The endorsement game
With time winding down until the Nov. 7 election, endorsements are heating up. Mayoral frontrunners Sheila Jackson Lee and John Whitmire are touting their latest backers on a daily basis. While many may not pay attention to the endorsements, political scientists say they can actually make a difference, at least in local elections.
The mayoral race is nonpartisan and an endorsement can provide an important signal to voters who are unfamiliar with the candidates about their ideological leanings. That’s why Jackson Lee and Whitmire have been hard at work building their own coalitions. Both candidates are longtime Democrats, but Jackson Lee appears positioned as the progressive’s choice for mayor, touting endorsements from Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, former congressman and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke and the national pro-choice political action committee Emily’s List. Whitmire has received endorsements from State Rep. Garnet Coleman, multiple law enforcement groups, business organizations and financial backing from Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, positioning himself as the more moderate, tough-on-crime candidate.
The Defender doesn’t endorse candidates, but we do endorse voting….so make sure you head to the polls!
Jada’s publicity tour
If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet over the past week, then you’ve probably noticed how everybody and their auntie is weighing in on Jada Pinkett Smith.
Pinkett Smith is on a tell-all-my-business tour promoting her new memoir, Worthy (which by the way, is coming to Houston on Oct. 21) and the actor is catching flakforbeing too candid about her personal life. If you’ve been following the tea, Jada revealed that she and hubby Will Smith have been separated since 2016 and that Tupac once proposed to her back in the day. Since then, folks have been raking Jada over the coals for everything from “emasculating” her husband to outright throwing him under the bus and not respecting him in their marriage. But while so many seem bothered by the vitroil, including Pinkett herself who said in interviews that she resents being vilified, especially by Black women – one person who seems unfazed is the Man in Black himself.
“I applaud and honor you,” Will wrote to Jada, adding, “If I had read this book 30 years ago, I definitely would have hugged you more. I’ll start now. Welcome to the authors club. I love you endlessly. Now go get some merlot and take a rest.”
I think if Will is unbothered, maybe we should be too.
Is jail time for Carlee warranted?
A judge has recommended that Carlee Russell spend time behind bars for faking her kidnapping in Alabama, but does such an offense that critics have suggested was a victimless crime merit jail time? The 26-year-old entered a guilty plea to charges of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident. She was sentenced to one year in the Hoover County Jail, and ordered to pay $17,874 in restitution and two separate fines totaling $1,662. Look, I was as disappointed as the next person that Russell’s tale that FINALLY galvanized folks to search for Black women, turned out to be a farce, but come on. You’re gonna give the nursing student more jail time than someone like Kyle Rittenhouse who killed three people but walked free? Come on, now. Yes, Carlee was out of order. Yes, she called police with the ridiculous “toddler on the side of the road” story. But she didn’t send the world into a tizzy searching for her. I’m all for restitution and she deserves every ounce of humiliation. But while this sista might need some mental health counseling, she doesn’t need jail, especially since this was her first-ever criminal conviction.
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