Ken Burns became famous for his magisterial PBS film series, “The Civil War.” My family loved this series, which featured, naturally enough, Lincoln’s arguments and tactics during the war. But Burns’s latest pronouncement makes one wonder whether he really learned anything about Lincoln at all. In a recent podcast discussing the impending closure of his...
As we observe the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the question has been raised whether our experiment in self-government still merits our celebration—or our condemnation. I find myself having to republish a rebuttal to this claim every July 4, because every July 4 brings a new call to no longer celebrate the Fourth....
I recently had to explain Apple Pay to my parents. They love it now, but getting there required patience, repetition and a fair amount of starting over. We ended the way those sessions usually end, with them saying: “That’s so easy, I had no idea it was so simple.” The thing is, it was not...
When George Wythe died in 1806, he left his small library of books to his dear friend and former pupil Thomas Jefferson. It was, he wrote in his will, “the most valuable to him of anything which I have power to bestow.” Yet Wythe’s greatest gift to Jefferson—and to the new United States of America—had...
Austin Reform has recently dug into where the money is going in the homeless industrial complex, since for the 10th year in a row, homelessness in Austin has increased. How has $1.5 billion been spent over six years with no success? According to the report, which you can read here: $35M | The Official City...
I was a pretty smart kid. Why can’t I figure this social media thing out? It’s 11:45 pm and I’ve been scrolling on my phone for hours. This is not an experience that is unique, and I imagine many of you have the same experience. Despite feeling tired, my mind is racing, stimulated by the...
Even though I’ve taken off from my Winners & Losers newsletter this summer, I still join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin Friday mornings at 8:30 a.m. to announce the week’s list. You can listen live here every week or download the broadcast anytime by clicking here. This week I...
Texas is on the verge of a major education victory. The State Board of Education (SBOE) is expected to vote tomorrow on adopting improved Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards for social studies and the state’s first required literary works list. These proposals address two subjects that Texas students have largely struggled with in...
A few weeks ago, I received a call from a very frustrated friend. She is exactly the kind of teacher every parent hopes their child gets. She is dedicated, thoughtful, and has high expectations for her students. The issue that prompted her call was not a disagreement over curriculum or school resources, but ice cream....
The Catholic Magisterium has long illuminated the unbridgeable gulf between man and any other intelligent being. In the age of AI, its rejection of utility as the measure of human worth matters more than ever, even when its analysis falls short. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, discovered in rubbish mounds along the River Nile during the era of...
For two centuries, the nation suppressed its vitality in favor of victimization and righteousness. A pair of opportunities lie before it that could restore Mexico’s ascendance. In 1613, the Keichō Embassy under Hasekura Tsunenaga set forth from Japan to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, landing at Acapulco and spending some time in Ciudad de México —...
More than 700 Islamic nonprofit organizations operate across Texas. An ideological survey and mapping of these groups indicates that at least a third operate under the influence or control of one of seven terror-tied Islamist networks active in the state. Movements such as the Taliban-tied Deobandis, anti-Semitic Salafis, and the violent Jamaat-e-Islami movement, among others,...