Mango Street ProgBlogs

In his Weekly Wrangle posted today, PDiddie buried the lead. He states, quite correctly, that the Texas Women's Voices Project from Texas Monthly is a must-read. But he says so at the bottom of the list. So I'm moving it to the top. These 24 first-person stories, from Texas women of diverse backgrounds in a variety of fields, may not be Pulitzer-level stuff; also, it's arguable whether it (or anything from TM) belongs in an aggregation of progressive blog posts. But this collection is an example of TM at its most vital and ground-breaking.

It comes as no surprise at all (to me, anyway) that novelist Sandra Cisneros brings up one of the most important points, especially in relation to all things #MeToo:

The most important thing about this whole #MeToo movement is to have people listen. We don’t do very much of it in this age, as a country. Compassionate, present listening is an extraordinary medicine.

Listening allows a person who has been traumatized to separate themselves from the trauma, and validates that they did not bring the experience on themselves. You realize that you’re not the only woman who has gone through this, and from that perspective, you can say, “My crime was being young, my crime was being beautiful, my crime was being vulnerable.”

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PDiddie at Brains and Eggs was one of the only Texas bloggers who wrote about the debate between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White before and after it happened.

David Collins, appropriating Mattress Mack's advertising slogan, points out that Instant Runoff Voting really will save us money (by not having to spend it on runoff elections).

Socratic Gadfly read James Comey's book and found that any "Higher Loyalty" is ultimately to himself.

Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast ponders the correlation between the DPS 'border surge' and the reduction in DWI citations. In a salient posting the week before last, Henson made an excellent point about the City of Houston's budget-busting request for more cops on the streets.

Mayor Sylvester Turner wants voters to bust the city's revenue cap to pay for public safety. However, we're at a moment in history when crime is at historic lows and the demands on law enforcement are rapidly evolving. Just hiring more warm bodies to throw at an endless stream of 911 calls and false burglar alarms on patrol wouldn't be worth it. Rather, investments in the civilian side—crime labs, crime-scene techs, evidence management, etc.—make a lot more sense. When Houston's chief, Art Acevedo, was in Austin, he focused almost exclusively on bolstering patrol in his budget requests while our crime lab failed under his watch and all civilian functions basically withered on the vine. Houston shouldn't make the same mistake.

Christof Spieler asks what it will take for the Bayou City to become more resilient to flooding.

Texas cities are taking on climate change, writes Kaiba White at Texas Vox. 

Ty Clevinger at Lawflog updates on the lawsuit he has filed against the Department of Justice for refusing to release the records associated with the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. 

The Salon of Somervell County sagely observes that if something is deemed "fake news," that means that it's news that does not flatter Trump.

Robert Rivard wants San Antonio to go public with the Alamo Plaza restoration plan. 

Dr. Carlos J. Cardenas argues that the best Mother's Day gift we could give would be a commitment to reducing the maternal mortality rate.

Harry Hamid explains why he hasn't been blogging much lately. 

Beyond Bones presents seven things you probably didn't know about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.