Every Friday morning at 8:30 AM, I help choose the week’s Winners & Losers on the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin. It’s a lightning round that runs the gamut from public policy and political trends to sports and culture in Texas, America and the world. Here’s my list for the week ending May 10, 2024.
While Harvard, MIT and Penn whine that they can’t shut down the encampment protests on their campuses, University of Texas System Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltife is at the top of the Winners list this week for a trifecta at Wednesday’s Regents meeting when he said flatly that divestment is not an option for the Longhorns. Eltife also dismissed a threatened vote of no confidence against UT President Jay Hartzell by UT faculty, saying when it comes to the President, the Board of Regents is the only vote that matters. Finally, Eltife praised the state police who stopped those breaking the rules on the UT campus. He invited DPS Director, Col. Steve McGraw to the meeting and the Board gave him a round of applause.
This is clearly bad news for those UT faculty who are angry at the UT President, some of whom claim that UT is pushing “a very right wing agenda.” However, a poll released this week by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found that almost 70% of Texans agreed with UT’s decision to call in the state police. That includes Democrats, Republicans and Independents – they can’t all be “very right wing.”
The protesters clearly believe they have the moral high ground, but the state police uncovered propaganda leaflets the protesters left behind which included materials that celebrated the killing of innocent Jews and bragged about rockets launched into Israel. The Free Press did a long piece on the role of the so-called “outside agitators” in the campus protests. Almost 50 of the people arrested at UT were not affiliated with the university.
Another big Winner this week is U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson who survived a motion to vacate the Speaker’s Chair from Marjorie Taylor Greene, who earned a spot on the Losers list for ignoring former President Donald Trump, who rightly noted that attacking the House Speaker in an election year is a show of “disunity.” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy was the only Republican to vote with Greene. Four Texas Democrats also voted to vacate Johnson.
President Biden maintains his spot on the Losers list for a bunch of really bad policy statements this week:
- Announcing that he was withholding weapons for Israel right after he delivered a Holocaust Remembrance speech
- Announcing an incremental change in the asylum process that will make no difference in shutting down the border.
- Continuing to insist that Bidenomics is working. He says people have more money, they are just annoyed they have to spend more. Actually, many people are earning less.
- To back up his economic case, the President told CNN that inflation was 9% when he took office. It was actually 1.4%. The President appears to have no clue that consumer confidence is at its lowest point in two years.
- Biden plans to spend more on student loan forgiveness than on Pell Grants which provides grants to financially needed students.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is a Loser for suggesting that some Jewish students are “pro-genocide.” She also credits the campus protesters with getting Biden to hold back weapons for Israel. She may be right about that.
It goes without saying that Stormy Daniels is on the Losers list, but let’s not waste space talking about the many reasons why. The whole thing is beneath us.
The Board at Katy Independent School District is a Winner for adopting a policy that notifies parents if their child asks to use a different name or pronouns while they are at school. Taking this stand for normalcy has made the Board a target of the U.S. Dept. of Education Dept. of Civil Rights which is investigating gender harassment under Biden’s wacky new Title IX Policy.
Lost Creek is also on the Winners list for voting themselves out of the City of Austin over the weekend. If you’ve ever spoken to anyone from that neighborhood, you know it’s been a long war over there.
The announcement by the Boy Scouts that they are changing their name to “Scouting America” in order to be more “inclusive” clearly makes them Losers. Give me a break.
Finally, last week comic Jerry Seinfeld made the Winners list for saying that the “P.C. left and liberal crap” had ruined comedy, but his new movie “Unfrosted” proves that’s not entirely true. Worth watching just for the spoof of Jan. 6 where Tony the Tiger in a Viking helmet crashing into the Kellogg’s headquarters is worth the price of a ticket.
That’s it. Have a great Mother’s Day!
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
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