Science The Rocket's Dead Glare After the explosion, the female narrator, apparently without irony, told the audience, “There, as you saw, and as we promised, an exciting end to the Starship Inaugural Integrated test flight.”
Texas History A Clean, Well-Lighted Place The dilemma of the Luther Hotel in Palacios is an illustration of why we can't have nice things.
Newsletter Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: The Fire Still Burns Edition A packed issue this week, so pace yourself. I'll lead off with a piece that I've been working on for a while. Today marks a significant anniversary. Fire tore through the Branch Davidian compound thirty years ago, and it is not an exaggeration to say that
US History Diamonds (and the Waco Fire) Are Forever 30 years ago today, the Branch Davidian compound outside of Waco, TX went up in flames. 78 Davidians including their messianic leader, David Koresh died in the conflagration. For 51 days, hundreds of reporters from all over the world covered the siege, standoff, and fire. It was surreal.
Texas Politics To Read is to Fly “I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” —Anna Quindlen
national politics Whatever He's For, I'm Against Our politics have gotten so trivial, we're down to drag queens, light beer, M&Ms, and Cracker Barrel. We're doing this at the expense of things, important things, that need doing.
Guns Using the Second Amendment to Battle the First Amendment Another example of the thousand cuts extremist Republicans employ to sabotage democracy.
Newsletter Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: Bud Light Edition And now, there's a beer boycott. So you can't drink America's beer while not watching America's game. (You do remember there's a boycott of the NFL, right?) Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney. Mulvaney showed off
Texas Politics Slow Motion Secession What kind of world is it when the coach of an NBA team has more courage to speak the truth than the governor of our state?
Black History A Tale of Two Thomases Is the Universe a factory of human prototypes? Some people have similar facial features or gestures but they're not from the same family, race or nation. (Sounds strange, but go with me.) Now ask - are there personality types that repeat throughout history in the same way issues and events reoccur?
personal Down to the River “Think of where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was, I had such friends.” - W.B. Yeats
Newsletter Texas Outlaw Writers' Newsletter: The Fools of April Enter Holy Week Edition Did you get punked or pranked on April 1? The Washington Post published a helpful list of all the pranks that they could find. Most are celebrity silliness, and there were a lot of phony products or services publicized by their brands in an effort for a little viral social
Trump Everybody is Lyin' but Him No one in U.S. history has ever done what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is about to undertake, and he must see his odds of failure as almost non-existent. Otherwise, why try? Bragg is on neither a fishing expedition nor a witch hunt. The fish has been landed and about to be filleted.
Trump Privilege Gone Wild: Are we tired of it yet? Time to stop ignoring the elephants in our political room. Supporting a leader with unbridled privilege & anti-American tenets is sick. Narcissism and privilege go together like dysfunctional twins. Psychologists know why those afflicted can become destructive and dangerous to themselves and others.
Economy The Debt Ceiling Dance (No Twerking, Marj) From the time George Washington raised his right hand and swore to support the Constitution and get better dentures, until right now, the country has been in hock. After getting us out of debt, Old Hickory could concentrate on his benevolent treatment of Native-Americans - like the Trail of Tears.
Texas Outlaw Writers' Newsletter: Just Another School Shooting Edition What is there to say, to write? Three 9-year-olds and three elementary school staffers were slaughtered in a shooting in Nashville, TX Monday morning. By the time you read this, they'll have had the candlelight vigil. There will be the usual calls for gun reform. There will be
Guns (More) Random Thoughts About Gun Love There is a way to prevent this and we know what it is. And if anyone cared to read the Constitution beyond the 2nd Amendment, they'd see that we have gotten it all wrong for years.
Women's Issues Women’s History Month: At War with the Law Today’s discrimination against women has an origin and fair laws and decency were not freely given or guaranteed. Sexist, racist, homophobic creatures make laws, run for office, teach our children, and are in our places of work.
education Lonesome Dumb Rep. Jared Patterson is another mindless Republican from Frisco who runs with a gang of book banners - on the edge of becoming book burners. He's proposed legislation to control books that are introduced to public school libraries in a state that already bans more books than any other in the union.
Newsletter Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: Much Ado About Trumpthings Tuesday we were PROMISED that there would be an indictment! The Orange Man in the Orange Jumpsuit memes were racing around social media like wildfire. An arrest is imminent!!! Progressives hadn't been this excited since Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Trump for obstruction of justice. Oh wait, sorry,
Trump All You Stormy Daniels Fans, Relax. Simmer down, folks. He doesn't see jail time...for this one anyway.
national politics That Awful Power Firing a reporter on almost the exact twentieth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has more than a touch of irony. Ben Montgomery, a Tampa correspondent for Axios, was canned for his honesty regarding a document the governor of Florida’s office called a “news release,” which it was not.
Women's Issues Women’s History Month: Inspiring Change from the Inside, Forcing Change from the Streets There's a structure of organizational norms created by a ruling class with little regard for human rights, fairness, or equity. Long ago, these women did both to move the needle toward fair and equitable treatment.
Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: Spring Break It Edition How's your Spring Break going? Are you skiing? Touring Europe? Building sand castles along the beach? Or are you passed out on the couch while the kids are finishing off the last box of ThinMints™ in their 12th hour of playing Minecraft? Remember when you were young and
media You Hate Me! You Really Hate Me! As someone who has been at it with greater or lesser success for 52 years and counting, I wanted to tell you what it’s like on the inside, and how we in the press feel about it.