@hooks.bsky.social is maybe the best writer of Texas and its deep-set contradictions since Billy Lee Brammer— www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

stellar reporting and an object lesson on the higher ed playbook in other states

Certified Chris Hooks Classic, here. It is very detailed and humane in telling the story it tells, which concerns the damage that a small number of snitches, creeps, and dullards have done to this institution, but also about the long history and awful present of snitches/creeps/dullards doing that.

Tour de force on just exactly what has gone on at Texas A&M for so many years from Chris Hooks in @texasmonthly.bsky.social: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

For two years, I've been investigating claims that Texas A&M University has been overtaken by the forces of gay race communism. The truth is a little more complicated: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Q: How do I unlock Sunglasses Macron? A: It's very difficult to unlock Sunglasses Macron in the course of a normal game because it requires a specific and unlikely sequence of events. While default Macron is ruler of France, the USA must choose the monarchy path and then lay claim to Greenland.

Because we could all use a little distraction: I wrote about all the drama that's been brewing in Loving County, a land of oilfields and family feuds and, most recently, a takeover attempt by an outside group www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

I wrote last year about what MAGA actually sees in Greenland, an island we already basically quietly own, why its leader is too stupid to get what he wants, and what they see as a beneficial side-effect (destroying the post-war international order) newrepublic.com/article/1947...

"I think good writing—clear thinking—matters. Not much, but a little! This is a minority position, I am learning." Chris Hooks on Olivia Nuzzi, Joan Didion, and the self-delusions of our current moment newrepublic.com/article/2041...

I know you probably do not want to read another article about American Canto. I certainly didn't think I wanted to read another article about American Canto. But this is, in fact, the best article I've yet read about American Canto.

I reviewed American Canto… newrepublic.com/article/2041...

second verse on this is one of the funniest things i've ever heard

Many thanks to @hooks.bsky.social for this terrifically thoughtful review of Jeff Roche's THE CONSERVATIVE FRONTIER. @texasmonthly.bsky.social subscribers, this one will be in the print issue in your mailboxes very soon!

There’s something missing in Greg Abbott. Over the last decade, he seems to have learned to fill it by moving troops around, a hobby which is having a stranger and stranger effect on his country as time goes by: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

one of the most gripping films i've ever seen. feels far shorter than its runtime.

Love this @hooks.bsky.social story about how Texas Republicans are embracing everything they once hated about California: Health food, trial lawyers and film industry slush funds. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Full article (still an unsolved mystery!) by @hooks.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the...

As with anything to do with this Musk vanity project, @hooks.bsky.social’s piece on its real human and environmental costs is a must-read. Gift link - www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/o...

"...as a freelance magazine journalist, I am a blue-collar manufacturing worker in a collapsing industry that no amount of tariffs can fix. My day-to-day has become a Rust Belt of the mind, and there is nothing left for me in the West. Off I go." - @hooks.bsky.social

This is excellent. newrepublic.com/article/1947...

I went to Greenland to try to think through one of the strangest aspects of Trump's second term: His love of the 19th century newrepublic.com/article/1947...

This by @hooks.bsky.social, about Trump's Greenland fixation, is a thoughtful musing on his second term and this moment of frenetic ferment in American politics. "Why are the Americans doing this? My worry is that the answer is simple: We're bored." newrepublic.com/article/1947...

Real Men Steal Countries: Inside Trump’s Absurd Greenland Obsession An underdressed reporter journeys across icy, barren Greenland—and into Trump’s bored, nineteenth-century brain. Words by @hooks.bsky.social Illustrations by @coldwarsteve.bsky.social

We sent @hooks.bsky.social to Greenland and he came back with a story about imperial folly, the return of the 19th century, and just what Donald Trump and his cronies are really up to there. It's the best thing I've read about Trump's second term newrepublic.com/article/1947...

For the June issue of The New Republic, I went to Greenland and Denmark to think through Trump’s annexation obsession, Trumpworld’s love of the 19th century, why my country keeps hitting itself in the head with a hammer, and the world‘s best bar (Daddy’s, in Nuuk)

This from @hooks.bsky.social is a rip-roaring piece of magazine journalism like from the old days. And yes, the @newrepublic.com sent him to Greenland! And he did reporting while there! newrepublic.com/article/1947... via @newrepublic.com

"So many Americans live in a demon-haunted world, with unreal dangers in every corner." @hooks.bsky.social You're not getting dumber because of fluoride, but maybe Texas officials are. The war on oral health continues. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

On Pulitzer announcement today, remember that journalism still matters. It will always matter. For example, I just found out I’m cited on the German Wikipedia page for the Philly cheesesteak

Park Slope trip report: there’s a Lambo outside and a private party inside my empanada loca

Wanna hear something crazy? Eggs are cheaper in Greenland than they are in the U.S. No chickens within ~1,000 miles. Bottom row is $4.78 for 15

my friends made a short documentary that raises a lot of questions youtu.be/8m78pjnAtNI

retvrn

[trying to order food at a restaurant] um, unfortunate this is paywalled

Breaking: kalebhorton.ghost.io/good-lord-i-...

Unbelievable. After fifteen years of continuous warfare and the expenditure of tens(?) of millions of dollars to halt it, the Texas House has once again elected a Republican speaker with more Democrat votes than Rs. 85-56, Dustin Burrows wins.

The 89th session of the Texas Legislature kicks off today. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

this doesn’t seem right to me but I’m not sure I have the standing to argue

happy new years. I mean it won’t be but hope springs eternal 🙏🏻

had never before read the inscription on the grave of Thaddeus Stevens. born 1792. what an absolute freak of nature. maybe the greatest to ever do it

Good news. They’re putting up a building just for the dames

this is the greatest possible Christmas gift a white boy can receive

For two decades, the only real political fight of consequence in Texas is over the identity of the Speaker of the House. We'll have the fourth one in six years in January: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Leader McConnell encountered a new voidspace in the sleep-like rest he aspirationally calls his "Dreamtime." He has huddled with his cabinet of warlocks to determine a response should it reoccur. He has been cleared to resume his schedule.

Feels like political hardball for a lot of Dems just means protecting people you like. This is why you still hear folks saying Franken should have stayed. Beyond being wrong in principle, this kind of thing doesn't actually build Democratic power. This isn't realpolitik; it doesn't hurt the right.

Should Texans hope that their statewide leaders join the Trump administration to vex all Americans a little or stay there to vex them a lot? A debate: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

you show at unexpectedly at your girl’s place and this is in the driveway. wyd

back in far west Texas for the first time since the pandemic and my charging station has tumbleweeds

Squirtle has been compromised to a permanent end.