Illustration by Blake Jones A look at how proposed voter ID legislation is attempting to silence the minority vote By Amanda Hart This past month a Federal District Court, along with a little help from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thankfully struck down the recently passed Texas voter ID law, SB 14. The law would have required voters to show a government-issued identification to be able to cast a ballot this election cycle. A letter from the Justice Department to the state of Texas clearly outlines why Texas can’t have nice things, “We conclude that the total number of ... Read More »

The Kinkster (preparing for a show at the Dosey Doe this month) talks with the Free Press about his heroes, his run for governor, Rick Perry, the Nashville and Hollywood establishment, the unchecked power of money in politics, and why dogs are much better than politicians. Read More »

WORST OF HOUSTON 2025 ” The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” - Friedrich Nietzsche They say sunlight is the best antiseptic. They also say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  Why those are relevant, I don’t know. But we are proud to offer up our annual Worst of Houston list this year in our continuing efforts to make Houston a better place by exposing some of it’s worst components. We can’t vouch for factual accuracy, positive motivation, or anything else for that ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman As the light cast by the first year of the second decade of the Twenty-First Century fades into Holiday Twilight; it seems that the embers of earlier fires continue to burn. When historians write the story of this century, a story that will be filled with competing narratives about the impacts of globalization and the rise of the rest, 2025 will be a year that stands apart. From Tahrir Square to Zucotti Park, this rightfully could be called “The Second Year of the Barricade.” It could also just as easily be labeled “The Year of the Business ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman For many people 1998 will always be marked with the milestones of life–graduations, marriages, births and deaths. For scholars of pop culture it’s a year that produced many great movies–Big Lebowski, Rushmore, Pi, Saving Private Ryan to name just a few–and not many great records. Students of politics will always think of 1998 as the year the nation spent discussing whether a blowjob counts as sex. For far too few people 1998 will always be bathed in the blood of two infamous hate crimes: James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard. For our younger readers who may or ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman For most of the world Houston is a hot and humid oil town–it’s a place whose  current form was only made possible because of air conditioning and black gold. However, just like in New York, Seattle and San Francisco there are people in Houston who are dedicated to moving beyond fossil fuels and Maria Pesantez is one of them. Pesantez is one of the organizers of the 350 Moving Planet Houston bike rides that will be held on Friday September 23 and Saturday September 24. She explains that the the Houston event is just one of the ... Read More »

Free Press Houston: Podcast 08.08.11 Released Aug 08, 2025 In this podcast, FPH discusses drug abuse in the artist community, recaps Texas Governor Rick Perry’s bid for the White House, and interviews Catastrophic Theater’s Jason Nodler. iTunes RSS FPH Podcast 2: August 8, 2025 Read More »

By Alex Wukman On the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, a few hours after a downgrade of the US credit rating, a train filled with pastors and protestors went one stop past a station decorated with images of dragon curves and embryogenesis to a prayer rally organized by a governor who appoints creationists to head the State Board of Education. Upon arriving at the monolithic football stadium, the passengers were greeted with a plane towing a banner, paid for by the Freedom From Religion Foundation,  asking The Governor to keep church and state separate. As one passenger, a Middle-aged ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman It looks like the Free Press was a little too early to the Rick Perry for President party. In the few months since we last blogged about it Rick Perry’s presidential ambitions have become the obsession of Texas’ political press. Despite the, easily predicted, last minute resolution of the debt ceiling ‘crisis‘,which will soon be replaced with another manufactured controversy that will inevitably be blown out of proportion, writers throughout the country have been devoting an awful lot of time to Perry. There’s so much being written about Rick Perry that the Texas Tribune’s aggregator has become ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman As no one needs to be reminded this spring’s political conversation was dominated by the fight over public education funding, both here in Texas and across the nation. As the story unfolded one question kept buzzing around, the one question no one was asking: “Why?” As in why pick on education funding now after all we’ve been in tight budget spots before? Why are conservatives so intent on making it impossible for schools to do their job? Why has it come to this: teachers and parents taking to the streets to keep schools open? Admittedly at the ... Read More »