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Dolly Parton leaves us with a prime example of real Southern character - one that embraces the vulnerable and seeks to widen our circles - and she's cited by a judge who has found Texas' drag ban unconstitutional. Greg Abbott has left the residents of CD 23 without a voice in the U.S. Congress for over 130 days - and is now one day away from releasing a fugitive wanted in Minnesota onto the streets of Brownsville. And, Dan Patrick has included a revered Holocaust memoir in his list of "filthy, dirty, vulgar" books.
Associated Press: https://www.ksat.com/news/2026/08/26/ice-agent-charged-with-shooting-in-minnesota-could-be-released-from-texas-jail/
Houston Chronicle on the incarcerated ICE agent: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/banned-books-schools-dan-patrick-22402659.php
Houston Chronicle on CD 23: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/abbott-texans-congress-tony-gonzales-22403054.php
NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-strikes-texas-ban-drag-shows-tells-people-offended-just-dont-go-rcna594448
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
A four-point plan announced by Ken Paxton to address Texans' concerns over data centers utterly fails to do so. Meanwhile Paxton's net worth is skyrocketing, and experts are unable to explain why. Buc-ee's is expanding, but only into red states. And MAGA types across the country have a new beef with Kacey Musgraves - for daring to support migrant kids whose parents have been deported.
USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/state/texas/2026/08/24/ken-paxton-proposes-data-center-crackdown-amid-texas-senate-campaign/91443617007/
Houston Chronicle: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ken-paxton-net-worth-22398458.php?utm_source=reddit
San Antonio Express-News: https://www.expressnews.com/news/texas/article/bucees-ceo-conservative-states-expansion-locations-22401242.php?utm_source=reddit
Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kacey-musgraves-immigrant-children-deported-parents-maga_n_6a8c1eb6e4b0eeae412afe19
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Governor Greg Abbott, in his striking pivots into developmental "pauses" on data centers and high-voltage transmission lines, are by definition temporary - and will be lifted quickly should he be re-elected. Ken Paxton has a long record of opposing efforts to prevent animal cruelty, both as AG and as a state representative. And Kid Rock has been promoted by the Dallas Observer from merely the third-biggest douchebag in country music, to the hallowed top slot.
Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/24/texas-765-transmissions-lines-data-centers-pauses-delays/
Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/greg-abbott-texas-data-centers-backlash-2026-8
Axios: https://www.axios.com/2026/08/23/greg-abbott-texas-data-centers-ai-backlash
Meidas Touch: https://meidasnews.com/news/ken-paxton-helped-bury-the-records-on-400-tortured-lab-animals
Dallas Observer: https://www.dallasobserver.com/opinion/correction-kid-rock-is-the-biggest-douchebag-of-all-time-40706408/
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Michelle Davis, with her Lone Star Left Substack, has a keen eye for drawing sharply-focused concepts out of the muck and mess of Texas politics. In a recent post, she pointed out that three Texas Republican Congressmen - Jake Ellzey, Michael Cloud and John Carter - as members of the House Appropriations Committee, voted to kill border construction exemption for Big Bend National Park that was proposed by Congressman Henry Cuellar - and thus, are directly responsible for the outrageous carving up of the park we've seen in recent days. And from there, for the outraged, it makes perfect sense to get familar with the three Democrats opposing those Republicans on the midterm ballot: respectively, Danny Minton, Tanya Lloyd and Justin Early.
Read Michelle's great post at https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/the-three-texas-republicans-who-voted.
Learn more about Justin Early at https://www.votejustinearly.com/.
Learn more about Tanya Lloyd at https://www.tanyafortx27.com/.
Learn more about Danny Minton at https://www.dannyfortexas.com/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
The Cook Political Report has updated its projections for the 2026 midterms, moving the Talarico/Paxton race to "toss up" from "lean republican", and the Hinojosa/Abbott race from "solid Republican" to "lean Republican". Ken Paxton is expected to receive some desperately-needing funding support from Elon Musk. Republicans are threading a narrative needle on the Big Bend as they attempt to avoid public backlash without crossing Donald Trump. And Republican Texas Railroad Commission nominee Bo French - a notorious anti-Semite - has invoked the century-old "Judeo-Bolshevism" trope in AI-generated images of his Democratic opponent Jon Rosenthal, the only Jewish member of the Texas House.
The Hill: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6041660-cook-political-report-texas-iowa-senate-races/
San Antonio Current on Cook Report: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-news/top-political-watcher-declares-the-talarico-paxton-race-a-toss-up/
San Antonio Current on Elon Musk: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/elon-musk-expected-to-give-paxton-much-needed-cash-injection/
Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/21/texas-big-bend-border-wall-barrier-republicans-paxton-trump/
The Forward: https://forward.com/news/724588/ten-commandments-jon-rosenthal/
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Someone check Governor Greg Abbott for whiplash! He's been doing some pretty rad campaign trail 180's lately in response to rapidly changing political headwinds - first, he expects us to believe he's now going to crack down on the billions of dollars in AI data centers he lured to Texas to begin with. And, we're to buy the idea that he would even remotely defy Donald Trump's plans to muck up Big Bend National Park. As a wise Texan once said: Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Governor Greg Abbott wants more state control over local ISD spending, despite ongoing GOP efforts to defund them to death - while Lt. Governor Dan Patrick threatens schools who refuse to remove books he considers "filthy and dirty" with state takeovers. State water plans, based on historical trends instead of proven climate science, are failing cities like Corpus Christi. And rural Texans, who see GOP trampling of local control as a threat to their private property rights, are starting to sour on the Republicans.
Texas Tribune on Dan Patrick: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/19/texas-dan-patrick-obscene-books-school-libraries-penalties/
Houston Chronicle: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/abbott-school-district-audits-22395105.php
Texas Tribune on Corpus Christi: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/19/texas-water-planning-drought-corpus-christi/
Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/19/how-data-centers-and-power-lines-could-turn-texas-governors-race-blue-01041065
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Governor Greg Abbott has refused to extradite an ICE agent to Minnesota, where he is wanted on a felony indictment. Harris County is suing the feds over their holding funding hostage over election policy demands. A Republican nominee wants you to ignore the fact that he's a Republican - while the entire GOP just wants to get past the election and get back to their comfy corruption and grift.
Houston Chronicle on Minnesota lawsuit: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/harris-county-sues-trump-over-threats-to-local-elections/
Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/18/minnesota-sues-abbott-texas-ice-agent-extradition-lawsuit/
Houston Press on Harris County lawsuit: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/harris-county-sues-trump-over-threats-to-local-elections/
Houston Press on Orlando Sanchez: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/county-judge-hopeful-to-latinos-forget-im-a-republican/
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/us/politics/islamophobia-texas.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
NPR: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/19/nx-s1-5922546/in-texas-some-asian-immigrants-say-theyre-facing-increased-hostilities
Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/08/texas-should-not-define-religion-down-freedom-worship-dallas-islam/
Houston Chronicle on THC: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/thc-marijuana-texas-confusing-legalize-reefer-22394088.php
Dallas Morning News: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/article/data-center-abbott-audit-community-impacts-22393458.php
San Antonio Current: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-news/faux-pause-why-greg-abbotts-data-center-crackdown-looks-a-lot-like-election-year-theater/
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch! Join the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Back to school - and backwards thinking - happening right now as students across the state return to school facing new policies and voucher programs in place, the threat or consequences of state takeovers combined with defunded public schools, and a multi-pronged attempt to indoctrinate Texas children into Christian Nationalist, Prager U-infused curriculum.
We’re joined by guests Cameron Samuels, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT); Zeph Capo, President of the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT); and Felicia Martin, President & Executive Director of Texas Freedom Network and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund (TFN) to teach you and every student, teacher, parent, and public education advocate what you can do to protect our public schools and the people who depend on them.
Learn more about the Texas American Federation of Teachers at https://www.texasaft.org/.
Learn more about Texas Freedom Network and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund at https://tfn.org.
Learn more about Students Engaged in Advancing Texas or SEAT at https://www.studentsengaged.org.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
The halt of the destructive federally-contracted demolition of the natural landscape of Big Bend National Park, announced yesterday, is only temporary and not a reason for advocates to stand down. The U.S. Supreme Court may consider SB 10, the state law that requires the posting of the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms. Hood County joins a list of Texas communities unplugging their Flock cameras. And, the committee charged with tracking maternal mortality in Texas plans to skip the years immediately following the clawing back of abortion rights.
Gina Hinojosa on MS Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDmEUepihA
Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/17/texas-big-bend-national-park-border-wall-construction-pause/
Common Dreams: https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-bend-border-crossing
Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/ten-commandments-texas-law-supreme-court-facb4b90c54fba5c1d0b3e63079c8b4b
Houston Chronicle on SB 10: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/lawsuit-ten-commandments-texas-schools-22389118.php
Houston Chronicle on Flock cameras: https://www.chron.com/texas/article/flock-cameras-texas-hood-county-22391763.php
How to locate Flock cameras: https://deflock.org/
How to neutralize Flock cameras without damaging them: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Ka3z2wWi/
Texas Observer: https://www.texasobserver.org/maternal-mortality-committee-roe-deaths-lawmakers-politics/
This election year, you can support the real free press by investing in pro-democracy, pro-justice, pro-gressive storytelling. Become a monthly donor or increase your giving TODAY for our Summer Sustaining Donor Drive today, and we’ll thank you with "perks for progress" - plus you'll get a shoutout on the Daily Dispatch: huge thanks to monthly supporter Laura Kehoe, who upped her monthly contribution! Join Laura and the rest of the Progress Texas family now at https://act.progresstexas.org/a/summersustainers26.
Check out the Substack version of the Daily Dispatch, which delivers each pod to your inbox and frequently includes extra video goodies: https://substack.com/@progresstexas
Progress Texas is now part of the lineups at KPFT-FM in Houston, Empower House Radio in San Antonio, and KZSM True Community Radio in San Marcos! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE.
Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
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