The best & most reliable local advocates and fighters against authoritarianism will be rank & file residents of Harris County and rank & file Texans. People with autonomy from elected officials, political advocacy non-profits & unions will be the most free to speak and act. Entanglements with the mainstream political system that is itself the source of the authoritarian threat, will inhibit the ability of people in those networks to speak & act. Our freedom is up to us.

There will be many different approaches over the next four years. Work will be needed both inside and outside the mainstream political system. A mainstream political system run by Musk/Trump in Washington
and by hard right Republican Party here in Texas is an authoritarian system, or something moving quickly towards authoritarianism. 

You can certainly be a reformer and a useful advocate within that system. What you can't be is someone who can tell the full truth. In addition to calling out the far-right doing so much damage, we must be able to address what is not working on our side. 

Our systems had four years after January 6th to stop Trump. And then also to stop him after he was convicted of 34 felonies. For four years, he worked to undermine our faith in democracy with endless false claims the 2020 election was stolen. Still Trump has been returned to the Presidency. These systems don't work. People dependent on them for their livelihood will not be our strongest champions. They can't say everything that needs to be said. They can't act in all the ways that may be required. 

My dad would sometimes use the horse racing betting term "horses for their courses."  It meant some horses were best in a long distance race, others in a sprint and others on a rainy muddy track.

What is your approach to the challenging days ahead? What are your strengths? What is your appetite for the fight?  Who are your people? Where are you most comfortable? To what extent are you willing to go outside your comfort? There is no right or wrong answer. There is just the need to keep at it and stay the course even in this nightmare. 

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​​​​

​Texas Senator John Cornyn tweeted support yesterday of pro-western advocates and protesters in the nation of Georgia. You see the tweet at the bottom of this post. 

(Above is a picture of my cardboard cutout of Senator Cornyn. It has been displayed often at the weekly John Cornyn Houston Office Protest which is held each Tuesday, 11:30-1, 5300 Memorial Dr.)

You can be certain that if there are sustained protests in the United States about authoritarian moves from Musk/Trump, John Cornyn will be on the opposite side of the protests from pro-democracy Americans. 

From The BBC on December 14th:

A former Manchester City footballer has been appointed president by Georgia's disputed parliament, after 17 days of pro-EU protests that have swept this country's towns and cities. ..Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, is a former MP from the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream party and was the only candidate for the job. The four main opposition groups have rejected Kavelashvili and have boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in October were rigged. ...Protests against Georgian Dream began immediately after the October elections but they burst into life on 28 November when the government announced it was putting EU accession negotiations on hold until 2028. An overwhelming majority of Georgians back the country's path to the European Union and it is part of the constitution. Every night, the main avenue outside parliament fills with protesters draped in EU flags, demanding new elections. ...Kavelashvili is a founder of the People's Power party, known for being the main voice for anti-Western propaganda in Georgia. ...Kavelashvili moved into politics after he was disqualified from seeking the leadership of the Georgian football federation because he lacked the qualifications.  Both the EU and US have condemned the government for democratic backsliding and more than 460 people have been detained across Georgia over the past two weeks, according to Transparency International. More than 300 have been ill-treated or tortured, the organisation says, including dozens of people from Georgian media. Last weekend, thugs were filmed attacking a TV reporter and cameraman...."

Here is a website detailing and supporting the pro-democracy movement in Georgia.

The Houston Democracy Project tries to keep it local, but the folks in Georgia are brave and the freedom of all people is connected. Everyday people need courage if they want to stay free when confronted by authoritarians. We saw this a few weeks ago in South Korea.

Maybe Senator Cornyn believes in democracy so long as it is across the ocean. Maybe he really thinks he believes in democracy. But if it was all for real, he'd not support Musk/Trump. John Cornyn's hypocrisy needs to be seen clearly. He endorsed Donald Trump in 2024.
​
I recall back in October Senator Cornyn and four other Republican senators went to Hungary to criticize Hungarian Prime Minister's Viktor Orban's anti-democratic rule and his closeness with Putin. That's fine. But where are they with freedom on the line right here?

John Cornyn is 72 years old. He lost his recent bid to be Republican leader in the U.S. Senate. He's likely to get a further-right challenger in the Republican primary if he runs for re-election in 2026. 

What makes people who may well know better and who have little left to gain in this world still do the wrong thing? What reward for Senator Cornyn could be worth handing our future over to these people? How can he see the threat in Georgia and Hungary, but not in Texas and the entire United States? Why are our elected officials so often so useless?

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​​​

​Come all ye freedom-loving Houstonians!

The John Cornyn Houston Office Protest will be out for Week 411 on Christmas Eve Day, 12/24, & and Week 412 on New Year's Eve Day, 12/31. 11:30-1, 5300 Memorial Dr. Please join us! (And please  join us for our eight year anniversary on January 28th.)

The picture above is from our seven year mark at the beginning of 2024. We had high hopes back then for how the year would go. Those hopes did not pan out. But we are staying the course. 

Our consistent message over the eight years has been that while voting is essential, it will not be enough. We saw this recently in South Korea when Koreans committed to democracy showed up at the assembly building in Seoul to oppose the imposition of martial law. 

We have voted and voted and voted. We must keep on voting. But with the Musk/Trump/Vance Republican Party clearly committed to attacking freedom-as well as giving all our money to the super rich-we must be show up for ourselves. 

(And our Democratic elected officials at every level must be ready to fight for us wherever that leads. They signed up for this duty knowing the overall political situation. One way they could fight for us is to stop stop accepting low turnout in majority-Democratic municipal, legislative and Congressional districts.) 

The John Cornyn Houston Office Protest has been setting the example for 8 years now. We've been seen by hundreds of thousands of pedestrians, cyclists and motorists at our busy corner of Memorial & Detering. We have a social media following. ( We've also been watched by at least 1000 HPD units because apparently there is no crime.) We keep at it because it is essential that people see others like themselves willing to show up confidently and openly for democracy no matter the aggression of the right. We're proud to say we have no connection to any elected official or formal group. We just keep on going. 

Please join us over the holiday. We are friendly and have extra signs for all. Please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at [email protected] if you have a question about parking or anything. 

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​​

​


The head of Houston's mounted patrol unit testified before Houston City Council's Public Safety & Homeland Security​ Committee last week. It was the regular monthly committee session. The unit is run by a Commander Ryan Watson. He said Houston's mounted patrol is the largest in the world. 

The hearing was a whole lot of copaganda. Here is the presentation the mounted patrol made to the committee.  Above is a slide from the presentation. Here is the video the full public safety committee hearing. 

The "2020 Civil Unrest" they mean were the demonstrations after the police murder of George Floyd. Nearly all of the arrests in Houston from the Floyd protests were dismissed by District Attorney Kim Ogg. (Also noteworthy was the apathy of local elected Democrats over the unnecessary mass arrests at the Floyd protests.)
​
The slide above leaves out a lot of times they've deployed the horses. I can't recall the exact date, but sometime maybe in 2018 I got roped into organizing a rally at Houston City Hall calling on all public officials to support release of the Mueller Report. We had maybe 50 folks. There had to be at least ten horse units at the event. It was just so silly and a waste of money. If we were the town radicals, the city was safe. 

This is on the mounted patrol's website:

"Although a mounted officer on horseback may be intimidating while in crowd control situations the general public sees him/her as very approachable."

Sure. Commander Watson boasted in the committee session about how the mounted patrol stopped protestors from getting into the Brown Convention Center during the National Rifle Convention in May, 2022. I was at that protest. There were a zillion cops and miles of barricades. Nobody was storming the convention center no matter if the horses were there or not. And the idea that protesters are somehow a bigger threat than the National Rifle Association is just a crazy value system for a public official to have. 

​The main threat to of political violence to Houston and Texas is the extreme right wing--Meaning the extreme right wing currently in control of our mainstream political system. We need protection from Donald Trump and Elon Musk rather than from folks outside the convention center with signs.

​Last March, I attended a presentation of the Special Response Group (SRG) of the Houston Police Department. It was part of a know your local police type monthly meeting series. SRG are the officers that monitor and respond to protests.

​The SRG website says this-- 

"The SRG is involved with all protests, demonstrations, rallies, and mass gatherings. They are equipped and prepared to handle any type of situation. The goal of the SRG is to be prepared for any situation and influence a peaceful ending."

The upshot of the talk was that the SRG folks see protestors as a hassle, don't overly care what you are protesting unless it's seen as anti-police, view protection of property at the least as important--quite possibly more so--as the safety of protestors & are mindful of the First Amendment to some degree.        

​Below is a slide from SRG from presentation. Protestors are people to call the police about, to coordinate with your security about, to not get into a fight with, to make certain you share all the information you have with police. They are by definition outsiders, troublemakers, reasons to call security.

It's important to recall that police unions often support authoritarians and election deniers. They make the conscious choice to do this. They could choose otherwise. 

Our rights and our futures are on the line. It's important to understand in advance that police won't be our allies. They'll respect our rights to a degree. Every officer is an individual with his or own views. They are not inherently good or bad people. They'll follow orders. They'll serve whoever they feel has the most power and will make certain to protect their jobs and benefits. 

When you think it is someone other than you being hassled or arrested, it's you next. Our rights and freedom are up to each of us to protect. It's up to us to demand our elected officials join the fight.

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​

​I saw a post on Facebook recently that Harris County-based Teamsters Local 988 has authorized a strike against Sysco Corporation. Above is a picture from Facebook of Local 988's meeting where the matter was discussed.  

(I looked around for specifics of the dispute between the Teamsters and Sysco. I didn't find that information. But I did find a press release from December of 2019 about the signing of a five year contract between the company and union. My wager is the contract is up and no new contract has been signed.)

The national Teamsters union did not endorse in the presidential election which was a lousy thing to do.  Overall, reliable exit polls report Vice President Harris defeated Trump with union voters 57%-41%. Whatever that Trump-voting 41% was thinking, it was not about what was best for their union. (I recently read a book called Rust Belt Union Blues about the rise of Republican voting by union members in western Pennsylvania. I found it even-handed and interesting.) 

I went to the Facebook page of Local 988 to see if they endorsed Harris. They did.

Here is what they said:

Teamsters Local Union No. 988 proudly endorse the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for President.

“Workers must continue to elect candidates who support policies that strengthen their rights in the workplace,” said Local 988 President Robert Mele, “Policies that will not weaken workers’ pensions, allow companies to threaten their jobs with unsafe or unregulated automation, or undermine workers’ ability to strike. As organizing continues to gain momentum, the Teamsters need elected officials who will fight for us, not against us. Kamala Harris is that candidate.”

​Some local unions fell far short of Local 988's correct decision to endorse Harris. 

​Politico ran an article in October about the decision of the International Association of Firefighters to make no endorsement in the presidential race. The article says the national firefighters were close to endorsing Harris, but yielded to pressure from local chapters--Including Houston-- to not endorse.

From the article: 

"But the union president, Edward Kelly, was under intense pressure by key local chapters — including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and some officials in Los Angeles and Houston, along with a swath of rank-and-file members — to withhold endorsing Harris, with some threatening to pull out of the larger union if it did. Some chapters followed through on threats to leave the union after it endorsed John Kerry in 2004, and the IAFF declined to endorse in 2016. The pressure this year was even higher."

​Houston Firefighters Local 341-an AFL-CIO union-appears to bear some responsibility for the election of Donald Trump. There were local firefighter unions that did the right thing despite the national non-endorsement. This is just as Houston Teamsters Local 988 endorsed Vice President Harris despite a national Teamsters non-endorsement. 

The Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO Area Labor Council has lost its way in Houston municipal politics with strong support of Mayor John Whitmire and the firefighters. (Local 988 also endorsed Whitmire.) Back on Labor Day, I wrote how local organized labor could hold reactionary Mayor Whitmire accountable. City Controller Chris Hollins has been clear that the recently-signed firefighters contract puts Houston's finances at risk. That's bad enough. But to get all that money & then do Trump's work for him--That's very much wrong conduct. 

​Unions must make clear what consistent efforts they are making with rank-and-file members to educate them about anti-labor candidates and elected officials. If 41% of the membership of a group or interest is backing Trump as the exit polls show for organized labor, that is not a group or interest you can really trust in the difficult days ahead.

Unions that support Trump and Trump-aligned Republicans are not friends of democracy or of the union movement. If internal union politics or the perceived interests of a specific union lead to support of Trump and the anti-labor right, we as democracy-loving Americans have no obligation of support to that union.

It is difficult in the current political and social situation to feel much of anything other than we are all on our own. But I can't live that way and keep any measure of hope. My own view of solidarity is that it involves anybody willing to show up and fight the anti-democratic oligarchy set to run the country. Unions that show up for the interests of all Americans are allies. Unions that instead support the Musk/Trump Presidency are known associates of billionaires and Putin. Nobody gets a pass on anything without the concrete fact of being an active part of the fight against Musk/Trump. 

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​

I spoke before Houston City Council this past Tuesday, regarding the arbitrary and seemingly lawless way Mayor Whitmire is running Houston. Above is Council this past Tuesday. 

It's important people show up and address Council. Democracy must be strong at the local level. 

Public comment time is each Tuesday at 2 PM. Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.  The earlier before the session you sign up, the higher up on the speaker's list you'll be. 

Here is what I said:

As a law-abiding Houstonian who believes in democracy, I want to know how Mayor Whitmire-King Whitmire-can just appropriate money on his own, not carry out city propositions approved by the public & negate and gut city ordinances by memos and decrees.  

If we are as broke as Mayor Whitmire often says, where did the money come from to tear up Houston Avenue make it less safe?

Why do we have money when Mayor Whitmire wants a fancy crosswalk near his house?

When are we going to get a clear public report on Proposition B? When it was discussed here recently, there was a mix of legal opinions and Mayor Whitmire’s ramblings that the folks who put forth the proposition were some sort of radicals. But Prop B got more votes than Mayor Whitmire. If we are just going to ignore the people’s vote, then announce it outright. Call a press conference Mayor and say it.

How was the sidewalk fee gutted with just a memo from the Mayor? The proposal to tank the fee was made by a Proposition A motion by Councilmembers Pollard, Evans-Shabazz & Thomas. When the votes were not there, the Mayor gutted the fee with a memo. The purpose of Prop A was to expand democracy. Not rule by decree.

The effort to revise the sidewalk ordinance reflects the lousy process. The planning commission has stalled the ordinance because it had no civic benefit but to kill the fee and make certain we build fewer sidewalks. Councilmember Alcorn testified before the Planning Commission in the hope something useful could be salvaged from this process to nowhere. While the issue stagnates, the fee remains- wrongly- mostly blocked. 

How can Mayor Whitmire just torpedo the lights on the bridge in Montrose after the money had been approved by Council? I don’t care about the bridge. I just want to know if there are any laws or not. The Mayor says he takes “personal responsibility” for the decision. So what? What about Council.

The Mayor says he can allocate funds as he chooses. That is just the Trump/Musk argument being made in Washington. But even those scoundrels intend to challenge a post Watergate reform law that directs the president to correctly allocate money approved by Congress. Are we running a shop at Houston City Hall even more arbitrary than the insurrectionist-in-chief intends to run in Washington? 

Mayor Whitmire’s strongman rule diminishes and degrades the people who work for him & with him. The planning director and planning department are compelled to write & defend an ordinance to nowhere. The city finance director can’t answer a question about removing the money for the lights, without handing the question off to the city attorney. The city attorney concocts  legal theories from thin air to justify after the fact what the Mayor has done. Councilmembers spend four years of their professional lives being treated like chopped liver. Like the comedian used to say—No respect. Like the comedian used to say-No Respect.

Elected in low turnout, special interest funded elections, Council’s connections to a functioning democracy are shaky enough. Stand up to the Mayor. Stand up for yourselves, Stand up for the people of Houston. Stand up for democracy. 

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​

​






Here is an update on the revision "process" for the Houston Sidewalk Ordinance using the post I wrote on this topic on back on November 18th as a framework for today's post.  Above is a picture of a Houston sidewalk.

The revision process of Houston's sidewalk ordinance is, with undue haste, ongoing. (Update-The process has been stalled because it was clearly not a solid process.)   

This is a matter for the Houston Democracy Project because Mayor Whitmire recently gutted the existing sidewalk ordinance with a memo rather than by a vote of Council. No democracy involved. 

Three Councilmembers--Tiffany Thomas, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz & Ed Pollard--sought to change a provision in the law that requires developers to either build a sidewalk, or pay a fee to a city sidewalk construction fund when building new homes. They didn't have the votes for this bad idea. Instead, Mayor Whitmire worked it out for them by simply writing a memo allowing exemptions from the requirement to either build the sidewalk or pay up. Not very democratic at all.  (Update-Mayor Whitmire again ignored a council ordinance by shifting funds assigned to light up a bridge in Montrose to his homeless proposals. I don't care about the bridge & I'm wary of his homeless plans. The issue is that King Whitmire has the Trumpian notion that the rules are not for him.)  
​
It should be called The Gutting The Fee Ordinance. There is nothing else going on here but gutting the fee. There is no urgency to any of this. No longterm planning for Houston sidewalks is taking place. The process is being rushed along through the distractions of the recent election and the holiday season to make it possible to kill the fee. 

​Here is the Houston Planning Department website about the ordinance.  

​Here are the remaining steps in the process-- 

November 21: Planning Commission recommendation
December 2: Quality of Life Council Committee meeting
December 11: City Council meeting

​(Update-Here is the new timeline as posted by the Houston Planning Commission: 

The previously announced schedule for Planning Commission consideration, the Council Quality of Life Committee presentation, and City Council consideration has been postponed to allow more time for analysis of feedback and data. Please check this page for schedule updates.

Tentative schedule:

November 21: Planning Commission recommendation CANCELLED
TBD: Quality of Life Committee Presentation
TBD: City Council consideration 

The Houston Planning Commission stopped the process because no civic good was being accomplished. It's all just a money grab to stop the fee.        

The Houston Planning Department took public comments on the Gutting The Fee Ordinance. Most all the comments oppose the changes.   

Here is a fine comment from a Houstonian: 

"I oppose these exceptions because it is obvious you are not thinking at all about the children, seniors and handicap in underdeveloped areas where there are no sidewalks. The city was supposed to provide sidewalks in subdivisions as they were created but too many of us received nothing. The City's mobility program for sidewalks is so backed up, most of the residents will be DEAD before they see a sidewalk thru that program. We need sidewalks now and making exceptions would only make things worse for the ones who really need them."

The Houston Planning Commission discussed the sidewalk ordnance on November 14th. The conversation and public testimony starts within a few minutes for the start of the session. Houston City Councilmember Sallie Alcorn spoke against simply removing the fee without a real plan for more sidewalks.  She understood nothing constructive was taking place.  

Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.

​So much of Houston is uninhabitable from heat, bad air, stray dogs, aggressive driving, poor streets and bad or non-existent sidewalks. Do we have to make it worse? When we stick up for public space, we stick up for better lives for ourselves. We stick up for the healthy public sphere that strengthens faith in openness and democracy. Why are we doing the work of Trump and the right by actively diminishing the quality and best uses of public space?   ​

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​

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Mayor Whitmire has announced an effort to get homeless people off the street. He says it is also about actually reducing homelessness.  

From the Houston Landing:

"Houston will revamp its strategy to address homelessness by opening resource hubs across the city aimed at getting people off the street and expanding the civility ordinance city-wide....The new plan aims to put people in stable housing immediately by keeping beds available, partnering with police to get residents to the resource hubs and increasing outreach to unhoused individuals throughout the city...Part of the strategy already is in effect in the downtown area. To continue, the city will need to enact ordinance changes, get $45 million from outside sources for the first year and successfully petition the state for a mechanism to create an ongoing source of funding.....The city already has committed $25 million for the first year, Housing and Community Development Director Mike Nichols said. The team will petition Harris County for another $20 million, $15 million from philanthropic organizations and $10 million from other governmental entities.... “We’re going to adjust the laws to humanely and firmly get people off the street,” Whitmire said. “You don’t get arrested for being homeless. Let me emphasize that that’s not a crime. We are going to change the ordinance that you can’t sleep on the streets.”...The city previously could not expand the civility ordinance due to legal challenges, but a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling appears to uphold bans  on “public camping,”meaning cities or states can fine people sleeping on public streets or sidewalks."  

Here is the 45 minute press conference from November 21st where Mayor Whitmire announced his plan. Above is a picture from the press conference from the HTV broadcast of the event.  There are no elected officials on the platform with the Mayor. Houston City Council must be included in the development and execution of this plan.

Houston City Council District F member Tiffany Thomas was the only Councilmember I saw who offered a perspective on Mayor Whitmire's plan. She asks a number of important questions. Just as significantly, Councilmember Thomas asserts the right of councilmembers to question the mayor.  The assertion of Council's right to offer solutions and to be heard, was a big reason I strongly supported the efforts of four councilmembers in early October to raise city taxes to help the city pay for storm recovery efforts.

John Whitmire sometimes acts in autocratic ways and he must be checked.   

Here are some questions and observations I have about Mayor Whitmire's plan:    

1. Why does our so-called "Civility Ordinance" only apply to the most poor in Houston? The Civility Ordinance regulates only the conduct of people who may well be homeless or otherwise down on their luck. Anyone who travels on Houston streets knows that acts of incivility span all classes of people. A person lying on the sidewalk is subject to a violation. The Range Rover driver who runs a light and almost gets you killed just goes on their way. If we are going to regulate "civility", shouldn't everyone be held to the standards applicable to living in a good society?  

2. Mayor Whitmire in his press conference discusses the large number of homeless people at the main branch Houston Public Library downtown. Mayor Whitmire brought up the terrible state of the restrooms at the main branch library. He's right. The library must be open and welcoming to all. At current it is not. This must be addressed.  

3. Mayor Whitmire says his initiative is about "reclaiming public space."  It is odd to hear this from the Mayor. Mayor Whitmire has attacked the right to protest in public space, gutted the fee meant to encourage the construction of sidewalks & works every day to make city streets less safe for pedestrians and bikers and more open to speeders and aggressive drivers. Mayor Whitmire has been no friend of Houstonians looking to make full and best use of public space.  There is no reason to trust his view of what makes for good and safe public space.     

4. Mayor Whitmire must not get a pass from Council on crafting this plan. There must be aggressive questioning from Council. Active and effective democracy in Houston and the nation needs to be restored from the bottom up at the local level. 

Mayor Whitmire is talking about getting money from the State of Texas for this plan. That might be fine. But there must be questions about a City of Houston homeless policy contingent on approval from our far-right state government.    

​I'm not an expert on homeless policy and I'm not offering policy suggestions. What we all have the right to expect, is a Houston City Council that is an active policy partner on such an important concern. Without this involvement Mayor Whitmire will simply do whatever he wants.  

Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.
​
I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​

(I'm back from Thanksgiving travel & back up running with the Houston Democracy Project Blog. Thank you for reading the blog and for supporting the effort.)   

The Houston Democracy Project tries to keep it local. But since everything is connected, that is not always possible.  

In South Korea, deeply unpopular right-wing President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. Thousands of rank & file South Koreans went to the parliament building in Seoul to oppose the move.

Thank you to the brave citizens of South Korea showing up for their freedom. Everyone deserves to live freely. Those people in Seoul are showing up for us in America, in Texas and right here in Houston/Harris County. They showed up peacefully and with courage unlike the cowards of January 6th.  

Above is a picture of ordinary South Koreans taking pictures of police and troops trying to enter the parliament building so that these anti-democratic actions would be documented for all to see. 

We can document official wrongdoing by local police, state police and the national guard if need be here at home. Anyone following an unlawful order must know that a day of lawful accountability is always possible.       
      
From The Guardian:

"In attempting to declare martial law, South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, sought to awaken ghosts the rest of the country thought had been laid to rest....The last time martial law was declared, in 1980, hundreds of people were killed by the military dictator Chun Doo-hwan, who sent protesters to a concentration camp for “purificatory education”... In the course of his meteoric rise to power from prosecutor to president, Yoon outraged much of the country by making complimentary remarks about Chun, claiming..that many people thought the general had done well in politics apart from his coup and the crushing of protests … Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law appears to have been a desperate gamble in the face of rock-bottom public popularity – with positive ratings barely over 10% – .. and staunch political opposition, increasingly including his own People Power party,...Yoon may have thought that his nostalgia for authoritarianism would resonate with at least some of the South Korean political spectrum, but the unanimous vote in the national assembly to overturn his declaration, including by his own party, suggests he miscalculated. Within hours, he was forced to back down, and martial law was formally lifted .."

The vote in the South Korean parliament against the martial law decree was 190-0. President Yoon has lifted the martial law. We'll see what happens next.   

Imagine that even members of President Yoon's own party voted to oppose martial law. What a contrast to the groveling acquiescence and enthusiastic support Republicans extend to the traitorous insurrectionist Donald Trump.     

Of course what took place in South Korea can happen here. We already had the January 6th coup attempt. Trump had no intention of accepting the defeat if he had lost the election. Trump has said he will use dictatorial powers. Trump is in alignment with authoritarians across the globe. 

We must be ready to respond with the same bravery, purpose and swiftness we saw from the people of South Korea today.        

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​