Headlines / Quote of the Week
Fri., Oct. 25, 2024
Police Contract (Maybe) Blocked: By the time you read this, there will be new developments. As we went to press, a group of police oversight advocates had taken eleventh-hour legal action in an attempt to halt City Council from approving a long-term police contract that the advocates fear would set the city down a path that would end with the dismantling of Austin’s civilian police oversight system. City Council was poised to approve the five-year contract with the Austin Police Association Oct. 24 but Equity Action – the group that wrote the Austin Police Oversight Act and later sued the city to enforce it – is asking a District Court judge to stop that from happening. Read more online.
Crazy Train: Seven train cars jumped the tracks near the intersection of East Seventh and Webberville Road in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, spilling gravel and knocking the metal fence of a nearby condo askew. No one was injured according to the Austin Fire Department but the derailment shut down Seventh Street for most of the day, disrupting car and bus traffic.
More Lanes, At What Cost?: As I-35’s expansion displaces people and blows up buildings (like the Chronicle’s former office, R.I.P.), a local photographer has been capturing the faces of people affected, KUT reports. Liz Moskowitz – whose photos have been published by The New York Times, The Guardian and NBC News – spent months capturing the owners, employees, and customers of businesses being destroyed. Moskowitz’s photo exhibit will be open through Oct. 29 at East Austin’s Future Front House.
Bull Riding Bosses: We’re big fans of gambling and drinking at the Chronicle, so when we heard that the Austin Gamblers had won the 2024 PBR tournament we fairly leapt for joy. However, in this case, the “Gamblers” are a professional bull-riding team, which is what the “PBR” stands for (and not Pabst Blue Ribbon). We jest! The impressive riders of the Austin Gamblers, described as “torrid” in the promo material, defeated the Carolina Cowboys to take first place in the tournament, dominating several large, enraged bulls in the process.
Trump Fully Stoked to Be a Dictator: Although Trump's team denies it, The Atlantic reported this week that Donald Trump said during the end of his presidency, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. ... People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders." John Kelly, a former chief of staff, told The Atlantic that when Trump raised the issue of "German generals," Kelly responded by asking, "'Do you mean the kaiser's generals? Surely you can't mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, 'Yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals.' I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler." Kelly said Trump did not know about Rommel.
To Be or Not to Be Fascist: With two weeks until a possible second Trump term, New York Times Magazine talked to historian Robert Paxton, one of the foremost American experts on fascism. In the 2010s, he cautioned against using the word “fascist” to describe Donald Trump, noting similarities in the “absurd theatrics” of Trump and Mussolini, but also noting differences. Paxton has since changed his tune. In 2021, following Jan. 6, he said, “The label now seems not just acceptable but necessary.” The magazine caught up with Paxton to see what he thinks now. “It’s the real thing. It really is.”
Oh, Elon, Please Take a Nap: Does Elon Musk still run his companies or is he just a Russian bot now? Musk, Austin’s biggest regret, has been sadly ubiquitous of late, pledging $1 million a day to registered voters in swing states who sign a nonsense petition, sowing doubt about the reliability of voting machines, and urging dipshits to post suspicions of voter fraud to X.
Harris in Houston: Our preferred presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, rallies with U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in Houston Friday to boost Allred’s hopes of defeating repellent toad Ted Cruz. It will be the first time Harris and Allred have campaigned together and will happen between 3 and 8pm at a location still to be determined.
Dat’s Weird: Mayra Flores, the Republican running to unseat incumbent House Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in deep South Texas, has no problem with requiring her would-be constituents to prove their citizenship at checkpoints dozens of miles from the border. “What’s wrong with that?” the Mexico-born candidate asked at a debate last week. According to The Texas Tribune, 84% of the people Flores wants to represent are Hispanic.
Meet Border911: By promoting disinformation about a “border invasion” of “illegal immigrants,” the nonprofit Border911 is helping to establish a narrative to challenge November’s election if Trump doesn’t win, the Texas Observer reported this week. But they’re also directly profiting off of the narrative, with Border911 players securing lucrative border security contracts for themselves or the companies that employ them. This story is the latest installment in an investigative series the Texas Observer is producing in partnership with several journalistic organizations.
Expect the Worst: This is pretty cool – declaring a disaster before any disaster has occurred. Mayor Kirk Watson issued such a declaration last week, saying that Austin ranks sixth in the nation for the number of homes at risk from wildfire. It’s true that there hasn’t been any rain to speak of in two months, the trees and grasses are dry as a bone, and the city can be expected to spontaneously combust at any moment.
Paxy Back At It: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit last week against a Dallas pediatrician, accusing the doctor of providing gender-affirming care to at least 21 teenage patients, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune. The suit is Paxton’s first attempt to sue a doctor under Senate Bill 14, the Republican bill passed last session that prohibits physicians from providing care for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. In his lawsuit, Paxton referred to the doctor as a “radical gender activist,” requesting the revocation of her medical license and $1 million in damages.
Litterbug Longhorns: The Southeastern Conference is fining UT-Austin a quarter of a million dollars, KUT reports, after trash rained down on the field during last weekend’s football game against the University of Georgia. Classy.
Sixth and Blanco Development: Rich folks will soon have more nice places to live Downtown. Construction is underway on the second phase of the project known as Sixth & Blanco, a mixed-use development in the southeast corner of Clarksville, abutting Sixth Street. The project will include 10 private residences, a fancy hotel, a private club and restaurant for residents and hotel guests, places for them to store expensive wine, and art galleries for to see art, the Statesman reports. But who knows, maybe illiterate townsfolk with pitchforks will protest.
Some Peace and Quiet: The city is making moves to reduce machinery noise, the Austin Monitor reports. An Oct. 9 City Council resolution directed city staff to study the effect of machinery noise on residents and cook up some recommendations to strengthen existing sound regulations.
Transforming Congress Ave: Last week, City Council’s Mobility Committee learned details of a plan that could overhaul Congress Avenue from Riverside Drive to 11th Street. The proposed reconstruction would turn the avenue into a more pedestrian-focused area over the course of phases, the Austin Monitor reports. The full plan would cost something to the tune of $130 million, and the city currently has just $22 million allocated in the 2020 mobility bond available to get started.
Quote of the Week
“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
– Donald Trump in the White House toward the end of his presidency, as reported by The Atlantic this week
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