May 4, 2021 Commissioner’s Court: This week was Darrell Hale’s turn to miss. Individual commissioners are absent so often that having a full-functioning court is more the exception than the rule. Must be nice to be a politician! Perhaps Hale was in hiding because he was embarrassed by his “self-immunization” comment although I doubt he has the capacity for shame. He should be hiding from that stupid comment because it’s downright dangerous. According to local epidemiologist, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, India’s Covid surge is demonstrating just how inadequate “natural immunity” is. Populations that have high “natural” immunity are getting re-infected, so …
Collin County Politics: In Search of a More Perfect Union
April 27, 2021 Allen City Council: Racism was the name of the game at the most recent meeting. It started with a delightful man spending his 3 minutes of public speaking time using racist dog whistles to complain about the protest in Allen against the murder of Marvin Scott III. He trotted out oldies but goodies, like protesters being a “public nuisance” comprised of “outside agitators” and that “we” pay for these streets. Just who is this “we” he’s talking about? My business is in Allen, so I pay taxes there but he’s certainly not speaking for me! This upstanding …
Collin County Politics: Money, Money, Money
April 20, 2021 Commissioners Court: Fiscal responsibility was on their minds this week as all of the commissioners besides Duncan Webb (who’s the least worst) believe they’re there to save taxpayer dollars instead of providing services. First up was the ERAP program (federal funds from the American Rescue Plan for apartment rental assistance). This program hasn’t been utilized much but they’re checking to make sure no double payments are occurring. Given the level of hardship in North Texas, it’s difficult to believe a lot of people aren’t in need of rental assistance but the commissioners don’t seem concerned. True public …
Collin County Politics: When Citizens Speak
April 11, 2021 Commissioner’s Court: Last week was the third meeting within a month in which Commissioner Cheryl Williams didn’t attend. If she’s too ill, her employers (aka we the people) need to know. Commissioners make a very good salary for what I can only assume is minimal work (given current commissioner performance), so the least they can do is show up. Any other job would put her on a Performance Improvement Plan. All we can do is vote her out, so please support the campaign of Scott Coleman who’s running against her in 2022. Seven patriotic citizens showed up …
The Reprehensible Murder of Marvin Scott
The Sheriff’s Department in Collin County, Texas is going through some things. The murder of Marvin D. Scott, III while in the care of law enforcement continues to showcase how truly problematic the sheriff’s department is. In mid-March, police officers from the city of Allen arrested Mr. Scott for possession of less than two ounces of marijuana (really?) and because he was murmuring to himself. Mr. Scott suffered from schizophrenia and, given what happened, I’ll let you figure out his race. Instead of providing Mr. Scott with the help he needed, Allen PD took him to the Collin County Detention …
Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America
Part 3: Lessons from Hillary Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag Part 2: Candidate Hillary The immediate aftermath of the 2016 election almost broke me. I was a mess watching Hillary’s concession speech. Not only was I upset over the outcome of the election but I was extremely distressed for her. How can she be so strong, I wondered (not for the first time). It seemed so unfair she had to console everyone else when she had to be dying inside. Watching it the second time via the docuseries wasn’t much better. Even though I now know what happened, …
Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America
Part 2: Candidate Hillary Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag While I’d been around for the Clinton presidency, I wasn’t as familiar with Hillary’s history prior to that. There were many things I didn’t know. For one thing, prior to Hillary’s candidacy, she’d been perceived as a radical liberal. She’d fought hard against this label as people tend to be suspicious of those of us who want to transform the system (yes, I’m being sarcastic; why do you ask?). That’s why it was ironic when the media painted her as a centrist, establishment candidate. In other words, every …
Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America
Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag My preparations to watch the Hulu docuseries Hillary? A box of tissues. Others might’ve brought popcorn but I knew I’d need a different kind of comfort. Although it’s been close to four years since I embarrassingly burst into tears on an airplane as I started to read her book, What Happened, I haven’t picked it up since. It’s still too raw. Sure enough, two minutes into the first episode and I was already in tears. In the docuseries, Hillary was laughing about how she didn’t understand why people felt so negatively about …
Goodbye to My Mom the Fighter
I’ve always been in awe of my mom, Judith Ann Holden Hook Dixon. She was so strong and firm in her convictions. If something needed to be done, she did it. If there was an unpleasant truth, she faced it. If there was injustice, she confronted it. She raced through life, always determined to get where she needed to go efficiently. One of my fond memories is waiting for her to pick me up at my grandparent’s house. As we heard the squeal of the tires as she turned into the driveway, Papa casually said, “Judy’s here!” Judy was born …
Covid19 is Gonna Make Us Pay Big
For the longest time, the status of Covid19 cases – how afraid we should be – was measured in the number of ICU beds available. “We have plenty of beds,” our Governor kept assuring us. I live in Texas, so everyone knows how that’s turned out. The measurement point of beds available always confused me. Sure, we have beds. Big deal. We can always get more beds. We can buy a bunch from other countries that’ve been smart enough to deal competently with the virus. But what’s not easily gotten, what’s not a renewable resource, is medical professionals. Why is …