Wade Rathke:

Wichita Falls     For years signs along the Texas highways, bumper stickers, and just about everything else proudly declared, “Don’t Mess with Texas.”  It was classic Texas.  Designed to stop litter with a chest-thumping scowl to go with the demand.  There’s a new slogan that you can read on the faces of Texans along the […]

Dallas     As Covid-19 sweeps through prisons creating hot spots all over the country because of the close and abysmal conditions, it’s a reminder of how many people are still incarcerated despite widespread claims by the administration and others that reforms have been made.  Big name prisoners from Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer and fixer, and […]

New Orleans     Talking to Ernie Dumas, Little Rock’s premier senior journalist, author, and raconteur in the outside patio of his place after a late spring rain and at proper social distance, he mentioned a call from Jane Mayer, the New Yorker, looking for information on a behind-the-scenes, Trump-funding, worker-abusing, Little Rock-based billionaire named Ronald […]

New Orleans      In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the subsequent mass protests, support for the Black Lives Matter movement and organizations rose dramatically across the US population.  Some protests continue with widening demands for police reform.  Other reform efforts have been thwarted, including the refusal of Congress to stop the militarization of […]

New Orleans      Lorenzo Milam has died.  Long live Lorenzo Milam! Wikipedia calls Milam an author and activist, which is true as far as it goes, but in many circles, he was seen almost as the father of community radio, and in that sense we all are indebted to him and pay the debts on […]

New Orleans      What nightmare is this?  In his dictatorial desperation, as polls indicate that the president’s ineptness in dealing with the economy, race, and the pandemic is capsizing his campaign, he is trying to drive a wedge between federal and local police powers, by demonizing the nation’s largest cities.  How?  Using the border control […]

New Orleans      Congress is going back to work.  High on the agenda with the clock ticking is the next stimulus bill.  Some things are clear.  Mainly that the US economy is on its knees. Let’s look at the facts: 20 million people are unemployed. For the 13th consecutive week, more than one-million people have […]

Pearl River     Helping with the ACORN Canada board zoom call was inspirational as always, but an eyeopener as well. The good news included a win in the British Columbia after an extensive ACORN “internet for all” campaign with the telecommunications company Telus who finally agreed to extend the $10 per month basic internet access plan […]

Pearl River     Portland, Oregon is a long way from the rest of the country, squeezed between Seattle and California, the lower Cascades and the Pacific Ocean.  Every once in a great while it sneaks into the nation’s consciousness as the home of “Portlandia” hipsters, coffee houses, and microbreweries and as a landing pad for the […]

New Orleans     India has now edged up to 2nd or 3rd behind the United States in the number of coronavirus cases.  With over a billion population, teeming cities with overcrowded slums, and tens of millions without access to sanitation facilities, a cough can be a healthcare crisis. Talking to ACORN India’s organizing team on WhatsApp […]