TRP News with James Andre. This week – The Democratic primary, The DNC summer meeting and that DNC Iran resolution, Planned Parenthood and another government shutdown, The killing of Deputy Goforth and the racist response, an update on ISIL, and migrant news 0:27 Dem Primary 7:50 DNC Iran resolution 14:03 Government Shutdown 17:08 Deputy Goforth…
It seems quite evident that Texas is the canary in the coal mine for the United States when it comes to right-wing/libertarian regulatory ideals. Lax power plant pollution rules in the east have been disturbing enough. In this report, Rachel Maddow explains that not only does the State of Texas not have ANY fire codes,…
Texas lawmakers sent Governor Rick Perry more than $1 billion in proposed business tax cuts shortly before the end of the biennial legislative session on Monday. The tax-cut package – the final piece of which was approved by the House and Senate late on Sunday – includes an extension of a business franchise tax…
A Texas civil rights group filed a complaint against Judge Lynn N. Hughes, a Ronald Reagan-appointee to a federal district court in Texas, criticizing his “outlandish racial comments” in a case brought by a South Asian man alleging employment discrimination: At one point, during a hearing in a racial discrimination case, Hughes reportedly said, “Eleanor…
The Justice Department and the state of Texas faced off at trial Monday over the state’s new voter identification law, which the Obama administration claims violates the federal Voting Rights Act. In opening arguments before a three-judge panel in federal district court in Washington, D.C., a lawyer for Texas argued that the photo ID requirement…
I remember the reader who, sweet as you please, wrote to tell me: “I think most people who read your columns understand that you’re pro-Mexican invasion because you’re Mexican.” U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz is not Mexican. Nor is he Mexican-American. He is Cuban-American. And a funny thing happened to him on his way to…
The Economist maps out every American execution since 1976, when the Supreme Court announced the modern constitutional regime governing death penalty cases after effectively suspending all executions nationwide for four years. Over one-third of all executions during this period took place in Texas, for a total of 481 people killed by that state. Of the…
The U.S. Department of Justice has blocked a new voter ID law from going into effect in Texas. The department says the state failed to show that the law would not deny or limit minorities right to vote. Its the second state voter ID law the department has blocked. Texas, like several other states, has…
Rick Perry had fallen so far by the end of his Presidential campaign that its not even clear he could have defeated Barack Obama in Texas. Our poll of the state last weekend found Perry leading Obama just 48-47, including a 51-44 deficit with independents. Perry had led Obama by 7 points on a September…
Dust kicked up by westerly breezes ahead of a strong cold front restricted visibility in Lubbock to about 5 miles all afternoon, said National Weather Service Lubbock meteorologist Matt Ziebell. That was nothing compared to the 8,000-foot-high rolling dust cloud that moved through the city just before 6 p.m., dropping visibility to between zero and…
In one of the most flagrant recent instances of scientific censorship, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) refused to publish a report chapter unless all mention of climate change and its impact on sea level rise were eliminated. The author — Rice University oceanographer John Anderson, a leading expert on sea level…
On paper, at least, Texas is well-prepared to meet the water needs of its rapidly expanding population — even when Mother Nature lays down a harsh and lengthy drought. The price tag on the plan: $53 billion. State money allocated: $1.4 billion. If there were funds, Texas would be able to build the dams, reservoirs,…
As Matt Yglesias has noted, in reality Perry’s tax system “has done a great job of soaking the poor.” In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, someone in the poorest 20 percent of Texans can expect to face a tax rate four times as high as a Texan in…
OK, maybe not you — you may well live in a state other than Texas. And if you do live in the Lone Star State but you’re white, that’ll also decrease your odds of taking the needle. But in terms of overall population, Texans are more likely to have their execution order signed by Rick Perry…