Free Republic

“Knee-jerk” reactions to school shootings exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline in the name of school safety. When President Donald Trump held a listening session with survivors of gun violence, their family members and the parents of murdered students on Wednesday, much of the discussion focused on ways to enhance school security. The president recommended arming teachers, while one parent suggested that undercover police officers pose as teachers and school staff. Several parents called for more security officers at schools. There’s scant evidence that more cops and security guards on campus actually stop school shootings. There’s an abundance of evidence suggesting that...

Doggett, Klein focusing on minimum wage, environment. The race for the District 25 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives pits a five-term veteran congressman against a relative newcomer in a newly drawn district. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, 57, was one of the targets of a Republican-led redistricting plan meant to obliterate several key Democrats in Congress. Instead, before the ink was dry, he declared his intention to run for the newly redrawn congressional district and charged south picking up endorsements from key Rio Grande Valley politicians and the United Farm Workers. The district now covers Caldwell, Duval, Gonzales, Jim...

Of the many corruptions inherent in modern redistricting, none is more insidious than the destruction of communities of interest. Take the 25th Congressional district. It's one of three congressional districts in the greater Austin area. That's the one that reaches from Southeast Austin down to McAllen. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, so while Republicans are fielding a well credentialed candidate in Rebecca Armendariz Klein, her odds of success in November are at best remote. In all likelihood, this district will choose its representation to Congress in the primary just weeks away. You might be forgiven if you didn't know that...