What does virtually every Austinite carry around in their pocket 24/7? A cell phone! In spite of this, a recent audit found that the city of Austin is spending tons of money on employee pagers. And in many cases, those devices are going unused and those employees are nonexistent. According to the Office of the...
The more you spend, the more you save. Heard that one before? That’s the tortured logic some are now using to convince Texas legislators to expand Medicaid coverage to healthy, able-bodied individuals. Sound fishy? You’re right. They point to a recent study that uses a lot of wishful thinking and dubious assumptions to suggest that spending...
A Los Angeles Times article entitled “Make America California Again? That’s Biden’s plan” asserts that the Biden-Harris administration is looking to California as its “de facto policy think tank” and an “incubator of innovation, premier laboratory of democracy (and) land of big ideas.” This is a very bad plan. How bad does it have to be in California,...
Would the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. recognize the civil rights movement of today —92 years after his birth, and more than 57 years after his famous “I Have a Dream” speech? I don’t believe he would. The just goals he fought for, equal opportunity for all and a color-blind society, have been set aside by...
The coming inauguration of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States sets the stage for a policy agenda that openly and proudly demonizes the affordable, reliable energy resources we all rely upon. Biden’s energy plans are bad for our national security, economy, public health, and overall quality of life. But the American people’s ingenuity and creativity...
The presidential election was close. Only 84 Electoral College votes separated the contenders. Widespread allegations of ballot fraud were claimed by national party chairmen in 11 states, with court challenges lasting into the middle of the year following the election. Changing the results in just two states would flip the election. The fraud allegations were...
Democrats accidentally showed their hand by voting for a new loophole to the U.S. House of Representatives budget rules. The “pay as you go” rule, which imposes a modicum of fiscal restraint by requiring spending increases to be accompanied by spending cuts to keep the national deficit from growing, now specifically excludes climate change-related bills....
Property rights matter to Texans. For more than a century, the Texas Supreme Court has held that the Texas Constitution protects each individual’s right to use and develop his or her property in any way that doesn’t cause a nuisance or harm the neighbors. While other states and federal courts have taken an increasingly narrow...
Growing up in Miami, Florida, I knew next to nothing about the energy industry. As long as I could afford to put gas in my car and the lights came on when I needed them, I was happy. I had no clue — like many Americans — how essential energy is to every aspect of...
Late last year, I made my third trip to Bonton Farms in southern Dallas. Each time I leave to go back to my home in the northern suburbs, I feel angry, overwhelmed, sad and encouraged, all at the same time. I’m angry because the public policies put into place over the years on criminal justice...
Elections matter. They matter because they signal to policymakers the direction in which a community, state or nation wants to go. When it comes to Medicaid expansion and making our system of delivering care to the truly needy worse, the people of Texas have made their intentions very clear. By keeping Texas firmly in the...
On New Year’s Day 2021 the 105th Annual Rose Bowl was supposed to be played in Pasadena, California. Instead, it will be played 270 miles north of Pasadena—Pasadena, Texas that is, in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. California’s on a losing streak and the eventual loser might well be the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom. Just in the past...