Uh-Oh. Hippie Liberal Elitism Alert. If you are a hippie liberal like me, do not, repeat, DO NOT read the story in today’s New York Times about National Park Service plans for curbing visitation to Yosemite National Park. Reading of this story may cause serious damage to your democratic convictions…
Yesterday when he told the Urban League he was going after Texas on voting rights, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder quoted a federal court decision last year in which the court said Hispanic plaintiffs in Texas had “provided more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need, to…
All right. Maybe the headline was a little sensational. If the headline had been, “Interesting Charette Held,” you wouldn’t be here, would you? And there was some talk of dynamite last night at the “Connected City” seminar at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Different people, I’m sure, left last night’s deal…
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, talking last week about the worries some people harbor concerning the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination in Dealey Plaza, recalled his own recent visit to President Obama’s second inaugural in Washington. When a pro-life person climbed a tree and attempted to disrupt the inaugural, Rawlings…
Took the tour yesterday at Museum Tower, the new 42-story condo tower accused by The Dallas Morning News of torching the Nasher Sculpture Center in the arts district downtown with its reflected light. I’m no architecture critic. But, wow. Pretty damn sweet. Oh, not the torching. Sorry. I meant the…
For about three months I was a pre-law student in college — a fact, I have always felt, that should give me the right to dispense partial legal advice. Partial legal advice, in my view, is legal advice that you should rely on only partially. So with that in mind,…
Which event are we talking about here? Individual Dallas school board members — job-defenders who are sworn enemies of the ongoing school reform program — violate normal process to release an internal school district report highly critical of Dallas Superintendent Mike Miles. Before folks have time to read the thing,…
Ah, Detroit. This morning, saddened by the bleak news of bankruptcy and shame, I pulled from the shelf my worn copy of a book of Detroit legends and re-read my favorite of all, the story of the Loup Garou. French 17th century settlers on the shores of Lake St. Clair…
JFK assassination 50th anniversary news: City of Dallas releases video showing Dealey Plaza was occupied by Indians long before JFK assassination. Suburban library presents speech by guy who gave Lee Harvey Oswald ride to work. Boston auction announces it will hawk Oswald’s wedding ring. Mind if I slip something else…
The good thing about growing up in the daily newspaper business back when I did: You were surrounded by a lot of really good drinkers. I don’t use that language facetiously. A good drinker is somebody who really does know how to drink, even drink a lot and still keep…
Hey, if you drop by here every once in a while and read this crap, then you may wonder, “What on earth is wrong with this guy?” I just want you to know, I have the same question. Today I finished reading the big editorial in our city’s only daily…
The New York Times has a story on its front page today about the Trayvon Martin verdict reporting not only that Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law was not invoked by the defense but also quoting a legal expert who calls the law’s exclusion from defense arguments “a brilliant strategic move.”…
OK, a few days ago I used this space to say we need a few good Texas schoolhouse shootouts to settle the question of whether teachers should be armed, and maybe now I should concede that I didn’t exactly make that point in the most mature way possible. Right now…
On today’s Dallas Morning News opinion page, Maxwell L. Anderson, chairman of the Dallas Arts District Foundation, and Catherine Cuellar, executive director of the Dallas Arts District Foundation, writing about a controversy over reflected light from a new condo tower and its affect on the Nasher Sculpture Center next door,…
Count this out with me, will you? Texas Governor Rick “Oops” Perry won’t support increased government regulation of fertilizer makers or sellers like the plant that blew up in West on April 17, killing 15, injuring 200 and inflicting property damage now estimated at $80 million. Don’t need no stinking…
Stories about my old hometown, Detroit, are no longer merely depressing. The word, depressing, just doesn’t get it. Detroit is beginning to be fascinating. Its plight is almost mesmerizing, in a science-fiction post-apocalyptic kind of way. Terrible awful unbelievable story in The New York Times today saying, among other things,…
I guess we just need some big Texas schoolhouse shootouts before we’ll know whether it’s crazy to put guns on the hips of teachers. A story in The New York Times today reports that insurance companies are refusing to offer coverage to school districts in some states where teachers pack…
I’m like you. Since Mike Miles started as Dallas schools chief a year ago, seven people have resigned from his leadership team. I wonder what’s wrong. Why are these people leaving? Is it Miles? The school board? Me? My dogs? It’s not easy to get a good answer, because the…
Two big ifs. If you don’t happen to be employed by the Dallas school district. If you are not a member of the African-American old-guard elected leadership in southern Dallas with strong personal ties to certain school district employees. If neither of those categories applies to you, then you may…
Heed what just happened in the battle over next year’s school budget for Dallas. Black elected leaders on the school board voted for segregation and failure. It’s time for everybody — I mean everybody — to rethink the role of black elected leadership in this city. Of course the traditionally…
Lots of news the last two weeks about people fleeing the “cabinet” of Dallas school Superintendent Mike Miles, a reference to his executive team. It so happens I have been pursuing a story in that area, which I will convey in full in a column in the paper next week…
A deeply moving scene last night at the board of directors meeting of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, our regional transit agency: Public seating in the large chamber was filled wall-to-wall with ex-offenders pleading for the very thing we should all want for them — honest work. I told you about…
