Clinton Has 9-10 Point Lead In Texas' Largest County

Harris County, the county that contains Houston, is the Texas county with the largest population -- more than 16% of the population in the whole state. It matters what happens in Houston and the other large cities in the state, because that's where a majority of the population live. And if Houston is any indicator, then Texas might really be turning purple this year.

As the chart above shows, Hillary Clinton has a 10 point lead over Donald Trump among Harris county registered voters, and a 9 point lead with likely voters. President Obama carried Harris county in 2008 and 2012, but not by a margin even close to this. In 2008, Obama's margin over McCain was only 1.63 points (50.45% to 48.82%). In 2012, Obama's margin over Romney was even smaller -- a mere 0.08 points (49.39% to 49.31%). This huge margin for Clinton in Harris county could mean the race is much closer statewide than in the last few elections.

The chart above was made from the results in a new University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs Poll -- done between September 1st and 20th of a random sample of 550 Harris county registered voters, and has a margin of error of 4 points.

Important Rights Case Starting In Houston

Today is the start of a very important civil rights case in Houston. Two brothers, Sean Carlos Ibarra and Erik Adam Ibarra, have filed suit against Harris County, Sheriff Tommy Thomas and four of his deputies. They are claiming the Harris County deputies arrested them without cause.

The whole thing started when Harris County Sheriff's deputies conducted a drug raid on the house next door to where the Ibarras lived. The Ibarras took their camera and began to take pictures of the raid being conducted. This angered the deputies, so they stormed the Ibarra home, destroyed the film in their camera and arrested both of the brothers.

The brothers were charged with resisting arrest. But when they were taken to trial, they were cleared of any wrongdoing. After being cleared, the brothers filed the suit. The civil case will begin today, and is expected to last from two-four weeks.

I believe the deputies were clearly in the wrong in this case. They had no probable cause to enter the Ibarra home or arrest them. They were not breaking any laws and were not interfering with the raid being conducted. They were simply taking pictures.

We do not live in a secret police state. All citizens have the right to document police actions with pictures (or with words). If the police were not doing anything wrong, they shouldn't mind a citizen documenting their actions. If they were doing wrong, then we should be thankful for honest citizens willing to document it.

I hope the Ibarra brothers win a sizeable judgement. A message must be sent to all law enforcement agencies in this country that this kind of rogue police action will not be tolerated. They cannot violate a citizen's rights, even when they are angry.

Another Victory For Religious Freedom

The United States Supreme Court has just acted to uphold religious freedom in the United States. Many in this country seem to believe that religious freedom means they have the right to force their particular religion on everyone else.

But that is not what our Founding Fathers thought. To them, religious freedom meant that no one religion would be recognized by the state and forced on those who did not believe in it.

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that it was unconstitutional for Harris County to display the 10 Commandments on a monument on government property.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled that the monument must be removed. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the ruling. By refusing to accept the appeal by Harris County on Monday, the Supreme Court is letting Judge Lake's ruling stand.

Randall Kallinen, the attorney for the lady who originally brought the lawsuit against Harris County, said, "The ruling by Sim Lake was a very accurate ruling and actually depicts the law. This case has always been about religious freedom. In the United States, we are a nation of many religions. And to stick with one sect of Christianity, that one represented by the King James version Bible only, is not what America is about."

In America, the majority cannot be allowed to force their religion on others who believe differently. Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed.