I don’t know if Hillary Clinton has brain damage. I consider it unlikely and am not sure how a new pair of glasses indicates her gray matter is getting banged up from her previous problem. But I do know something about Karl Rove, who has just made that claim, and Read more…
We lived in a trailer on the ranch and the Rio Grande was less than a mile distant across the old Mines Road in Laredo. The river was so close that immigrants were often still wet when they came by our door on the way to the railroad tracks that Read more…
“It’s nearly ten years old but “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” by Thomas Frank remains the clearest argument I know for why huge numbers of middle class voters continue to embrace the Republican Party, even though its policies hurt them the most. Frank’s solidly researched book traces the change in Read more…
Guest post by Mary Pauline Lowry, whose new book “Wildfire” will be published in October. Her previous novel, “The Earthquake Machine,” was a Texas girl’s coming of age story that received wide critical praise. When I was in high school–to quote the television show Portlandia– “the dream of the 90s” Read more…
Rick Perry has a problem. And it may damage more than just his political career. A grand jury and a special prosecutor are investigating allegations that the governor of Texas may have bribed and threatened a key state official to force her out of office as part of an attempt Read more…
“There were other lonely singers in a world turned deaf and blind who were crucified for what they tried to show. And their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time but the truth remains and someone wants to know.” – Kristofferson In the morning dark, he stood Read more…
Nothing has changed, yet. The new poll on the Texas governor’s race and other statewide campaigns, which was released yesterday, shows the Republican Greg Abbott with a comfortable 51-37 lead over Democrat Wendy Davis. The numbers come from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) in North Carolina. Generally, this is what Read more…
“Young man, young man, your arms are too short to box with God.” – James Weldon Johnson We went down into the Grand Canyon when Butch got home from the war. Neither of us had thought about a destination with any detail but the canyon was dramatic enough to get Read more…
As presidents, politicians, and historians gather at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, there is a radical reconsideration underway regarding the legacy of the Texan who is credited with changing American race relations. A few blocks distant Read more…
I have long been bothered about the constitutionality of random checks of motorists by police. I, of course, like the idea of drunks being off the streets and not behind the wheel of vehicles, but I don’t like the concept of giving police authority without probable cause. I agree that Read more…
The notion that Greg Abbott was going to become governor of Texas without much of a fight has quickly disappeared into a smog of bad decisions. The state’s attorney general, who has recently been defending a public education plan derived, in part, from the dissertations of a gender and racial Read more…
Guest post by Gary Scharrer Texas is headed for the ditch, but few people are aware of the state’s perilous path. The demographers have seen the future, though, because it’s in their numbers. And they’ve been sounding the alarm. But any meaningful reaction has been stifled by those willing to Read more…
There was a moment in the Ann Richards campaign against George W. Bush when I knew in advance she had lost. The late governor was speaking to a Girls’ State assembly, which is a little legislature created annually for high school students to meet for a day and learn about Read more…
Anyone who has watched, even from a remove, the rulings of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, is not surprised by the decision to uphold the new restrictive Texas abortion laws. It is, however, slightly baffling that three of the justices were women, and that the Read more…
You never know who’s watching your tweet stream. Or maybe you should assume someone is that might have a question or two. During a trip last week to the Rio Grande Valley, a political activist informed me that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz had made only one visit to the region Read more…