Texas Monthly writer focused on the far right, Christian nationalism and the billionaires funding them. Helped expose the Southern Baptist abuse crisis. Fan of Hip Hop and loud guitars. DAEAC#E evangelist. Send me good music.
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Just found this 2021 story about Galveston County TX police staking out a funeral, then pulling over at gunpoint a car that they assumed had gang members in it because it took too many turns onto side streets. Turn out, it wasn’t fleeing gang members but a guy who’d just buried his murdered brother.
Feds fail to indict ham sandwich
Breaking via NYT: Feds have failed to secure a felony assault indictment against the DC Sandwich Man, a “remarkable failure” and the second time in recent days that it was unable to persuade grand jurors to bring an indictment in a felony assault case against a federal agent.
“One ought to be extremely disturbed by this thoroughly authoritarian administration,” said Levinson, who has taught constitutional law for 45 years. Important news analysis by Bob Garrett www.propublica.org/article/texa...
Israel pioneered this tactic a decade ago: deporting 4,000 asylum seekers to Uganda and Rwanda, where they faced horrific conditions and were often funneled into deadly trafficking networks. I investigated this shadow deportation system for @newrepublic.com in 2018: newrepublic.com/article/1488...
“The homicide rate for all Black officeholders in Reconstruction was 2,317 per 100,000. This would make the homicide rate among Black officials more than 20 times greater than *any* *other* demographic in the United States as of 2020, where the highest homicide rate was less than 105 per 100,000.”
(I also want to be clear that I’m not throwing shade at the authors of the aforementioned SBC article. Both have been really good about giving out credit individually.)
Former NYT editor*
I appreciate that and your responses.
Given that this got some attention, I want to note that a former NYT had some helpful/thoughtful responses in the replies. As I said: Most NYT folks have been individually solid on this. But I also think more could be done institutionally. The replies: bsky.app/profile/pala...
(3) speaking from a local media perspective: it’s really cool to see national media, esp NYT, paying attention to/picking up on our work. It’s personally validating and reinforces the need for us. Even a hyperlink matters to us — which makes the frequent omissions all the more frustrating.
(2) but I do wonder if the NYT couldn’t be more proactive about this, rather than expecting local journos to reach out. As I said: the gripe isn’t with individuals — NYT folks have been really good about it individually. But it feels like something gets lost in the process.
(1) Thanks for responding to this, and for the tips on rectifying the problem. I think the issue for many journalists is that it’s so common that it feels like S.O.P, and reaching out thus doesn’t even cross the mind. Maybe we’re too quick to take to social media with these complaints…
It’s also interesting because, when ProPublica/NYT Magazine did a huge story on the far-right Texas billionaires I primarily cover, they went out of their way to credit my work.
An average reader would understandably have read that story and thought “wow, look at Southern Baptists rectifying wrongs for no reason other than it being the right thing to do” — as if they weren’t forced to do so by the weight of public/media pressure to do so. It’s bad journalism, full stop.
Beyond just being the right thing to do, it also is inherently bad journalism. Example: When the Southern Baptist Convention released a 400-page report detailing leaders coverup of a sex abuse crisis, NYT didn’t mention the five years of investigations our team did to prompt such disclosures.
It is almost a badge of honor in the journalism industry to have a “New York Times didn’t credit me” story. It’s bafflingly infuriating, both because of the state of local/nonprofit media and because of the many NYT folks I know who would personally go out of their way to give credit where due.
About to see Sparta, hell yeah, let’s go, what year is it, et al
Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll “swiftly” sign info law new gerrymandered maps finalized and passed by the Texas Senate around 1AM today.
BREAKING: BlueSky is blocking access to Mississippi. This is the No. 1 platform for @mississippifreepress.org. We ditched X for BlueSky early this year. And now, at 3 pm on a Friday, poof. I don't know what we'll do next. Keep up with us using our newsletter at mfp.ms/subscribe.
Nice day
Do you work at the Office of Management and Budget? Do you know someone who does? Are you a current or former federal worker with information that you can share about Russell Vought? If the answer to any of these is "yes," please contact @andykroll.bsky.social www.propublica.org/tips/
What if people funded a publication in which journalists went to talk to communities experiencing the material impacts of authoritarianism instead of
JUST IN: Texas Sen. Carol Alvarado says she'll filibuster the new congressional maps tonight. "Republicans think they can walk all over us," she said. "Today I'm going to kick back.... Going to be a long night."
"In a nation with a greater history of popular political participation—say, France—this kind of power grab would inspire millions of protestors, a transit strike, and burly travailleurs barbecuing merguez sausages over burning cars. Somehow, here, we’ve decided it’s a “dog bites man” story."
Carl Schmitt was a committed Nazi and opponent of democracy. He's known for this. Not great that someone with this much power is advertising him as an influence, but it's Thiel, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised
Exhibit 999,999 for why it is wild that universities are shutting down religious studies departments.
Big redistricting fallout: 50-year Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett says he won’t run for reelection if new gerrymandered maps survive court challenges, ceding his newly-drawn district to progressive Rep. Greg Casar.
www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/b...
A thing that I feel did not get enough attention amid yesterday's craziness:
As The Texas Tribune gets into here, legal experts are pretty cold on the chances that Paxton/Abbott's calls are successful. (That said, there is a very recent history of Paxton ousting judges who rule against him via primary challengers.)
Filing here:
INBOX: Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a brief before the Texas Supreme Court, "presenting the legal grounds for declaring vacant the seats of the Democrat legislators who abandoned their duties and fled the state to break quorum."
Screaming John 3:19 at the sophomore comms major manning phones for the town comptroller
Gonna start calling sources apostates when they ask to go off the record
The Texas GOP civil war is ripe for some academic analysis by someone (not me) interested in partisanship and conflict at state level.
Would love to hear what Thiel has to say about "religious thinker" Carl Schmitt. But unfortunately all of the lectures are off the record. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(h/t to @teddyschleifer.bsky.social)
Peter Thiel to give four lectures on the "biblical Antichrist." Among the "religious thinkers upon whom Peter will draw" is Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt.
"In a nation with a greater history of popular political participation—say, France—this kind of power grab would inspire millions of protestors, a transit strike, and burly travailleurs barbecuing merguez sausages over burning cars. Somehow, here, we’ve decided it’s a “dog bites man” story."
Republican Central Texas congressman Chip Roy has announced he's running for Texas Attorney General. Read our profile on Roy from earlier this year: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/chip-roy-career-donald-trump/
Really insane how quickly the last two years have turned in the favor of Texas' far right.
Aug. 2023: The Texas far right is on the ropes. Paxton staring down impeachment. Their chief rabblerouser just ousted for having sex with a drunk intern. Dunn/Wilks sinking millions into losing primaries. And a massive Nick Fuentes scandal was on the horizon. Now theyre more powerful than ever.
Phelan is retiring. Lead impeacher Andrew Murr is long gone. Paxton is leading a US Senate race. And Tim Dunn loyalists now control the Republican Party of Texas. I think we can say the Texas GOP Civil War is over.
Among the busiest days in recent Texas Lege history and its only 1:30PM.
Remember when Dade Phelan in 2019 said he was "kind of done talking about bashing on the gay community" and then subsequently backed anti-trans legislation
More specifically, Phelan announced his retirement via a Chuck Norris video
BIG NEWS: Dade Phelan, the Texas House member who was ousted this year as House speaker for, among other things, overseeing the impeachment of Ken Paxton, announces retirement. Phelan was a major foe of the TxGOP's Tim Dunn/far right faction, and recently broke with the party on school vouchers.
Quite a morning in Texas politics: -Chip Roy joins AG race -Briscoe Cain rumored to run in new congressional district -Lloyd Doggett urged to retire/switch districts by local Dems in op-ed -House Rep. Stan Lambert retiring
Congressman Chip Roy is running for Texas Attorney General.
NEW: The 9th Circuit permits the Trump admin to terminate TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal for now. This population includes 50,000 people who have been here legally since 1998 and will now have to leave the US or risk deportation. Many have no path to permanent status.
Flood relief is already on the agenda. A senate committee heard testimony this morning.
JUST IN: Hours after the Texas House passed gerrymandered new maps, Gov. Greg Abbott is expanding the agenda for this special session to include punishments for Dems who broke quorum and a bill that would allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription.
aaaaand it’s finally passed. Onto the Texas Senate.
I wrote how viral, Islampohobic misinformation about a Muslim-planned community in North Texas convinced these guys that they can start a "whites-only" compound in Northeast Arkansas: www.chron.com/culture/arti...
New report from the Williams Institute estimates that there are 722,800 trans adults in the American South, and about 161,000 in Texas. Texas has the third-largest trans adult population in the nation behind Florida and California.
(Note: This was not final passage. They’re about to officially end this legislative day and start a new one so that they can finally pass HB4)
BREAKING: Texas House votes 88-52 to pass new gerrymandered map.
Calico Cut pants but for Islamophobes
Tarrant County GOP chair: I don’t like Muslims and my pants are often stained
"They found that the odds of Black youth reporting staff physical assault are 79% higher than the odds of white youth reporting assault"
Amendment ruled out of order.
MEANWHILE:
INBOX: Texas House Dem leader Rep. Gene Wu will propose an amendment to today's redistricting bill that will require Donald Trump to release the Epstein Files. Says that Trump is ramming through redistrict in part to pad Congress with folks who will block release of the list.
Rep. Al Green, whose district would be eliminated by the new maps, now addressing protesters. Says maps would make “segregationists proud,” and that the Voting Rights Act was not written in ink, but blood.
Update: The Texas GOP has killed an amendment that would have declared HB4 complies with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination against voters
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the entire wall along the border with Mexico is going to be painted black to make the metal hotter and harder to climb and deter illegal immigration. She credited President Donald Trump with the idea.
Meanwhile, in a Capitol hearing room a few floors down, families of children killed in the July 4 floods are giving gutwrenching testimony in front of a Senate committee.
At least one GOP House member, David Lowe, wearing a "Big Beautiful Map" button.
Sorry -- put better, they voted after 45 minutes of questions to end questions.
Back in the chamber. Republicans just voted to end time for questions on HB4 after about 45 minutes.
Rep. Joaquin Castro speaking now. Praises Dems for raising awareness with their quorum break and, unlike during previous quorum break, have gotten Dems in other states to respond.
Full order:
INBOX: A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking Texas school districts from implementing a new law requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Protesters starting to gather in the rotunda. House gavels in at 10AM.
Live from the Texas House floor, where the GOP is expected to push through their gerrymandered maps today. I’ll be skeetin’ details when possible.
Huge applause from crowd outside the Texas House after Rep. Nicole Collier, who spent the night inside after refusing a police escort, briefly appeared from the hallway into the chamber.
“The two men, who have been in close contact since at least 2019, share an ideology often referred to as “national conservatism,” and both are also acolytes of the tech investor and visionary Peter Thiel.”
An top antitrust lawyer fired by the Trump DOJ is not going quietly. In a speech yesterday in Colorado, Roger Alford accused two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi of corrupting DOJ’s usual process for dealing with antitrust lawsuits, the WSJ reports. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the House floor after refusing to agree ‘to round-the-clock monitoring by state troopers’ www.keranews.org/texas-news/2...
UPDATE: Texas Dems have now launched a livestream of the House chamber. x.com/texashdc/sta...
Trapped! At the Capitol.
More from a Houston Chron reporter who was in the gallery before it was closed:
Per an NBC reporter, Rep. Nicole Collier has said she guesses she'll wait to leave until Wednesday, when the House reconvenes.
WILD situation in Texas right now: The House Speaker has required Dems, who just returned from their out-of-state quorum break, to have police escorts once they leave the chamber. One Dem is refusing to leave the House floor with escort, and GOP leaders have blocked press access to the chamber.
Just in: Ahead of second special session, the Speaker of the Texas House has given priority status to a bill that'd allow pharmacists to dispense Ivermectin.
Wyoming newspaper executives Robb and Jen Hicks and Rob Mortimore announced Tuesday they’ve reached an agreement to purchase eight local newspapers and will keep them running after an out-of-state corporate owner shuttered them without warning last week. wyofile.com/longtime-wyo...
Much more on Green and Patriot Academy here, via @laurajedeed.bsky.social
Patriot Academy founder Rick Green is INCREDIBLY close to David Barton, the widely ridiculed "amateur historian" who has spent decades convincing people that the Founding Fathers were actually all conservative Christians and the church-state wall is a myth.
‼️‼️ The far-right, Christian Nationalist training camp Patriot Academy is closer than ever to becoming its own city. On Tuesday, Texas county officials allowed for the 200ish residents there to vote on whether to incorporate a 177.6-acre city in November.
BREAKING WSJ: The Trump White House plans to conduct a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of America's 250th anniversary to ensure the museums align with "Trump's interpretation of American history." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
It's been 737 days of negotiating and anti-labor shenanigans. Please support our fight for equitable practices by following our Guild on bluesky and instagram.
BREAKING: Trump removes Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than 2 months after he was confirmed, AP source says.
