Whitt’s End: 4.15.11

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *If the Mavericks lose in the first round to the Trail Blazers, Rick Carlisle should be fired. The window propped open by 33-year-old Dirk Nowitzki is closing, and 50-something wins without…

How Texas Got Fracked Over By Gas Drillers

We added insult to injury a long time ago in this whole business of fracking in Dallas — you know, the kind of natural gas drilling where they blow up underground rocks in a geological formation called the Barnett Shale, releasing trapped gas. Now, if you don’t mind, I need…

A Former Public Transit Whore Gets Religion

I used to be such a mass transit whore. I had this post-’60s idea that cars and highways are bad, which they are, so that must mean trains are good. I examine that reasoning now, and I think, “So if smoking crack is bad, does that mean meth is good?”…

Whitt’s End: 4.8.11

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *So Nuggets coach George Karl wants some of the Mavs, huh? “If we had to pick and choose, we would probably say 55 percent Dallas and 45 percent Oklahoma City,” he says…

Look Out, Motor City. Here Comes Big D.

Really interesting story in yesterday’s New York Times about my hometown, Detroit, where the population is now half what it was when I bailed in the late 1970s. It seems Detroit is now on the cutting edge of the “shrinking cities” movement, and I wonder if Detroit may have valuable…

We Need a Mayor Who’ll Cut Up City Hall’s Credit Card.

Honest question. Are you even aware there is a race going on now for mayor of Dallas? Honest answers only, please. It’s OK. Especially in the early phase, the mayoral election is a boring thing. I don’t expect you to be on the edges of your seats clicking updates every…

Why Should You Pay for Park Cities Dowagers’ Trinity Baubles?

Check me on this. In an atmosphere of federal, state, county and city funding crises, where we may even see the defunding of federal health care reform, the gutting of the Environmental Protection Agency, an absolute decimation of support for public schools and impoverished children, drastic cuts in Medicaid and…

Whitt’s End: 4.1.11

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: Plaaaaaay baaalllllll! My prediction: Your Texas Rangers will finish second to the Anaheim Angels in the AL West and miss the playoffs. Hey, repeatin’ ain’t easy. For most teams in baseball losing…

Do Legal Mexican Immigrants Really Sympathize with Illegals?

Dear Readers: Rather than me punk ustedes with a prank, I give you the cruelest joke of all—ex-congressman and eternal Know Nothing Tom Tancredo! In return for his graciously allowing us to debate in Denver last year, I’ve allowed him to answer two questions of my choosing, with no editorial…

Mayor Dwaine Caraway still doesn’t get how he abused the system.

You needed to be there. Last week, moments after Dallas Mayor Dwaine Caraway lost his attempt to suppress an embarrassing police voice recording, he strode out into the courthouse corridor loaded for bear. A large crowd of press had been waiting, meek as scolded third-graders in the principal’s outer office…