Author Archives: Thorne Dreyer

Harry Targ :
FOREIGN POLICY | The elephant in the room

United States global hegemony is coming to an end. By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | August 19, 2021 [This article was adapted by the author from a 2017 post that appeared in The Rag Blog.] An empire in … Continue reading

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Alice Embree :
THE VOTE | Free the vote and the governor’s hostages

Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign led a four-day march from Georgetown. By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | August 4, 2021 The Austin American-Statesman headlined their story on July 1: “Republicans counter Willie Nelson, Beto O’Rourke … Continue reading

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Lamar W. Hankins :
TEXAS HISTORY | Forgetting almost all I ever learned
about the Alamo

The men who fought there may have been brave, but I no longer count them as heroes. By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | July 29, 2021 As a child in the 1950s, it seems that almost everything … Continue reading

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JONAH RASKIN :
BOOKS | Rails and roads

Novelist Colson Whitehead’s ‘The Underground Railroad,’ is an epic novel of bondage and liberation. By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | July 29, 2021 Near the end of The Underground Railroad, his epic novel about bondage and freedom, the … Continue reading

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Joshua Brown :
POLITICAL CARTOON | Trump Library

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THORNE DREYER :
BOOKS | Look for the book: ‘Exploring Space City!’

Our much-anticipated book about Houston’s historic underground paper will be published before the end of the year. By Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | July 22, 2021 Exploring Space City!: Houston’s Historic Underground Newspaper. Yes, our much-anticipated book about … Continue reading

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Harry Targ :
BOOKS | The threat to democracy continues

Revisiting Nancy MacLean’s groundbreaking 2017 book, ‘Democracy in Chains.’ By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | July 15, 2021 Nancy MacLean, in her groundbreaking 2017 book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for … Continue reading

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JONAH RASKIN :
BOOKS | ‘By the Light of Burning Dreams’: Everybody
is a star

The book honors ‘the triumphs of the Sixties,’ though it does not neglect ‘the tragedies.’ By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | July 8, 2021 Near the end of his days as a cultural revolutionary, Abbie Hoffman explained, facetiously, … Continue reading

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ALLEN YOUNG :
BOOKS | Ethel Rosenberg’s life story told in new book

I found the book to be painfully sad due to the injustice and the cruelty of the execution. By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | June 13, 2021 COLD SPRING, N.Y. — On June 19, 1953, the government of … Continue reading

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THORNE DREYER :
REMEMBRANCE | Texas film and theater icon Gary Chason passes at 78

Events celebrating Gary’s life are planned for Austin and Houston. By Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | June 11, 2021 Listen to Thorne Dreyer’s August 17, 2010 Rag Radio interview with Gary Chason, here. Gary Chason, an iconic figure … Continue reading

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JONAH RASKIN :
BOOKS | Hilton Obenzinger bears witness to the times that have tried our souls

His new book of poems is ‘Witness 2017-2020.’ By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | May 28, 2021 Ezra Pound, the twentieth-century American poet, once said, “Make it new,” and “Literature is news that stays news.” He would probably … Continue reading

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Lamar W. Hankins :
WAR | My military ambivalence

I thought it was wrong to fight in the Vietnam War, and there has not been one since that I found compelling. By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | April 22, 2021 Ambivalence is the most accurate word … Continue reading

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