The movement to defund the police is succeeding in ways that its advocates could not have envisioned initially. Defunding has always really been about abolition, despite the unpopularity of that concept. And while defunding has not always resulted in laying off or firing police officers, the toxic environment it has created has made it hard...
The very popular narrative is that Republicans only care about budget deficits and the spiraling national debt when Democrats are in charge. Writing in the Washington Post’s “The Fix” column, J.M. Rieger says that “Republican mea culpas on the national debt follow years of demands for spending cuts to reduce the debt.” But I was...
A few years back, Gallup polled Americans on which social entities they thought had too much power. Lobbyists came out on top with 71 percent, beating big business, banks, the federal government, and even labor unions. Gallup has also over the years asked Americans which professions they trust most. Nurses and military officers usually come out on top....
President Joe Biden was quick to take credit for reopening the Colonial Pipeline (before a technical glitch brought it down again) and helping drivers fighting gas shortages — an ironic move considering the war he is waging on fossil fuels. Biden tweeted that it was thanks to the “extraordinary measures [his] administration has taken” that...
Americans can sigh a sigh of relief. Our Border Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, finally visited the border and spoke of protecting the men and women and the dignity of work, even calling for “much work that needs to be done in support of Milwaukee,” Sadly, it was the wrong border. We applaud the Vice...
Texas is falling behind other states in mathematics education and is on the verge of making a decision that would irrevocably harm students for generations. Nationally, there’s a movement to remove all accelerated courses from kindergarten through tenth grade in the name of “equity.” The Virginia Department of Education recently announced these intentions, which in...
I grew up in a small, central Texas county that non-locals often knew for one of three reasons: its local BBQ joint, 7,500-acre lake, or its expanse of pristine land home to an abundance of native wildlife. But, I see my home attempting to become known for another reason – renewable energy subsidies. Wind turbines...
The line from the classic American songbook “nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you try” has never been truer. As this nation emerges from the pandemic and states pare back COVID-19 restrictions, there are now a record 8.1 million jobs waiting to be filled. However, old criminal records...
We’re seeing a lot of California plates in and around Austin these days. It’s not just individuals from the West Coast pulling up stakes and moving here; businesses are also fleeing states with high taxes and unfavorable regulatory environments to the Lone Star State. To meet growing demands, our workforce must grow, as well. A...
Texas has lifted a majority of COVID-19 restrictions. Businesses are open. Kids are in school. And people who want the vaccine are able to get it. Despite these advancements and the continuing decrease in new COVID-19 cases, some local officials in Texas have continued to demand that people stay home. For example, until yesterday, Harris...
The economic policies of the Biden administration—Bidenomics—is conspicuously marked by lofty rhetoric, grand promises, and the best of intentions. It espouses helping the poorest among us, along with amorphous but attractive values like “fairness.” But the results of these policies do not live up to their intentions. Here are just a few examples. The American...
Discussion has been remarkably limited since the shooting of Ashli Babbitt by a United States Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington D.C. An unarmed woman was shot and killed by police during the riot, something not seen in the any of the previous eight months of rioting throughout the country. And...