Thorne Webb Dreyer, Editor
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Author Archives: Thorne Dreyer
MICHAEL MEEROPOL / POLITICAL COMMENTARY / Virtually everything the Trump Administration has done to ramp up deportations has been illegal
Honk for Trump Vance. Photo by Thomas Hawk / Flickr/ Creative Commons. By Michael Meeropol / The Rag Blog / September 16, 2025 The following is an expanded version of a commentary delivered by Michael Meeropol, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Western New … Continue reading
PAUL BUHLE / RADICAL COMICS / Anti-facism, partisan comics
By Paul Buhle / Special to The Rag Blog / August 28, 2025 The understandable fear of an American-style fascism will remind European readers and comics fans that their seemingly all-powerful but culturally backward cousins are slow to understand the … Continue reading
MARTIN MURRAY / CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE / Lt. Burt Gerding and I
Photo by Belmer Wright published in Austin’s underground paper, The Rag, January 15, 1968. By Martin Murray / The Rag Blog / August 19, 2025 Lt. Burt Gerding served in the Austin Police Department (APD) in the Criminal Intelligence Division from … Continue reading
MICHAEL MEEROPOL / POLITICAL COMMENTARY / Vice President Vance says people who fought in the Civil War have a larger claim to citizenship than people living here today
J.D. Vance by DonkeyHotey. This caricature of J.D. Vance was adapted from a Creative Commons licensed photo from Gage Skidmore’s Flickr photostream. By Michael Meeropol / The Rag Blog / August 5, 2025 The following is an expanded version of a … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Commentary, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Michael Meeropol, Political Analysis, Rag Bloggers, Vice President
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BRUCE MELTON / CLIMATE SCIENCE / It’s flooding down in Texas
Climate change has undersized our world’s engineered infrastructure, and increased modern flood safety has created complacency in a flood world far different from the safe one we recently vacated. Caption: Cow Creek and what was Texas State Highway 1431, just … Continue reading
LAMAR HANKINS / THE BOMB / The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years out
The bombings of Hiroshima, left, and Nagasaki. Photos in the public domain. By Lamar Hankins / The Rag Blog / July 27, 2025 I have lived now for 80 years in the only country that has used an atomic bomb … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Atomic Bomb, Hiroshima, Imperialism, Lamar Hankins, Military Atrocities, Nagasaki, Terrorism
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MICHAEL MEEROPOL / TRUMP / The war with Iran should not distract us from important domestic issues
E. Jean Carroll, 2006. Photo by julieannesmo. Creative Commons image. By Michael Meeropol / The Rag Blog / July 3, 2025 The following is an expanded version of a commentary delivered over WAMC-FM on June 27, 2025 by Michael Meeropol … Continue reading
NORMAN SOLOMON / POLITICS / When will the Democrats put up a fight?
Democratic party leaders just met for the first time in months. When will they take real action? By Norman Solomon / The Rag Blog / June 10, 2025 This article was originally published at The Guardian and was cross-posted to … Continue reading
MICHAEL MEEROPOL / ECONOMY / Is there a danger that the stagflation of the 1970’s is coming back?
By Michael Meeropol / The Rag Blog / June 4, 2025 (Michael Meeropol and Houston-based historian John Moretta will discuss this commentary and related material on Rag Radio, KOOP-FM in Austin, Friday, June 6, 2025, from 2-3 p.m. It will … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged 1970's, Economics, Economy, John Moretta, Keynes, Michael Meeropol, Stagflation, Thorne Dreyer
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THORNE DREYER / INTERVIEW / Ronnie Dugger: The Reporter
Ronnie Dugger. Photo by Alan Pogue / The Rag Blog. By Thorne Dreyer / The Rag Blog / May 29, 2025 (On Friday, May 30, 2-3 p.m., Rag Radio is rebroadcasting our June 8, 2012 interview with the late Ronnie … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Deaths, Interview, Journalist, Making Waves, Obituary, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, Rag Radio Interviews, Ronnie Dugger, Texas Observer, The Rag Blog, Thorne Dreyer
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CARL DAVIDSON / COMMENTARY / Trump as big-city crimefighter?
Cartoon courtesy of LeftLinks. By Carl Davidson / The Rag Blog / August 15, 2025 This article was originally posted on August 15, 2025, as a weekly editorial on LeftLinks by its editor Carl Davidson and is cross-posted to The … Continue reading →