Earlier: Everyone I know has a relationship with #guns. They’re ingrained in American culture—our movies, books, and politics. ... Over the last few decades, however, the moral weight and awful responsibility of these weapons has grown heavier.
The Texas Observer
Son of a Gun: What to Do with a Legacy of (Unwanted) Firearms
I love my dad; I don’t love his guns.
 #GunViolence #culture #Texas #ethics
Featured story: “This bill undermines local control, worsens racial profiling, and wastes resources we need to keep our communities safe. It does not make #Texas safer—it makes it more fearful.”
The Texas Observer
Texas Police Are Slowly Joining What Could Be a ‘Giant ICE Army’
New 287(g) task force agreements are trickling in as the Lege considers mandating ICE cooperation and some counties await federal training.
 #politics #USpol #news #Trump #HumanRights #police #immigration #ICE
New today: Approving this bill would do a disservice to the families who value their own children’s curiosity and education, including their kids’ ability to access books needed for assigned reading or for research using nonfiction sources more advanced than those found in the children’s or teen sections of the #library.
The Texas Observer
Texas Shouldn't Legislate Censorship
Public libraries are for the public—and that means access for all.
 #censorship #Texas #politics #USpol #news #books #bookstodon #TXlege
From our magazine: Is our love the horizon? A line where the sky appears to meet the earth’s surface— which means if you are the earth, then I am the sky—
The Texas Observer
Poem: What connects us
is invisible. A natural gas pipeline. Cables above the eyeline, carried from pylon to pylon, past the horizon...
 #culture #poetry #poem @poetry group
New from Francesca D'Annunzio: To augment its roughly 6,000 #ICE deportation agents, the #Trump administration has enlisted the help of other federal agencies including the DEA and IRS. But an even more significant expansion may be playing out at county and municipal levels.
The Texas Observer
Texas Police Are Slowly Joining What Could Be a ‘Giant ICE Army’
New 287(g) task force agreements are trickling in as the Lege considers mandating ICE cooperation and some counties await federal training.
 #police #HumanRights #border #immigration #politics #USpol #news #CriminalJustice #law
“All I remember is my eyes started burning. And then after that, I remember the cop kicking me in my face. She had me by my hair. She kneed me.” New: @npub1ayp3...yw0l reveals how the destruction of the Department of #Education is hampering the search for justice in this case of police brutality in school ...
The Texas Observer
A White School Officer Pepper-Sprayed and Kneed a Black Beaumont Student, Complaint Says. Will Feds Act?
Trump's gutting of the Education Department could stymie justice for 17-year-old Ja’Liyah Celestine.
 #police #Texas #politics #USpol #news #Trump #schools #GulfCoast
New from Skip Rhudy: I’ve got a post-graduate certificate in artificial intelligence (#AI). I’m also an author, and I believe writers and publishers should not use AI in publishing. But the reasons I oppose using AI are not the usual ones you hear.
The Texas Observer
AI Is Dead
A Texas author earned a certificate in AI—but there’s no way he’d ever use it to write a book.
 #culture #books #bookstodon @bookstodon group
Featured story: In February, the Observer identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as #ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.
The Texas Observer
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account
The Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rod...
 #politics #SocialMedia #immigration #USpol #Texas #NorthTexas #CriminalJustice #law #WhiteSupremacy #racism #news
“We’re seeing quite a few suicides of people that are struggling economically right now. Things are just hard. It’s a hard place to live.” Our top story: Rural Texas is facing a mental health crisis. Here's how one town found ways to address the emergency ...
The Texas Observer
'This Town Has Nothing': Rural Texas' Mental Healthcare Crisis
Against long odds, Sweetwater’s public hospital recruited counselors to help address a wave of mental health crises in rural Texas—yet struggle...
 #MentalHealth #health #healthcare #politics #USpol #news #Texas #rural
In #books: While “restoring the rule of law” to the U.S.-Mexico border has been a resonant and repeated talking point for successive administrations, it is the border walls that they have built, not the #border itself, that are lawless.
The Texas Observer
The Lawless Border Wall
The application of waivers and the interpretation of their scope has repeatedly expanded, such that border walls are now privileged over all potent...
 #bookstodon #immigration #CriminalJustice #law #USpol #politics #news @bookstodon group