by Daryl Slusher | Nov 13, 2024 | Uncategorized
The day before the election last week I made a rare foray into commenting on national politics. I mean, it was the presidential election. Everybody has a take on that. Given the widespread feeling that the race was a toss up, I listed five reasons Donald Trump might...
by Daryl Slusher | Nov 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Austin Independent is primarily a journal about local government and politics, but we reserve the right to occasionally comment on national affairs. It has been a long time since we did so, but now seems like the right time. What follows is just a list I made of...
by Daryl Slusher | Oct 29, 2024 | City Council 2024, Police and Public Safety
Well, love him, hate him, or indifferent, you have to give Kirk Watson credit for getting the police contract over the finish line. It passed on a vote of 10 to 1 (Zo Qadri voting no) after an even more raucous than usual public hearing. It wasn’t just Watson. This...
by Daryl Slusher | Oct 23, 2024 | City Council 2024, Police and Public Safety
Back around the time that I went on summer vacation I watched a forum put on by CBS Austin about public safety in Austin. It basically featured Council Member Chito Vela and Austin Justice Coalition leader/police abolitionist Chas Moore debating Council Member...
by Daryl Slusher | Oct 10, 2024 | Austin Elections, City Council 2024
This is the third and final installment in our series about the Kirk Watson Vision Test. For more on what I mean by the vision test see Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 focuses on how in 2023 Watson sided with far left activists to kill a proposed four-year contract between...