The Right’s ‘All-Out Assault on Educational Speech’ Continues Unabated
2024-11-08
PEN America finds that a wave of laws banning books and gagging teachers in K-12 schools has spread to higher education., Read MoreContinue Reading
When a Multi-Racial Democracy Was Violently Overthrown in America
2024-11-08
A review of the new film ‘American Coup: Wilmington 1898,’ which premieres November 12 on PBS., Read MoreContinue Reading
A Reprieve from Unfriendly Skies?
2024-11-07
Airlines have long treated people who use wheelchairs poorly. Maybe a $50 million kick in the shins will help put an end to that., Read MoreContinue Reading
Bring on Austin’s police staffing debate: Proposal to hire 400-800 new cops would require budget tradeoffs the public won’t support
2024-11-07
In Austin, the Republican-led group that ran a successful ballot initiative criminalizing homelessness has put another one on the ballot for November that would require the city to hire hundreds more police officers. Their main backers so far are the police unions, who’re salivating at the prospect of hundreds ofContinue Reading
Let the Struggle for Justice Continue
2024-11-07
In this terrible moment, it is hard not to harbor anger at our fellow citizens. Yet those of us who believe in progressive values must find a way to rise above the fray., Read MoreContinue Reading
#SandraBland Act data used to identify Texas’ most aggressive, small-town speed traps
2024-11-06
Everybody hates speed traps. There are few things more annoying than driving along a state highway at 70 mph then having it ratchet down to 35 mph in a matter of a few hundred yards while a cop hides behind some billboard waiting to pounce. Our pals Eric Dexheimer andContinue Reading
Time for the Texas #cjreform movement to get back to basics
2024-11-04
Your correspondent hasn’t been writing on Grits during the latest special session because it wasn’t a time when Texas state leaders were willing to listen to reasoned argument, and this humble opuscule has little else to offer. As I wrote after the regular session ended, it’s important to be clearContinue Reading
Prosecuting crimes of poverty isn’t the same as combating a “crime wave”
2024-11-03
The following is a guest blog post co-authored by Elizabeth Rossi of Civil Rights Corps and Amanda Woog of the Texas Fair Defense Project. Their organizations are among the civil rights groups involved in bail litigation against Harris County. Related: this discussion of the District Attorney’s claims to be fightingContinue Reading
Thirty Years Without Erwin Knoll
2024-11-02
Why we are all the poorer for it., Read MoreContinue Reading