Houston Congressman Al Green Begins Effort to Impeach Trump: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’ve got a great depiction of the Cowboys’ fan base. During the regular season last year, they were on cloud nine. You couldn’t tell them anything because they were going to win the ‘ship—that’s all they said. Fans just got extremely super annoying. Then, the minute they lose, they either got cheated, somebody was hurt—the excuses start flowing. It’s just amazing to me. That fan base just in general can’t handle defeat.”

—NFL running back DeAngelo Williams to ESPN. Williams, a free agent, explained that he would never sign with the Dallas Cowboys because he hated them while growing up as a die-hard fan of the San Francisco 49ers. Also on the veteran halfback’s do-not-sign list: the Cleveland Browns (“in my lifetime, I haven’t seen them have a winning season”) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (“I can’t think of anything positive about that organization outside of the fact that they have pools in the stadium”).

BIG NEWS

Let’s Not Stay Together—U.S. Representative Al Green joined forces with California’s Brad Sherman on Wednesday night to officially file an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, according to the Houston Chronicle. Green, a Democrat from Houston, had been one of the first U.S. Congressman to publicly call for Trump’s impeachment back in May, and he reportedly began working on impeachment papers last month. Not long after calling for Trump’s impeachment, Green said he received death threats and racist voicemails, including some callers who said Green should be lynched. “I don’t see this as a long shot or a sure shot,” Green told the Chronicle on Wednesday. “I see this as the right thing to do. I’ve always felt that if I’m doing the right thing, my conscience is clear, and I think history will vindicate me regardless of how the House votes.” So far, Green and Sherman are the only members of Congress to add their names to the resolution, which accused Trump of obstruction of justice for his firing of former FBI Director James Comey over the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Only a few Democrats, including Green’s Houston colleague Sheila Jackson Lee, have publicly called for Trump’s impeachment, and it’s unlikely the resolution would garner much support. “I don’t know what the vote will be if I bring this to the floor of the House,” Green told the Chronicle. “But I can assure you of this: There will be one vote for impeachment, because I will vote for the resolution.”

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Map Men—The federal trial over Texas’s congressional district maps continued in San Antonio on Wednesday, when civil rights groups called a series of experts to testify before a panel of three judges, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The experts testified that Texas minorities have had a harder time getting fair representation in the state because the Legislature continually passes biased laws aimed at diluting their vote. “What was done here was to knowingly and intentionally impede the opportunity for African-Americans and Latinos to elect candidates of their choice,” Allan Lichtman, a social scientist and history professor at American University, said in his testimony, according to the Express-News. “What we see here is intentional discrimination.” The state has denied that its maps were drawn to intentionally discriminate against minorities, arguing instead that the GOP-led House simply drew the map’s boundaries in an attempt to boost Republicans and hurt Democrats (political gerrymandering isn’t illegal).

Big Three?—The Houston Rockets are working hard to land another megastar: Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, according to ESPN. The teams are looking to involve a third and even possibly a fourth team to make the swap work due to Anthony’s hefty contract and the Knicks’s reluctance to take on the salary of Rockets forward Ryan Anderson, the New York Daily News reported. ESPN reported on Wednesday that no trade was imminent, but a source familiar with the trade talks told the Daily News that a deal “is at the two-yard line.” The Rockets would immediately become a legitimate contender in the Western Conference if they were able to land Anthony. The 33-year old is a ten-time All-Star and averaged 22.4 points per game last season. Houston already landed a superstar this offseason when it traded for point guard Chris Paul last month, and the addition of Anthony would give the Rockets a formidable Big Three of Paul, Anthony and James Harden.

Doctor Death—The FBI indicted Sherman doctor Howard Gregg Diamond on Wednesday, accusing him of writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers that led to the deaths of at least seven people in North Texas and Oklahoma, according to the Sherman Herald Democrat. Diamond, who operates a pain management office in Sherman, was arrested on Tuesday on charges including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, health care fraud, and money laundering. According to the indictment, the prescriptions written by Diamond linked to overdoses were for powerful drugs including Fentanyl, Hydromorphone, alprazolam, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, zolpidem and oxymorphone. Some of Diamond’s patients died within a few of days of filling their prescriptions. According to the Herald Democrat, federal records show Diamond prescribed opioids at a higher rate than any other doctor in Texas except for one in 2014. Diamond faces life in prison if he’s convicted.