Mariann G. Wizard :
METRO | To serve the people: El Franco Lee, 1950-2016

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Harris County Commissioner Lee was arguably the most powerful Black person in Texas politics.

El Franco Lee 1

The late El Franco Lee, Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 1.

By Mariann G. Wizard | Special to The Rag Blog and NOKOA
News | January 25, 2016

HOUSTON — Introducing a 2004 Houston Chronicle interview with Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee, who had then held that office for 20 years, veteran reporter Thom Marshall commented,

While the vast majority of elected officials welcome opportunities to be quoted, a search through Chronicle files… finds many stories containing the phrase, “Commissioner Lee could not be reached for comment.” And while he has quietly avoided the spotlight, the… Precinct 1 commissioner has held on to his job… long enough to become dean [longest serving member – mgw] of the Commissioners Court.

An elected official who doesn’t spend half his time courting the media? What in the world was Lee doing?
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Alan Waldman :
FILM | The 20 best films I saw in 2015

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Alan’s eclectic picks range from Academy Award nominees ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Trumbo’ to biopics about Nina Simone and comic Barry Crimmins.

Alan films Spotlight 1

Cast of the Oscar-nominated Spotlight.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | January 21, 2016

For the first time in many years, more than half of the top films I saw in 2015 were American. Five were documentaries, nine were dramatizations of historical events, three were British, two were Israeli, and one each were French and German. As in the past dozen years, I saw more better-quality productions on TV than on the big screen. (See list at the bottom of those I can remember today.)
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Philip L. Russell :
El Peña Nieto de México a mediados de
su término

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

La baja aprobación del presidente refleja no solo su desempeño pero también la inhabilidad de su gobierno para atender los problemas básicos del país.

Pena Nieto caricature sm

Caricatura de Peña Nieto por Armando Aguayo Rivera / Flickr.

Por Philip L. Russell | The Rag Blog | 4 de enero, 2016

Traducido del inglés por Cecilia Colomé

Leer este artículo en inglés

853px-Rag_radio2Escuche nuestra difusión en internet de Rag Radio con Philip Russell y el anfitrión del programa Thorne Dreyer hablando sobre los temas en este artículo. También participa Alice Embree del Rag Blog abordando acontecimientos de Centroamérica y Cuba. El programa fue difundido originalmente el viernes 8 de enero, 2–3 p.m.,en KOOP 91.7-FM en Austin. La entrevista es en inglés.

  • Puede leer un artículo anterior en Rag Blog de Philip Russell acerca de los dos primeros años de Peña Nieto, aquí.

“Los pobres son más pobres, los niveles de violencia e inseguridad se dispararon y el presidente encopetado se quedó impávido y corto ante la crisis nacional. A EPN [Enrique Peña Nieto] el cargo le ha quedado grande”. — Elena Poniatowska, 2015

El primero de diciembre marcó la mitad del término de seis años del presidente mexicano Enrique Peña Nieto. Su primer año ha sido por mucho el mejor de su mandato. En el segundo día de su presidencia anunció el Pacto por México — una alianza entre el (centro-izquierda) Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), el (centro-derecha) Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) y su propio Partido de la Revolución Institucional (PRI).
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Carl Davidson :
My two cents on the Democratic debate

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

This time around, I think Sanders defined the agenda and dominated the discussion.

Bernie, Hillary & O'Malley

Bernie, Hillary, and O’Malley. Caricatures by DonkeyHotey / Flickr.

By Carl Davidson | The Rag Blog | January 19, 2016

The three Democratic contenders — Senator Bernie Sanders, Secretary Hillary Clinton and Governor Martin O’Malley — all sharpened their swords in a clashing debate in their last round prior to the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. When those results are in, we’ll have a much better idea of the lay of the land, the one delivered by the primary voters themselves, unfiltered by polls and pundits.
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Ken Wachsberger :
Ken Light’s photographic journey through
the chaos and the calm

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

In ‘What’s Going On? 1969-1974,’ Light captures the marches, the rallies, the protests, the guerrilla theatre performances, and the police riots.

©KenLight-WGO-0046A

Photo ©Ken Light from What’s Going On? 1969-1974.

By Ken Wachsberger | The Rag Blog | January 18, 2016

853px-Rag_radio2Ken Light disscussed his experiences as a social documentary photographer and his new book, What’s Going On? 1969-1974 — as well as his work photographing on Texas’ Death Row — with Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, 2-3 p.m. (CT), on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin. Listen to the podcast of this show.

I was called a sixties’ burnout one time. An actual sixties’ burnout was the name-caller so I didn’t take it personally. And, after all, it was the late seventies-early eighties and I still had long hair and a beard, no respectable career prospects, and a hyperactive thumb that took me cross-country and back on the strength of a whim and a clever slogan hand-scrawled on a shopping bag (“Whichever way the wind blows”; “Home to do laundry”; “I am unarmed”; “I’ve got the matches”).
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Bert Garskof :
Listen to Bernie, then take to the streets

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Sanders can’t bring about his exciting progressive program without what he calls a revolution.

Bernie and capitalist

Bernie with member of the billionaire class. Image from Occupy.com.

By Bert Garskof | The Rag Blog | January 18, 2016

It seems obvious to me that the programs espoused by Bernie Sanders, if implemented, would help ordinary people, hurt big banks, work toward significant re-distribution of income, divert resources to peaceful cooperation internationally, help the environment, hurt global warming, help renewables, and hurt big oil.

Hell, we get it. Not that he is a socialist or communist or anarchist. You don’t elect what would be my vision: anarchy/community/freedom/equality. That’s a different story and an exciting one, but Sanders is a legitimate Social Democratic, as people in Europe would name him. In America he is really a New Deal Democrat. Alone in the current set of options, his policy if adopted would really do some good.
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Steve Russell :
‘Y’all Qaeda’ militia musters at Oregon bird sanctuary on land claimed by the Paiutes

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Unwelcome armed militants are occupying an empty building on federal land considered sacred by a Native American tribe.

Go Home Bundys 5

Go on now. Git. Image from Daily Kos.

By Steve Russell | The Rag Blog | January 13, 2016

When I was an active trial court judge in Texas, I had a lot of contact with the posse comitatus, understood as a self-directed band of gun-toters rather than the common law “hue and cry” raised by a law enforcement officer to pursue a felon. They also call themselves “militia,” pointing at the Second Amendment for authority and conveniently overlooking the words “well-regulated” that modify “militia” in that document.

The reason I used to see a lot of them is that they do not believe the government has the authority to require a license to drive — let alone liability insurance — or to require registration of cars. Automobiles, they believe, are subject to a human rights analysis — based on documents written before automobiles — and trying to regulate automobiles is almost as treasonous as trying to regulate firearms, but not quite.
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Thorne Dreyer :
RAG RADIO PODCASTS | Interviews with Philip Russell, Jonah Raskin, and Roy Casagranda

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

We discuss the sad state of Mexico under Enrique Peña Nieto; we reflect on the lives of Jack London and Dalton Trumbo and do some California dreaming; and, in a two-parter, we look at Iraq, Syria, and the U.S. role in creating ISIS.

Philip Russell & Alice 2016 sm

Philip Russell with The Rag Blog‘s Alice Embree on Rag Radio Jan. 8, 2016. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | December 13, 2015

The following podcasts are from recent Rag Radio shows. The syndicated Rag Radio program, produced in the studios of Austin’s cooperatively-run KOOP-FM, has an international audience and has become an influential platform for interviews with leading figures in politics, current events, literature, and cutting-edge culture.

♦ Author & Historian Philip Russell on Mexico’s National Crisis Under Peña Nieto

Philip Russell studio 2016 sm crpRead the show description and download the podcast of our January 8, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Philip Russell, here — or listen to it here:

♦ Jonah Raskin on Dalton Trumbo, Jack London, and the California Drought

Jonah Raskin studio 2 - 12-2015 - Roger smRead the show description and download the podcast of our December 18, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Jonah Raskin here — or listen to it here:

♦ Roy Casagranda: How U.S. Actions in Iraq Set the Table for ISIL

Roy Casagranda studio crp2 flipRead the show description and download the podcast of our December 11, 2015 Rag Radio show with Roy Casagranda here — or listen to it here:

♦ Roy Casagranda: ISIL and the Origins of the Syrian Crisis

Roy Casagranda and Dreyer crpRead the show description and download the podcast of our December 4, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Roy Casagranda here — or listen to it here:


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David P. Hamilton :
How Bernie Sanders wins

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

The key to the Sanders campaign is motivating people to participate in greater numbers and more actively than they have ever done before.

Bernie Sanders in Austin - Pogue sm

Bernie Sanders, Austin, March 31, 2015. Photo by Alan Pogue / The Rag Blog.

By David P. Hamilton | The Rag Blog | January 12, 2016

 
Part A. Winning the nomination

Essentially, Bernie Sanders wins by recognizing the potential for the conventional wisdom of presidential elections to be changed by creating a new campaign model based on popular participation. Some have called it the “Alinsky model” on a national scale; that “power is derived from two main sources — money and people. ‘Have-Nots’ must build power from flesh and blood.”

For example, conventional wisdom is that the 2016 presidential campaign will cost a couple of billion for each major party candidate, most of which must necessarily come from the very rich. The .04% of the population who make maximum contributions provide the bulk of campaign funds for both parties. Considerably less than 1% contribute as much as $200 to any presidential political campaign.
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Roy Casagranda :
¡Oye ISIL! Aquí están unos consejos que no han sido pedidos

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer
Women and children among Syrian refugees striking at the platform of Budapest Keleti railway station. Refugee crisis. Budapest, Hungary, Central Europe, 4 September 2015.

Refugiados sirios, septiembre de 2015. Imagen de Wikimedia Commons.

By Roy Casagranda | The Rag Blog | 16 de diciembre, 2015

Traducido del inglés por Cecilia Colomé

Leer este artículo en inglés

Mis consejos para todas las fuerzas pro-ISIL en Estados Unidos:

  1. Seguir bombardeando a Iraq y Siria. Esta es la manera como ISIL se originó. Tiene sentido que las fuerzas pro-ISIL lo sigan haciendo.
  2. Rechazar colaborar con los rusos y los iraníes. Ellos tienen la máxima posibilidad de derrotar a ISIL.
  3. Evitar ayuda humanitaria cueste lo que cueste.
  4. Alentar a Israel para que siga bombardeando a las fuerzas de Hezbollah en Siria. Hezbollah está combatiendo a ISIL y a Jebhat al Nusra (al Qaeda).
  5. Bloquear la entrada de refugiados sirios. Esto realmente dañará a los árabes como personas y pondrá una presión enorme en Europa. Cualquier cosa que hagas, no ayudes a tus aliados o a gente que odia tanto a ISIL que están poniendo en riesgo la vida de sus hijos para escapar de ISIL. Puedes encausar a esas personas hacia las manos de ISIL de nuevo.
  6. Mantener la retórica anti-Islam a gritos. Esto le confirma al mundo que EE.UU. realmente está en guerra contra el Islam. Eso es por lo cual los extranjeros se unen a ISIL. Si tú, aun por un segundo, indicas que no serás intolerante, eso realmente disminuirá su fuente de combatientes extranjeros.
  7. Mantener inundados los mercados de petróleo para disminuir los precios del petróleo. Los ingresos de Irán, Rusia, Irak y Arabia Saudita dependen desesperadamente de las ventas de petróleo. Si puedes destrozar a esos cuatro países, la gran resistencia a ISIL se evaporará.
  8. Seguir alentando a Turquía a derribar a tiros los aviones de combate rusos. Una Tercera Guerra Mundial es una excelente manera de darle más poder a ISIL.
  9. Por seguro elegir a Trump o Cruz para presidente. Eso realmente ayudará al tema del punto 6.
  10. Registrar a los musulmanes, hacerles usar brazaletes, y negarles la entrada, re-entrada. De hecho, ¿por qué no detenerlos como lo hiciste con los japoneses y los nativos americanos? Yo creo que eso realmente ayudaría al tema del punto 6. Recuerda que el punto 6 es muy importante.
  11. Reaccionar exageradamente con retórica y leyes en contra del Islam la próxima vez que ISIL ataque. Ellos probablemente están planeando atacar tantas veces como puedan antes de noviembre del 2016. Seguir reaccionando exactamente como ellos quieren; después de todo, ellos creen que están creando la apocalipsis. Muchos de ustedes han estado trabajando con el mismo objetivo.

[ISIL es el acrónimo del Estado Islámico de Irak y el Levante.]
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Lamar W. Hankins :
METRO | The religious pretense of Texas
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

These imaginary violations of religious liberty allow Texas politicians to pander to the religious right.

Dan Patrick Watercolor Card

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s watercolor with the face of Jesus on the Statue of Liberty.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | January 7, 2016

SAN MARCOS — It will come as no surprise to anyone who watches Texas politics that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a panderer — mostly pandering to the religious right. But Patrick is also dishonest in his pandering. It is one thing to tell people what they want to hear, but it is another to make claims that the author knows are false or misleading. That is exactly what Patrick has done in his latest “Special Contributor” column for the Austin American-Statesman.

In the December 31 column, Patrick stitches together several of his press releases to write about the great danger Texas Christians face: their imminent loss of religious freedoms. Thanks to Patrick, these dangers have been thwarted and all Christians throughout our great state can now rest easy, at least until Patrick can identify some more faux threats to their religious liberty.
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Jenn Lewis :
METRO | Homes for the brave? A vet’s story

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

I was officially a homeless military veteran in the otherwise vibrant city known as Austin.

Jenn Lewis in U.S. Navy2 crp

The author, Jenn Lewis, served in the U.S. Navy as a journalist from 1999-2003. Photo from her collection.

By Jenn Lewis | The Rag Blog | January 6, 2016

AUSTIN — Confucius once said, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

I fell and had a very hard time rising for a few months in 2014. After struggling to find a steady job in New England, Austin beckoned me with its allure of great music, culture, and economy. However, when I arrived I seemingly had no real opportunities in the “shining city of the New South.”
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