Anne Lewis :
PHOTO ESSAY | Playing cards with the devil

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer

They are gathered. The sermon begins.

By Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | April 19, 2020

AUSTIN — This story is a compromise between common sense and documentary instinct. Every photograph is socially distanced. The quotes come, in part, from the courage of the workers at Fox 7 News and the channel, which posted live footage.

Thursday at 11:45 a.m., Congress Avenue at the Governor’s Mansion is empty aside from a state trooper who motions me through a red light. I walk into a parking lot. The faces look familiar — perhaps from other right-wing rallies I’ve documented. Two men stare at me as I take this picture. One has his hand on his gun. I wonder if full beards might provide protection from Covid-19.

A car arrives blaring vaguely familiar music. It’s the song of angry men from Les Misérables, sounding downright Wagnerian in this context, a recording brought to us by a part of the Alex Jones’ cast.

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Joshua Brown :
POLITICAL CARTOON | Not a problem

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
Previous installments are archived at
http://www.joshbrownnyc.com/ldw.htm
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James Retherford :
POLITICAL CARTOON | No worming out of this one

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
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Roger Baker :
METRO | Austin area transportation planning update

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer

Now is a good time to pause and reflect.

I-35 in downtown Austin. Photo by Todd Morris / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | April 16, 2020

AUSTIN — The federally-required CAMPO planning process has gotten continually less credible over recent decades, and is now, IMO, being used strategically as a way to keep TxDOT and the regional suburban sprawl developers politically dominant in shaping Austin’s growth future. Now is a good time to pause and reflect.

(CAMPO is the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. TxDOT is the Texas Department of Transportation.)

The recent inability of the CAMPO Regional Arterial Study to win CAMPO Policy Board approval was an important planning failure in this regard. The CAMPO planning process has degenerated into an embarrassing non-transparent mess without a price tag. It is arguably worse than the new letter from the Travis County Commissioners Court to CAMPO implies. This broad criticism primarily applies to CAMPO’s road planning and funding.
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Wayne Coe :
POLITICAL CARTOON | The Trump Virus

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
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Allen Young :
BOOKS | ‘Red Scare in the Green Mountains’

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer

Political paradox in Vermont is narrated with insight in Rick Winston’s book.

Image from Red Scare in the Green Mountains.

By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | April 12, 2020

ROYALSTON, Mass. — There are paradoxes in the politics of Vermont.

When a liberal majority in the state’s legislature in 2000 approved a history-making law authorizing same-sex “civil unions,” conservative Vermonters expressed their outrage by placing “Take Back Vermont” anywhere they could.

Then, in 2009, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage, the first to do so by legislation rather than a court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on this topic didn’t occur until 2015. Now, few people in Vermont, if any, are fretting over this matter.

In the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who identifies as a “democratic socialist,” became wildly popular, inspirational to many. He began serving in the U.S. Senate in 2006, and was reelected in 2012 with 71 percent of the vote, and in 2018 with 67 percent.
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James Retherford :
POLITICAL CARTOON | The more things change, Dept.

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
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Charlie Loving :
POLITICAL CARTOON | Keep ’em moving…

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
Huge public response to officials’ call for Americans to die to
save the economy.
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Joshua Brown :
POLITICAL CARTOON | Life During Wartime: Covid-19 Edition: Complainers

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer
Previous installments are archived at
http://www.joshbrownnyc.com/ldw.htm

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Allen Young :
A remembrance of Gene Bishop and
Herman Goldfarb

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer

Two doctors who were activists for peace.

Herman Goldfarb, left, and Gene Bishop. Photos courtesy Allen Young.

By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | March 30, 2020

ROYALSTON, Mass. — Every time I read about a monument being erected to honor soldiers, I remember conversations I’ve had with friends about the need we feel for a monument of some sort to acknowledge those of us who were soldiers of a different sort — marching against war, specifically the Vietnam War.

Most followers of The Rag Blog are aware of this anti-war movement, a central pillar of the legendary “Sixties,” and this article is a memorial tribute to two activists, both of whom were also medical doctors. Both died recently, and linking them in this article is part of my own process of mourning for them.

They are Gene Bishop, M.D. (1947-2020), and Herman Goldfarb, M.D. (1927-2019).
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Alice Embree :
‘Virtual Cough-In’ called for

Posted on March 29, 2020 by Alice Embree

Seniors confront Dan Patrick’s ‘Coffin Campaign.’

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, coughing. Photo graphic by James Retherford / The Rag Blog.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | March 29, 2020

AUSTIN — On March 23, as the coronavirus pandemic sent shock waves across the nation, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that lots of grandparents would be willing to die from the coronavirus to save their grandchildren from another Great Depression. It had the makings of a “Coffin Campaign.”

Texas Monthly summed up Patrick’s position with this headline, “Dan Patrick to Dan Patrick: Drop Dead,” writing: “Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has only one regret: that he has but one life to give for his country. He also feels compelled to offer up yours, and grandma’s too.”

Some Texas retirees and grandparents have a response to the lieutenant governor and hope it will go viral, so to speak. The Texas Alliance of Retired Americans (TARA) is launching a Virtual Cough-In Campaign for the week leading up to the lieutenant governor’s 70th birthday on April 4.
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Alice Embree :
Spotlight on women’s activism at UT’s Briscoe Center

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Thorne Dreyer

Oral history project is online while major exhibit shelters in place.

Unlike many underground newspapers, The Rag at UT-Austin embraced women’s liberation. Here, women of The Rag, with Linda Smith in foreground, work on layout, February 1974. Photo by Alan Pogue.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | March 28, 2020

AUSTIN — To honor women’s history, the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History opened a major exhibit, “On with the Fight!” highlighting 150 years of women’s activism. I was honored to speak at the exhibit’s opening on March 5, 2020.

That gathering now seems to have taken place in a different era. By March 16, the Briscoe Center closed due to Coronavirus concerns. The post I had written about the exhibit will be published at a later date when the Center’s exhibit hall reopens to the public.

Most of the nation is now sheltering in place hoping to “flatten the curve” of contagion. The Covid-19 death toll rises daily. What a difference a few weeks can make.
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