POLITICS

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz announced Monday she would meet with the Department of Labor to explore legal pathways for migrant construction workers after the South Texas Builders Association voiced concerns about how immigration arrests were decimating their workforce. This represents a fascinating pivot for someone who campaigned on finishing the border wall and reinstating policies forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico. De La Cruz won her seat in 2022 promising voters "a

The news keep rolling in and everyone seems to think that America invaded Venezuela for oil. Oil. Always oil. Nothing but oil. Sure. And Putin annexed Crimea for the beaches. Venezuela sits on the largest proven oil reserves on Earth, 13% more than Saudi Arabia. But Venezuelan crude emerges thick as tar, heavy with sulfur, demanding specialized infrastructure that barely exists outside U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Saudi petroleum flows light and sweet. The difference matters b

"This is Ada Cuellar." No preamble. No political polish. Just a doctor's voice, clear and direct. "Last November, I was upset when we lost the election. Like many people, I wanted to run away." She didn't. She stayed and committed to battle. Dr. Ada Cuellar, 44, is an emergency room physician in Weslaco who decided that abandoning the Valley wasn't an option. Instead, she's mounting a congressional challenge against Monica De La Cruz, the incumbent who's been representing Tex

Eric Flores' LinkedIn profile is genuinely impressive. But professional credentials don't erase the infrastructure of nepotism that launched his career. Who is Eric Flores. Let's start here. The Flores family political machine runs generations deep. Eric's maternal grandfather, Jorge G. Garcia, served as mayor of Palmview for nearly 20 years. His paternal grandfather, Gumaro "Maro" Flores, was the first mayor of Sullivan City. Eric worked as city attorney for Palmview, the ci

Let's go back to November 4, 2024. Let's close our eyes and imagine... what if. Kamala Harris would have inched those 1.5 percentage points in the popular vote. Kamala Harris would gotten those 230,000 votes across three states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. She would have flipped just 229,726 votes in the right combination across those three states, she would have won the Electoral College. What if Kamala Harris would have been our 47th President of the United State

Many Americans claim that when they see Barack Obama, they remember "a time in America where there was unity." That's adorable. It's also complete bullshit. Is Obama cute? Sure. Charming? Always. Articulate and smart? Funny and witty? You get the point. Obama is everything, but the portrait of unity he is not. The president dubbed the Deporter-in-Chief might as well be called the Divider-in-Chief too. The last time America had anything resembling presidential unity, George H.

Some of you have never known politics without the push notification. You wake up, grab your phone, and before your first sip of coffee, five strangers have explained “the end of democracy” in a 30‑second vertical video shot in their car. Around 70% of young people got info about the 2020 election through social media, and a lot of you weren’t just scrolling—you were posting, organizing, stitching, duetting, and dropping hot takes with yesterday’s eyeliner still on. TikTok, In

Welcome to Texas, where brisket is sacred, cattle are legendary, and state lawmakers have identified the gravest threat to civilization: watermelon-flavored hemp gummies. The legislature moved faster against peach rings than it ever has for failing schools or collapsing hospitals, treating candy-coated CBD like a national emergency. This is how politics works in 2025. A resident can legally stockpile enough firearms to outfit a small militia, but sell a hemp chew in a bag wit

Simple question: If the state can afford billion-dollar tax cuts for corporations, why can’t it afford to pay its fair share for our kids’ education? Simple question, demands a simple answer—you would think. Let’s talk taxes. Texas’ school finance system wasn’t built to last. The “Robin Hood” plan, born out of a Texas Supreme Court ruling in 1993, was a desperate bipartisan fix, not a visionary one. Lawmakers were under court order to end an unconstitutional gap between rich

Let’s get something straight, Starr County — nobody gives you power. You have to take it. For years, people have said South Texas is “changing.” They say Starr County “flipped red,” as if we suddenly decided that the politicians who’ve ignored us for decades finally earned our trust. But before anyone buys that story, let’s look at who’s really been running this state — and why we’re still fighting for the basics our families deserve. The county may have turned red, but the m

Picture this: it’s November, election night. The TV flickers in the living room. Someone mutters, “There they go again, ruining the country.” The tacos are still warm, the cafecito is cooling, and everyone shakes their heads like it’s a bad novela we’ve seen too many times. But here’s the ugly truth, tío: a lot of this mess isn’t only the fault of corrupt politicians or greedy billionaires. It belongs to the millions of Americans—millions of Texans—who simply did not vote. Th

Kamala Harris has a new book, and it’s a tell-all about 107 days of campaign carnage. I haven’t read one word of it, and I don’t need to. I already know the ending. She was never going to win. Not in 2020. Not in 2024. Not in this country. Before someone says I'm a hater, let me remind you: the back window of my SUV still has a “We’re Not Going Back” sticker clinging to the glass like a badge of survival. Kamala is my girl. I love women in politics. I worship them, even when

For the first time in its 116-year history, the NAACP has denied an invitation to a sitting U.S. president. Donald Trump will not be welcome at this year’s national convention. The organization’s president, Derrick Johnson, made the decision clear and unapologetic: “Our mission is to advance civil rights, and the current president has made clear that his mission is to eliminate civil rights.” This isn’t about partisanship. The NAACP has invited presidents from both major part

The Republican Party has Project 2025. The Democrats, not to be outdone, came up with their own ambitious proposal—a policy buffet cooked up by consultants, warmed over by think tanks, and served cold to a nation already halfway out the door—and what is it called? Project 2029. For years, they ranted and raved about how terrifying Project 2025 was going to be—and then all of a sudden, they thought a Temu version of it would sit well with exhausted Democrats. It’s like they op

Kerr County had the money. More than $10 million in federal aid through the American Rescue Plan Act. A rare chance to fix the broken, prepare for the inevitable, and maybe stop the next disaster from becoming a headline. Flood warning systems could have been upgraded. That’s what some residents wanted. But federal money comes from Washington, and Kerr County didn’t trust Washington. During a 2021 Commissioners Court meeting, a resident—Mr. Wade—stood up and called the Biden

It wasn’t paranoia. It was federal policy. On December 22, 2024, the Central Intelligence Agency released a set of declassified documents confirming that Latino civil rights activists were surveilled, monitored, and infiltrated by U.S. intelligence operatives between 1968 and 1983. The files were released through the CIA’s Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room following a formal request by Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), and 35