While many local leaders in the state's largest cities and counties acted swiftly to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Texas early on, the reactions of state Republican leaders to the crisis was much slower. Then after belatedly issuing a shelter-at-home order and closing nonessential businesses, Gov. Abbott and other Republican leaders have apparently decided that enforcement shouldn't inconvenience their own political base -- and Texans of color apparently don't count for much there. Read More
Gun extremists are threatening violence over public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what are Republican Texas officials doing about it? Nothing. Read More
As most Texans try to protect their families during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's become increasingly clear that the state's Republican leaders are putting politics ahead of public health. Consider, for example, state Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, comparing a Dallas salon owner who kept her shop open in defiance of public health orders to Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. Really.…… Read More
Cecile Richards wanted to see for herself how much the religious right was expanding its influence in the halls of Texas government. So in January 1995, Cecile attended her first State Board of Education meeting, watching how religious-righters on the board were hijacking textbook adoptions to promote their political agenda. "It's worse than I imagined," she scribbled on a note to a friend at the meeting. One month later, on Feb. 17, 1995, Cecile founded the Texas Freedom Network as a counter to the radical right in this state. As we celebrate the organization's anniversary 25 years later, TFN is still that counter to far-right extremism -- but it's become so much more. Check out our press release today. Read More
The 86th session of the Texas Legislature is history. Lawmakers left town on Monday following a session that, generally speaking, had fewer of the culture war fights we've come to expect. You can attribute that to elections, and it seems the results of last November have elected officials worried about their fates at the ballot box in November of 2020. Still, on certain issues — like abortion — lawmakers seem all-too willing to continue to pass extremist laws based on lies at the expense of Texas women. Here's our overview of what came of this session on the issues we followed. Read More