Elon Musk calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme and says entitlements are ‘the big one to eliminate.’ Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said grandmas wouldn’t complain if they missed their check.
General News
Town hall: Dan Crenshaw highlighted Conservative closed-mindedness trying to ridicule progressives.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) attempted to ridicule progressives at his town hall as he discussed the made-up trans problem but instead articulated Conservative/MAGA closed-mindedness.
Trump’s actions exposes a constitution with severe defects.
For all who believe in the infallibility of our Constitution, Donald Trump is using every defect in it to enrich himself and others as he makes it an autocratic nation.
Dan Crenshaw to a man on Social Security at Town Hall: Why’re you special. Not going great for me.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw revealed his true beliefs when he dissed a struggling senior on Social Security. Republicans will raise the retirement age if allowed to.
A MAGA Trump supporter was left speechless after we dispelled small government big corporation crap.
A MAGA Trump supporter called to dispute our support for a government big enough that no corporation could attain supremacy. He was left speechless and decided to reevaluate his position.
The Hartmann Report
“Free Trade” Has Put America & Democracy At the Mercy of China
Bringing our manufacturing back from overseas will reverse the 40-year-long slide of the American middle class and rebuild our nation’s security & economy. China is threatening the United States: this could get very ugly, very quickly. Here’s what’s happening. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning a trip to Taiwan, the first for a Speaker in […]
How Will Trump’s Deadly Sabotage Of America End?
use he has not been held to account, Trumpism has spread across the US landscape like metastasized cancer, with GOP politicians who aspire to corrupt strongman status emulating him in every state
The Abortion Firestorm is also a White Freak-out About the Browning of America
America is no longer all-white or all-under-white-control and white supremacists on the Court are bound and determined to do something about it
Support Independent Media
Guest Bloggers
On the Eve of World War III: Middle East Edition
One Tuesday afternoon, my grandfather picked up my sister and me from high school. He remarked that today marked nothing less than the beginning of World War Three.
To Support Public Education, Vote Molly Cook
Molly Cook, an ER nurse and organizer who served as the sparkplug of the movement that passed Houston’s Prop B last November, and Jarvis Johnson, the current State House representative for House District 139. I am voting for Molly, and public ed is one of the main reasons why.
League of Independent Voters of Texas
Imperial Governance and Constitutional Wreckage • LIV News, July 29, 2021
Are imperial governance and the related constitutional wreckage taking Texans down a dangerous path to a constitutional crisis?
The elephant in the Texas voting booth that neither party wants to talk about.
The elephant in the Texas voting booth that neither party wants to talk about is the suppression of a plurality of Texas voters. Surprise! There are more non-aligned and independent Texans than Democrats or Republicans.
Egberto Mentioned In Media
Kingwood Area Democrats Call For Civility – Monday, November 07, 2011 – Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com
Kingwood Area Democrats Call For Civility Monday, November 07, 2011 Midge Crockett Kingwood Area Democrats (KAD) recently held its monthly meeting to discuss their upcoming annual fundraiser. A vote was taken on the location and date of the event and members were asked to create a committee to finalize the occasion. Mowrey then informed KAD […]
Kingwood Area Democrats to host fundraiser, collect donations for veterans–The Tribune 2012-01-23
KADS to host fundraiser, collect donations for veterans Monday, January 23, 2012 – Trilla Cook Democrats, independents and disenchanted Republicans, from around the Kingwood-Atascocita-Humble area are invited to attend and support Democratic efforts in Northeast Harris County. The Kingwood Area Democrats (KAD) will host a fundraising brunch and 2012 Democratic candidate meet and greet […]
Egberto On TV
Guested On HuffPost Live Discussing Debt Ceiling, Obama’s Inauguration, & Ellen DeGeneres
I was a guest on HuffPost Live to discuss several news topics on Huffington Post. These were Debt Ceiling, President Obama’s inauguration, and Ellen DeGeneres. The 14th amendment would allow President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling in the event of a standoff, but the White House says it won’t play that card. Let […]
Guested on HuffPost Live to Discuss Israel, Pelosi, and Obamacare
The Community sounds off with Ahmed on Nancy Pelosi’s decision, a deadly strike on Hamas, public opinion on Obamacare and the latest Toyota car recall. Originally aired on November 14, 2012 Hosted by: Ahmed Shihab-Eldin GUESTS: Andrea Murad (New York, NY) Freelance Journalist @andreamurad Egberto Willies (Kingwood, TX) Political Blogger and Author @EgbertoWillies Kira […]
Egberto’s Published Articles
Is Net Neutrality Really Necessary? You’re Damn Right!
by Egberto Willies and Keyan Bliss (Originally Published at Common Dreams) Three weeks after Christmas, the American judiciary gave telecommunications corporations a huge present. On January 14 a federal appeals court decided to weaken the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Internet Neutrality policy by striking down the rules it adopted in 2010 to regulate Internet service […]
Egberto Willies: Wendy Davis’ life story provides empathy necessary to be governor – Kingwood Observer
It seems like I chose just about the right time to write an article on Wendy Davis. She finds herself under attack not only by the entire Right Wing establishment, but from the traditional media as well. She happens to be the story to balance the myriad of bad acts by Republicans. There is a […]
Battleground Texas
Support continues to build for Judge William ‘Bill’ McLeod
Judge McLeod turned around his office in two months. McLeod and his staff accomplished more in 2 months than his predecessor did in two years.
Occupy Movement
Occupy Kingwood – A Sustainable Form Of The Occupy Movement (2012-07-14)
Occupy Kingwood VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL We’ve completed 30 consecutive weeks of Occupy Kingwood. What does this mean? We are closing in on our 52 consecutive weeks at the corner of Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway. We do this every Saturday between 9 AM and 10:30 AM. We had a new neighbor, […]
Netroots Nation
My Interview by Freelance Journalist Talia Whyte at Netroots Nation 2012
I was interviewed several times at Netroots Nation 2012. Tara Whyte is a freelance journalist who has reported on issues related to social justice, media and technology for over 10 years. Her work can be found in the Houston Chronicle, The Progressive, theGrio.com, The Boston Globe, MSNBC, PBS, Al Jazeera, among many others. Please view […]
Coffee Party Posts
Coffee Party USA Board of Directors 2016 Meeting in Blue Ridge, Georgia
The Coffee Party USA board of directors coalesced around a strong voter education and turnout strategy that we will be releasing in the forthcoming weeks.
Columnists
Young column: Behold: a Red Scare of a new hue
Not that I was sapped of outrage. There are, however, only so many minutes of any day one can be aghast. So, as I pored through the long list of words lusty totalitarians now deem verboten by our
Young column: Mangy attack dog tears into agencies that serve
Say you had a gripe over a parking ticket. Say you had enough big-shot clout in town to resolve the matter by shutting down all parking enforcement. Say you thought your company’s water bill was
Young column: How Putin’s corruptible pawn was cultivated
To mortified Americans everywhere — you who still cannot expel the hurt from your minds: This president has done many horrible things: conspiring to undermine a U.S. election; inciting a bloody
Participatory Budgeting Includes Community Members in the Public Funding Process
In 1989, one-third of the inhabitants of Porto Alegre, Brazil, lived in impoverished regions on the fringes of the city, cut off from sanitation, clean water, medical facilities,
Why Seashells Resemble Spiraling Galaxies and the Human Heart
One halcyon spring day in 1903, the 69-year-old anatomist and naturalist Dr. James Bell Pettigrew sat at the top of a sloping street on the outskirts of St. Andrews, Scotland, perched inside a
Why Wikis Are a Useful Tool to Protect Online Information From Being ‘Disappeared’
The beginning of Trump’s second presidency in January 2025 marked an upsurge in the suppression of online information. On February 2, the New York Times reported that more than 8,000
A Few Takes
Original Sin? Or Original Choice?
I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. I don’t always get around to reading them daily, just like I am sure many cannot read every one of my “Egberto Off The Record” newsletters. After all, I send out 1 to 5 every day, depending on the day’s news. I served on the Coffee Party USA […]
Joy-Ann Reid did the best job of covering the real TikTok narrative, the hidden billionaires.
Joy-Ann Reid and Robert Reich provided the best coverage of the insane TikTok fiasco. Unlike the shallow coverage elsewhere, they hit the real issues.
Maddow Blog: Stefanik picks the wrong fight, asks whether we were better off in 2020
But the idea that conditions in the United States got worse after Trump left the White House is demonstrably ridiculous.
People Making a difference
The inhumane side of our immigration policy seldom spoken about.
I interviewed Andrea Fernandez before she went on stage at the Unlock the Future rally in Houston sponsored by the NOW on immigration policy.
Patricia Esteves has a project attempting to unite the country as one.
As I walked in between protest movements at the Democratic Debate at TSU. Patricia Esteves was giving away T-Shirts. Her T-Shirts say.
Local News
Houston Chronicle Endorses State Senator Molly Cook for reelection to SD-15.
Congratulations to State Senator Molly Cook (@MollyforTexas) for earning the endorsement of the Houston Chronicle for reelection to Senate District 15.
Why DA Kim Ogg must be expelled from the Democratic Party for her Ted Cruz endorsement.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg can’t endorse Ted Cruz under the law and order moniker. Ted Cruz was a participant in the attempted coup on America via his support for Donald Trump.
Harris County’s Guaranteed Income Program (Uplift Harris) is in Danger
Last April, Harris County passed a historic guaranteed income program. One of more than sixty pilot programs across the country,
Kingwood Texas Floods Again, May 2024.
Once again, the Kingwood, Texas, area is experiencing a significant flood. It is becoming a way of life that engineering can solve, but our political and economic system proves incapable of mitigating.
Entertainment
Chris Rock used his new Netflix skit Selective Outrage to slam Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
I watched Chris Rock on Netflix this morning. It was clear that the Will Smith slap at the Oscars has affected Chris Rock’s comedy.
The movie “Honk For Jesus” brought back memories of a CNN iReport I did on Bishop Eddie Long.
Just got back from the movie “Honk for Jesus.” It felt familiar. A woman told my wife, “That’s the Eddie Long story.” Yes, it is similar to the iReport I did in 2010.
Message To Garth Brooks: Took this superfan lots of money & attempts to finally see you in Houston.
Garth Brooks super fan Debra Willey finally got to see you in Houston, TX, after several attempts and several thousand dollars — a shoutout maybe to her?
Environment
How is the environmental advocacy community going to stand up to Trump.
As Trump begins his second term, green groups are bracing for policies favoring fossil fuels and loose regulations.
Why is the Great Salt Lake shrinking so much
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.
Sports
Texans Win. But why do it the hard way?
The Texans vs Bills game was exciting but it should have ended in regulation. Bill O’Brien is lucky to have stellar players.
Simone Biles named female athlete of the year | khou.com
Simone Biles continues to make Houston proud as she wins female athlete of the year. Congratulations! COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Gymnastics powerhouse Simone Biles has been named the 2019 Team USA Female Olympic Athlete of the Year after another record-setting performance in competition this year. Biles topped a list of award-winners of the honors presented […]
Move To Amend
Move to Amend’s Daniel Lee: Transcending political parties at the People’s Convention (VIDEO)
Many grassroots organizations have converged on Philadelphia, PA using the Democratic National Convention as the catalyst to organize for a better America.