​Above you see a mailer sent out by the Harris County Democratic Party (HCDP) about the upcoming Harris County Appraisal District election. It says vote for Melissa Noriega for HCAD Place 2 & Pelumi Adeleke for HCAD Place 3.    

Here is a story about the new positions from the Texas Tribune.

I agree with the mailing that the HCAD race is an important matter of democracy against far-right extremism.

The Republican candidate for HCAD Place 2, Kyle Scott, filed one of the rejected election-overturn lawsuits after his losing race for Harris County Treasurer in 2022.      

Every elected Republican contributes to the local infrastructure of authoritarianism. Republicans at every level of government are serious when they talk about the suspension of civil liberties and mass round-ups of migrants. These attacks on our freedoms and on our communities will require many local partners and boosters. 

Texas Republicans pardon the man who killed Black Lives Matter protester in Austin & called the verdict today illegitimate. They won’t accept election results. Police unions back the lawlessness. The infrastructure is there for bad stuff very soon & right here in Houston and Harris County.

The Harris County Democratic Party has the right idea that the Harris County Appraisal elections are a matter of basic democracy. This is a message that rank & file Democrats and all who care about democracy must demand our elected officials and well-financed candidates take to heart and act upon between now and  November. 

HCDP must make clear who among elected officials is helping turn out the vote and who is not. And we must demand that elected officials take political, career and any risk required to confront and defeat the many challenges ahead.  

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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According to Houston meteorologist Matt Lanza, yesterday was by some measures the warmest day in Houston in 26 years. And it is still only May. You see above Mr. Lanza's Tweet about the temperature.      

Last week Houston was hit by the big derecho that knocked out power for 800,000 customers in the Houston area.   

Last year was hottest summer ever in Houston. Everyone who lives here knows there are more and more days where it is simply too hot to walk or jog during the day. And sometimes at night as well. 

We talk on and on about recovery from big storms in Houston and Harris County.  We'll be "Houston Strong"  and work together and pitch in and on and on. 

I don't want to be Houston Strong. I want to address the climate change and poverty/economic stress that is causing and exacerbating the endless storms and heat waves. 

It is fine for politicians to set up water distribution and tell people where cooling centers are located. People need help. But it is not enough. We can't normalize trauma and disaster.    

I don't trust politicians and institutions that would normalize repeated disasters, to not also normalize and  fail to address the underlying causes of our descent towards authoritarianism in Texas and the nation.   

Our futures are on the line. Demand elected leaders and institutions tell the complete story and work to prevent nightmare outcomes.  

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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Tomorrow, 5/27, is Memorial Day. 

A few days ago I watched on C-SPAN a ceremony placing the ashes of Korean War Medal of Honor winner Colonel Ralph Puckett in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol for viewing.     

Above you see a picture from the event. ​

Here is the ceremony from 2021 where Colonel Puckett was awarded the medal. 

My father, Corporal Anthony S. Aquino of Providence R.I. was a Korean War combat medic. He served honorably and paid a life-long price for his time in war.

Watching C-SPAN, it made me ill to see House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Mitch McConnell connected in any way to honorable service. Both are responsible for our politics today and for January 6, 2021.

You see Capitol Police in the picture above. They should have arrested Johnson and McConnell for the events of January 6. 

Donald Trump speaks well of murderous North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

I'm glad my father died before Donald Trump became President and before the treason of January 6.   

My father was not militaristic & spoke of the equal humanity of the American, Korean and Chinese people he encountered in war.

Please recall the Korean War and Korean War veterans as well as the massive number of civilians who died in the war.  

​Let's work together for peace, freedom and respect for all.     

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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This past Thursday I was the featured speaker at the May meeting of the Spring Democratic Club in Spring, Texas here in Harris County. I appreciate the club for the invite. There were about 30 folks in attendance. I talked about and took questions about some of the chief themes of the Houston Democracy Project. (Above you see me talking to the club.) 

I discussed the in-our-face reality of a Republican Party promising violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win & mass migrant round-ups as well. Those round-ups would surely go on in Houston/Harris County. This conversation included discussion of the policing over the years at the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest.

We must be willing to show up for ourselves & for others no matter the challenges ahead.

I also talked about the need of rank & file Democrats to insist that well-financed candidates and all elected Democrats work hard to elect the full Democratic slate in '24. I pointed out that I asked Tax Assessor candidate Annette Ramirez, to commit to taking part in a blockwalk or holding a fundraiser for the HCAD candidates should she win her May 28 race. She said she would & we will follow up with Ms. Ramirez after Tuesday's vote.

We all have a voice and we should use that voice. Elected officials are here for us.

I've addressed Democratic clubs in Baytown, Humble & Spring about the Houston Democracy Project. I was also a main speaker at the recent quarterly Harris County Democratic Party Clubs & Orgs meeting at the Party HQ. I'd be happy to talk to your club or organization. It does not have to be a Democratic club. We are all fighting for our freedom.
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Thanks for all the support of the Houston Democracy Project. 

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

Last week Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry who killed a Black Lives Matter protestor in Austin in 2020.

From The Texas Tribune:

"More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a protester in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry, 37, on Thursday shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon...A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a 2020 demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color....One day after a jury convicted Perry, Abbott directed the parole board to review the former U.S. Army sergeant’s case. ...Shortly after Perry’s conviction, unsealed court documents revealed he had made a slew of racist threatening comments  about protesters in text messages and social media posts. Days after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer prompted nationwide protests, Perry sent a text message saying, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” Both Perry and Foster are white. Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant also sent racist and anti-Muslim messages before and after Floyd's death. "

The message is clear. It is fine to shoot and kill protesters in Greg Abbott's Texas.  

In the week since the pardon, the Austin American-Statesman reported that the Austin police department had drafted a letter calling for Mr. Perry to be pardoned. 

From The Statesman: 
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"Days before Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry for killing a Black Lives Matter protester, the Austin Police Department drafted a two-page letter to state officials advocating that Perry be freed...The document, on departmental letterhead, echoes the belief of the lead investigator in the case that the prosecution of Perry in the shooting death of Garrett Foster was based on “conjecture,” “innuendo” and a “character assassination” of Perry, who wrote racist and threatening social media posts...The draft, obtained by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV on Tuesday, bears the signature line of interim Police Chief Robin Henderson...The letter rejects the guilty verdict of a Travis County jury a year earlier and reiterates the Police Department’s finding that the shooting was justified, adding, “Mr. Perry should have never been charged.”

No surprise. Yet still, when will city police departments reflect the values of the people who pay their salaries? It is not difficult to imagine urban police forces in Texas simply taken under the command of the far-right state government, just as the state has taken control of Houston's public schools.

Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. Texas Republicans have passed a law allowing them to take over Harris County elections. We may well need to be in the streets. You can bet good money that protestors demanding that election results be respected, will get the same treatment and "justice" from State of Texas officials and local police as did pro-Palestinian protestors at the U. of Texas and the murdered protestor Garrett Foster.   

We can't be afraid. But we must be aware & be ready to meet the many challenges ahead.         

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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​Above you see two recent ads from State Rep. Jarvis Johnson. Rep. Johnson is running for the Texas Senate against Senator Molly Cook.  Election Day is May 28. 

One ad shows civil rights marchers and protestors and says you should vote for Rep. Johnson to honor the memory of those brave acts.

Very good. We must recall and honor the Civil Rights Movement.   

The other ad is about how Senator Cook is a trouble-causing activist & that her presence in the Texas Senate would be a case of "chaos." 

The shirt Senator Cook is wearing in the picture is about opposition to the expansion of I-45. I am not aware of any chaos brought about by opposition to I-45.     

Rep. Johnson appears to have conflicting views on the virtues of protest and activism.  

(Update to this post: Over the weekend, there was a protest at Houston City Hall against the wrongful and anti-democratic HISD takeover. In the inserted picture above, you see Senator Molly Cook in a blue shirt and three people over you see Rep. Johnson in shirt and tie.  He is right there protesting with Senator Cook. It seems Rep. Johnson is not as adverse to protest as he suggests in his campaign ad. )

​Civil rights protestors were seen by many Americans as troublemakers. That is not an original thought on my part. Martin Luther King was murdered while taking part in a strike and protest movement fighting for sanitation workers in Memphis. 

Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. Texas Republicans have passed a law allowing them to take over Harris County elections.   

If election results are not respected or Republicans toss out votes to flip a Harris County outcome, protest will be essential. When that day comes, elected officials will have to decide what side of the police line to stand on. If Jarvis Johnson wins on May 28, he will have to confront how to respond to authoritarianism. Hopefully, the views he expresses towards Senator Cook's activism are not an indication of the response he would offer. The safer bet is to simply not elect him to the Senate in the first place.  

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

Tomorrow, Thursday, 8/23, is an active day for the Houston Democracy Project.

At 6 AM, I'll be on Egberto Willie's Politics Done Right broadcast on KPFT 90.1 FM. It is the weekly Houston Democracy Project segment. I'm on for the full hour. You can hear it on the radio, livestream on KPFT.org, or watch later on Egberto's YouTube page.

From 10-1, I'll be handing out the Houston LGBTQ Political Caucus endorsement card at the West Gray Multi-service Center. With so much trouble ahead, we must show up for one another. Please also feel free to show up at West Gray with a doughnut or cookie.

I'm the featured speaker tomorrow at the monthly Spring Democratic Club meeting. I'll be discussing the Democracy Project & the Cornyn Houston Office Protest. Meet & greet at 6:30 & the program is at 7. Location is Alicia's Mexican Grill, 20920 Kuykendahl. I will be witty and engaging. Please join us.

Also, On Tuesday, June 4, I'll be doing a 20 minute Houston Democracy Project presentation across multiple social media platforms about the ideas and goals of the Project. It'll be early evening. June 4 is the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. I'll be talking about where we are today, the challenges ahead & how we can fight back. ​

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

The commission appointed by Mayor Whitmire to investigate the wrongful use of a "suspended-lack of personnel" code presented an interim report to Houston City Council last week.

The discussion begins at the 1 hour 46 minute point of the May 15 Council session.

From the Houston Landing:

The Houston Police Department doesn’t use a consistent, agency-wide system for managing and classifying criminal cases, a shortcoming that increases the likelihood of cases getting lost in the system, according to a preliminary report issued by an independent review panel Wednesday....The committee authors also found shortcomings with protocols in the Special Victims division, which investigates sex crimes. For example, the authors noted that crime victims were expected to schedule a forensic interview with police only during business hours during the work week...“The identified criticisms largely stem from the overwhelming volume of incident reports and limited time and resources available for resolution,” the report reads. “Addressing these concerns requires substantial resources, technology, personnel, and infrastructure investment. However, the crux lies in consistently managing operational issues across the board, ensuring that the objectives outlined in this assessment are implemented administratively and unilaterally.”

Mayor Whitmire made a sharp comment about this issue. 

From the Houston Chronicle:    

​“I still find it so mind-boggling and unacceptable that for 10 years, no stakeholder, no active officers, no employees, no administration, no one brought this to our attention,” Whitmire said.

How can it be that this went on for so long with such a lack of care and concern & with such serious crimes involved? Where is the crew always complaining about Democratic Harris County Judges?  How will officers involved be punished? Where is the police union? 

As we face an authoritarian threat in Texas and the nation, we need a police force that is competent and that cares about the people they should be serving.

I know it will be taken as naive to even express or write the sentence above. But we don't have to accept as city residents that our police won't do their jobs and can't be held accountable. Freedom is on the line in our politics. We must demand that police be on the right side of that fight.    

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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​Early voting for the Democratic Primary runoff begins tomorrow, 5/20. Early voting ends on 5/24 and Election Day is 5/28.

Here is where you can early vote. Be certain to check in advance as some locations are closed due to the recent bad weather.    

Here is what is on the ballot. 

Below are recommendations from the Houston Democracy Project--  

Senate District 15--Senator Molly Cook is the more likely forceful advocate for democracy in this race. She has pledged to work hard to increase November turnout for the full Democratic slate. We must hold her to her words if she prevails over Rep. Jarvis Johnson.  

State Representative 146--Lauren Ashley Simmons is an essential pick over the hateful incumbent.    

14th Court of Appeals, Place 3--Jerry Zimmerer has earned a 2nd term. 

486th District Court--Gemayel Haynes is a good person and a fine attorney. His opponent is the Chief of Staff for Kim Ogg. (Above you see Attorney Haynes.)     

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector--Annette Ramirez is qualified for the job and has spoken clearly about working to support the full Harris County Democratic slate in 2024. I asked her on an online forum that if she wins her race, will she hold a fundraiser or take part in a block walk for the HCAD candidates between May 28 and HCAD Election Day on June 15? She said she would. We'll hold her to that.  

Constable, Precinct 5--Jerry Rodriguez is endorsed by the LGBTQ Political Caucus and labor. I trust others I've seen endorse him. 

The ecosystem of low turnout, special interest funding and frequent lack of concern for candidates other than themselves sustains elected officials---It does not, however, sustain democracy.

The closer we move to authoritarian outcomes in Texas and the nation, the more we must demand that the people we vote for at the ballot box show up in any way needed.

Elected officials must work to drive November turnout, be willing to take political and career risks & be with us on the correct side of a police line if Republicans refuse to accept election results.    

Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. Take Republicans at face value on this & be relentless in demanding Democratic elected leaders be ready for the challenges ahead.                

Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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The Houston Democracy Project Blog is back up after two days without power from the derecho.  

No complaints. Many are still without power and need help.

Above is a picture is a picture of a drowned tree in the land-bridge area of Memorial Park. (I crawled under  to get past.)     

I see a lot of politicians on social media talking about how they are helping people. That's good. They should help.

At the same time, there are many weather-related disasters in Houston and Harris County. It would be good to see elected officials speaking more about the underlying climate change and poverty, that causes and exacerbates our many disasters.       

And no matter how an official responds to a weather event, we remain under authoritarian threat in Texas and the nation.     

Elected officials in the current political and social climate are signed up for the full deal. Help is needed in all our crises. Show up with the bottled water after the storm, show up to drive turnout in 2024 elections and be ready to show up on the right side of a police line when the right tosses out ballots or refuses to accept election results.   
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Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what.

The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]