Opinion

IF THE FOLKS IN CHARGE wanted everybody in Texas to vote, they would remove every real and imagined obstacle to voting. They do not.

TRUMP HAS BEEN consistent on one subject. He has repeatedly promised us that he will very soon reveal a full-fledged plan to reshape America’s healthcare system, but has never delivered.

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS SENDING federal agents into the streets of Portland and has threatened to send them to other cities with Democratic mayors and governors. Confirmed reports from Portland tell of protesters being picked up in unmarked vehicles, taken to the federal courthouse, and held without charges.

WE WANTED HAIRCUTS. Now we want football.

A PART OF RESPONDING to any crisis is having enough good information on which to make decisions—whether you are making those for yourself or others. Let’s add one more list to the various checkoffs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), employers and others on how to deal with COVID-19: Tools and tips for getting good information about dealing with the virus from sources you trust.

I COULD HAVE WRITTEN this column about no Republican senator yet admitting to including $1.7 billion in their latest coronavirus aid bill for remodeling the Washington D.C. FBI building, long a Trump pet project.

ICONIC RANCHES, FARMS, AND small towns sustain about 3 million Texans—a population larger than the city of Houston’s. The sense of community, plentiful open space, and great quality of life—all found in places like West Texas and the Panhandle—have sustained families for generations. We also power the state’s economy, supplying energy, food and fiber to the world.

WHENEVER THE FIRST AMENDMENT’S 45 words ring out, whenever a voice for justice seizes our attention by using its core freedoms to power our democracy, John Lewis will be there. Lewis, 80, iconic civil right hero, longtime Georgia congressman, pugnacious fighter for voting rights, courageous Freedom Rider and selfdescribed seeker of “good trouble” in the cause of equality, fairness and human rights, died July 17 after months of battling pancreatic cancer.

EXHAUSTED. Overwhelmed.

THE CUTS COME NEXT. The latest news from the Texas comptroller—that the state will have $11.6 billion less to spend in its current budget than lawmakers expected—leads straight to a conversation about which programs and services in the state budget are expendable.