Please shut up, CM Travis

And delete your Facebook account while you’re at it.

CM Greg Travis

The mayor, city activists and some of District G Councilmember Greg Travis’ colleagues are denouncing offensive comments he made online about former first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

On Facebook, Travis posted a meme that shows a photo of Obama, speaking demonstratively while sitting down, next to a photo of current First Lady Melania Trump, who has her legs crossed. Travis wrote, “Yep. Just saying,” on the post. In comments, he said affirmative action, the program that gives minorities preference in university admissions, was the reason Obama was admitted to Harvard Law School.

“It’s called Affirmative Action. Doesn’t take much—she was born with her qualification,” Travis wrote. “She isn’t the brightest bulb in the lot.”

Travis also wrote that Harris’ career was owed to a former romantic partner. Without him, Travis said, “she’d be working in an office cubicle.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “would be nothing without Bill,” he wrote.

Ashton Woods, a founder and leader of Houston’s chapter of Black Lives Matter, said on Twitter the comments are evidence Travis “hates black women” and wrote: “DEMAND HIS RESIGNATION,” with a call for people to sign up to speak at the next city council meeting on Jan. 5.

“It’s enough. We don’t need to talk representation at city council, because if he says things like this what other ideologies is he taking with him to work… with the most women ever elected to Houston city council,” Woods said. “It says to me that he has a problem with well-educated Black women.”

Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office said he asked Travis to take down the post and comments, which it described as “offensive.”

“The mayor is disappointed by the post and has no other comment at this time,” Mary Benton, Turner’s communications director, said.

Travis is unapologetic. He said the post was a meme that has circulated for years, and the comments represented his opinion. He only deleted them because the mayor asked him to do so “as a friend.”

The Press has screenshots, if you missed seeing the posts in question. No question that CM Travis is an idiot and a waste of space on Council, but there’s literally nothing anyone can say or do that will get him to resign, and he’s in his second term so he won’t face the voters again. CM Tiffany Thomas called for Travis to be censured, citing the precedent of then-CM Jim Westmoreland, who was censured in 1989 for his egregiously racist statements about the late Congressman Mickey Leland. I’m fine with that, but we should recognize that things like censure only work on people who are capable of feeling shame and remorse. Maybe the Council members who are justifiably angry about this can find a way to shun CM Travis until he expresses some regret for his actions. I’m not exactly sure how that would work, but it’s a thought.

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23 Responses to Please shut up, CM Travis

  1. Flypusher says:

    “It’s called Affirmative Action. Doesn’t take much—she was born with her qualification,” Travis wrote. “She isn’t the brightest bulb in the lot.”

    I suspect he’s just fine with Jared Kushner buying himself into Harvard. Or W getting into Yale via affirmative action for rich kids, AKA legacy.

  2. David Fagan says:

    From the referenced material:
    “Yes, Harris did indeed date San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown in the mid-90s while her own career as a district attorney was taking office.”
    Soooooooo, making a comment on this statement would obviously put anyone in the crosshairs of being called a (fill in the blank), what conclusions are people to come to?.

    Obviously, Harris did all of her own campaigning and fundraising without the help of people she knew, because using contacts to advantage her position would be corrupt and no Democrat vice president is corrupt, especially non white, non Male, non Republican, non third party ones.

    I voted for the only woman presidential candidate offered this voting cycle, so there.

  3. David Fagan says:

    White folks have benefited from affirmative action also. When it comes to historically black colleges, those colleges have to abide by the same laws.

  4. Manny says:

    Flypusher, you forgot to mention the white Cuban, Cruz. He also went to Princeton and Harvard Law School, he got in the same way Michelle Obama did.

    Jarad dad’s paid 2.5 million to get him in. Over 30% of those ivy league schools students are legacy students, they get in because of who their parents are.

  5. David Fagan says:

    The Houston fire department is 189 people short today, with 8 apparatus out of service that will not respond to any emergency, including flooding. Because of covid, because of political tensions, but short nonetheless.

    And people are concerned with a Facebook post.

    The mayor better be thanking God they didn’t lay off any fire fighters in the past, because these times are what people were trying to warn about. FF’s continue to leave this department.

  6. David Fagan says:

    Kuff, I would like to let you know, Tower 6 is one apparatus that continues to be put out of service, and is out of service today. This is the ladder type truck that serves the heights area, the same one that saved the man from the balcony of the inferno of an unfinished apartment complex.

    If this doesn’t concern you, or your family, or your neighbors, then fine. If it does bring concern to you, contact your council member.

  7. blank says:

    “And lets (sic) not talk about Kamala—her qualification is that she sleeps with powerful men—some role model of a strong woman. Without Willy Brown, she’d be working in an office cubicle.”

    Saying that a successful woman only slept her way to the top is as offensive as it gets. If he said this in many work environments, then he would be fired by the end of the day.

  8. brad says:

    And there are some leaves blocking my curb side drainage and its raining outside. This is important people!!!

    Sheesh.

    I can’t believe we are concerned with a little racism and misogyny by an elected city council member and acceptance by their supporters.

    As for the fire department don’t get your underwear in a wad. Its raining outside. Can’t have a fire when its raining. [See same argument by such racist city council member supporters that there is no global warming because it is snowing in Canada right now]

  9. David Fagan says:

    Brad, interesting you’d say that on a post about Greg Travis, because it was Greg Travis the fire department had to help out during one of our recent floods. Flood can occur when it is raining, oh, and fires do also. Mother nature don’t give a fuck, a lightning bolt hits many a house.

  10. Jason Hochman says:

    CM Travis was also behind outlawing the “robot brothel” that was going to open in Houston two years ago. He is anti business. Also, we need robot sex partners, since humans are now unsafe partners. They are sacs of disease just waiting to cough on you. Or so the media tells us, which is one reason why murders in the city are up nearly 50%. Just saw on the Chronicle four dead in domestic violence. That is a tragic story, of 4 people who won’t see the new year.

  11. Bill Daniels says:

    I’m just here to enjoy the lively thread discussion. As to the photo comparison…..it’s EXACTLY like the story of the emperor who had no clothes. We’re told that we must fawn over Michelle as a real beauty, probably the most beautiful, classically feminine, First Lady we’ve ever seen, and in the same breath, we’re told that Melania is pond scum, not attractive, and certainly not classically feminine. Magazines that fawned over private citizen Melania and had her featured on and in their magazines, turned on a dime and refused to put her in print once her husband won.

    And we’re gonna throw rocks at any kid who dares to state the obvious, that the king is, in fact, buck naked.

    As far as Ashton Woods, LOL. That guy is one of the more racist people in Houston, he probably hates Whites even more than Manny, and is a thug at that. I saw him get in a fist fight on TV at…his OWN anti-White EVENT. So having a guy like that telling us who is and isn’t racist? Um, yeah, OK, Ashton, you go with your bad self.

    As far as affirmative action goes, it’s just a fact that no one should really be able to disagree with. A non white, like Michelle, undeniably benefited from it. Did she take the slot that would have gone to a White or Asian with better grades, but for AA? Most certainly. We as a society made that choice a long time ago. Michelle benefited from that. Everything worked exactly as intended, but we can’t talk about it? Emperor has no clothes.

  12. Manny says:

    Bill for a racist, a bigot, a misogynist, a fascist lover, you are not as stupid as most your kind.

    Melania looked good on the cover of the New York Post, great choice of wardrobe.

    What a miserable world your kind live in, blaming others for your deficiencies and failures.

  13. Manny says:

    Bill even the far right thinks you are looney,

    “Tin foil around you head to protect you from the alien rays”

    You ain’t functioning with a full brain Bill, you need serious mental help.

  14. Ross says:

    CM Travis is an idiot if he thinks Hilary Clinton’s success is due to Bill. She’s the smarter more driven one in that pair. She’s responsible for Bill’s success.

    Melania is a nasty woman. If Donald Trump can say that about other men’s wives, we can say it about his.

  15. Flypusher says:

    Melania also got one of those Einstein Visas, although I see no evidence that she was actually deserving of one.

  16. Bill Daniels says:

    I feel like we should be having some fun with all these racism accusations….maybe make them the new ‘yo’ mama’ jokes?

    Manny, you so racist, you became lactose intolerant when you discovered that milk was white. 😉

  17. Jen says:

    A male acquaintance and I exchanged email addresses a few years ago, before I knew much about him. He seemed like a normal nice guy, until I started getting the daily racist email feed. These ‘jokes’ had obviously been forwarded ad infinitum and most were unbelievably offensive. Bill and CM Travis are trying to normalize the derogatory attitude towards women and minorities that is normal for them and many Republicans, hoping to bring back the good old days when virulent racism and misogyny were ordinary talk and no big deal.

  18. Ross says:

    Bill, how do you know that Michelle Obama took a slot away from another race with better grades? She was near the top of her class in HS, and graduated cum laude from Princeton. She’s a smart person. Plus, it’s not all about grades, either. It’s wanting diversity in your student body, which means recruiting students that might have been bypassed before. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to offer a place to a more rounded individual with slightly worse grades, than to a person with perfect grades who has nothing else going for them.

  19. Manny says:

    Bill i still drink milk, must be the Native American DNA.

  20. Bill Daniels says:

    “July 14, 2020
    How Affirmative Action Screwed Up Michelle Obama
    By Jack Cashill

    In 1985, Michelle Obama presented her senior thesis in the sociology department of Princeton University. Although Michelle drew no such conclusion, the thesis is a stunning indictment of affirmative action. Those who benefited from it, Michelle most notably, may never recover from its sting.

    Her thesis reads like a cry for help. “I have found that at Princeton no matter how matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me,” she writes, “I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as I really don’t belong.”

    She didn’t. Michelle should never have been admitted to Princeton. Thanks to the “numerous opportunities” presented by affirmative action, however, Princeton is where she found herself. “Told by counselors that her SAT scores and her grades weren’t good enough for an Ivy League school,” writes biographer Christopher Andersen, “Michelle applied to Princeton and Harvard anyway.” Sympathetic biographer Liza Mundy writes, “Michelle frequently deplores the modern reliance on test scores, describing herself as a person who did not test well.”

    She did not write well, either. She even typed badly. Mundy charitably describes the thesis as “dense and turgid.””

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/how_affirmative_action_screwed_up_michelle_obama.html

    Ross,

    She’s TELLING YOU she didn’t get in on her SAT score and grades, ergo, she displaced an applicant out there with better grades and a better test score. So, how did she pull off this amazing feat, defying the predictions of even her school counselors? A: race card.

    I’m not even arguing against the AA policy. That was the policy, and Michelle benefited from it, just as Manny correctly points out, legacy kids also benefit from policy.

    My question for you Ross, is, why is it so difficult for you to acknowledge that a program you yourself support worked exactly as intended, and promoted a less qualified candidate to a collegiate spot?

  21. Bill Daniels says:

    Here’s part one of Michelle’s senior thesis at Princeton, for your reading enjoyment:

    https://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf

    Read it, Ross. Does this look like college level work to you, Ross? Be honest. All I see here is the archetypal angry black woman venting. I mean, she freely admits that she was never proud of our country until her husband won a presidential election. She tells you she’s not a happy camper, despite using her black privilege to her full advantage.

    If you’d like links to the rest, I’d be happy to post them.

  22. brad says:

    Why didn’t CM Greg Travis post the full nude modeling photos of Melania Trump next to Michelle Obama, as Melania slept her way to the top with a “powerful” man?

    Or does CM Travis think that Melania earned everything she worked for? That college architecture degree Melania lied about on her biographical data certainly did position herself for great things in life.

  23. Manny says:

    Bill, you must be wearing that tin foil around your head too often.

    The reason you did not get into Princeton is that you are a white male right Bill?

    Like the god you worship, Trump, you are one whinny sorry excuse for a human.

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