This week's top story: Attorneys argued that the torture Ashlee Watts inflicted on Dazzle didn’t matter thanks to Texas tort law, meaning state-employed veterinarians could not be held responsible for medical negligence because animals are merely property.
The Texas Observer
The Vet, the Cattle Prod, and the ‘Guttural Wail’
An equine surgeon and Texas A&M professor has been convicted of animal cruelty after repeatedly shocking a horse in front of students, among other ...
 (CW: Animal abuse) #news #AnimalRights #animals #science #medicine #Texas #ethics #politics #USpol #CriminalJustice
Texas Observer, the legendary progressive news outlet and former home of Molly Ivins, is still raising hell! Join the Texas Observer for its 70th Anniversary on Tuesday, Dec 3 6:30-9 @ Scholtz Garden 1607 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin. RSVP here: https://texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/70thdonate/ #journalism #news #Texas #fundraiser #nonprofit image
Donald #Trump campaigned hard demonizing immigrants, a strategy that helped catapult him into the White House in a U.S. election unlike any other. Now, the nation’s #history of deportation and its consequences merit the closest scrutiny.
The Texas Observer
The Deep Roots of Deportation
In a divided political climate, many now hold their breath, waiting to see if deportation rhetoric becomes reality.
 #politics #USpol #news #HumanRights #border #immigration #racism
For 70 years, the Observer has worked to “hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it.” Now, more than ever, it's crucial we keep holding power to account. Will you be a part of our 70th birthday celebration? RSVP here: texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/70thdonate/ #Austin #Texas #nonprofit #journalism #media #fundraiser #politics #USpol #culture image
Featured: Anti-abortion centers usually attach strings to supposedly “free” services and material support, rooted as they are in outdated, patriarchal, and patronizing beliefs about which kinds of people, and which kinds of families, are deserving of support. But it is appalling considering the incredible financial resources at their disposal.

The Texas Observer
Taxpayers Fund Post-'Roe' Business Boom for Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Texas
Today, there’s big money to be made in the business of using unpaid, often church-sourced, volunteers to provide minimal services.
 #abortion #USpol #news #politics #Texas #children
New today from @npub1skea...mz79: In the years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion pregnancy centers have increasingly used public funds to target people looking for medical care and safety net support.
The Texas Observer
Taxpayers Fund Post-'Roe' Business Boom for Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Texas
Today, there’s big money to be made in the business of using unpaid, often church-sourced, volunteers to provide minimal services.
 #politics #USpol #news #RoeVWade #abortion #healthcare #inequality #Texas #SCOTUS
Earlier, from Michelle Pitcher: A massive investment by a conservative PAC has paid off in key down-ballot judicial races, most critically in the Democratic stronghold of Harris County.
The Texas Observer
GOP Claws Back Dem Judicial Seats with Big Money and Big Red Wave
The Judicial Fairness PAC pumped millions of dollars into an effort laser-focused on ousting Dems from appellate courts from Houston to Dallas.
 #GulfCoast #politics #USpol #Houston #election2024 #Republicans #Texas #news
“We are under no illusions that the policies in Project 2025, which includes slashing legal #immigration, rounding up immigrants, creating new detention camps, are all on the table. That is not to say that all of them can be carried out or will be carried out, but we know what the options of policies out there look like.”
The Texas Observer
Texas Will Be on the ‘Front Lines’ of Mass Deportation
“We're going to defend our immigrant communities from Trump's attacks, while we hold Trump and people like Elon Musk accountable for sp...
 #Project2025 #politics #USpol #news #election2024 #border #Trump
“We have one more election before the session starts that may be the most important, and that is the election of a speaker. A lot is going to change over the next few months.”
The Texas Observer
'They Bought a Legislature': What the GOP's Gains Mean for Vouchers in Texas
Republicans nearly ran the table in state House races, shoring up Governor Abbott’s school voucher majority for the 2025 session.
 via @npub1ayp3...yw0l #education #TXlege #Texas #politics #USpol #schools #vouchers #Republicans #election2024
A post-election message from Interim Editor-in-Chief @npub1dkzd...ymlm to our members, readers, and the rest of our extended community.
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 #journalism #Media #Texas #politics #USpol #fundraiser #nonprofit #future #immigration #news image