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​Time for a Houston Democracy Project summer break. It's just the first day of summer. I'm beating the rush. 

I'll be back soon and ready to stay the course no matter what comes along.

It's going to be great summer in Houston & Harris County. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

​Molly Cook is the new Senator for Texas Senate District 15. I live in 15. Senator Cook is currently serving out the remainder of the term of now-Mayor John Whitmire. 

Senator Cook won the Democratic Primary runoff election to be the nominee for the upcoming full term in a May 28th primary. Senator Cook had 9506 votes and State Rep. Jarvis Johnson had 9444 votes. Texas Senate District 15 has nearly one million people.

As residents of Houston and Harris County Facing an authoritarian threat, we should not place great confidence in systems that generate such poor turnout for such an important office as Texas State Senator. The ecosystem of low turnout, gerrymandering & special interest and out-of-town funding that sustains elected officials, does not sustain democracy.        

Above you see a graphic put out by the Cook campaign. It details volunteer labor the Cook campaign made use of to win. 

​Campaigns are extractive industries. They take resources of donations and volunteer work from the community. These resources need to be returned in the form or brave and effective representation. 

I know Senator Cook. She is an honest and hard-working. She's also now an elected employee at a time when our freedom is at risk. Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. I take the threats at face value. We all should. 

​In the recent HCAD runoff elections, Senator Cook was active in helping the two Democrats on the ballot. I took part in one of her phone banks. I'm appreciative of those efforts.  (Other helpful elected officials on the HCAD race included State Rep. Christina Morales, State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, County Commissioner Leslie Briones & State Rep. Democratic nominee Lauren Ashley Simmons. Apologies to anybody I left out. I did not see any Democratic member of Houston City Council say a word.)    

But this is just a start. Senator Cook signed up for elected office at a time of great trouble and risk. Her obligations are extensive. This is so for all elected officials. We need help getting out the vote, we need Democracy Town Halls where officials detail the anti-democratic threats ahead, and we need elected officials willing to take political, career and if need be physical risks, to fight for democracy.

Elected officials come and go. Our need to be free is permanent and everyday. Be relentless in your expectations of the people you vote for.  Be mindful of the community resources they make use of to win elections. Whatever they are doing, ask for more. The stakes could not be higher.                      

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]​

Here is a (Slightly paraphrased.) conversation I had with a Trump supporter at a recent political action I was part of--

Trump Guy: Trump! 

Me: He'd take my freedom.

Trump Guy: How would he take your freedom? You'll be able to walk into the voting booth like anybody else this year.

Me: That might be the last free election.

We go around like that a few times.

Me: Your support of Trump is a threat to my family.

Trump Guy: That sounds like a threat to me. 

Me: It's not. But if it was, Texas is a Stand Your Ground state and you'd be able to kill me and get away with it.

Trump Guy: Good for me.

Me: Right. There it is.

End of conversation. 

Republicans and the right create a politics based on threats and violence, and when you call it out they turn it around to make you the aggressor.

When Governor Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry who'd been convicted of the killing of Black Lives Matter protester Garret Foster, he encouraged to violent acts by the right going unpunished. The Stand Your Ground laws in Texas had already opened the door. Abbott kicked the door right in.

Don't be gaslighted. Speak clearly and freely about the threat of Trump and the right. Don't be afraid. Let's stick together and prevail.   

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]​
   

Every so often I make the point here that we should be collecting e-mail addresses, phone numbers and whatever contact information we need of the activists and colleagues we would count on in an authoritarian situation. 

The social media landscape is hostile to the Democratic Party, the center-left and the left. I mention all three (overlapping) categories here because there is little distinction between how they are treated on big social media platforms.  (Or how they will be treated under Donald Trump.)

Twitter is run by the far right-winger Elon Musk.  He's moved Twitter to the right. It'll be a fully unreliable network in a political crisis brought about by the right.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram, has made it much more difficult to share and get an audience for political content. That's a restriction not likely to be lifted in the midst of a political struggle and when doing so would anger one side or the other.       

I'm old enough to recall all the utopia talk of how the internet would open up the world and bring us all together. I can't say it really looks like that is what happened. Be certain to know how you can reach friends and allies when Republicans are refusing to accept election results or are delivering the violence and authoritarianism they promise. You'll want to keep in touch with folks you know you can rely on. 
 
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 National Weather Service has started a new Heat Risk tool to tell people about the potential physical impact of how hot it is where they live.  Above you see what it looks like.  Below is what the Weather Service writes under a heading of "Who Is Most Susceptible To The Heat."  

• The elderly and the very young
• People experiencing homelessness
• Those on certain medications and/or those with pre-existing conditions which make them more sensitive to heat (your doctor can let you know if this is you)
• Those working outdoors -- especially new workers, temporary workers, or those returning to work after a week or more off, along with workers working indoors in a non-cooled space
• Those exercising or doing strenuous activities outdoors during the heat of the day - especially those not used to the level of heat expected, those who are not drinking enough fluids, or those new to that type of activity
• Those without a reliable source of cooling and/or hydration - this includes otherwise healthy individuals who are attending outdoor activities and are exposed to the heat and may not recognize the early symptoms of heat stress
• Those not acclimated to the level of heat expected - especially those who are new to a much warmer climate
• Those sensitive to poor air quality, which can be exacerbated by heat waves
• Those living in low income communities
• Some economic sectors are also affected by increasing levels of heat, such as energy and transportation

I post this on the Houston Democracy Project because I want everyone be safe from the heat. Heat impacts Houston very much. But also because it is political. It's no mistake the National Weather Service added this feature now. There is heat wave after heat wave in the United States and across the world. Increasingly it is possible to link this heat to climate change.   

One reason Europe is moving to the far right, is a fear of refugees fleeing climate change.  (Climate change caused by the West.) Another reason for the switch to the right, is that Europeans don't want to pay the bill for what they've done. 

If you read the list above, you see the role of policy in who is impacted by extreme heat. The homeless. Temporary workers or those working indoors without air-conditioning. People in low income communities.

The weather is political. The National Weather Service gets it. Right-wing politicians get it. We must understand it as well and be ready for whatever is on the way. Trouble is coming from so many directions. As daunting as it is, we must recognize all the sources of trouble if we are going to have hope of fighting back and prevailing.            

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 Houston Chronicle reports Houston has more than 3800 license plate cameras. That is more than any other city in the country. 

From the Chronicle: 

"As Houston public safety leaders continue to decry what they say are staffing shortages, the police department has come to rely on a license plate scanning technology more than any other city in the country, the acting chief said at a recent hearing....Houston now leads the nation with more than 3,800 license plate reading cameras......The cameras track license plates on vehicles and notify law enforcement of any past links to crimes. While law enforcement experts in Houston and elsewhere have praised the technology for helping investigators solve crimes faster and more efficiently, it doesn't come without controversy, as some civil rights groups have voiced concern about how the technology stores data and intrudes on peoples' privacy....Savannah Kumar, attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, previously told the Houston Chronicle that the license plate reading cameras raise privacy concerns. Kumar urges people to be cautious with the implementation or expansion of plate reading systems and to consider how long the data is retained and where it’s shared by law enforcement."

I'm old enough to recall when Houston voters got rid of red light cameras. That was in 2010. There was all sorts of talk about "privacy" and how we could all be tracked.  It was horse hockey. People just wanted to run red lights. Just go out on Houston streets and you'll see a lot of  people running red lights.

A man in Baytown, Texas  has filed a complaint with the Texas Department of Public Safety over potentially invasive uses of the cameras in that city. I doubt DPS will be on board with that, but I appreciate the gentleman's efforts. A Baytown city councilmember is also opposed to the cameras for privacy reasons according to a report of Houston Fox 26.    

There is no way that these cameras would not be used by law enforcement and politicians in an authoritarian or repressive situation in Texas and/or the nation. They'll keep going up and going up in Houston and elsewhere and we'll be told it is for public safety. Of course the one public safety issue it won't address, is the actual law-breaking recorded by the cameras of red light running and aggressive driving.  

Privacy is more and more difficult to obtain in this society. Much of it of course we've willingly given away by refusing to demand that our leaders take steps to protect privacy.

The structure of authoritarianism is up and running & ready to go.       

​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 is a picture I screen-shotted off John Whitmire's Twitter page on municipal runoff Election Day last December. It struck me as classless at the time. Whitmire is looking at a TV showing how much he was winning by over Shelia Jackson Lee. You won. Did you have to rub it in? 

I wanted to use the picture at the time. But I figured I'd wait to see how Whitmire governed.

He's governed in a way consistent with the picture. He's more comfortable with Republicans than Democrats, makes unilateral decisions, demeans people he does not agree with and talks over people.

I'll use the well-used Maya Angelou line of "When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time." (Here are many Maya Angelou quotes.)  

John Whitmire made sure to let us all know who he was on runoff Election Day last year.   

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 Houston Democracy Project tries to keep it local, but two international elections merit attention.

In India, Prime Minister Narenda Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP lost it's majority in the Indian parliament. 

Modi will remain Prime Minister for a third term with a coalition government. But Indian voters at least offered push back to Modi's Muslim-bashing, attacks on the press, the courts and democracy. He is not seen as inviolable anymore.      

I don't know a lot about India beyond what I read. But I know there must be activists and good people in India who have been fighting back for years now. Thanks to them. Even in degraded democracies with hateful rulers, we can fight back.        

Another notable election are the European Parliament elections. The far-right gained a number of seats, but did not win an outright majority.

​The far-right made significant gains in Germany and France. 

Because of the results, French President Emmanuel Macron called snap Parliamentary elections. The elections are essentially a question to France of who they want to be. First polls suggest a strong far-right performance, but not a majority.   

The votes in India and Europe are the two largest elections in the world.  The fight against the right is global. Elections matter. Activism matters. private conversations with family, friends and people you know matter. Let's keep fighting.   

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]​