World Politics

Liquor Store Lobby Tries to Overturn Ruling that Allows Booze Licenses for Non-Texans

Total Wine, the chain of delightfully enormous alcoholic beverage emporia, might never have made it to Texas were it not for a strip club. Twenty-four years ago two guys, one from Florida, one from Tennessee, decided to buy a San Antonio Baby Dolls. They had the cash. They had the expertise. Their ... More >>

Dallas PD Wants to Use the Feds' Cache of Private Financial Info to Take Down Drug Dealers

Dallas Police Chief David Brown didn't think his proposal to secure access to a federal database of private banking and financial information would be controversial. It sailed through the City Council's Public Safety Committee unopposed last week. Then again, that committee didn't have City Councilm ... More >>

The Tea Party is Still Very Much Alive In Texas. Dammit.

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's primary, there was a lot of chatter about how the Tea Party was losing its grip on Texas. It was a nice thought, that Ted Cruz's antics and the constant demagoguing against the federal government had worn thin, nudging voters back to the middle. It just wasn't t ... More >>

Jerry Patterson Is the Lone Sane Republican Running for Lieutenant Governor, Is Doomed

There's not a whole lot of daylight between the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor. All check the requisite conservative boxes on guns, abortion, immigration, healthcare evolution, school choice, the size of government and so on. That said, GOP voters still have a choice for the March 4 ... More >>

Could Mike Rawlings Win a Senate Seat Just by not Being Totally Nuts or Shiftless?

Toward the end of last week I reported that some kind of Democrats -- I wasn't sure which -- have been whispering in Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings' ear about running for John Cornyn's Senate seat in 2014. Rawlings admitted he had spoken with them but discounted the whole deal, saying, "I'm way too fisc ... More >>

Texas' Next Lieutenant Governor Thinks You Shouldn't Be Trusted to Elect Senators

It's not yet clear who will become Texas' next lieutenant governor. David Dewhurst, though tarnished by his defeat at the hands of Wendy Davis and her "unruly mob," could hang onto the seat. Or he could be out-flanked to the right in the Republican primary by a trio of challengers: Agriculture Commi ... More >>

Texas v. Obama, Part XXX: Greg Abbott Pledges Lawsuit Over U.N. Arms Trade Treaty

The goal of the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty -- of fostering international peace and cooperation and "reducing human suffering" -- is laudable. Its methods, which basically consist of asking countries to monitor gun exports so they don't wind up in the hands of terrorists and other malevolent actors, ar ... More >>

Ted Cruz and John Cornyn Now Hinting at a Government Shutdown if Dems Don't Defund Obamacare

House Republicans have now voted 39 times to repeal Obamacare. On a certain level, their persistence is admirable in the same way that I admire the way my dog never stops believing that this will be the time that he finally catches that squirrel. One's esteem is diminished only slightly by the fact ... More >>

Tips for Rick Perry's Next Campaign: Stop Being Such a Lefty

Good read by Jay Root in The Texas Tribune today about whether Governor Oops will run for re-election as governor of Texas or run for something else, who knows what, president of France, whatever. Root suggests it will be the governorship again for Oops, and he talks some about other Republican gube ... More >>

Do Mexicans Love Guns as Much as We Do?

Associa CEO and State Senator John Carona's Many Colorful Conflicts of Interest

John Carona, our Republican state senator from Dallas, learned some hard lessons this session about how his fellow lawmakers' business interests tend to dominate the doings in the legislature. Last month, Carona's bill to try to reform the incredibly predatory payday loan industry was picked down to ... More >>

Thanks a Bunch, IRS. Now We Gotta Respect the Tea Party -- a Little Bit.

Wow. I take it all back, Tea Party. You cool. In fact, I'm jealous. Targeted by the IRS. There was a time when that would have been my dream come true. I remember back in the day when my hippie friends started getting their FBI files under the Freedom of Information Act. I was always afraid to as ... More >>

The IRS Targeted at Least Two Local Tea Party Groups by Sending Them a Really Long Questionnaire

Washington is still reeling from the revelation on Friday that the IRS has been singling out Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny. The news immediately drew howls of bipartisan protest, and pretty much everyone agrees that using the tax system to target political enemies is not what happens in a heal ... More >>

Rick Perry and Texas Politicians Pressuring Mexico to Pay its Water Debt

Mexico owes Texas water. And as the current drought presses onward, Texas politicians are trying to turn up the heat to get Mexico to pay. Last Friday, the Texas House voted unanimously on a resolution that the federal government should pressure Mexico deliver water to the United States. The same w ... More >>

Dallas' Helen Giddings and Other Black Lawmakers Object to Security Measures at Rick Perry's Mansion

State Representative Helen Giddings was one of several Democratic lawmakers invited to the Governor's Mansion Monday afternoon for a reception hosted by the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. But she never showed up. Giddings declined the invitation to protest the requirement that she undergo a backgr ... More >>

Russian Government Accuses a Texas Mother of Drugging and Murdering Her Adopted Son

In December Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a measure banning the adoption of Russian children to American families. The move was widely considered, and tacitly acknowledged as, a retaliation against a new U.S. law targeting accused Russian human rights abusers. Russian officials portrayed ... More >>

Rockwall Mulls Declaring Federal Gun Laws Unconstitutional

Longtime Collin County Sheriff Terry Box made it clear in January that he would not be party to President Obama's attempt to disarm the Real America and, presumably, pave the way for a permanent Marxist dictatorship through a handful of modest gun control proposals. Never mind that or that a county ... More >>

More Texas Republicans Are Urging the Boy Scouts to Dig In Their Heels on Gay Ban

Texas Values, an organization whose goal is to "preserve and advance a culture of family values," has issued an open letter to the Boy Scouts of America with their thoughts on lifting the ban on gay scouts. They're against it. "While adopting this ill-considered and wrongly devised policy might ear ... More >>

A North Texas Lawmaker Wants to Exempt "Made in Texas" Guns From Federal Law

According to statistics kept by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, there are several dozen licensed gun manufacturers in the state of Texas. Most of those are small-scale operations, individuals or mom-and-pop-style shops that produce one or two pistols or rifles in a year. A ... More >>

Rambo Romney Should Call for Restarting the Draft

Make us believe you mean it, Mitt. Bring back the draft. For the better part of a week, I have been reading all these thinly veiled suggestions by Mitt Romney that President Obama isn't enough of an ass-kicker in the Middle East. His aides have been telling reporters that a President Romney right n ... More >>

Election Proves Ted Cruz is a Talented Politician, But a Harbinger of Tea Party Dominance? Not So Much.

We knew it already, but Ted Cruz is Texas' next U.S. Senator. Sure, he still has to face Democrat Paul Sadler in the November general election, but this is Texas, where so long as you promise to cut taxes and put a big 'R' somewhere near your name, you're good. The victory, unthinkable a few months ... More >>

Looks Like the Tea Party's Gonna Elect Cruz Fair and Square. So, Let's Change the Game.

Texas will elect it's next senator today. Odds are, you won't vote for him. In fact, a good number of you, even if you're registered to vote, can't vote in the truly decisive race going down Tuesday, because you were dumb enough to vote in the Democratic primary in May. Suckers. So, let's all clap ... More >>

Why Can't Mexico Cash in IOUs for its Stolen Culture?

Texas Democrats Make Fun of Republicans with Weird Animated Video, Santorum Jokes

Someone has shown the Texas Democratic Party the video creator apps on YouTube, and the results are Lego George W. Bush, a joke about santorum (the frothy kind), a version of Rick Perry that looks like a rotund funeral home director and some jabs at sweater vests. Politicians, please start making ... More >>

Medicaid Women's Health Program Is One Step Closer To Death

The Medicaid Women's Health Program provides some 130,000 Texas women with vital medical care: family planning, birth control, cancer screenings and annual exams. And for that, of course, it must die. That, at least, has long been the case as far as Republican lawmakers are concerned. And after last ... More >>

Beating Up Babes in Toyland

Perry and Tea Party make a blue Christmas for needy kids.

State Maps Stayed, Texas AG Abbott Now Wants Supremes to Delay Candidate Filing Period

Carol Kent's hoping to run for House Disrict 107, if there is a House Distict 107.​As we were leaving the office Friday, word came down that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (and former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement) got what they wanted from the U.S. Supreme Court: a ruling that, for now, ... More >>

Is Mexico's Narco War a Revolution?

And why won't my gay boyfriend's Mexican family acknowledge our relationship?

Wiping the Sheen off Conservative Rich Guys' Morality

​Today, a commenter on a previous blog item of mine about GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain suggested it was mighty mysterious that President Obama doesn't have any sexual peccadilloes in his closet when so many Republican presidential contenders seem to. "Joshua," the commenter, suggest ... More >>

Rick Perry's Manufactured Miracle

Rick Perry's Texas is a job-making, low-taxing oasis of prosperity. It's also pure fantasy.

Top Chef Producers Sue to Suppress Details of Their Deal With Texas Taxpayers

Chris Christie, the seriously-non-president-running governor of New Jersey, recently pulled the plug on $420,000 in government subsidies for Jersey Shore, calling the tax incentives "wasteful spending" on a show that poorly represents his state. Texas Governor Rick Perry's office? It sees no such w ... More >>

Is Mexico a Tea Party paradise?

Want to Jump at the Chance to Be Mexico's Prez?

Why can't Mexicans keep their cactus-pickin' fingers off other people's plants?

Fantasy Voter Fraud

Are Mexican-American Border Patrol Agents Traitors?

Local Republican Party Drops Three Grand to Protest President Obama's Visit to Dallas

​While President Obama drops by the Highland Park home of lawyer Russell Budd this evening to raise dough and break bread with local Dems, Republicans are rallying at Franklin Stadium next to Hillcrest High School to ... well, to do what? "It's not just complaining about the Democrats," says ... More >>

Call It a Tea Party, Serve Beer: On Tax Day, Getting Populist at the Ballpark

Patrick MichelsThe Tax Day Tea Partier's sophomore effort drew the largest crowd QuikTrip Park's ever hosted.Heading west on I-30 from downtown last night, you'd have passed two stretches of stalled traffic -- the first, along the access road just across the Trinity, made up of the grumbling masses ... More >>

Wait a dang Minute Man: Who's This Guy Filling in for the Mexican?

No Justice: We've Bailed Out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind Our Financial Collapse?

In Dealey Plaza Saturday, Dallas Participates in the Global Day of Action for Iran

Photos by Megan Feldman​On Saturday afternoon, around 100 people gathered at Dealey Plaza to protest the Iranian government and show support for pro-democracy demonstrators in that country, where the regime has been retaliating against widespread protests since the June 12 election. Saturday's ... More >>

No Need to Secede. Because, See, Texas is Already a Foreign Country.

Time magazine wonders this morning: "What's All That Secession Ruckus in Texas?" Um, Governor Rick Perry, maybe? And, natch, his very vocal support for House Concurrent Resolution No. 50, which, as we pointed out in February, states that the "81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby claim[s] so ... More >>

Texas, Our Texas

A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to this Texas Observer item concerning House Concurrent Resolution No. 50, filed Tuesday by three Republican state representatives -- Leo Berman of Tyler, Brandon Creighton of Conroe and Bryan Hughes of Marshall -- who more or less want to declare Texas ... More >>

Dallas Fed Head Says of "Buy American" Clause, It's "The Crack Cocaine of Economics"

Dallas Federal Reserve president and CEO Richard Fisher was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning warning that the "Buy American" provision in the House's stimulus bill is bad, bad news. European officials said over the weekend they're terribly unhappy with what they call "protectionist measur ... More >>

No Surprises: Ron Kirk is Being Vetted for Obama Cabinet Position

Flickr photo: Obama__Dallas (Adam Jefferson) Ron Kirk, speaking briefly at an Obama victory party at Gilley's on Election Night On November 5, the day after his friend Barack Obama was elected president, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk told Unfair Park he had "no expectations" concerning an appointmen ... More >>

Without China, Dallas Dies. At Least, That's What It Sounds Like in This Story.

Mayor Tom in China, pondering the global economy and the nice breeze. This morning's China Daily, which is now being tossed on the front lawns of locals making more than 75,000 yuan, makes mention of Dallas's efforts to do business with China. No surprise there; city officials, including several cou ... More >>

Rafael Anchia Wants to Kill Anti-Immigration Legislation Dead. Good Luck With All That.

Rafael Anchia is trying to kick out immigration legislation, but not immigrants. Because nothing gets the Friend of Unfair Park more riled up than the words "immigration legislation" (or "Avi Adelman," geez), we thought it'd be a good idea to mention the press release we just received from the offic ... More >>

Anchia to Tackle "Divisive and Misguided" Anti-Immigration Legislation

State Representative Rafael Anchia Don't tell FrontBurner, because they'll think he's a racist, but Representative Rafael Anchia belongs to the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives. And last week, Anchia was named vice-chair of MALC's newly formed task force on i ... More >>

Mexico, Mexicos--That Ain't So Bueno

The latest episode in Farmers Branch's immigration drama involved the mayor's home getting defaced by graffiti. Late Thursday or early Friday, someone spray-painted "Viva Mexico" on the side of Mayor Bob Phelps's house, the vandalism occurring just one week before the city council is set to discuss ... More >>

�Ask a Mexican!