James C. Moore

The American Scheme

If you wonder how America got to its present state of bipolar dysfunction, the answer is the interbreeding of media, corporate interests, and political ambitions, which combine to destroy scrutiny of right and wrong. It wasn't long ago when lying and exaggeration ruined a politician’s career.

Conspiracy theories

American Coup: The Day Democracy Died

“American Coup” is the true story of a pivotal moment for the United States. It’s the tale of how an ambitious young man from the Hill Country aligned himself with economic, intelligence, and military forces to kill a president in order to replace him. LBJ was complicit in the killing of JFK...

Immigration

The First Reich of Texas

“The house that you live in will never fall down when you pity the stranger that stands at your gate.” - Lightfoot

national politics

Growing Up

"We were a Dixie Diaspora, believing hard work was the magic for fulfilling dreams, not just breaking backs and hearts. The repeated tasks of a factory floor held more allure than swinging a hoe and chopping cotton along the Mississippi River, but it might have even been harder on the spirit."

Border

The Coming Sadness

In 1997, Esequiel Hernandez became the first American killed on native soil by this country’s military since the May 4, 1970, National Guard killings at Kent State during a Vietnam War protest. More American guns are pointing south along the border now. The odds go up daily for another tragedy.

Texas Politics

The Border Lords

"...every executive order by Greg Abbott, regarding the border with Mexico, increases the risk of an incident even more horrendous than the current humanitarian crisis on our doorstep."

national politics

The Saga of Jim Jordan's Jacket

“Government remains the paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others - only to lose it over themselves.” - Barbara Tuchman, Author, The Guns of August

Texas Politics

What's the Matter with Texas?

“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” - Winston Churchill

Texas History

The Boys of Praha

"In the space of 12 months and nine days, Praha gave up most of its youth -- and nearly all of its future -- to confront unimaginable forms of evil on faraway continents."

personal stories

Cowboy Down

“One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins." - Wallace Stegner, Western author

national politics

Why I Went to the Woods, Too

The gears of our democracy, oiled with the blood of patriots, are being jammed by liars and theorists who no longer believe it works, and no outcome, other than one that pleases their constituents, is to be believed.

personal stories

The Guns of October

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”― Gen. Omar N. Bradley

Texas Politics

No Bugles, No Drums

"Ten members of the Texas National Guard have died in the Texas governor’s multi-billion-dollar presidential campaign commercial called “Operation Lone Star,” and Abbott has offered them anonymity, not honor, for their deaths."

Podcast

Somebody to Look Down On

“And that’s what just kills me,” George said. “I gotta go to bed every night now for the next four goddamn years thinkin’ about a n***er in my White House. What the hell is wrong with this country?”

personal stories

When Horses Could Fly

My mother’s love gave me the courage to say no. Even if I wanted to indulge in their teenaged stupidity, I resisted because getting caught and arrested would have destroyed Ma. She wanted something better, which she was unable to even define, for her kids.

Religion

The Least of These

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respected stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges.” - President George Washington

personal stories

The Wounds of War

I did not want to live in Canada because it was colder than Michigan, but I figured it was much better than dying in the jungles of VietNam for no apparent reason. With my low draft number, I was certain to be inducted and sent to basic and on to Southeast Asia.

Texas Politics

Ann Richards and the Lost Eagle

The center of attention was a woman, the governor of the state of Texas, who had just released an American bald eagle from her leather-sheathed and extended arm. She'd made plans to raft Santa Elena Canyon with friends before returning to Austin. “Why don’t y’all come along?” She was speaking to us.

Abortion

That One Thing

If nothing else were spoken of the entire campaign season this autumn, abortion ought to be enough to defeat Republicans. The same Trump party fools who refused vaccines with the chant of “my body, my choice,” are telling women they cannot legally make choices about their bodies.

personal stories

Adventures of a Young Man: Starting Out in the West

“You need a tape. Nobody will hire you without a tape.” The DJ struck me as a leather-sandaled beer keg in a tie-dyed tee shirt, but he had a voice that suggested death coming round a curve...

Texas Politics

It's Only Words

"I want to know that if a person who laughs about 19 school kids being obliterated by what amounts to a military-grade weapon is not a motherfucker, then who is?"

Texas Politics

A Letter from Texas

"Fascism in Texas is no longer creeping. It is up and running with Olympian legs."

national politics

Called to the Colors: Betrayal of the American Veteran

Our culture has become very skilled at ginning up false causes for invasions and wasting the honor and patriotism of our young on lies. Young recruits believe their government and the political leaders sending them into conflict, and that, sadly, is their mistake.

environment

How the West Was Lost

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” - W.H. Auden

Baseball

Best of the Pecos

“You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” - Jim Bouton, pitcher, author