As America prepares to get back to work, will some people be left behind? The Small Business Administration (SBA) has adopted rules for emergency COVID-19 loans that exclude otherwise eligible existing small businesses from relief solely because they are owned in part by individuals who have a criminal record. Given that at least 19 million Americans have a felony...
On April 19, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, one of the leading official English-language newspapers in China, wrote a disturbing piece titled “Cooperate with US states on virus fight, not federal government.” Of course, Hu must be a member in good standing of the Chinese Communist Party, as is expected for the leader...
Texas has weathered many a budgetary crisis before, and while we don’t know how deep this downturn will be, we know the strength of the Texas spirit and our state’s determination to secure a better future for our children. In a recent interview with the Texas Tribune, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said the one-two punch of...
It will surprise few that college campuses in America lean left. But does it matter? Research suggests that the left’s takeover of academia is hurting the quality of new science produced on campuses. And new evidence hints that students’ educations may be harmed as well. What are the Dangers for Science? One of the primary...
Proponents of the city of Austin’s repeal of its ban on homeless encampments and other vagrancy laws have tried to justify their support by pointing to a recent federal court decision out of Idaho. Not only is this Ninth Circuit opinion not binding in Texas but the court’s rationale would not apply to the situation...
It’s nearly impossible to practice social distancing in the most restrictive environments we have — state prisons. COVID-19 is killing corrections officers and incarcerated people, including a New Jersey Department of Corrections officer earlier this month. The states must find a way to balance public health and public safety with carefully tailored policies. New Jersey has...
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the nation and world together, but it is also highlighting some inequalities. As our nation is unleashing trillions of dollars in aid to fight the outbreak — and to save the economy — we must not make those inequalities worse. Contrast the tax code with the higher education portions of...
With many families still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, Houston’s leaders are deflecting responsibility for their poor flood control and disaster planning, and they’re pointing fingers at fossil fuels instead. Shamefully using the disaster as political leverage, Mayor Turner on April 22 released his Climate Action Plan (CAP), a mini version of the Paris Agreement, without any...
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a time when many take to social media to celebrate so-called “green” energy and call for broad government support. It’s for the children, after all. But the real numbers show that we have spent tens of billions of dollars on federal energy subsidies with precious little to...
A Harvard law professor argues that home schooling is a form of authoritarian control but believes forcing all children to go to a government-run school is not. I wish this statement was a strawman. But it is not. Elizabeth Bartholet, professor of law at Harvard University, advances this exact argument in an interview in the...
More than 1 million Texans have filled for unemployment since mid-March. There will be many more individuals who will file in the coming weeks. This is a signal that something is very wrong—and it’s a novel virus. But this novel virus has also created a novel recession, and we can’t prepare to treat it with the same...
Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, claims that “Texas Republicans have made coronavirus fallout worse by fighting Medicaid expansion.” “They didn’t create the global health crisis, but they’ve undoubtedly exacerbated its effects,” he writes. But is that true? Had Texas expanded Medicaid when the Affordable Care Act was passed a decade ago, would...