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Category Archives: RagBlog
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
Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog
Tagged Austin 'Red Squad', Austin Police Department, Burt Gerding, Burt Gerding Papers, Criminal Intelligence, Dirty Tricks, Espionage, Martin Murray, Police Informants, Sarah Clark, SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, The Rag Blog, University of Texas
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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
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Carl Davidson, Commentary, Crime, Criminal Justice, Donald Trump, LeftLinks, Rag Bloggers, Recidivism, U.S. Prisons
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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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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
ALICE EMBREE | REMEMBRANCE | Honoring the Lives of Bernice Hecker and Jere Locke, Austin Peace and Justice Activists
By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / July 1, 2025 Two remarkable advocates for peace and justice in Austin, Texas, have passed on. In 2014, I posted to The Rag Blog in 2014 that featured Bernice Hecker and her … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Austin Peace and Justice Coalition, Bernice Hecker, Jere Locke, Palestinian Rights
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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
LAMAR HANKINS / COMMENTARY / The death and life of Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk. Creative Commons image. By Lamar Hankins / The Rag Blog / September 21, 2025 It should be axiomatic to any freedom-loving person that no one should be harmed for their beliefs, views, or opinions. Yet our country, the … Continue reading →