If you want to know how Dallas winds up with crazy stuff that no normal citizen in his or her right mind would ever approve, take a good long look at the North Texas Tollway Authority, a $420 million-a-year fiefdom run by a bunch of mopes nobody has ever heard…
Oh, no, this can’t be. The plan to bring together all of the city’s disparate and independent small arts organizations under a central government ministry in the new “arts district” has hit a snag. According to a recent story in The Dallas Morning News, the independent arts organizations are failing…
Before we put the Trinity River toll road story down for another much-needed nap, we have two very important items of laundry to attend to. One is called Tom Leppert. The other is named Mike Rawlings. First, did former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate,…
Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *In 31 years of basketball, the Dallas Mavericks have won a combined (regular season and playoffs) 1,349 games. One more in Miami either Sunday or Tuesday and they are NBA Champions…
Oh, well, who the hell knows? Who will ever know why The Dallas Morning News turned into an Iron Curtain-style propagandist Pravda sheet in 2007 when it was so eager to see Angela Hunt’s Trinity River referendum defeated? Now they say they were seduced: “This newspaper — and likely plenty…
Dear Mexican: There are many who give lip service to border security. You may or may not be one of them. You may be an open borders advocate. But for the moment, put on your secure-borders hat and tell us how you would secure the borders if your job depended…
Let’s talk about sincerity. It’s awfully easy to take a certain position on an issue and be sincere about it when that position happens to coincide with the interests of your boss. We speak here of The Dallas Morning News editorial page and its campaign against scrap yards near mainly…
Went to NorthPark Center in fancy North Dallas a few afternoons ago. Don’t go often. Already have all the monogrammed Kleenex I need. But let me ask you something. What is it with the triple baby carts? You know I’m not making this up. You’ve seen it. There are people…
The only real obscenity in this whole business about Congressman Anthony Weiner is the idea that his sex life is a public issue. He’s not George Alan Rekers, the Baptist minister who made his own sex life an issue by campaigning against gay sex and then taking a male prostitute…
Welcome to Local Music ‘Mericans , where we meet some of the people behind the local music scene — those who aren’t necessarily members of local bands, but more the people who make the scene move. As a high school student, Tami Thomsen, the main cog in the wheel that…
Michael Lindenberger had a great piece in The Dallas Morning News yesterday about public distortions of fact by former mayor Tom Leppert and backers of the Trinity Toll Road like the Trinity Commons Foundation before the 2007 toll road alignment referendum. The main thing the story got across was that…
Not sure what’s going on in the trial of Charles Payne, 29, accused of murdering of Dallas Police Senior Corporal Norm Smith during a botched attempt to serve a warrant at Payne’s east Oak Cliff in January 2009, but it looks like somebody on the prosecution side is worried. Alex…
[jump] *Last night has to be psychologically devastating to Miami. Remember after the Mavs lost Game 3 in ’06 very similarly — they were up 13 with six minutes left — they never showed up in Game 4, eventually losing by 24 in a no-contest blowout. *Poor Dallas Stars. No…
My poor son is the child of two writers. When he was still preadolescent, his mother wrote something about him for a newspaper or magazine article, I forget which. His teacher saw it and showed it to the class. He came home and said to us in a very grave…
Dear Mexican: I’m new to the San Antonio area and am enjoying exploring the many wonderful aspects of its history and culture. One thing has become incredibly bothersome to me, though: the plight of pet overpopulation. With so many resources that are available for spay/neuter assistance, I’m not certain as…
People all over America should watch the special session of the Texas Legislature, just now beginning, if they want to see what Republicans are really up to. Among other things, they’re out to kill Medicare and Medicaid. The regular session was stymied at the last minute when Democratic state Senator…
Welcome to Local Music ‘Mericans , where we meet some of the people behind the local music scene — those who aren’t necessarily members of local bands, but more the people who make the scene move. Gini Mascorro’s humble musical beginnings came as a shy East Fort Worth junior high…
Thank the Lord every once in a while the American political system churns out a Wendy Davis, the 48-year-old Senate freshman from Fort Worth who filibustered Rick Perry’s legislative session to a soggy grave in the wee small hours of Monday night. The Perrypublican fury over Davis’ act isn’t merely…
Osama Bin Laden is dead. But the fight — and the hefty price — to fend off terrorists around the globe lives on. Just yesterday, for example, eight more American soldiers were confirmed dead in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Sad, but let’s face it, we’ve become numb to the numbers…
On May 12 I wrote a column quoting Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins on why he had decided to write a proposed new ethics law for the city council. The new law he wrote was adopted unanimously by the council. It greatly relaxed restrictions on how soon after a city…
Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *Hey, remember the shooting incident involving former Richardson Berkner High School football star Aqib Talib that I told you about in March? So does a Dallas County grand jury, which…
For the elite few among you allowed entrance to The Dallas Morning News behind-the-pay-wall pages, I recommend a piece in today’s paper by Roy Appleton about Oak Cliff. He quotes neighborhood activist Jason Roberts, pushing for bike lanes and stuff, as saying North Oak Cliff really isn’t asking for big…
