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Opinion: Another American Tragedy

By Lorretta Ruggiero

May 25, 2022

Two weeks ago, I attended my daughter’s graduation from the University of Houston. This week, I watched with thousands of other parents and family members as my son graduated from high school. And at both graduations, I cried. Not only with the bittersweet emotions of a proud parent, but also...

In Houston: Women's Marchers Protest the Expected Overturning of Roe v. Wade

By Houston Press

May 16, 2022

On Saturday, protesters marched from Discovery Green to Houston's City Hall in opposition to the expected overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. The crowd was dominated by women, several of whom carried signs demanding the right to control their own bodies. The U.S. Supreme Court, thanks...

Opinion: Using Stranger Things to Teach a 12-Year-Old Why Ronald Reagan Sucked

By Jef Rouner

Apr 21, 2022

I recently decided that the Kid With One F was old enough to watch Netflix’s Stranger Things. This may or may not have been because I wanted to do a rewatch before the season premiere next month and it was a good way to claim the living room television without...

Bill Maher Has a Lot to Say about Trump, Ted Cruz, Wokeness, Millennials & More

By Bob Ruggiero

Mar 31, 2022

For one hour each week (and a little extra online), Bill Maher addresses, dissects, skewers, pontificates and debates with guests the social and political topics of the day on his long-running HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher. But given just how batshit crazy things are going these days in...

The '90s — in All Their Glory and Infamy — Return in a New Book

By Bob Ruggiero

Mar 14, 2022

To his admirers, Chuck Klosterman is one of today’s most trenchant, incisive and often very funny pop culture critics and historians. Readers devour his books and essay collections like Fargo Rock City and Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Others can find him too-hip-for-thou. Regardless, his newest effort—the straightforwardly-titled, The Nineties:...

Abbott and O'Rourke Cruise to Primary Victory, Paxton Faces Runoff

By Margaret Downing

Mar 2, 2022

As expected, the results from Tuesday's midterm primaries mean Democrat Beto O'Rourke will face incumbent Republican Greg Abbott for the Texas governor's spot in the November elections. O'Rourke won handily with more than 90 percent of the votes cast. Abbott had slightly more of a tussle — with 93 percent...

Houston Republican Candidate for District 7 Claims She Hired “Illegals”

By Jef Rouner

Feb 17, 2022

President of Blum’s Furniture, Tina Blum Cohen, admitted in bizarre Facebook thread last year that she hired “illegals.” Cohen is currently vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Lizzie Fletcher in District 7. Fletcher unexpectedly flipped the district in 2018, and since the redistricting is now almost certain to retain...

An Increasing Number of Politicians Get Bitten By the Crypto Bug

By Jef Rouner

Feb 4, 2022

Cryptocurrency may be coming to a Texas government in 2023. Turns out there has been an upswing in the number of politicians across the country who think it's a good idea to bring it into government and this state has its share of adherents. Take for instance the 2022 midterm...

Plenty of Fear, Plenty of Loathing in New Hunter S. Thompson Biography

By Tom Richards

Feb 3, 2022

Certain individuals among us – primarily those of us who were once teenage males, fancied themselves writers, and edited their high school newspapers during the 1970s – could recite this passage from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas verbatim: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert...

Shemekia Copeland's Search for Civility

By Bob Ruggiero

Jan 24, 2022

Sometimes in the practice of music journalism, even if your Friendly Neighborhood Scribe has scheduled and reconfirmed a date and time for an interview with a musician, sometimes they’re taken off-guard when they actually pick up the phone. But it’s OK that the great blues singer Shemekia Copeland seems a...

League of Women Voters Offers Webinar on Effect of New State Laws For Voters Over 65 and With Disabilities

By Margaret Downing

Dec 14, 2021

If you're over 65 or have a disability that makes a trek to the polls difficult or impossible, the League of Women Voters is offering a webinar Wednesday lining out what you are and aren't entitled to under the new tightened Texas voting laws. In conjunction with The Arc of Texas,...

Opinion: 5 Reasons Liberals Love Christmastime

By Jef Rouner

Dec 1, 2021

Welcome to December or, as Fox & Friends and Tucker Carlson would have it, the War on Christmas. In the time-honored Christmas tradition of ghost stories as the year grows dark, conservatives have loved to scare the country with a made-up threat regarding the end of the beloved year-end celebration...

10 Ways to Change the Subject When Politics Comes Up This Holiday Season

By Jeff Balke

Nov 25, 2021

It's the holidays. You can tell because every store is blaring Christmas music and there are strung lights hanging from every available tree, roof overhang and shopping center. Right now, it feels a bit whimsical and nostalgic. By December 26, you'll want to strangle an elf and eat venison made...

Opinion: Rittenhouse Verdict Further Sanctifies “Defensive” Murder

By Jef Rouner

Nov 22, 2021

The jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse case found him not guilty of murder, which is exactly what laws like the Wisconsin castle doctrine are designed to do. It’s also a huge win for people obsessed with fatal defensive gun use. It’s a common misconception that the jury in the Rittenhouse...

Opinion: Beware the Virginia Trans Assault Trap in Texas’ Upcoming Governor’s Race

By Jef Rouner

Nov 17, 2021

A lot of factors contributed to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial win in Virginia earlier this month, including the fact that Virginia nearly always switches from the president’s party in their governor races. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned much, though, is the fact that shortly before Election Day there was...

Beto O'Rourke Announces to No One's Surprise That He's Running For Texas Governor

By Margaret Downing

Nov 15, 2021

To absolutely no one's surprise, El Paso Democrat Beto O'Rourke announced Monday that he is running for Texas governor — a statement immediately greeted with end-of-days warnings among Republican politicos. O'Rourke's message: that the elected leaders in Texas haven't done right by the people living in the state, that they've...

Technicality That Enabled the Texas Abortion Ban May Trip it Up Before U.S. Supreme Court

By Margaret Downing

Nov 2, 2021

It is more than a little ironic that the technical loophole the Texas conservative officials used to shut down the federally-guaranteed right to abortion in our state may be upended by another technicality. And by conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, no less. Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments...

Opinion: Matt Krause's Bad Books List Another Sign of the Texas Dystopia?

By Margaret Downing

Oct 27, 2021

Students in Texas public schools shouldn't read books that involve sexism or racism because it might make them feel bad? Armed with a list of about 850 books that he apparently finds suspect, Matt Krause, the conservative state rep (R-Fort Worth), wants an accounting from an unknown number of the state's...

Gov. Abbott Digs in Further on No Vax Mandates For Employees

By Margaret Downing

Oct 12, 2021

In yet another do-over for Greg Abbott, on Monday the Texas governor issued his latest executive order now saying that private businesses in the state cannot mandate COVID vaccinations for employees. In a previous executive order, Abbott said governments could not require employees to be vaccinated but that he would...

Federal Judge Blocks Texas Abortion Law — For Now

By Margaret Downing

Oct 7, 2021

”Labeling it an "unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme," a federal judge Wednesday issued an order blocking the new Texas abortion law — at least for now — which means that abortion providers can resume their activities in the state if they feel confident enough to do so. Predictably, the opinion...

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Opinion: What I Learned From Getting Starbucks With QAnon

Texas Legislator Wants to Ban Minors From Drag Events

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