HOUmanitarian

Today marks 4 years since the Uvalde school shooting. • 19 students & 2 teaches forever marked absent. • 21 grieving families. • 21 empty desks. • An entire country still wounded by tragedy — yet paralyzed by politics. #TxLege 📺@LivesRobbed

The US moon landing demonstrated our technologically standing as a nation. But in recent years that exceptionalism has done little to advance our civic standing. Thus @Astros4America is launching a recommitment to science, evidence-based decision-making, public service, & the rule of law.

Years ago we created our logo based on the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” photo. Because it’s the moment when men from Houston changed the way humanity sees itself & our delicate planetary spaceship. Now Artemis has brought this perspective back for new generations. Let’s not lose it again

In the 1950s some Texas legislators first proposed school vouchers. Right on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v School Board.

Texas school voucher applications are very different from racial make-up of Texas public schools. While schools are 54% hispanic, white families are far largest group applying. This may reignite 70 yr old charges that vouchers are just a re-segregationist tool. 🧵 #TxLege #TxEd

Organize!

Houston turns up to say #NoKings

Concerned moms with military age sons & daughters, the war is on the forefront NOW as Congress threatens your vote. If the SAVE Act is passed, women will realize they have may have the right to vote, but more hurdles put before them to actually voice it.

We love @glaucomflecken.bsky.social videos, but a great mashup with UHouston alum Sen. Elizabeth Warren is an extra treat. Together they hilariously introduce the Break Up Big Medicine Act.

MUST SEE: Alex Pretti took his work and care for others who served this nation very solemnly. A veterans son remembered him tonight, and shared a farewell honor read by the VA nurse after his own father’s death in 2024. 🕯️😔

“How do you look a parent in the eye and tell them you've sacrificed their child's life for Big Oil's bottom line?” Texas State Rep James Talarico on renewed threat to US families from a new conflict over oil in Venezuela.

Sometimes parody offers the most simple explanations of our world. Brilliant piece by Jamie Kaler on TT. 😘💯

No surprise. From the moment he uttered this nonsense in his first inaugural, i wondered how it would age in the face of American tragedies like a mass shooting. …And he has never risen to the occasion once.

That songs not the same since hearing it as a Christmas Carol yesterday.

Houston’s “civility ordinance” against sitting or sleeping on sidewalks comes under more scrutiny for its treatment of the homeless. One woman got more than 780 tickets, adding up to nearly $200,000 in fines, from 2016 thru 2025. Are we just kicking people around more than helping them?

“I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God.” Nov. 11, 1918 - WW1 Ends Imperial War Museum recording of when the guns fell silent,…and then bird song returns #VeteransDay #ArmistanceDay

“Now we have a would-be king who wants to take democracy away… F🤬ck that!” NO KINGS - HOUSTON PROTEST Saturday, October 18 2-6pm Houston City Hall 901 Bagby

Reichstag Fire, Revisited… Stephen Miller is playing from an old playbook now. • Learn the history 📜 • Recognize the signs. ⚠️ • Speak out. 🗣️ • Do not obey in advance. ✌️

Texas is now gonna investigate educators who have “posted and/or shared reprehensible & inappropriate content” on their PERSONAL social media about Charlie Kirk. But in 2019, Abbott (inspired by Charlie Kirk) signed a law mandating campus free speech. Make it make sense. #TxLege

I remember those in Sleeper.

'Have You Heard the News Today?' A song for anyone who still hasn't lost their humanity, from Earth to Eve. Comes out September 12th! Just the short clip here hits hard. [@earthtoeve on TT]

Classic from the Archives: As Trump tries to reignite an old outrage over flag burning, we remember the late Houston outlaw comic Bill Hicks unapologetic take on that topic, and free speech in general, from back in the early 90s. #standupcomedy

When law enforcement agents act like thugs, criminals will act like law enforcement. Two men impersonating officers in masks, vests & fake badges killed during a Houston home invasion. How long until someone kills a real agent? Or an agent kills an innocent civilian defending themself? Who is who?

Citizens speaking at Texas Senate Redistricting Committee hearing (Sunday Aug 18th) were 43 to 1 opposed to new congressional maps. Not even this staunch conservative lawyer and GOP party activist was in favor. #TxLege:

‘When Trump called Georgia Republicans and said, "I just need you to find me 11,000 votes." They said, "No." …But when he called Texas Republicans and said, "I need you to steal me 5 seats," they said, “Does July work for you?”’ State Rep Ann Johnson (D-Houston) drops mic on Texas GOP #TxLege 🎤

The Voting Rights Act turns 60 on Tuesday. And LBJ’s words introducing that bill still resonate today. “…Even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America…”

Intro to Gerrymandering: What is redistricting and why is it almost always rife with corruption? This video from @washingtonpost shows how parties try to shape legislatures by drawing districts that can dilute minority power as well as overrepresent a slim majority. #TxLege

“I rise today to call attention to a robbery being planned by a felon.” -@RepSylviaGarcia- Houston congresswoman being targeted by President Trump’s push to re-gerrymander Texas congressional districts mid-decade, offers scathing attack on GOP “power-grab.”

Houstonians are starting to wake-up to Trump pressuring Gov Abbott to redraw Texas congressional districts ahead of 2026 midterms. Small protests are starting to pop up across Harris County to raise the alarm ahead of a #TxLege special session where it’s been added to the agenda.

“They are specifically deciding to splinter the communities of common interest, as well as just blatantly say, we are going to dilute minority voices.” Although not one of the now targeted Texas congressman, Jasmine Crocket speaks out on Texas history of redistricting. #txlege

Democratic congressmen and candidates call Gov Abbott’s call to redraw congressional boundaries mid-decade a “brazen racist power grab,” intended only to serve President Trump’s interests. Four districts are being targeted statewide, but three are in Houston. #TxLege

Proposition A was on the same 2023 Houston ballot as John Whitmire - and even got more votes (83% vs 65%). Yet now as mayor, he continues to throw roadblocks up to keep its simple provision from being a reality. That council members can help shape the city debate agenda.

NYTimes reporter @NickKristof gets a look at stockpiles of US donated medicines that are no longer reaching the poor in the developing world because of USAID cuts. Similar warehouses at Houston ports contain tons of food and meds stalled by the cuts.

Thousands of Houston area citizens are expected to join protests this weekend against the Trump administration. #NoKingsDay seeks to emphasize a growing number of grievances around budget, policy, and administrative abuses of power.

The mayor did a Baker Institute luncheon this week & this moment caught our ear. Apparently staff have chided him for not listening enough.👍 Yet he seems to not realize community input has often been ongoing BEFORE he arrived with his OWN ideas. 👎 🤦 Full video: www.youtube.com/live/5-SiH3g...

“…I think it's 50,000 tons of food that are stored in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai and, wait for it, 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻, 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘀. That is rotting rather than going to Gaza, rather than going to Sudan…” …That’s not America, is it? Bono confronts the bro-sphere on USAID cuts www.mediaite.com/media/podcas...

Gov Abbott is loudly decrying criminal bail problems in Texas, but he’s not said anything - pro or con - about recent pardons of violent criminals from the January 6th insurrection. Despite saying those actions should never be allowed to happen again just a week later. #TxLege