World Politics

Tips for Rick Perry's Next Campaign: Stop Being Such a Lefty

Good read by Jay Root in The Texas Tribune today about whether Governor Oops will run for re-election as governor of Texas or run for something else, who knows what, president of France, whatever. Root suggests it will be the governorship again for Oops, and he talks some about other Republican gube ... More >>

Do Mexicans Love Guns as Much as We Do?

Every Anti-Abortion Bill in the Texas Legislature This Session Has Failed

Man. We remember a time, long ago last legislative session, when all your state lawmakers wanted to do was talk about abortion and how much they hated it. They were super-duper against it, as they could not seem to stop talking about, so much so that they cheerily decimated the Texas Women's Health ... More >>

Associa CEO and State Senator John Carona's Many Colorful Conflicts of Interest

John Carona, our Republican state senator from Dallas, learned some hard lessons this session about how his fellow lawmakers' business interests tend to dominate the doings in the legislature. Last month, Carona's bill to try to reform the incredibly predatory payday loan industry was picked down to ... More >>

Thanks a Bunch, IRS. Now We Gotta Respect the Tea Party -- a Little Bit.

Wow. I take it all back, Tea Party. You cool. In fact, I'm jealous. Targeted by the IRS. There was a time when that would have been my dream come true. I remember back in the day when my hippie friends started getting their FBI files under the Freedom of Information Act. I was always afraid to as ... More >>

The IRS Targeted at Least Two Local Tea Party Groups by Sending Them a Really Long Questionnaire

Washington is still reeling from the revelation on Friday that the IRS has been singling out Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny. The news immediately drew howls of bipartisan protest, and pretty much everyone agrees that using the tax system to target political enemies is not what happens in a heal ... More >>

Rick Perry and Texas Politicians Pressuring Mexico to Pay its Water Debt

Mexico owes Texas water. And as the current drought presses onward, Texas politicians are trying to turn up the heat to get Mexico to pay. Last Friday, the Texas House voted unanimously on a resolution that the federal government should pressure Mexico deliver water to the United States. The same w ... More >>

Dallas' Helen Giddings and Other Black Lawmakers Object to Security Measures at Rick Perry's Mansion

State Representative Helen Giddings was one of several Democratic lawmakers invited to the Governor's Mansion Monday afternoon for a reception hosted by the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. But she never showed up. Giddings declined the invitation to protest the requirement that she undergo a backgr ... More >>

Russian Government Accuses a Texas Mother of Drugging and Murdering Her Adopted Son

In December Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a measure banning the adoption of Russian children to American families. The move was widely considered, and tacitly acknowledged as, a retaliation against a new U.S. law targeting accused Russian human rights abusers. Russian officials portrayed ... More >>

Rockwall Mulls Declaring Federal Gun Laws Unconstitutional

Longtime Collin County Sheriff Terry Box made it clear in January that he would not be party to President Obama's attempt to disarm the Real America and, presumably, pave the way for a permanent Marxist dictatorship through a handful of modest gun control proposals. Never mind that or that a county ... More >>

More Texas Republicans Are Urging the Boy Scouts to Dig In Their Heels on Gay Ban

Texas Values, an organization whose goal is to "preserve and advance a culture of family values," has issued an open letter to the Boy Scouts of America with their thoughts on lifting the ban on gay scouts. They're against it. "While adopting this ill-considered and wrongly devised policy might ear ... More >>

A North Texas Lawmaker Wants to Exempt "Made in Texas" Guns From Federal Law

According to statistics kept by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, there are several dozen licensed gun manufacturers in the state of Texas. Most of those are small-scale operations, individuals or mom-and-pop-style shops that produce one or two pistols or rifles in a year. A ... More >>

Rambo Romney Should Call for Restarting the Draft

Make us believe you mean it, Mitt. Bring back the draft. For the better part of a week, I have been reading all these thinly veiled suggestions by Mitt Romney that President Obama isn't enough of an ass-kicker in the Middle East. His aides have been telling reporters that a President Romney right n ... More >>

Dallas State Rep. Stefani Carter, Now a Romney Surrogate, on Why Romney Should Get the Black Vote

Seems like it was only a month-and-a-half ago that Stefani Carter, the Republican state rep from North Dallas, was just another face in that Mitt Romney campaign piece about how, despite having just been booed during his speech to the NAACP, black people love him. Now, she's a full-fledged surrogate ... More >>

Election Proves Ted Cruz is a Talented Politician, But a Harbinger of Tea Party Dominance? Not So Much.

We knew it already, but Ted Cruz is Texas' next U.S. Senator. Sure, he still has to face Democrat Paul Sadler in the November general election, but this is Texas, where so long as you promise to cut taxes and put a big 'R' somewhere near your name, you're good. The victory, unthinkable a few months ... More >>

Looks Like the Tea Party's Gonna Elect Cruz Fair and Square. So, Let's Change the Game.

Texas will elect it's next senator today. Odds are, you won't vote for him. In fact, a good number of you, even if you're registered to vote, can't vote in the truly decisive race going down Tuesday, because you were dumb enough to vote in the Democratic primary in May. Suckers. So, let's all clap ... More >>

Why Can't Mexico Cash in IOUs for its Stolen Culture?

Texas Democrats Make Fun of Republicans with Weird Animated Video, Santorum Jokes

Someone has shown the Texas Democratic Party the video creator apps on YouTube, and the results are Lego George W. Bush, a joke about santorum (the frothy kind), a version of Rick Perry that looks like a rotund funeral home director and some jabs at sweater vests. Politicians, please start making ... More >>

On Fracking and Building Roads Along the River, Who Are the Real Conservatives?

So today I put aside my morning paper after the customary two-minute encyclopedic read, and I think, "OK Lawners, you tell me." You work it out. I can't. I'm tired. So you give me the answer. Who is the "conservative" here? On the one hand I have former City Council member Lois Finkelman in report ... More >>

Medicaid Women's Health Program Is One Step Closer To Death

The Medicaid Women's Health Program provides some 130,000 Texas women with vital medical care: family planning, birth control, cancer screenings and annual exams. And for that, of course, it must die. That, at least, has long been the case as far as Republican lawmakers are concerned. And after last ... More >>

So, Rick Perry's Quitting After All

​So says CNN: "The Texas governor will make the announcement before the CNN debate in South Carolina." And Politico: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to end his presidential campaign Thursday and endorse Newt Gingrich." (Ooooh, speaking of.) A press conference has been scheduled for 10ish this m ... More >>

Beating Up Babes in Toyland

Perry and Tea Party make a blue Christmas for needy kids.

State Maps Stayed, Texas AG Abbott Now Wants Supremes to Delay Candidate Filing Period

Carol Kent's hoping to run for House Disrict 107, if there is a House Distict 107.​As we were leaving the office Friday, word came down that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (and former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement) got what they wanted from the U.S. Supreme Court: a ruling that, for now, ... More >>

Is Mexico's Narco War a Revolution?

And why won't my gay boyfriend's Mexican family acknowledge our relationship?

Wiping the Sheen off Conservative Rich Guys' Morality

​Today, a commenter on a previous blog item of mine about GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain suggested it was mighty mysterious that President Obama doesn't have any sexual peccadilloes in his closet when so many Republican presidential contenders seem to. "Joshua," the commenter, suggest ... More >>

Paul Clement's To-Do List Just Got Longer As He Tries to Toss Texas's Redistricting Maps

​On Wednesday we got our first look at the new-look Texas maps drawn by the court, which is attempting to rectify the U.S. Department of Justice's concerns that the state Legislature is attempting to keep Hispanics from voting for Hispanic candidates, especially in Dallas-Fort Worth. To which Texa ... More >>

Rick Perry's Manufactured Miracle

Rick Perry's Texas is a job-making, low-taxing oasis of prosperity. It's also pure fantasy.

Top Chef Producers Sue to Suppress Details of Their Deal With Texas Taxpayers

Chris Christie, the seriously-non-president-running governor of New Jersey, recently pulled the plug on $420,000 in government subsidies for Jersey Shore, calling the tax incentives "wasteful spending" on a show that poorly represents his state. Texas Governor Rick Perry's office? It sees no such w ... More >>

Is Mexico a Tea Party paradise?

Want to Jump at the Chance to Be Mexico's Prez?

Before Mayoral Candidates Make Issue Out of Political Affiliations, a Look at Who's What

During the 2007 mayoral campaign, former city council member Ed Oakley sent out mailers depicting himself and convicted felon Don Hill as Democrats and Tom Leppert and former Mayor Pro Tem Max Wells as Republicans. Oakley also accepted the endorsement of the Dallas County Democratic Party and printe ... More >>

Why can't Mexicans keep their cactus-pickin' fingers off other people's plants?

Fantasy Voter Fraud

Are Mexican-American Border Patrol Agents Traitors?

Local Republican Party Drops Three Grand to Protest President Obama's Visit to Dallas

​While President Obama drops by the Highland Park home of lawyer Russell Budd this evening to raise dough and break bread with local Dems, Republicans are rallying at Franklin Stadium next to Hillcrest High School to ... well, to do what? "It's not just complaining about the Democrats," says ... More >>

Why Would the United States Want to Follow Mexico's Immigration Example?

Call It a Tea Party, Serve Beer: On Tax Day, Getting Populist at the Ballpark

Patrick MichelsThe Tax Day Tea Partier's sophomore effort drew the largest crowd QuikTrip Park's ever hosted.Heading west on I-30 from downtown last night, you'd have passed two stretches of stalled traffic -- the first, along the access road just across the Trinity, made up of the grumbling masses ... More >>

Wait a dang Minute Man: Who's This Guy Filling in for the Mexican?

Local Activists' Response to Egypt's Ban on Gaza March: We're Going Anyway

Roger Kallenberg and Diane Baker of the Dallas Peace Center​On Tuesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry warned activists planning to march across its border into Gaza to mark the anniversary of last year's conflict that they'll be "dealt with by the law." But that isn't stopping Roger Kallenberg ... More >>

Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison Are Locked In A Pitched Battle Over The Soul Of The GOP. They Are Also Running For Governor.

No Justice: We've Bailed Out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind Our Financial Collapse?

In Dealey Plaza Saturday, Dallas Participates in the Global Day of Action for Iran

Photos by Megan Feldman​On Saturday afternoon, around 100 people gathered at Dealey Plaza to protest the Iranian government and show support for pro-democracy demonstrators in that country, where the regime has been retaliating against widespread protests since the June 12 election. Saturday's ... More >>

Without China, Dallas Dies. At Least, That's What It Sounds Like in This Story.

Felipe Calderón Said All the Right Things Yesterday. But ... Then What?

The Blair Bitch Project

Mexico, Mexicos--That Ain't So Bueno

¡Ask a Mexican!

Fog of War

A group of veterans says John Kerry stretches the truth about his Vietnam service. Who can you believe? Who knows?

Unlocking the Gong

A group of Falun Gong, the outlawed Chinese spiritual movement, travel from Dallas to D.C. on an urgent rescue mission, sending out righteous thoughts and cultivating Xing Xing along the way

Run Over

Small towns in the Big Bend area brace for an onslaught of Mexican trucks rolling their way thanks to NAFTA