The Houston Chronicle has a series of letters to the editor about Camp Mystic today. One is from a Mystic mother who thinks that critics just want to "destroy Mystic altogether." Another letter is from a reader who wants to destroy camp Mystic altogether.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Ted Brown, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate running against Ken Paxton and James Talarico in Texas. He's putting himself forward as a real option for conservatives who can't bring themselves to support Paxton's corruption and big-government spending plans but will never vote for a Democrat. He also argues that a big turnout for Libertarians in this race will scare Republicans into returning to their small-government roots. Here's a key quote:
>A lot of Texas Republicans know that Paxton has been indicted, impeached and accused of various forms of official misconduct. They know taxpayers are on the hook for his $6.6 million whistleblower settlement. Corrupt politicians may be nothing new, but usually it takes a while for a senator to give in to the swamp. If Paxton wins, he would enter the Senate already corrupt. Who knows what other trouble he’s ready to get into on day one?
>A few Republicans seem willing to cast their ballots for Talarico as a protest vote. I imagine many more are tempted but understandably can’t bring themselves to vote for a lifelong Democrat who regularly defies conservative values around fiscal responsibility and protecting the right to bear arms.
>That’s why I’m here. Not only do I want to cut spending and taxes, but I’m also a strong pro-gun advocate for the Second Amendment.
>Meanwhile, Paxton is running on a platform of big government giveaways, like free money for home down payments. Republicans used to campaign as a small-government party that wanted balanced budgets. They haven’t delivered, and there’s no reason to think someone like Paxton will do anything to tackle our gargantuan federal deficits and the unsustainable $40 trillion national debt. For those Republicans who truly believe in less government, voting Libertarian is the logical choice.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board went with Nate Sheets, the Republican candidate, in the race for Agriculture Commissioner, though it also had nice things to say about Democratic candidate Clayton Tucker. Here's a key quote.
>Heck, the whole race might as well be a nostalgic throwback: a rural, populist Democrat who campaigns in a cowboy hat against a Republican businessman with great salt-and-pepper hair.
>Tucker has made hell-no opposition to data centers central to his campaign. He supports legal sales of hemp THC. He’s opposed to Flock cameras and a border wall through Big Bend. When Tucker talks about ag-related corporations, it’s not about creating new ones. It’s about busting up existing monopolies.
>But even if those stances resonate with you, here’s the thing: The ag commissioner doesn’t have real power over that stuff. If Tucker won, he’d have a better platform to talk about those issues. And that’s about it.
>We believe that Sheets would be more effective in doing the actual job of ag commissioner — better able to get cooperation from legislators in both parties, better able to update and strengthen Texas agriculture and make the agriculture-related changes that most Texas voters would agree we need. He’d plain get more done.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from chief of staff for Hines (the people who built the Galleria and Transco Tower) explaining why Houston is well-placed to capture all of the industrial and manufacturing expansion we're starting to see. Here's a key quote:
>Companies making multibillion-dollar decisions don't choose locations based on incentives alone. They look for places where they can hire skilled workers, access suppliers, secure infrastructure, move products efficiently and plug into an ecosystem that has demonstrated it can support growth.
>In other words, tomorrow's manufacturing growth may favor yesterday’s investments, and that is one reason Houston stands out.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from the former head of the Texas Farm Bureau arguing that Paxton is bad news for farmers and doesn't deserve anyone's vote. Here's a key quote:
>Ken Paxton has the morals of a lizard, and that is probably being unkind to lizards. He has proven to be corrupt. He has lied, cheated openly on his ex-wife and stolen. He should have been removed from office when the Texas House impeached him. Instead, a purely political play with no connection to the substance of his offenses allowed his actions to go unpunished.
>I have worked with members of Congress for many years. I’ve worked with plenty of Republicans who truly care about the agriculture industry. In my opinion, Paxton is not one of them, and he does not have the moral fitness to serve as a U.S. senator.
>When the Farm Bureau endorsed Paxton, they referenced the actions he supposedly took on behalf of Texas agriculture. The Bureau neglected to mention that Paxton has failed to publicly oppose a variety of policies that are actively harming farmers and ranchers, including the war in Iran and the import of foreign, unregulated beef into our state.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from a Sooner and an Aggie defending UT from Bo French's hatred and explaining how college football creates a system where people who otherwise have little in common unite to form a civic society in miniature. Here's a key quote:
>It doesn’t matter whether someone’s family came from India, Mexico, Nigeria, Vietnam or right down the street. They have learned to say “we” about their university community — to celebrate its successes and mourn its failures. That is what the students in that photo were doing. That is what Bo French’s comments attacked.
>Ironically, politics could stand to be a little more like football. Not because elections are games, and not because civic institutions should be entertaining, but because football shows that strong identities and strong disagreements do not require exclusion from the larger social order.
>We can passionately support our own side. We can hope our leaders succeed. We can argue, compete and fundamentally disagree with each other’s political parties and perspectives. However, we must also recognize that all Americans have a place in this country.
>College football works because the Aggie, the Sooner and the Longhorn can hate one another on Saturday while still understanding that all three belong on the field.
>American politics could stand to learn that same lesson.
>And also: Horns Down.
The Houston Chronicle has an editorial on our Salvadoran community and how the Trump administration is proactively removing their legal status. Here is a key quote:
>Our Salvadoran community is about 219,000 strong, one of the nation’s largest. They contribute $590 million annually to Houston alone. To let fear hollow out the soul of this city — to watch pupuserias shuttered, homes abandoned mid-construction and soccer pitches emptied out — is a profound erosion of our own humanity and self-inflicted wound to our economy.
>Congress must find the spine to push for reform. In July, Rep. Garcia launched a discharge petition to force a House vote on the American Dream and Promise Act, which would secure permanent protections and a pathway to citizenship for certain TPS holders, among other immigrants.
>Three Republicans have signed. The petition needs only one more name.
The Houston Chronicle has an editorial calling on Gov. Abbott to brag about Texas' abundance policies at the GOP midterm convention. Here is a key quote:
>Not too long ago, touting the benefits of limited government and free market policies would garner unanimous applause at a Republican event. Times have changed.
>Far too many Republicans are running on platforms that betray traditional conservative values. President Trump has relished in micromanaging the economy through arbitrary tariffs and attacks on private businesses. He refused to sign the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which implemented some Texas-style reforms at a federal level. And his war on immigration, legal or otherwise, has the United States on path to the first-ever population decline.
>Even the man at the top of the Texas GOP ticket, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has pitched an affordability agenda that relies on questionable tax giveaways rather than a true Texan agenda of build, baby, build.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board has a piece calling on HPD to quit wasting officers' time and taxpayer resources on low-level marijuana arrests. Here is a key quote:
>We don’t need a return to the bad old days, when our county jail cells and misdemeanor court dockets were littered with nonviolent offenders at an exorbitant cost to the taxpayer. Houston and Harris County have made great progress driving down crime rates without prohibition-style dragnets. Focus on the drug kingpins and traffickers bringing hard stuff to our neighborhoods and streets, and leave the low-level pot smokers alone.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from researchers about the danger inherently in delaying the publication of Texas' stats about maternal mortality. Here is a key quote:
>Political observers have speculated that the real reason for this delay could be political: The news might not reflect well on candidates up for re-election, and Dec. 1 is after the midterms. The delay also makes it late for the Texas Legislature — whose biennial session begins Jan. 12, 2027 — to craft bills and prioritize legislation to address any problems that the report surfaces.
>This year’s report is especially crucial. Even before its release, these findings by the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee are generating questions because the report is expected to forgo comprehensive reviews of maternal deaths from 2022 and 2023, the first two years after Texas implemented a total abortion ban. Those missing years are more than a mere gap in the data. They represent the lives of women whose deaths may hold important lessons about how future maternal deaths can be prevented.
The Houston Chronicle has a column arguing that Mayor John Whitmire should be viewed as a hero by the political left because of his track record of delivering for labor unions. Here is a key quote:
>That claim may sound absurd if you associate leftist politics with, say, riding a bike to an anti-ICE protest while wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. But if you believe that the real core tenet of leftism is siding with workers in the inexorable, humanity-defining conflict between labor and capital — like, say, the workers who founded Labor Day — then Whitmire has a leg up on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from a former New York Times editor who helped evacuate 124 Afghans who worked for the paper, and their families, after the fall of Kabul and ended up in Houston. Here is a key quote:
>Once we got the refugees into the United States, we could have gone anywhere. But everyone I asked said that we should stay in Houston. The city has a proud history of successfully resettling refugees dating back to the influx of Vietnamese in the 1970s. Plus, it is known as a place where immigrants find work and relatively affordable housing.
>“We have this great tradition of refugee resettlement,” says Aaron Tate, a longtime refugee resettlement specialist who the Times hired to help with our group, along with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. People in Houston jump in when there is a need, he assured us. “It’s very unpretentious, very low-key. People here are doers.”
>It didn't take long for us to realize what a special place Houston is.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board has a piece asking for more transparency and better explanations as to why the county is spending more. A lot of it is going to raises, health insurance, and new courts, but there's a bunch of other expenses too. Here's a key quote:
>Roughly half of the new spending will go to raises for elected officials and law enforcement, plus maintaining generous healthcare benefits for county employees.
>Constable offices generally don’t deal with homicides or other violent crimes. They’re not even automatically dispatched to 911 calls in their precincts. Their primary duties are neighborhood patrols, vacation check-ins and eviction enforcement. We remain skeptical of giving the leaders of these departments a higher salary than the vice president.
>As for the spending on healthcare benefits, all five commissioners voted down a plan to pass on more of the costs to county employees, which could have saved $9 million. Now we’re on the hook to pay more than $5,000 per employee for health insurance — a 25% increase from last year and a bad outcome for taxpayers.
>So what about the rest?
>Smaller line items round out the increase in general fund spending. This includes a $17 million boost for the Public Defender’s Office; $11 million for the District Attorney’s Office; and $9.8 million for the new civil courts. A good deal of that spending is necessary, but we question whether there aren’t efficiencies to be found in the $14 million to continue funding programs supported by expired Biden-era federal grants or $30 million in additional payments to Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Loren Steffy about Dan Patrick's proposed book ban. Here's a key quote:
>Texas has 5.5 million students across more than 9,000 campuses. Patrick would pass out a list of 2,000-plus flagged titles, with no state-issued criteria except the one-strike-and-you’re-out rule.
>School boards now face the reality that their financial well-being, at a time when school budgets are already under fire, could be jeopardized by a single mistake. One student library worker puts the wrong book back on the shelf instead of throwing it in the banned pile, and the entire school board could face removal by Patrick’s Purity Patrol.
>The intent is not actually to ban the 2,000 books that Wallace doesn’t like. It’s to intimidate elected school boards and other local governments. Patrick has tried similar intimidation tactics to silence free speech in higher education, too.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board has a editorial about the tension between rural Texas opposing data centers and Trump insulting those who oppose data centers. Here is a key quote:
>President Donald Trump must think that Texans want to be “backwards and poor.”
>He must think that Texans, particularly rural Texans, want to “kill the Golden Goose.”
>He must think that Texans, whether Republicans or Democrats, want to surrender to China.
>At least that’s what he posted this week on social media.
>Between his bizarre AI videos and usual political rants, Trump apparently decided it would be a good idea to take a swipe at Americans who do not want data centers being built near them.
>“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” he wrote.
>“[L]et Data Reign.”
>Maybe the president doesn’t realize that he’s talking about a majority of Texans. Recent polling by the Texas Politics Project found that 57% of Texans oppose the construction of a data center in their community — and 60% of rural voters oppose construction. Only 30% of Texans said they would support such a move.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Matt Lanza of Space City Weather explaining why he left Houston and laying out his ideas for how our city needs to better prepare for floods and the effects of climate change. Here is a key quote:
>When we think about solutions, we need to think about mitigation and resilience. And yes, that stuff costs money. But you know what else costs money? People fleeing to other cities because they’ve flooded repeatedly. Amazing restaurateurs could well decide that though they love Houston, in order to function with fewer flood risks or power outages due to storms, they need to take their business to Austin or San Antonio or elsewhere. Maybe even a top-tier energy company could decide that to keep their operations functioning with fewer risks of disruption, they should set up shop in Austin or Dallas.
>These aren’t far-fetched scenarios. These are plausible, and Houston and the state and the country, for that matter, need to think of them as such.
>So what do we do? First off, accept that we’re going to have flooding. Flooding is a part of Houston. Honestly, it’s part of our culture at this point. “H-Town till I drown” should be a rallying cry, not a reluctant acceptance. We are a city that floods.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Environment Texas about the rush to discharge treated wastewater from drilling and fracking into natural waterways. Here is a key quote:
>Recycling produced water for additional oil and gas operations can reduce the industry’s demand for fresh water to use during fracking. Researchers should continue studying whether highly treated, produced water can safely be reused for certain industrial or other controlled purposes.
>But discharging it into Texas waterways is a different proposition entirely.
>Releasing wastewater into a river or stream is risky. Contaminants that escape treatment could move downstream, enter aquatic ecosystems and threaten water supplies. Scientists are still studying what pollutants are found in produced water, and how effective different treatment technologies are at removing contaminants. Right now, it's unclear whether treated water can be safely released into the environment.
>Texas should confidently have the answer to those questions before issuing permits to oil companies, not afterward.
The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed on the Cook Political Report rating the Senate race as a toss-up, looking at how James Talarico has tried to present himself as the moderate candidate while Ken Paxton has barely tried and failed when he did. Here is a key quote:
>For decades, Texas Republicans just had to show up to win a statewide race in November. The electoral math was easy — Texas had more Republican voters than Democratic. But with a tight race, Paxton might benefit from trying to moderate on the issues and expand his coalition beyond the hard-right base that delivered his primary victory over Cornyn.
>To his credit, he tried. It didn’t go well.
>Back in June, Paxton broke with the Texas Republican Party’s opposition to in-vitro fertilization and publicly declared that he was a “strong supporter” of the fertility procedure. It’s a smart issue to moderate on. Polls show that a majority of U.S. voters, including a majority of Republicans, oppose restrictions on IVF. The moderation didn’t stick. Less than a month later Paxton flip-flopped on the issue, said he wanted limits on IVF and recanted his support for a federal bill that would punish states that ban IVF.
>That’s not the only time Paxton fumbled an opportunity to present himself as something besides an inflexible acolyte of the hard-right.
The Houston Chronicle editorial board has an editorial following up with a family it covered as part of its Pulitzer Prize-winning series about railroad crossings. They lost a son, now ICE wants to take their dad. Here's a key quote:
>None of this is necessary. Nothing is stopping the Trump administration from enacting a deportation regime that truly prioritizes the worst of the worst instead of hardworking Houston fathers of U.S. citizens. Nothing is stopping Congress from passing an immigration law that creates a legal path for longtime residents. Marco's suffering is a choice made by our politicians.
>Behind the overwhelming churn of immigration headlines is a generation of young Americans living with profound uncertainty. Houston has an estimated 1.2 million people with mixed-status families, meaning some members have legal status and others don’t. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that more than a quarter of a million parents of minors are at risk of deportation in the Houston area. That’s hundreds of thousands of children like Marco whose lives are being treated as collateral in a war the American public by and large does not want to fight.
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