personal stories

Roads Not Taken

I attended our 20th class reunion, in 1992. I wanted to be treated as an accomplished successful person, but to them I was still just one of the guys.

national politics

POLITICS WEARING YOU OUT? YOU’RE NOT ALONE

When I watch Boebert and Cortez, I’m reminded of something Churchill once said of US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, “He is the only bull who brings his own china shop with him.”

national politics

Honey, If Tucker's Looking Quizzical, I'm Worried

Throughout our history, we alternate between greatness and shamefulness. Slavery, and then the war to end it. Emancipation, and then Jim Crow. The Indian wars and, well casinos, I guess.

Texas Outlaw Newsletter: An Inflated Edition

Oh it's not just gasoline. Stop by the HEB and see what that buggy full of groceries costs... compared to what it cost just a couple of months ago. Yup, you'll be putting back that brisket and package of ground beef and fetching a few packs

wildlife

Pollinators in Crisis

Ruled by a queen, they have five eyes, the females do all the work, and the males have one job: to mate and die. Sound like your deadbeat cousin’s family? It’s not. It’s the lives of bees. And we need to protect them.

Guns

To See, Or Not To See

The government controls what we see, and we have let them, which is foolish in the extreme. Because we are now met in a battle on our own soil, except it is not a war, it’s the slaughter of our children.

national politics

Carville to Dems: You're Too Soft and Too Woke

The Cajun Mantis strikes again

Texas Outlaw Newsletter: Memorial Day Edition

Today is the day we honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many folks have it in their minds that it's a day to honor veterans and those currently serving, but it was started to honor those lost in battle. Originally

Guns

Baseball, Apple Pie, and Violence Baked into America’s Legacy

If you start a country by killing, stealing, and victimizing people, it’s not surprising that your cultural DNA is made up of killing, stealing, and victimizing people.

US History

For Memorial Day, A Letter from the USS Portent

The ship under my great-grandfather's command had a terribly apt name. Remembering the lost, and his own premonitions of doom.

Guns

The Moon that Never Rose

Greg Abbott’s hands are drenched in the blood of the youth of Uvalde. He said the shooter had a “mental health challenge.” So does the governor.

Guns

We Deserve to Burn in Hell for Uvalde. All of us. Yes, you too.

Uvalde was a massacre. So were other attacks. Let’s call them that.

Uvalde/NRA Special Edition #2. Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter

14 Acres of Death Our writers again wanted to put voice to the Uvalde Massacre. an installation on the Green at the anti-NRA rally... small casket with murdered children's picturesI just returned from the NRA protest in  downtown Houston where Beto O'Rourke spoke. He wanted to

Guns

Craven, Thy Name is Texas

"Guns don't kill people alone, but one in particular makes it much easier."

Texas Politics

Uvalde

Houstonians are uniquely positioned to do something this weekend as the National Rifle Association is coming to town.

Technology

Infobesity: Yep. It’s Time to Unplug... for Your Health

Information overload, infoxication, information anxiety, or information explosion: no matter what you call it, it’s about a lack of balance. I thought I had it under control, but I had to take an honest look at my new habits...

Texas Politics

Trainwreck Texas

The conversation turns to politics. My confounding love of Texas reveals an affliction that leads us all to experience as much joy as frustration.

Guns

Random Thoughts About Gun Love

What happens when you mix the killing efficiency of a military-style weapon with our usual racial hatred? Look to the recent mass murder in Buffalo.

Texas History

Dr. Sofie Herzog: Pride of Brazoria

They should have made a movie about her. They still can....The story of her life as a railroad doctor (and more) and the wonderful old-timey museums in her adopted hometown.

environment

Ungulate Replacement Theory Comes to Texas

The Big Battle in the Big Bend Between Bighorn Sheep and Aoudads

Houston

You See By My Outfit That I'm Not a Cowboy

We watched the bullriders, and I decided against it. I saw what the operator could do to someone they wanted to embarrass. Put your cat in a blender and you'll get the idea.

Texas Politics

Voter Fraud, the Chupacabra and other Texas myths

Fraud? The whole point of the crusade was not to suppress voter fraud but the suppression of voting itself.

national politics

Has the Electoral College Overstayed Its Welcome?

I’m not built to embrace voter apathy, but I increasingly understand it. When a person can be elected president while losing the popular vote, who wouldn’t lose faith in the system?

Houston

A Little Accident of Grace

A reader provides the story behind a very touching Houston memorial.

personal stories

A Southern Sensibility

“Well, James, y’all made good time, then,” she said. “I don’t think you coulda made better time than that.” I swear I saw my father blush. No finer accolade might have been offered.