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Jim Hightower"s Lowdown

News and shows about the progressive, democratic populist rebellion from former Texas Ag Commissioner and NYT best-selling author Jim Hightower.

news & politics

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Why Louisiana’s Kids Won’t Listen to Their Pious...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/07/03

For us Texans, there’s nothing new about Bible-thumping politicians bedevilling us with the foolishness of their dogmatic Christian piety. A century ago, for example, a proposal was made to offer bilingual education to Spanish-speaking school kids. But it was quashed by the governor, who solemnly declared: “

Do It Yourself Democracy: Let’s Fight the Supreme Court

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/07/02

It’s July 4th week! Sure, do a few 12-ounce elbow bends and set off some sparklers in celebration of our people’s democratic values. But wait – why are we celebrating the Spirit of ‘76, but meekly accepting the recent tsunami of autocratic, plutocratic dictates from a sextet of extremist, right-wing, partisan lawyers?

A few quick thoughts about Biden’s performance at the...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/28

“OMG, it’s all over! We’re doomed! Biden lost the debate!” But wait, the election is not a debate contest. It’s a choice between two visions of what America is and what it can become. We’re not just electing a person, but a government… and a future.

Friday Signpost: Happy Pride, for All!

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/28

We see it everywhere these days, don’t we? Glorious, beautiful Pride flags all around—even in the store windows and on the websites of major mainstream corporations. Wow, we think, equality for all sexualities is really hitting its stride!

The Right-Wing Turns Anti-Corporate! Sorta… Not Really.

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/26

Wow: Big political news, folks! In an astonishing twist, some far-right-wing Republican groups and politicians are demanding that their longtime corporate allies – such as Walmart, the Koch brothers, GE, and Wall Street banks – stick to their business and stop interfering in the people’s political decisions. One group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, bluntly declares that it now prefers “corporate behavior without partisan influences.” It’s even

Should Congress Honor Donald Trump with a Medal, a...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/25

Here’s a member of Congress with too much time on his hands… and way too little of anything on his mind. Greg Steube of Florida, is a run-of-the-mill, extremist Republican specializing in such partisan slapstick as trying to nullify Joe Biden’s election and install GOP loser, Donald Trump, as president.

Friday Signpost: Turning Out the Vote This Year, and...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/21

When it comes to agitating and organizing for change, there are lots of tools at our disposal: protesting, running for office, legal actions, and, of course, VOTING. And the right is making it increasingly more difficult to get to the polls, to get to the

Let’s Put Labor Day to Work for Workers… and Democracy

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/20

What if Labor Day was not about giving working families one measly Monday off to sleep in, rush to the beach, do some 12-oz elbow bends – then report back first thing Tuesday to start another 364 days of pulling the corporate plow?

Hightower’s Heroes: Sharon Lavigne and an update on...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/19

You all may remember this Chat & Chew episode with Hightower and Sharon Lavigne from Rise St. James in Louisiana. Sharon is a retired special education teacher turned environmental activist. Over the course of her lifetime she saw her beautiful thriving community where families could live off the land (farm, grow fruits and vegetables, have a some livestock, fish in the Mississippi) turn into “

The GOP’s New Plan to Enrich the Super-rich… Again

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/18

Excellent news, people: Republican officials are mounting an all-out political push for a massive cut in our taxes next year! Well… by “our taxes,” they don’t mean yours. Rather, here they come with another absurd sob story about giant corporations and the super-wealthy suffering unbearably from excessive taxation. Claiming to feel the pain of these multibillionaires, the GOP is riding to their rescue, promising to extend the trillion-dollar tax boondoggle Donald Trump handed

Friday Signpost: Sex Ed Is a Great Prophylactic...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/14

Attacks on reproductive freedom! Attacks on queer & trans folk! Attacks on books! It’s enough to make you want to scream into the void. Thankfully, there’s an alternative to screaming into the void that you might not have heard of yet—and solid action you can take. Let us introduce you to

Hear Corporate America’s New Euphemisms for Gouging You

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/13

We should pay attention to corporate America’s fluctuating wordplay, for their frequent contortions of language disguise ploys to dupe, confuse, and rip off us hoi polloi – i.e., their customers. For example, here’s a mouthful that’s been gaining popularity among manufacturers of food products:

There’s the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly… and Then Sam...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/11

Sam Alito is so ugly that he can’t even see his ugliness. I don’t mean looks, but the deep inner ugliness of character that keeps oozing from this so-called “supreme” judge. Start with the unabashed lies he told senators to win his lifetime appointment to America’s powerfully-undemocratic judicial branch. Lie Number One was his promise not to mess with women’s constitutional right to reproductive freedom. But, once he put on his authoritarian black robe, he

Big Books, Little Books, and Weeds: What We're...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/09

To wrap up our weekend, we thought we’d take a few minutes and share what each of us here at Hightower HQ has been reading and listening to in recent weeks. What recommendations do you have? Leave ‘em in the comments!

Return of the Swamp Drainer: Making a Mockery of...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/06

Remember Donald Trump, the “swamp drainer”? In 2016, candidate Trump promised to end the grubby money corruption of American politics. “The special interests, lobbyists, donors,” he rightly and righteously noted “make large contributions to politicians and they have total control of those politicians.” Asserting that he knows the political rot better than anyone, he said he’d “fix that system, because that system is wrong.”

Going from Democracy… to Plutocracy… and Now to...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/06/04

One group of oppressed Americans has become especially outspoken this election year, contending that top government officials (Democrats in particular) are ignoring their community’s basic needs and stifling their pursuit of economic advancement.

Friday Signpost: Your Music for the Movement...

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/05/31

Hot on the heels of our 1980s playlist… we’ve got … drumroll… the 1990s in political movement music ready for you! We love seeing how the music really spreads through genres in this decade, continuing the roots of branches sprung prior ones. Let ‘er rip!

How Silly Can Right-Wing Culture Warriors Get?

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/05/30

If you’re wondering whatever happened to Ron DeSantis, he’s now re-ensconced in Florida… goofier than ever. Last year, backed by a covey of billionaires, Governor Ron was all set to be our next president until national voters discovered he has the personality of a dirt clod and the political sensibility of a tin-pot totalitarian.

Cruising Along with Ted Cruz

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/05/28

A Republican senator once tried excusing the egomaniacal right-wing nastiness of his colleague, Ted Cruz declaring, “sometimes Ted is his own worst enemy.” I said to myself: “Not while I’m alive he’s not.”

Holiday weekend chill with political comics and memes

Jim Hightower"s Lowdown ·

2024/05/26

There have been so many incisive cartoons and memes coming out in the last few weeks that we decided we’d share some of our favorites with you. There’s something about sharp and fierce critique of the world we live in combined with wit that opens things right up that helps a lot of us feel a tiny bit of relief and a little less alone in this world gone mad. With that, enjoy these finds from our field of view, and leave some of your own recent favorites in the comments!

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