• Greg Abbott Declares War on Moderate Republicans
   
• A ‘Blue Wave’ with No One to Ride It: Will a Big-Name Democrat Run in Texas?

• Human Rights Lawyer on How Government is Complicit in Mexico’s Drug War
   
• Drinking the Kool-Aid at the Garden of Eden

The Lede
The Documents Behind Trump’s Texas Border Wall Plans

• Last week the Observer revealed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents that show where the Trump administration plans to build 33 miles of border wall in South Texas.
   
• Now, the Observer is releasing additional documents, obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, that include timelines for construction, cost estimates and locations for border wall segments.
   
• “Intense media scrutiny,” one document warns. “This is a controversial project generating great public interest. This is also a fast-paced program where unexpected developments can be expected.”

• Top 1 Percent of Texas Commodity Farmers Get Quarter of $1.6 Billion in Subsidies
   
• ‘Last Sheriff in Texas’ Tells True Story of State’s Deadliest Lawman
   
• Another Strikeout for Mexican-American Studies in Texas

• Religious Leaders Gather to Bless Texas Abortion Clinic
   
• A New Book on Jellyfish is Filled with Wonder and Climate Change Woes

From the archives
Don Willett's Quiet Revolution

• Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett's confirmation hearing for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was Wednesday.
   
• We profiled Willett last year, going beyond his Twitter personality to highlight his controversial decisions and conservative judicial activism.
   
• From the story: "While the justice portrays himself on social media as little more than a flag-waving, pun-inclined good old boy, he is also a heavyweight of constitutional jurisprudence, one of the leading lights of a polarizing legal movement that has upended the long-sacrosanct conservative doctrine of 'judicial restraint,' the mantra of Scalia and Robert Bork."

What’s Happening at the Observer

• Join us Monday at the Austin Film Society for a screening of "True Conviction," a documentary focusing on a Dallas detective agency started by three exonerated men, with decades in prison served between them.
   
• Newsletter exclusive: Use the code TXObserver for $2 off your ticket!
   
• The Observer is now available on all Kindle devices and apps. Get a free 30-day trial.

• #GivingTuesday is a global movement built to inspire people to take collective action to improve their communities and give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they believe in. This year, it's on November 28. Want to help the Observer this #GivingTuesday? Become a member.
  
  Great journalism happens because great journalists have the space and the resources to do their jobs. As we've seen in recent years, in the absence of those resources, great outlets shrivel to shadows of their former selves. The Texas Observer has been here for 63 years; we plan to be around for the next 63, too. Our nonprofit model means that you can have a direct impact. Want more great work like Melissa del Bosque's border wall investigations? Become a member of the Texas Observer on #GivingTuesday.