Progress Texas Podcasts

Latest Episodes:

Happy Hour 164: Let's Get Schooled On SBOE, With Rayna Glasser and Morgan Kirkpatrick Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Everyone is focused on the Presidential race, for obvious reasons - and most Texans who take an even slightly broader view of the election might get as far as unseating Ted Cruz. There's a LOT more at play and at stake this November, and our ideological foes in the Republican Party are certainly engaged at the school board level - where control over the funding, educational policies and curriculum content of our public schools primarily lies. We have five terrific Democratic nominees for the Texas State Board of Education, and in this talk we get the views of two of them in regard to the task at hand. Rayna Glasser, running for SBOE District 11, and Morgan Kirkpatrick, in the race for SBOE District 15, share their common sense views on how Texas public schools need to change, and how to resist the GOP's assault on them via vouchers, encroaching religious content, and more.

Learn more about Morgan Kirkpatrick at https://morgankirkpatrickforsboe15.com/.

Learn more about Rayna Glasser at https://raynaforsboe11.com/.

Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our important work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Daily Dispatch 8/5/24: Texas Trump Types Jump At Trans Hate Opportunity, and More Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas representatives of the Trump party have led the way in a misguided assault on Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, whom they have incorrectly characterized as transgender, and thus an example of "keeping men out of women's sports": https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-texas-imane-khelif-19616272.php

...As usual, conservative politicians don't let pesky facts interfere with serving up cruelty for their voter base: https://www.expressnews.com/sports/article/olympic-boxing-story-cruelty-doesn-t-wait-facts-19617429.php

Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner jumps into a crowded race to both fill the rest of the late Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee's term, and for the term to follow, in the November 5 election: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2024/08/02/495524/sylvester-turner-amanda-edwards-among-candidates-vying-for-sheila-jackson-lees-open-seat/

Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is not letting Donald Trump's disrespectful commentary at a Chicago gathering of Black journalists go just yet: https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/4809674-jasmine-crockett-kamala-harris-donald-trump-nabj-race-comments/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Daily Dispatch 8/2/24: U.S. DOJ Releases Damning Report On Texas Juvenile Justice System, and More Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

A three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice reveals endemic and pervasive abuse against kids in the Texas juvenile justice system: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-youth-lockups-beset-abuse-mistreatment-children-justice-112492737

A committee of UT Austin professors has determined that the university's leadership broke its own rules in the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protestors back in April: https://www.kut.org/education/2024-07-31/ut-austin-committee-of-counsel-on-academic-freedom-and-responsibility-report-pro-palestinian-protests

Investigative reporters at the Texas Observer have identified a group that attacked a family after a river trip in Martindale in June as members or supporters of the largest white supremacist hate group in the country: https://www.texasobserver.org/neo-nazi-martindale-arrest-gang/

Eddie Canales, a beloved advocate for migrants in South Texas, has died at 76: https://myfox8.com/news/border-report/longtime-south-texas-migrant-advocate-has-died/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Daily Dispatch 8/1/24: VP Harris To Eulogize Sheila Jackson Lee In Houston, and More Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Vice President Harris continues spending precious campaign time in Texas - she will speak at U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's funeral today: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/harris-eulogize-longtime-us-rep-sheila-jackson-lee-112465451

...Harris responds from Texas to Donald Trump's ridiculous attacks on her racial heritage: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/31/kamala-harris-houston-sorority-speech/

An East Texas man has been arrested and charged with multiple crimes related to his storming of the U.S. Senate floor on January 6 2021 carrying at Trump "Rambo" flag: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/texas-man-who-carried-trump-rambo-flag-onto-floor-of-senate-charged-with-felony-misdemeanors-micheal-kieth-williams/65-2cc314b6-60a2-46b6-8308-f63287360d31

Key MAGA talking heads have started blaming each other for the Trump campaign's sudden collapse: https://www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/maga-figures-are-suddenly-afraid-trump-will-lose-and-pointing-fingers-each-other-over

A new environmental study shows that U.S. oil producers are releasing four times as much methane as federal regulators have estimated: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/texas-methane-oil-gas-climate-change-19609105.php

...While unregulated oilfield power lines appear to have sparked those massive wilddfires earlier this year in the Panhandle: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/01/texas-oil-electricity-power-lines-fires-panhandle/

...A petroleum and geology scientist at UT Austin breaks down how poil extraction processes are triggering earthquakes across Texas: https://www.kwtx.com/2024/07/31/degrees-science-science-behind-recent-texas-earthquakes/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Daily Dispatch 7/31/24: Rumors Of Project 2025's Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated, and More Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas progressives should continue to heed warnings issued by both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from Texas stages lately about Project 2025, despite Donald Trump's distancing and the Heritage Foundation's claims that they're winding it down: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/30/project-2025-director-paul-dans-leaves-heritage-foundation/

...The planning phase is ending, but the preparations for implementation are full steam ahead: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/g-s1-14455/project-2025-trump-heritage

...Those planners feature a rogue's gallery of white supremacist activists, including one who was recently ousted from a position at UT Austin over his racist writing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/07/29/project-2025-racist-writing/74567007007/

National GOP money and attention is pouring into the campaign of Mayra Flores - they see her run against incumbent Vicente Gonzalez as a likely flip: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/29/mayra-flores-young-gun-south-texas-hd-15/

A lawsuit brought by the Texas prisoner who inspired the movie "Bernie" over hot conditions in state prisons is being considered in an Austin courtroom: https://apnews.com/article/texas-prison-heat-temperature-air-conditioning-lawsuit-c5018d8d960f6ecb4c99367d444b8339

...A Texas Newsroom probe finds that several prisoners who have died in custody exhibited extraordinarily high body temperatures: https://www.kut.org/crime-justice/2024-07-29/investigation-texas-prison-heat-inmate-deaths-ac-autopsy-lawsuit

Another trial is underway in Galveston, that concerning a lawsuit against the parents of the 2018 Santa Fe High School mass shooter: https://apnews.com/article/school-shooting-texas-santa-fe-civil-trial-96e3cac9ef54c02fa9a6ddfaa32b1732

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Daily Dispatch 7/30/24: In Austin, POTUS Calls For SCOTUS Reform, and More Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

At yesterday's ceremony at the LBJ Library in Austin, President Biden called for sweeping reforms designed to reign in a rogue conservative U.S. Supreme Court: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/us/politics/biden-supreme-court-austin-texas.html

...Several Democrats - but no Republicans - met Biden on the ABIA tarmac yesterday: https://x.com/willdupreetv/status/1818015413437087814?t=QDYKCZ-xFe677e13D6rz0Q&s=03

...Those same Democrats weigh in on the POTUS visit and his plans for SCOTUS: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2024/07/29/texas-politicians-react-joe-biden-austin-tx-visit-lbj-library-civil-rights-act/74595049007/

The President headed to Houston afterwards to pay respects to late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee: https://apnews.com/article/sheila-jackson-lee-houston-funeral-prayer-service-0755f59092b8468d2e583372be5ea67a

Lockhart becomes the second Texas town in just the last month to verify enough petition signatures to put marijuana decriminalizaton on their November ballot: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/texas-officials-approve-marijuana-decriminalization-initiative-for-local-november-ballot-in-lockhart/

We salute an inspiring community effort in Denton to restore a mural defaced with anti-LGBTQ graffiti: https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/07/theres-just-more-love-after-north-texas-town-restored-mural-with-anti-lgbtq-graffiti.html

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Special Pod: President Joe Biden LIVE from Austin Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

President Biden gave remarks at the commemoration ceremony honoring the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon Baines Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 today at the LBJ Presidential Library on the University of Texas campus in Austin. This podcast features his full, unedited remarks. Huge thanks to the LBJ Library staff for a super-smooth event!

More on today's visit by the President: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/29/joe-biden-supreme-court-supreme-court/

Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Daily Dispatch 7/29/24: Biden and Harris Can't Stay Outta Texas, and More Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Postponed after the Trump assassination, President Joe Biden's visit to Austin and the LBJ Presidential Library to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act will commence at 3pm today: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2024/07/29/president-joe-biden-speech-lbj-library-austin-texas-how-to-watch-livestream-kamala-harris/74377745007/

...The President will also pay his respects to U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee today in Houston, while Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks at Jackson Lee's memorial service on Thursday: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/28/biden-harris-sheila-jackson-lee-services/

...The Trump party, scrambling for a counter-narrative to Harris, is more or less resorting to racism and misogyny: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/gop-fumbling-against-kamala-harris/

...Especially Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who has taken to right-wing TV to call Harris "the queen of DEI": https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/07/25/dan-patrick-calls-kamala-harris-queen-of-dei-bucking-guidance-from-party-leaders/

Doctors and nurses are among our most respected Humans, and a group of them have come out Against Ted Cruz: https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/07/texas-doctors-nurses-speak-out-against-ted-cruzs-abortion-policies.html

...While Ted, who prefers that name to Rafael, takes out millions of dollars worth of Spanish-language TV ads in the Rio Grande Valley: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/ted-cruz-spanish-ad-push-19598870.php

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Happy Hour 163: Abortion On The Ballot, Part 4 Jul 28, 2024

Show notes

Our ongoing series of conversations on the trampling of reproductive freedom in Texas - and what it's going to take to regain those rights - continues. In this fourth installment, we're proud to welcome Texas State Senator Molly Cook who has made history as our state's first openly LGBTQ Senator, Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes who makes her first appearance on our podcast feed, and Democratic State House nominee and former Miss Texas Averie Bishop, running against a GOP incumbent - all three on Texas ballots this fall! Voting for candidates who will fight back for abortion access in Texas is extremely vital - enjoy another great conversation on how we're going to get those rights back, permanently.

Learn more about Texas Senator Molly Cook at https://www.mollyfortexas.com/.

Learn more about Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes at https://www.vanessaforaustin.com/.

Learn more about Texas House candidate Averie Bishop at https://www.averieforall.com/.

Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas at https://progresstexas.org/, join the fight for reproductive freedom at https://roevolution.org/, and be sure your voter registration is good to go for November at https://govotetexas.org/.

Daily Dispatch 7/26/24: Texas Teachers Celebrate VP Harris Visit, and More Jul 26, 2024

Show notes

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Vice President Kamala Harris' address to the American Federation of Teachers' national convention in Houston yesterday is a rare high point for our state's embattled public school educators: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/25/texas-teachers-kamala-harris-houston/

...VP Harris' full remarks yesterday: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-pod-vp-kamala-harris-live-from-houston/id1552998795?i=1000663345746

...Progress Texas' Tatum Owens lines out the impressive resume of our first female VP: https://progresstexas.org/blog/kamala-harris%E2%80%99-background-unburdened-what-has-been

Lizelle Gonzalez, forced to undergo a cesarean section and "mistakenly" thrown in jail on murder charges after a self-induced abortion, gets the go-ahead to sue local officials over her ordeal: https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-arrest-0a78cbb8f44cc24c3c9c811e1cc2b4d3

...While Ken Paxton sues the Biden administration over its efforts to provide contraception to Texas teens without parental consent: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/25/texas-paxton-biden-parental-consent-contraception/

A formal complaint against Ted Cruz is coming over his sidestepping of Senate ethics rules in relation to his thrice-per-week "volunteer" podcast: https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2024-07-25/dems-file-ethics-complaint-against-podcaster-sen-ted-cruz

...All while Cruz steps up his legal efforts against NPR: https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/sen-ted-cruz-puts-npr-in-hot-seat-over-taxpayer-funding-perceived-political-bias,251095

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

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