Makes one want to barf. Wonder what planet they live on.
Few Democrats are eager to challenge Newsom. They’re content to let Houston become collateral damage as he fights Trumpian fire with his own all-caps social media fire and counters Texas’ partisan gerrymandering. Few Texas Republicans will defend Houston either, even if their leaders lived here and know better. Donald Trump’s GOP has little interest in the home of George Bush and James Baker.
That’s unfortunate. Republicans should care about Houston — not just as an economic engine but as a chance to win voters. Our demographics are a test case for the diverse blue-collar MAGA coalition. Winning more Hispanic men’s votes means winning Houstonians’ votes. If Republicans won’t defend us against an easy target like Newsom, when will they?
Source, Houston Chronicle editorial
Where does the guy live? Maybe he hasn’t noticed that the Republicans always target Houston; they probably love it that even California Democrats are poking fun at us for a higher crime rate. It could be a reason to send in the National Guard to lower crime, it would not surprise me if the Chronicle would be in support of such action by Greg Abbott, after all, the Chronicle was in favor of the state taking over HISD. How is that working out?
Even when one compares apples to apples, Los Angeles v. Houston, we are still ahead when it comes to the crime rate.
Houston has a higher overall crime rate than Los Angeles, with recent data showing Houston with approximately 56.34 crimes per 1,000 people compared to Los Angeles’s estimated 35.91 in 2023, though crime trends are fluctuating and vary by source and neighborhood. Houston experienced higher rates in both violent and property crimes, while Los Angeles saw a significant decrease in homicides in early 2024
Instead of pining after washed-out politicians, the Houston Chronicle needs to get people who can think before they write. They must remember that they recommended most of the elected officials, including the present mayor.
As former County Judge Ed Emmett, a Republican, pointed out before leaving office — and repeated this year on Houston Public Media’s Houston Matters — it isn’t the job of state officials to micromanage local issues. Yet as attacks on local control have grown bolder, defenders have retreated.
They don’t make politicians like Emmett anymore — folks who could be proud of Houston, even if it meant challenging allies. Today, Houston is treated as little more than a venue for partisan fights. The cavalry isn’t coming. It falls on Houstonians to defend ourselves. Source
