read, &#8220;Hold tip to pay you guys over the next few weeks.”
The tip will be distributed evenly among employees, who will be taking home about $300 a piece, which should be enough for groceries. The kind show of compassion came from two regular customers whom employees described as &#8220;generous people.&#8221;
“This is beyond. I mean, I don’t even have words for it,” Janet Montez, the restaurant&#8217;s assistant general manager. “It doesn’t surprise me because they’re so kind. Generous people. Always have been.”
“We have to let our staff know that we may be off of work for 15 to 30 days,” said restaurant owner Louis Galvan. “But the gift we got today should help soften the blow.”
As noted by The Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, people should use this opportunity to purchase gift cards at local establishments to be used at a later date.
&#8220;Small businesses are getting crushed right now,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/five-things-you-can-do-today-to-make-life-better-during-coronavirus-crisis">Shapiro wrote</a>. &#8220;Many have been shut by local governments, and even the ones that haven’t are being destroyed by Americans following protocol and staying away from crowds. This means that if you have disposable income, you should seriously consider buying a gift card from a local business and using it later – or shopping online from them. It’s essentially an advance for businesses that could certainly use the hand right now.&#8221;
Earlier this week, the food publication <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/17/21182293/coronavirus-relief-funds-restaurants-food-service-workers">Eater</a> listed several organizations that people can donate to keep restaurants and their employees afloat during this time.
&#8220;Restaurants across the country have been <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/15/21180761/coronavirus-restaurants-bars-closed-new-york-la-chicago">forced to close their doors</a> in order to slow the spread of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/31/21113178/what-is-coronavirus-symptoms-travel-china-map">the novel coronavirus</a>, either by choice or as a result of state or municipal orders to enforce social distancing,&#8221; reported Eater. &#8220;So now, <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/16/21182291/restaurants-wont-survive-coronavirus-pandemic-without-bail-out">many are in trouble</a>. Diners can help in a number of ways — by <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/16/21182509/is-it-safe-to-order-delivery-takeout-during-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19">ordering delivery or buying gift cards</a>, for example. But some companies, nonprofits, and grassroots initiatives are allowing individuals to make a direct financial contribution to the restaurants and bars that make their cities a better place to live — as well as the workers behind those establishments — during this difficult time.&#8221;
<ul>
<li><a href="https://supportrestaurants.org/">Dining Bond Initiative</a></li>
<li><a href="https://southernsmoke.org/support/">Southern Smoke Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://givelocal.co/">Give Local</a> and <a href="https://www.localforlater.com/">Local for Later</a></li>
<li><a href="https://donate.wck.org/give/236738/#!/donation/checkout">World Central Kitchen</a></li>
<li><a href="https://secure.restaurantworkerscf.org/np/clients/restaurantworkerscf/donation.jsp?forwardedFromSecureDomain=1&amp;campaign=2&amp;&amp;test=true">Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mightycause.com/story/Ofw">One Fair Wage</a></li>
<li><a href="https://app.moonclerk.com/pay/2tj1vmqdq437">Unite Here Education and Support Fund</a></li>
<li><a href="https://rocunited.org/relief/">ROC Disaster Relief Fund</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.spillthedish.com/covid_search.php">Spill The Dish</a></li>
<li><a href="https://usbgfoundation.networkforgood.com/">USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program</a></li>
</ul>

Comical Tip Jar

Couple Leaves $9400 Tip At Restaurant To Help Employees During Shutdown

On Monday night, Popeyes employees in the Houston area were held at gunpoint for selling out of the famed restaurant chain&#8217;s latest fried chicken sandwich.
&#8220;Group of people with gun rushes door at [Popeyes Chicken] on Scott and Corder. They wanted the chicken sandwich, say employees. Employees were able to lock them out. [Houston Police] responded,&#8221; ABC affiliate reporter Jessica Willey posted to Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Group of people with gun rushes door at <a href="https://twitter.com/PopeyesChicken?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PopeyesChicken</a> on Scott and Corder. They wanted the chicken sandwich, say employees. Employees were able to lock them out. <a href="https://twitter.com/houstonpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@houstonpolice</a> responded. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc13?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc13</a> <a href="https://t.co/6kTYvWRUBI">pic.twitter.com/6kTYvWRUBI</a>
— Jessica Willey (@ImJessicaWilley) <a href="https://twitter.com/ImJessicaWilley/status/1168711293995556864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
About a half-hour after Willey posted her tweet, the Twitter account for the Houston Police confirmed the reporting, writing: &#8220;Southeast officers are at 7100 Scott. Male pulled a gun on employees of restaurant after they ran out of chicken sandwich.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Southeast officers are at 7100 Scott. Male pulled a gun on employees of restaurant after they ran out of chicken sandwich. 202 <a href="https://t.co/xC6jlmwJeD">pic.twitter.com/xC6jlmwJeD</a>
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/houstonpolice/status/1168719163336081408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
According to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-pulls-gun-popeyes-workers-texas-after-restaurant-sells-out-n1049126">NBC News</a>, the incident occurred around 8:45 P.M. local time. One male, accompanied by four others reportedly in their late teens and early 20s, pulled out a gun and threatened workers when he was informed that they had been cleaned out of the desired chicken sandwich, police told the outlet. &#8220;The suspect did not fire the weapon and left before officers arrived. No one was injured, a police spokesperson said,&#8221; the report said.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rolled out its latest chicken sandwich in August; the restaurant has been largely unable to keep up with the high demand, selling out at locations across the country.
The chicken sandwich deficit has sparked some extreme behavior. In a video posted online last month, a man can be seen jumping through a drive-through window and assaulting employees seemingly due to the restaurant&#8217;s having sold out of the chicken.
&#8220;Another Popeyes chicken sandwich fight!!! Bruh they need to ban that sandwich cus it’s like the Purge out here!!&#8221; one man captioned the viral video. &#8220;[Shaking my head]!!&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Another Popeyes chicken sandwich fight!!! Bruh they need to ban that sandwich cus it’s like the Purge out here!! Smh!! <a href="https://t.co/T3DM8vAofu">pic.twitter.com/T3DM8vAofu</a>
— Van (@vanman_1000) <a href="https://twitter.com/vanman_1000/status/1164860485294088193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
As noted by NBC, others have even resorted to legal action for missing out on the advertised sandwich: &#8220;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-sues-popeyes-running-out-chicken-sandwiches-n1048321">A Tennessee man filed a lawsuit against Popeyes</a> last week alleging false advertising and &#8216;deceptive business practices by entity to public&#8217; for selling out of the fried sandwich. Craig Barr is seeking $5,000 in damages, according to the suit. A court date has been set for Oct. 28.&#8221;
Fast-food freak-outs are not exclusive to Popeyes, however. For example, in October 2017, a special sauce from McDonald’s led to rioting.
The Szechuan sauce, which had been temporarily offered at the chain in 1998, was reintroduced after the popular show &#8220;Rick and Morty&#8221; featured the condiment, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/mcdonalds-szechuan-sauce-to-return-after-rick-and-morty-fan-riots.html">CNBC News</a> reported last year. The product was met with &#8220;chaos at stores, as fans <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/mcdonalds-rick-and-morty-szechuan-sauce-stunt-backfires.html">protested over a lack of supply</a>,&#8221; the outlet said.
&#8220;Cops are at Wellington McDonalds where tons of angry people lined up for hrs for Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce only to learn they had none,&#8221; posted Palm Beach Post reporter Lulu Ramadan.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Cops are at Wellington McDonalds where tons of angry people lined up for hrs for Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce only to learn they had none <a href="https://t.co/3T272osid4">pic.twitter.com/3T272osid4</a>
— Lulu Ramadan (@luluramadan) <a href="https://twitter.com/luluramadan/status/916729163305947137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed,&#8221; McDonald’s said in a statement at the time. &#8220;Our super-limited batch, though well-intentioned, clearly wasn’t near enough to meet that demand. We disappointed fans and we are sorry.&#8221;
McDonald&#8217;s brought back the dipping sauce in February 2018.

Chicken dishes

Popeyes Employees Literally Being Held At Gunpoint Over New Fried-Chicken Sandwich

Crime

Texas

One of the largest newspapers in Texas is urging former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) to drop out of the presidential race and try again to attain the U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star state.
“Beto, if you’re listening: Come home,” <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Beto-come-home-Texas-needs-you-Editorial-14294396.php?utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=24082">The Houston Chronicle</a> editorial board wrote on Saturday. “Drop out of the race for president and come back to Texas to run for senator. The chances of you winning the race you’re in now are vanishingly small. And Texas needs you.&#8221;
The editorial revealed that the former congressman’s blunt reaction to reporters in the aftermath of the deadly shooting in El Paso was a turning point in the campaign. At the time, O’Rourke was asked if it was possible for President Donald Trump to do anything “to make this any better.”
“Um, what do you think? You know the sh*t he’s been saying,” O’Rourke aggressively responded. “He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know. Like, members of the press – what the f*ck? It’s these questions that you know the answers to, I mean, connect the dots.”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&#8220;He&#8217;s not tolerating racism, he&#8217;s promoting racism.&#8221;
Democrat Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke lashes out after an emotional day, telling the press to &#8220;connect the dots about what [Trump] has been doing in the country&#8221; after a mass-shooting in his hometown El Paso. <a href="https://t.co/zWI2t47AVY">pic.twitter.com/zWI2t47AVY</a>
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) <a href="https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1158375056126480384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
While the Chronicle acknowledged that the language O’Rourke used is “not normally” considered presidential, the moment was unscripted and revealed his authenticity.
“There are times, it seems, in most presidential campaigns when the facades get stripped away like so many layers of paint,” the editorial board wrote. “What’s left is a human moment, usually fleeting, and not always flattering. But real – and often more telling than a season of advertisements.”
O’Rourke unsuccessfully ran to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2018. Despite continuously trailing Cruz throughout the duration of their campaigns, the race tightened to a margin of single digits in the consistently red state. Speculation of O’Rourke’s entrance into the national political arena heightened after he began to advocate against policies popular in Texas such as gun ownership and border security.
“Frankly, it’s made us wish O’Rourke would shift gears,” the editorial board wrote. “Rather than unpause his presidential campaign, we’d like to see him take a new direction.”
O’Rourke has <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html#polls">consistently been polling</a> below 3% for the Democratic nomination to the presidency. If he opts to launch his own challenge to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), however, he will be joining an already crowded Democratic primary field that is still taking shape.
Christina Tzintzún Ramirez, a Democratic organizer, became the seventh primary contender after she announced her bid for the seat on Monday.
Taking advantage of the groundwork O’Rourke laid during his previous Senate run, Tzintzún Ramirez has already hired key members of the Beto for Texas campaign, including his statewide field director, statewide deputy field director, distributed organizing director, and digital programing firm, reported the <a href="https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/key-activist-running-in-texas-us-senate-race-11732250">Dallas Observer</a>.
Winning Texas’ 38 electoral college votes has long been a pipe dream for Democrats. The part has not won the state in a presidential race since former President Jimmy Carter ran in 1976.
Cornyn’s office did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

Beto O&#8217;Rourke

Texas Newspaper Urges Beto To Drop Out Of The Presidential Race

2020 Election

Beto O'Rourke

The president of the Houston, Texas, police union is decrying &#8220;dirtbags&#8221; seeking to harm members of law enforcement, after four Houston Police Department officers were shot and one police officer injured while executing a warrant Monday night.
Fox News reports that union president Joe Gamaldi had harsh words for the two suspects &#8212; both of whom were killed by police &#8212; who targeted officers as they entered a house suspected of trafficking in black tar heroin.
&#8220;Now I want to speak on behalf of the 5,200 brave men and women who work in the Houston Police Department and the other 800,000 police officers who are working these streets every single day, are putting their lives on the line,&#8221; Gamaldi told reporters at a press conference Monday evening. &#8220;We are sick and tired of having targets on our back. We are sick and tired of having dirtbags trying to take our lives when all we&#8217;re trying to do is protect this community and protect our families. Enough is enough.&#8221;
&#8220;And for the ones who are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, well just know we&#8217;ve all got your number now and we&#8217;re going to be keeping track of all y&#8217;all and we&#8217;re going to be making sure we&#8217;re going to be holding you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers,&#8221; he concluded.
Three of the Houston police officers remain hospitalized, two for gunshot wounds to the face, and one for an injury to his knee which required surgery. A fourth officer was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder but was released Tuesday morning. All four are expected to recover. Houston PD has not released information on the fifth officer, but that officer also suffered a gunshot wound.
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/us/houston-police-officers-shot/index.html">CNN reports</a> that the Houston PD faced a harrowing encounter with two suspected drug dealers when executing their search warrant Monday night. Officers were attacked by a pit bull as soon as they entered a home. The two suspects, both males in their late 50s, initially retreated, but returned with weapons to fire on officers, creating a &#8220;fatal funnel&#8221; for officers trying to break through into the home.
&#8220;Investigators found no heroin on the premises, but they found marijuana and a white powder believed to be cocaine or the powerful prescription painkiller fentanyl,&#8221; a representative for the Houston Police Department told media. &#8220;They also seized three shotguns and two rifles, he said.&#8221;
Gamaldi briefly referenced the several shooting deaths of police officers that have already taken place in 2019 during his speech. At least four officers and two K9s have been killed by gunfire since January 1, and three other officers killed by vehicles while in the line of duty.
More than 88 cops died in the line of duty in 2018, and 47 of those deaths were caused by gunfire, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/officers-killed-line-of-duty-2018">according to a Fox News</a> study of law enforcement deaths and injuries. &#8220;Roughly 135 cops died in 2016, making it the deadliest year for police officers in at least five years, Fox News found. While there were fewer deaths in 2017, the numbers weren&#8217;t much better: a total of 129 officers died with 46 of those caused by gunfire,&#8221; the study added.

President Of Houston Police Union Puts ‘Dirtbags’ On Notice After Five Officers Are Shot

Law Enforcement

Police

Some customers of a bank in Houston got an early Christmas gift on Sunday night: an ATM at a Bank of America dispensed $100 bills instead of $10s, and the word was spread on social media.
<a href="https://abc13.com/finance/customers-who-got-free-money-from-faulty-atm-can-keep-it/4764837/">ABC News</a> reported that when people found out about the glitch, traffic swarmed to the bank, but deputies arrived and dispersed the crowd. <a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/atm-spitting-out-100-bills-draws-huge-commotion-in-nw-harris-county">KPRC</a> reported, &#8220;Several arguments and even a few fights ensued while people waited in line to make a profit, officials said.&#8221;
The bank admitted Monday that a vendor mistakenly loaded $100 bills in place of $10 bills. Bank of America stated, &#8220;This was an incident at a single ATM in Houston caused when a vendor incorrectly loaded $100 bills in place of $10 bills. We have resolved the matter. Customers will be able to keep the additional money dispensed.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.bankrate.com/banking/what-to-do-when-atms-make-a-mistake/">Bankrate</a> wrote in 2012, &#8220;A couple of times a year, news reports tell of crowds gathering around ATMs that mistakenly begin spewing bills. In 2010, Bank of Ireland ATMs dispensed more cash to customers than they actually had in their accounts, according to The New York Times. One taxi driver with nothing in the bank walked away with 700 euros.&#8221;
Last January, a Wichita, Kansas bank <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article201195144.html">sued a local woman</a>, claiming she made over 50 withdrawals in January from an ATM that was dispensing$100 bills in place of $5s. Central National Bank wanted Christina C. Ochoa to return $11,607.36 plus interest, saying she realized the ATM wasn&#8217;t working and calculated further withdrawals over a five-day period to maximize the amount of cash it dispensed. The bank said Ochoa should have received $1,485, but got $14,120.
The lawsuit stated, &#8220;The first time the ATM dispensed more money that what was due Christina, Christina and Christy had a duty to return the surplus funds to the bank. &#8230; Not only did they fail to (do) so, but they capitalized on the situation by making a series of over fifty (50) structured withdrawals, most within minutes of each other, and transacted at all hours of the night in order to expose Central to more loss.&#8221;
Ochoa&#8217;s mother said her daughter simply needed a ton of $5 bills to craft a &#8220;money cake&#8221; as a gift. The lawsuit asserted that when Ochoa was apprised of the error and the need to return the money, she &#8220;wholly refused to do so.&#8221;
Conversely, in 2013, Devon Gluck, a student at the University of Delaware, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288136/Dream-machine-University-ATM-pays-student-1-800-MISTAKE-RETURNS-it.html">received</a> $1,800 in cash from an ATM making a mistake. He said, &#8220;My eyes just opened really wide, and I was like, &#8216;Oh my god, this is $1,800 right here, it&#8217;s pretty crazy.&#8217;&#8221; Friends told him to keep the money, but after speaking with his father, he returned the money. He <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/1800-atm-error-devon-gluck-student-returns-money-after-pnc-teller-machine-mistake-1110886">said,</a> &#8220;After a couple days of just thinking about it, the right thing would be just to return the money. I mean, it was just eating at me at the time, because it isn&#8217;t mine, and I didn&#8217;t even know what to do with it.&#8221;
A manager at PNC bank thanked Gluck for his actions.

Houston ATM Gives Early Christmas Gift: Free Money

Hundreds of President Trump&#8217;s supporters began lining up early Sunday morning for his Monday evening &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; rally in Houston.
The joint rally with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) doesn&#8217;t begin until 6 p.m., but by midnight the line stretched several city blocks, with the number of diehard fans then topping a thousand.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
The line has started 24 hours ahead of doors opening here at the Toyota Center in Houston for the mega maga Trump rally! <a href="https://t.co/3TZnq5Mn08">pic.twitter.com/3TZnq5Mn08</a>
&#8212; texasGSDgirl (@texasGSDgirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/texasGSDgirl/status/1054109480236081153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
So many people lined up that organizers dropped off some portable toilets.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
More Winning!!! A porty potty right in front of our set up!! <a href="https://t.co/uaU9mSt9HK">pic.twitter.com/uaU9mSt9HK</a>
&#8212; texasGSDgirl (@texasGSDgirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/texasGSDgirl/status/1054144417139965957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
When the rally was first announced, tickets went within minutes and the demand grew so fast that the rally had to be moved to a much larger venue. At first, the rally was planned for the 8,000-seat NRG Arena, but Brad Parscale, Trump&#8217;s campaign manager, said Thursday that the rally was moved to the Toyota Center, home of the NBA&#8217;s Houston Rockets, which holds at least 18,000.
&#8220;Response for tickets to #MAGA rally #Houston Mon 10/22 has been HUGE and unprecedented! This will be an epic rally, so we&#8217;re moving to @ToyotaCenter. Want to make sure everyone coming knows the venue changed!&#8221; Parscale wrote on Twitter.
And still the demand kept growing. By Saturday, some 77,000 tickets had been requested, but that number ballooned to more than 100,000 by Sunday evening.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Incredible numbers for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HoustonRally?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HoustonRally</a>. 100,000+ RSVPs. I have flown in early and my great team is setting up the first ever TAILGATER for outside. So everyone come, room for everyone. Come see <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> inside or out! <a href="https://t.co/92M3qBs5tp">pic.twitter.com/92M3qBs5tp</a>
&#8212; Brad Parscale (@parscale) <a href="https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1054091759876222978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
But the arena holds only so many and a city police officer told the Houston Chronicle, &#8220;Keep in mind that once the capacity is met, you won&#8217;t get in whether you have a ticket or not.&#8221;
To handle the overflow crowd, organizers are setting up a &#8220;tailgate&#8221; party outside the Toyota Center to accommodate crowds of Trump and Cruz supporters.&#8203; Parscale announced Sunday night that the tailgate party will start at 9 a.m. CDT: &#8220;Hey news media: the Trump Campaign tailgater starts tomorrow morning at 9:00 am &#8211; Food trucks, 10:00 am &#8211; Live music&#8230; and more! Please update your stories! #MAGARally #BigTexasTailgater,&#8221; he wrote on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Hey news media: the Trump Campaign tailgater starts tomorrow morning at 9:00 am &#8211; Food trucks, 10:00 am &#8211; Live music&#8230; and more!
Please update your stories!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGARally?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MAGARally</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BigTexasTailgater?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BigTexasTailgater</a>
&#8212; Brad Parscale (@parscale) <a href="https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1054164792599035904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
With 16 days to go before the midterm elections, it&#8217;s safe to say that enthusiasm is high among Republicans.

ROCK STAR: 1,000+ Trump Fans Camp Overnight For Houston MAGA Event; Ticket Requests Top 100,000

Donald Trump

Ted Cruz

Texas State Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown) has been accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a University of Texas at Austin graduate student. Schwertner&#8217;s spokesperson Tom Holloway said in a statement that the senator denies the allegations and that he &#8220;only became aware of this allegation when contacted by the media late this afternoon.&#8221;
&#8220;The senator is eager to cooperate with the University of Texas and hopes to make clear he played no part in the behavior described,&#8221; said Holloway.
According to The <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/25/university-texas-sexual-misconduct-allegation-charles-schwertner/">Texas Tribune</a>, UT Austin has begun an internal investigation into the allegations, which include the state senator allegedly sending the female student naked pictures of himself with explicit messages.
A spokesperson for the university said UT Austin &#8220;takes all allegations of wrongdoing seriously and encourages members of the campus community to report them immediately. We strive to investigate complaints thoroughly and quickly while respecting the confidentiality of students and employees who file complaints and those accused of wrongdoing.&#8221;
The Houston Chronicle <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-Senator-Charles-Schwertner-accused-of-13258147.php">reports</a> that the Texas Senate has declined to take any action pending the investigation. 
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told the local media that though the &#8220;serious allegations&#8221; have him &#8220;deeply concerned,&#8221; the Texas legislature will postpone any action. &#8220;The Texas Senate is awaiting the conclusion of the investigation and expects a full report on this matter,&#8221; he said in a press release.
An attorney for Schwertner told the Austin American-Statesman in a <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/sen-charles-schwertner-lawyers-denies-sending-lewd-text-image/sr10HvBEaLjQNpayQgam5I/">statement</a> that the senator &#8220;did not send any inappropriate texts as alleged. Period.&#8221;
&#8220;The senator is devastated over these allegations and is concerned for the unnamed victim,&#8221; said the attorney. &#8220;We are in contact with the University of Texas to resolve this matter. Our statements regarding the senator will be proven in the days and weeks to come.&#8221;

Texas Lawmaker Accused Of Sending Inappropriate Messages To UT Grad Student

Austin

Conservatism

Republican Party

University of Texas

Speaking at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence praised the White House Administration&#8217;s new policy in space exploration, promising that the proposed Space Force &#8220;will be a reality&#8221; and touting the revival of the National Space Council, for which he serves as chairman.
&#8220;As we speak, the National Space Council, bringing together all different agencies of government that bear on this program, and bringing together the best minds in and around American space leadership, we&#8217;re forming a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for America&#8217;s space activities,&#8221; said Pence.
&#8220;We&#8217;re rolling back stifling red tape so we can tap the bottomless well of American innovation. We&#8217;re also renewing our national commitment to discovery and to exploration, and to write the next great chapter of our nation&#8217;s journey into space,&#8221; he said.
The Vice President described the Johnson Space Center as &#8220;a national treasure&#8221; and the staff &#8220;a national asset&#8221; to the United States.
&#8220;The most important work and the best days for the Johnson Space Center are yet to come. Count on it,&#8221; he told the audience.
Pence also heaped praise on President Trump&#8217;s &#8220;new vision for space,&#8221; emphasizing the increased support and budget for NASA projects and space exploration. 
&#8220;These projects, as you all well know, are emblematic of American leadership in the cosmos,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Our administration, as we speak, is working with the Congress to give NASA the funding you need to ensure that these new space pioneers are given the freedom and flexibility to be able to develop what they should develop, and make it a smooth transition to an exciting future of collaboration,&#8221; he said later.
Pence also touched on the space defense project that was promised by President Trump.
&#8220;And the United States Department of Space Force will be a reality by the year 2020,&#8221; he said to applause. 
Watch the speech below: 
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="484" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uGI-8_G7dQY" width="860"></iframe></div>

Pence To NASA: ‘Space Force Will Be A Reality’

Mike Pence

NASA

Trump Administration

This week, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch smoked left-wing Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo after he made a creepy and harassing remark toward her, suggesting that he and his police department are &#8220;watching&#8221; her.
It all started when Acevedo wrote a controversial Facebook post with strong Democratic overtones that said that he was &#8220;not interested&#8221; in the public&#8217;s views on gun rights because, as he suggested, guns are &#8220;the problem.&#8221;
That message and some of Acevedo&#8217;s other far-left stances on issues drew the attention of Loesch, who called him out over it.
Acevedo hilariously responded like a child to some of the tweets put out by NRATV that featured comments made by Loesch, writing: &#8220;Bye forever or until we meet in court.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Another lie keep it up. You have deep pockets. Bye forever or until we meet in court.
&#8212; Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtAcevedo/status/999088924520742912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Not intimidated, Loesch continued to call him out over his policies, which led to Acevedo saying that he and his department &#8220;we will be watching&#8221; her.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Lastly, I will not respond any further to you on any platform outside of a legal process. Be on notice that we will be watching and will do our talking in a court of Law if the need arises. Good day. <a href="https://t.co/xGKhMfaDqq">https://t.co/xGKhMfaDqq</a>
&#8212; Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtAcevedo/status/999086183551520768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Acevedo was ill-prepared for what came next, as Loesch called out his insinuation that he might be having her surveilled. Loesch responded with the following series of tweets:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I forgot to ask this last night <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtAcevedo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ArtAcevedo</a> : when you told me that &#8220;we will be watching&#8221; (as a result of you disliking my remarks on your reported-on support of sanctuary city policies), are you using the resources of the Houston PD to watch me? AM I under surveillance? <a href="https://t.co/VG5U2M5rdu">https://t.co/VG5U2M5rdu</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/999348044184334338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Hi <a href="https://twitter.com/houstonpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@houstonpolice</a> , appreciate you. Your chief said he was &#8220;watching me&#8221; after my criticism of his reported-on sanctuary city support. I&#8217;m just curious what your SOP is on monitoring speech and whether these thoughts are shared. Thank you for your time. <a href="https://t.co/CIClq8Ve6b">https://t.co/CIClq8Ve6b</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/999358214683746304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Reached out to <a href="https://twitter.com/houstonpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@houstonpolice</a> re the thread below where <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtAcevedo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ArtAcevedo</a> says &#8220;we will be watching&#8221; after I criticized his stance on sanctuary cities. I want confirmation if taxpayer dollars are being used to surveil citizens who criticize political appointees&#8217; public remarks. <a href="https://t.co/15kzl9eNp8">https://t.co/15kzl9eNp8</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/999674997399371776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
As it relates to Acevedo&#8217;s promise to &#8220;watch me,&#8221; I&#8217;m particularly curious how his behavior squares with Texas Penal Code 39.03. <a href="https://t.co/kMMXv8WDYp">https://t.co/kMMXv8WDYp</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/999677197928415234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

Houston Police Chief Says He’s ‘Watching’ Dana Loesch. She Torches Him.

Dana Loesch

Democratic Party

National Rifle Association (NRA)

The star defensive end for the Houston Texans, J.J. Watt, is once again coming to the rescue of his community members. He will pay for the funerals of all ten students and teachers murdered in a school shooting last week at Houston&#8217;s Santa Fe High School.
<a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000933413/article/jj-watt-to-pay-for-santa-fe-hs-victims-funerals">Watt told the school</a> he would cover all funeral expenses over the weekend, after tweeting that the shooting, which took the lives of at least ten people and injured several others, was &#8220;horrific.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Absolutely horrific.
&#8212; JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/997493772517892096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
Since joining the Texans, Watt has become an indispensable part of the Houston community, sharing not just his own wealth, but raising money for those around him impacted by poverty and natural disaster. Last summer, Watt raised more than $37 million for victims of Hurricane Harvey, which came ashore near Houston and left many of his neighbors homeless and in dire straits.
The Houston Texans also released a statement about the shooting.
<blockquote>
On behalf of the Texans organization, we are saddened by the tragic events at Santa Fe High School this morning and extend our thoughts and heartfelt condolences to the victims, their families and all those affected. We are grateful for the brave first responders, law enforcement officials and medical personnel. The Texans family will continue to pray for our neighbors.
</blockquote>
The Houston shooter is in custody and facing multiple first degree murder charges.

J.J. Watt Will Pay For Houston Shooting Victims’ Funerals

Shooting

In the midst of the NFL&#8217;s Anthem-kneeling controversy last October, ESPN The Magazine <a href="http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/21170410/gaffes-tv-ratings-concerns-dominated-nfl-players-forged-anthem-peace-league-meetings">reported</a> that Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said during a league-wide owners meeting, &#8220;We can&#8217;t have the inmates running the prison.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZZdB5hqbTw">Condemnation</a> was swift. Most Texans players kneeled during the subsequent game&#8217;s National Anthem in protest of McNair, two players left practice, and then-Texan Duane Brown sharply criticized McNair in public.
McNair likely was thinking of the well-known idiom, &#8220;the inmates are running the asylum&#8221; &#8212; which means that the people least capable of running the organization are running the organization. It has nothing to do with race, but, nonetheless, substituting &#8220;prison&#8221; for &#8220;asylum,&#8221; even in a private meeting, was a mistake that was bound to be misconstrued &#8212; and it was, quite wildly and breathlessly.
McNair issued a public apology &#8220;to anyone who was offended,&#8221; clarifying that he &#8220;never meant to offend anyone&#8221; and &#8220;was not referring to our players.&#8221;
&#8220;I regret that I used that expression,&#8221; McNair said at the time. &#8220;I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally. I would never characterize our players or our league that way.&#8221;
Now, it turns out that what McNair most regrets is issuing an apology in the first place.
&#8220;The main thing I regret is apologizing,&#8221; McNair told The Wall Street Journal in a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/texans-owner-bob-mcnair-recalculates-his-apology-for-inmates-remark-1522941584">story</a> published Friday. &#8220;I really didn&#8217;t have anything to apologize for.&#8221;
He said the &#8220;inmates&#8221; he was referring to in the October meeting were league executives who had too much control over key business decisions.
&#8220;We were talking about a number of things, but we were also washing our dirty linen, which you do internally. You don&#8217;t do that publicly. That&#8217;s what I was addressing: The relationship of owners and the league office,&#8221; McNair said.
Asked about players who kneel for the National Anthem, McNair said that players who don&#8217;t want to stand should remain in the locker room.
&#8220;If they&#8217;re going to be out there, we need to respect the anthem and our flag,&#8221; he said, intimating that the league should revise its policy to make it mandatory for players on the field to stand for the National Anthem. &#8220;As employers, we set conditions for all of our employees.&#8221;

SORRY, NOT SORRY: ‘The Main Thing I Regret Is Apologizing,’ Says Pro-Anthem Houston Texans Owner Bob McNair About His ‘Inmates Running The Prison’ Comment

Colin Kaepernick

Patriotism

Tossing tinsel, toasting champagne, stealing a midnight kiss &#8212; and firing off a few rounds into the air?
Every year leading up to New Year&#8217;s Eve, police departments in major U.S. cities have to remind people that the law of gravity is a 24/7 thing, that what goes up must come down, and that falling bullets kill. 
Although celebratory gunfire may bring to mind cities like Baghdad and Kabul, dozens of people across America are killed or wounded every year on New Year&#8217;s Eve and Independence Day by the recklessness of gun-toting drunkards. 
Just after midnight on January 1, 2010, for example, four-year-old Marquel Peters was killed by a falling bullet while sitting inside a church in Decatur, Georgia. The round, likely shot from an AK-47 between a half-mile and three miles away, sliced through the roof and struck Peters in the head.
In 2007 in Miami, Corey Baker, a 35-year-old father of five, died after a falling bullet hit the top of his head while he was celebrating the New Year. That same year at a backyard party in Miami, Audley Ebanks slid off his chair and fell to the ground. His wife, Eula feared he was having a heart attack. It was worse. The 69-year-old real estate agent was killed instantly by a plunging rifle round.
Although the odds are low of being struck by a falling round on New Year&#8217;s Eve, the problem is pervasive enough that police in parts of some cities take cover in the minutes before and after the ball drops.
In the ten minutes before and after the New Year in Miami, police get out of the open and only respond to emergency calls.
In Los Angeles, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/celebratory-gunfire-new-years-eve-los-angeles-410598" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> former L.A. police chief Bill Bratton, &#8220;Nearly every cop is under an underpass at midnight because of the sheer volume.&#8221;
Although the government doesn&#8217;t keep official data on fatalities from falling bullets, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in Puerto Rico found that two people are killed and 25 wounded on a typical New Year&#8217;s Eve from falling bullets. 
In Houston, former police chief Charles McClelland said his force gets about 200 calls every New Year&#8217;s about celebratory gunfire.
In Los Angeles in the evening between 2014 and 2015, police spokeswoman Nicole Nishida told Newsweek, the department <a href="http://www.lapdonline.org/crime_prevention_tips/content_basic_view/23465" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">received 74 calls</a> about illegal shooting
Encouragingly, though, that number is down significantly from the 788 calls recorded in 1992, the 645 calls recorded in 1999, and the 145 calls during New Year&#8217;s Eve 2005.
In Miami, too, between 2012 and 2015, police said, New Year&#8217;s Eve gunshots dropped 80%. Stockton, California, and Springfield, Massachusetts have experienced similar declines.
Several factors could explain the reduced frequency of New Year&#8217;s Eve celebratory gunfire: public awareness campaigns; stiffer punishments (firing a gun into the air is a misdemeanor in some places, a felony in others); and gunfire detection and location technology like ShotSpotter. The company says over 20% of nationwide gunfire from September to December happens on New Year&#8217;s Eve.
But despite that technology, pinpointing the location of a gunshot that could have come from miles away is a major challenge, not to mention tracking down the actual shooter &#8212; basically a moonshot. 
During New Year&#8217;s Eve 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama, for example, there were <a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/why_hasnt_the_traci_pittman_ke.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2,500 reports of gunfire</a>, but only nine arrests. (Presumably there were not 277 calls for each instance of gunfire.)
Although falling bullets travel at a slower velocity than bullets fired directly at a nearby target, they&#8217;re moving between <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2015/12/celebratory-gunfire-new-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">300 and 700 feet per second</a>, more than fast enough to penetrate the human skull.
What makes them so lethal, though, is their tendency to hit heads, shoulders, and feet. A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7996596" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1994 study</a>, &#8220;Spent bullets and their injuries,&#8221; found that 32% of people hit by falling bullets died from the wound, a significantly higher rate than for all gunshot victims in general.
In New Orleans, the police remind the public every year not to fire off rounds into the air on New Year&#8217;s Eve. As one unnamed officer dryly told Newsweek, &#8220;If you are caught, you will be dealt with. Falling bullets fall.&#8221;

DRUNK IDIOTS: The Widespread Problem Of New Year’s Eve Celebratory Gunfire

Gun Control

Gun Laws

Gun Sales

Los Angeles

On Thursday, Houston Texans All-Star defensive end J.J. Watt, who was named the AP Defensive Player of the Year in three of his first five seasons, showed once again that he is not just an All-Star on the field but also off it, offering to send an entire unit of soldiers fighting in Afghanistan pairs of his signature new shoes launching Thursday at midnight.
Watt&#8217;s innate generosity, which he has demonstrated amply before, was triggered when he issued this tweet:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#65039;&#65039;&#65039; 
Tonight at Midnight<a href="https://t.co/3yOSb6tqOm">https</a><a href="https://t.co/3yOSb6tqOm">://t.co/3yOSb6tqOm</a> <a href="https://t.co/PcR4J7lcty">pic.twitter.com/PcR4J7lcty</a>
&#8212; JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/941275728821268480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Less than an hour later, he got this response:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Do you ship to Afghanistan? I&#8217;m deployed and would love a pair!
&#8212; Log (@OfMiceAndLogann) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfMiceAndLogann/status/941286738969931776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
When Watt saw the soldier&#8217;s response, he answered:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s on the normal distribution map, but I&#8217;ll make sure that we find a way to make it happen. 
DM me your size and the address. <a href="https://t.co/p5OCxLbtOC">https://t.co/p5OCxLbtOC</a>
&#8212; JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/941430892475617280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Then, one minute later, he got a suggestion from a fan who was watching the communication:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I hope that Soldier&#8217;s money is no good. Ship the man some shoes, hell, ship them a whole bunch of shoes.
&#8212; Jeff Bruder (@JeffBruder) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffBruder/status/941431344470601728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
All of five minutes later, Watt gave a typical response:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Great idea. 
Send your whole unit&#8217;s sizes <a href="https://twitter.com/OfMiceAndLogann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OfMiceAndLogann</a> <a href="https://t.co/lBPk2mZjIw">https://t.co/lBPk2mZjIw</a>
&#8212; JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/941432751231787008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Watt&#8217;s generosity elicited a lot of love on Twitter:
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<div class="embed tweet"></div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Amen to that. Truly a class act.
&#8212; Beth Tanner (@HiTechRedneck23) <a href="https://twitter.com/HiTechRedneck23/status/941438738474913792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Worked at a paper that covered their high school for 10 years. Saw all 3 play and talked to all 3 a lot (especially TJ and Derek). Just a great family.
&#8212; Daniel Mike (@DanielDMike) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielDMike/status/941453309042483200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
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A lot of people don&#8217;t realize how good of a man JJ is. His generosity helped our middle school in TN purchase new unis and helmets and pads. Forever <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JJWatt</a> fan!!!!
&#8212; Chris Rogers (@MCWarrior4Life) <a href="https://twitter.com/MCWarrior4Life/status/941437643736453121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
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After Hurricane Harvey destroyed much of Houston, Watt helped <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/09/i-cant-sugarcoat-it-i-am-devastated-j-j-watt-apologizes-to-houston-after-breaking-leg/?utm_term=.a78b5c1fbd2d">raise $37 million</a> for relief and recovery efforts for the Houston area. He started the ball rolling by donating $100,000 of his own money. His Justin J. Watt Foundation has <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/texans/article/JJ-Watt-foundation-helps-kids-dream-big-work-hard-6498315.php">raised over $1 million</a> for after-school opportunities for children.

ALL-STAR HUMAN: J.J. Watt Sends Entire Unit In Afghanistan Pairs Of His Signature New Shoes

Afghanistan

Hurricane Harvey

Military

The Houston Astros first basement, Yuri Gurriel, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/10/28/yuli-gurriel-suspension-world-series-2018-yu-darvish/810015001/">narrowly avoided being booted</a> from the World Series after he made a racist gesture and used a Spanish-language slur for &#8220;little Chinese guy,&#8221; against Japanese-born Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, Yu Darvish.
Gurriel won&#8217;t be suspended for the World Series, but he will be suspended for five games &#8212; without pay &#8212; when baseball returns next spring. He will also receive &#8220;sensitivity training&#8221; and will make an apology to Darvish.
&#8220;There is complete unanimity &#8212; me, my office, both owners, both clubs, and the (union) &#8212; that there is no place in our game for the behavior like we witnessed last night,&#8221; Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement late Friday. &#8220;There is no explanation that makes that type of behavior excusable.&#8221;
&#8220;Mr. Gurriel quickly realized last night that his behavior was wrong. I met with him today. He reiterated that remorse and he assured me that he will offer a private apology to Mr. Darvish,&#8221; Manfred continued.
Gurriel made an informal attempt at an apology Saturday night. &#8220;Yesterday I was commenting that I&#8217;d never had any success against Darvish, and the gesture was saying that I wish he would look at me like one of them (Japanese players) and maybe he&#8217;d throw me an easy pitch so I can do something. At no point did I mean that in an offensive way. On the contrary, I&#8217;ve always had a lot of respect for them.&#8217;&#8217;
Darvish was surprisingly kind, telling media that he felt Gurriel&#8217;s gesture was &#8220;disrespectful,&#8221; also suggested that players could consider the incident a &#8220;learning experience&#8221; and move on &#8212; perhaps his conciliatory mood was helped by the fact that the Astros led the series 2-1 before Los Angeles tied it up Saturday night.

Astros’ First Baseman SUSPENDED For Racist Gesture During World Series Game

Houston Texans rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson donated his entire first game paycheck, the first of his career, to three victims of Hurricane Harvey that work in the stadium&#8217;s cafeteria.
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&#8220;If you can, you must.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/deshaunwatson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@deshaunwatson</a>&#8203; gave his first <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NFL</a>&#8203; game check to help a few familiar faces. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HoustonStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HoustonStrong</a> <a href="https://t.co/rwcyGMSRFN">pic.twitter.com/rwcyGMSRFN</a>
&#8212; Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans/status/913167546123091968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Watson, who has a base salary of $465,000, donated a check for $27,353,&#8221; ESPN <a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20841443/deshaun-watson-houston-texans-donates-game-check-three-women-impacted-hurricane-harvey">reported</a>.
Watson&#8217;s head coach, Bill O&#8217;Brien, called him a &#8220;first-class guy&#8221; after hearing about the generous actions of his rookie quarterback from Clemson.
&#8220;A lot of the people who work so hard for us behind the scenes, especially the people in the cafeteria, I mean, they&#8217;re here at 4:30 in the morning,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said. &#8220;And some of those people in Harvey, they lost everything. A number of our players donated money to help them, and he gave his game check, which is incredible.&#8221;
Not to be outdone by Watson is the Texans three-time NFL defensive player of the year, J.J. Watt, who started a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Harvey which raised over $37 million.
Watt also went to disaster areas to help distribute supplies to those in need.
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10 semi trucks. 
4 locations. 
Countless incredible volunteers. 
Just the beginning. <a href="https://t.co/xmN40M4hFA">pic.twitter.com/xmN40M4hFA</a>
&#8212; JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/904513635829108737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Houston Texans Player Gives His First NFL Game Paycheck To Hurricane Victims

The granddaughter of a World War II veteran living in Texas who lost his home in Hurricane Harvey, launched a fundraiser to help get her grandfather a new home after learning the insurance company would not cover the full cost of the damages.
Hewitt Bauguss, Sr., 95, who served in both the Army Air Corps and later in the National Guard, lost his travel trailer in Hurricane Harvey. His insurance company reportedly notified him that due to the age of the trailer, they would only prorate its value &#8212; leaving him significantly short of the funds needed to find a new, suitable living arrangement.
In response, his granddaughter, Kourtney Rodefeld, decided to launch a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/housing-for-hewitt-harvey-relief">GoFundMe</a> page on September 10 to help raise the additional money needed to get him a new home.
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&#8220;Despite his age, he has remained active and independent living in his trailer along the Brazos River in Brazoria, Texas,&#8221; Rodefeld wrote. &#8220;Getting by on only his modest Social Security check each month, he has been unable to afford new housing after the rising flood waters overtook his home and belongings.&#8221;
Rodefeld set a goal of $20,000 that she hoped to raise for her grandfather, and, after only four days, she has received donations from more than 245 contributors totaling over $17,500.
&#8220;We are reaching out to the community with the hope that we can raise enough money for a simple travel trailer that he can call home again,&#8221; Rodefeld continued. &#8220;Any additional funds will go towards replacing clothes, groceries, and other essential items to get him back on his feet.&#8221;
Rodefeld described her grandfather as &#8220;broken&#8221; and &#8220;devastated&#8221; after seeing the damage to his home and learning he would not have enough money to replace it. She reportedly lives nearby and visits her grandfather every week, assisting him with his weekly visit to the grocery store.
<a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra">Follow Ryan Saavedra on Twitter</a>

95-Year-Old War Hero Loses His Home In Hurricane, Then His Granddaughter Steps In

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Texas and Florida residents face an enormous task in restoring electricity and rebuilding their homes, businesses and lives. The federal government and the Trump administration have thus far done an incredible job coordinating rescue and relief efforts with local officials (evidenced by the deafening silence regarding Trump&#8217;s performance from the mainstream media). But throwing government money at a problem never truly resolves a crisis. It was, and is, the efforts of everyday Americans, seeking only to restore their communities, that provide the healing these regions need.
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the private sector made its presence known in Texas. Louisiana&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/us/harvey-cajun-navy/index.html">Cajun Navy volunteers</a>, who assembled themselves without instruction, hooked their boats up to their pick-up trucks and drove to Houston to aid rescue efforts. They pulled Americans of all colors, ethnicities and religions from the water, rescued many who were stranded without food and water, and saved lives. Private citizens, like J.J. Watt, organized relief funds for the citizens of Texas. Watt&#8217;s campaign has raised more than <a href="http://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/jj-watt-welcome-back-houston-nfl">$30 Million</a> so far, and efforts are still underway.
Private sector businesses leapt into action. <a href="http://www.anheuser-busch.com/newsroom/2017/08/anheuser-busch-sends-three-truckloads-of-emergency-drinking-wate.html">Anheuser-Busch</a> shipped more than 155,000 cans of water to Houston. According to the <a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/private-sector-to-the-rescue-never-underestimate-the-power-of-the-private-sector-to-rise-up-to-face-any-challenge/">American Enterprise Institute</a>, Walmart is driving &#8220;nearly 800 truckloads of supplies to the region.&#8221; Houston furniture store, Gallery Furniture, opened two locations as shelters and provided meals for all those who took refuge there, including a National Guard unit.
Now in Florida, after millions of homes lost power during the onslaught of Irma, <a href="http://www.elp.com/articles/2017/09/florida-power-light-tackling-irma-s-onslaught.html">Electric Light &amp; Power</a> is reporting that &#8220;Florida Power &amp; Light said its workforce of nearly 19,500 worked through the night to restore power. About one-fourth of the 4.4 million customers impacted by Hurricane Irma had regained power, according to FPL.&#8221;
The same article notes that other power companies are sending help: &#8220;DelMarva Power is sending 120 employees to help with restoration, while Entergy, which just dealt with Harvey in Texas, is sending 650 of its personnel from Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.&#8221;
And, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/10/hurricane-irma-faith-groups-provide-bulk-disaster-recovery-coordination-fema/651007001/">according to USA Today,</a> about 80% of recovery efforts are from non-profits with a majority being faith-based; Obama&#8217;s bitter clingers.
So while Politico publishes childish cartoons which slander southern conservatives as rednecks and hicks, those same deplorables will be out helping their fellow man, and working to restore their community. I didn&#8217;t see many white nationalists and KKK supporters wading through chest-deep water to save their neighbors. I saw a group of Americans that are continuously denigrated by Democrats and their media propaganda machine.
It&#8217;s not the elites who will rebuild Texas and Florida. It&#8217;s not smug academics who will help these communities thrive again. It&#8217;s not even the government. It&#8217;s the working people of this country. It&#8217;s the individuals. And they will succeed.

Who Will Rebuild Texas And Florida? HINT: It’s Not Elites And Academics

Florida

Hurricane Irma

Religion

Reconstruction in coastal Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey requires abdication of enforcement of immigration law, argued The New York Times&#8217; David Brooks on Saturday&#8217;s PBS NewsHour:
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And they could say, hey, we can&#8217;t do the wall right now. We got to rebuild Texas. And, by the way, on the background, a lot of people are going to need a lot of construction workers in Texas. And this is a country with a construction worker shortage.
So, maybe this isn&#8217;t the time to crack down on immigration. And so I think there&#8217;s a possibility, if they want to look functional, to seize this moment, whether they will or not. But I&#8217;m going for maximal optimistic unrealism.
</blockquote>
Unity during crisis in an &#8220;ethnically diverse&#8221; city like Houston undermines concerns about social and cultural fragmentation resulting from the status quo of demographic change, said Brooks:
<blockquote>
To me, the two biggest things that happened was, first, Houston came together. And that is significant, because Houston is the most ethnically diverse city in this country. And there&#8217;s an argument that is sometimes made, oh, we will never have solidarity as a nation if we&#8217;re so ethnically diverse.
Well, Houston does it. And so if they can do it, I think that argument against making our country diverse or opening up more immigration falls down.
</blockquote>
Adjacent Mark Shields for a segment hosted by Miles O&#8217;Brien, Brooks neglected to delineate between lawful and unlawful immigration. Leftists and Democrats regularly conflate both legal and illegal immigration.
Brooks also framed political progress as predicated on the passage of legislation and expansion of state power. Republicans, he said, &#8220;have to get something done.&#8221; The GOP must not reduce spending in any other dimension via &#8220;offsets&#8221; in funding relief for persons and businesses damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
Reducing federal spending via &#8220;offsets&#8221; to mitigate financial burdens on taxpayers amounts to a &#8220;crazy [and] insane way to do government.&#8221;
Watch the segment below.
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<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/17920/conservative-intellectual-david-brooks-tries-robert-kraychik">In June</a>, Brooks connected economic dynamism to &#8220;a lot of immigration,&#8221; neglecting to set parameters to qualify or quantify the volume or nature of immigration. Support for President Donald Trump&#8217;s immigration and refugee admission proposals, he added, was rooted in superficial and racial considerations.
Also in June, Brooks cast debates between &#8220;big government versus small government&#8221; as obsolete, implying that public consensus was reached around his view of the proper size and scope of government.
Despite operating as a de facto left-wing Democrat in his commentary and analysis, Brooks is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brooks_(cultural_commentator)">described by Wikipedia</a> as a &#8220;conservative.&#8221;

H/T Ian Schwartz at <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/02/david_brooks_construction_workers_needed_in_texas_not_the_time_to_crack_down_on_immigration.html">RealClearPolitics</a>.
Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

NYT ‘Conservative’: We Need Illegals To Rebuild Texas

David Brooks

Illegal Immigration

Immigrants

Immigration

Media

Media Bias

It turns out that homes, businesses, vehicles, power grids, bridges and people aren&#8217;t the only things Hurricane Harvey affected. The latest casualty of the monster storm could be the shining star of the NBA&#8217;s richest player.
The player in question is James Harden of the Houston Rockets. Harden was arguably Houston&#8217;s most famous athlete and recently inked the most lucrative contract in professional sports history at $228 million. On Saturday he pledged a $1 million donation to the mayor&#8217;s relief fund &#8212; the first time the public had heard from Harden since a tweet on Wednesday, asking America to pray for Texas.
His silence in the wake of the nation&#8217;s worst disaster has created a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6QXjEnS-dg">backlash on social media</a> from people who were questioning why Harden didn&#8217;t come forward to say what he was doing to ease the suffering of 30,000 people with homes under water.
Absent Harden&#8217;s voice, JJ Watt of the Houston Texans stepped up to become the city&#8217;s &#8212; and country&#8217;s &#8212; most adored athlete as he started a victim fund that has <a href="https://www.youcaring.com/victimsofhurricaneharvey-915053">now amassed $20 million</a>.
&#8220;JJ Watt&#8217;s History of Heroism: Why People Trusted the NFL Star Enough to Pour $15 Million into his Houston Flood Relief Fund,&#8221; is a <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/877334/jj-watt-s-history-of-heroism-why-people-trusted-the-nfl-star-enough-to-pour-15-million-into-his-houston-flood-relief-fund">recent E! headline </a>that sums it up. Watt has also been profiled in People, Time, Forbes, Sports Illustrated and practically every major U.S. publication. And now a petition is circulating to name a highway after him.
The football defensive end has become a household name as he stands in front of TV cameras night after night wearing a T-shirt and white &#8220;JJ&#8221; baseball cap pleading for funds on his Youcaring page.
At first he just hoped to raise $250,000, but now he says he is in this &#8220;for the long haul&#8221; and will do anything needed to make Houston whole again. Watt <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/904331995668520960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F2731206-jj-watt-tweets-photo-of-supplies-from-hurricane-harvey-fundraiser">repeatedly publicized</a> that he and his teammates would be filling <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/903731802392625154?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">10 semi-trucks with supplies last weekend</a> and &#8220;going directly out into the community in areas that have been hit hard and we&#8217;re going to hand those out.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houston-texans-jj-watt-hand-out-supplies-to-harvey-victims/">end result was nothing short of amazing</a> &#8212; the athletes and a band of volunteers distributed enough items to fill a Costco store: everything from plastic buckets and bleach to cat food and water. Plus autographs and selfies.
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Even Harden gave <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2731129-james-harden-donates-1-million-to-hurricane-harvey-relief-efforts-in-houston">kudos to his fellow athlete</a> while he visited a shelter Saturday to announce his donation.
&#8220;I want to thank you to JJ Watt, what he&#8217;s doing for the city,&#8221; Harden said. &#8220;Thank you to the mayor, for helping me. I just want to donate and give back as much as I can so I&#8217;m going to donate $1 million to the city and to areas that need it and to people that need it to make the city stronger.&#8221;
In Harden&#8217;s absence, the public watched other athletes and entertainers starting funds or traipsing through toxic water to rescue victims. They blasted him on Twitter and it hasn&#8217;t entirely abated, even with his with donation.
&#8220;All that money James Harden got, he should have took care of Houston by his damn self,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisChuck/status/904261029756096512">tweeted @ThisChuck</a>.
&#8220;JJ Watt the face of Houston, not James Harden,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/RealGloTevo/status/903652734062272512">tweeted @RealGloTevo</a>.
&#8220;JJ Watt is out here busting his ass for his city. Where is James Harden?&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/JLewisUTW/status/903485150767472641">tweeted @JLewisUTW</a>.
Other tweets during the week were much more brutal:
&#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/Anstatt18/status/902738307645394949">James harden gettin paid like 600 trillion dollars next season but hasn&#8217;t done shit for Houston victims yet</a>&#8221;
&#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/CHIDEAZY/status/902262519074574337">james harden with that $57 million per year just &#8220;praying&#8221; and laughing while chilling in LA and Vegas, DONATE MONEY and stop being a fake</a>.&#8221;
And: &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/brad_gohornsbkw/status/903448493829885952">you think James Harden even knows there was a huge flood in Texas</a>?&#8221;
Before the flood, Harden was last seen in Las Vegas the weekend before Harvey to celebrate his birthday and watch the Floyd Mayweather fight with a group of friends. Rockets spokesperson Tracey Hughes said a closed airport kept him out of town from the city he has called home since 2012.
&#8220;Our team was not in town or in season. Had they been, they would have been out helping immediately,&#8221; Hughes said.
Houston is home to several celebrities who have increased their fame and fan base by their high-profile relief efforts.
The Twitter and Instagram pages of rapper Trae Tha Truth are filled with videos depicting his rescues of stranded residents by both boat and vehicle. Several times a day he posted his location and asked for victims to post their addresses so he could pick them up. He often partnered with UFC star Derrick Lewis, who also <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYWLOvNnU-J/?taken-by=thebeastufc">posted his own rescues</a> in his monster pickup truck. Social media is filled with hundreds of loving posts for the pair.
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Trae <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/traethatruthweareonehurricaneharvey">has started a GoFundMe page</a> to personally hand out money to people in the bayou because, with other organizations, &#8220;I can&#8217;t promise or say what they are going to do with the money or if you will see the money.&#8221; So far his fund has raised $130,000.
After he finished his rescue efforts one day, Trae <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYfDCgCHaKN/">visited the convention center</a> where about 9,000 residents were sheltered.
&#8220;I took some time yesterday and today&#8230;.to uplift people. Even tho we lost so much, them few moments can help a person push harder,&#8221; he wrote in a post.
Other Rockets personnel have been in the news with their contribution to flood victims.
Team owner Leslie Alexander has donated $10 million to the Mayor&#8217;s Hurricane Relief Fund and coach Mike D&#8217;Antoni $100,000. Rockets point guard Chris Paul, who just arrived this season and has yet to play a single season game, donated $75,000 to Watt&#8217;s fund.
And <a href="http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20501657/nba-houston-rockets-center-clint-capela-doing-all-help-aftermath-hurricane-harvey">Rockets center Clint Capela</a>, stuck in his apartment in downtown Houston for five days, used his popularity on Twitter to relay messages of trapped residents and animals along with responses by authorities.
&#8220;All of them want to help and we are currently working on the best way to do so,&#8221; Hughes said of the players.

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