Society cannot incarcerate its way out of the public health crisis that is drug addiction. But in making the possession of drugs a felony rather than a misdemeanor, Kentucky shows a stubborn willingness to continue to try. Meanwhile, the drug addicts incarcerated alongside drug traffickers and violent criminals continue to suffer a health crisis, along...
In my prior piece, “Resistance on the Right: Will Conservatives Ever Come Together on an Article V Convention of the States?” I explained that under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if two-thirds of the states approve resolutions calling on Congress to hold an amendments convention, Congress has no choice but to obey. I then...
Most Democratic presidential candidates are supporting some version of Medicare for All, a radical proposal to put Washington in complete control of the health-care system. Joe Biden, however, promises to “protect and build on the Affordable Care Act,” the last Washington health-care experiment, which is better known as ObamaCare. Yet ObamaCare largely failed in its...
In 1975, at the height of New York City’s financial crisis, President Ford announced he would deny federal aid to help the city avoid bankruptcy. The Daily News ran an iconic headline the next day: “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.” Today the headline might read: “NEW YORK TO MILLIONAIRES: DROP DEAD.” The latest example of New York’s politicians bitterly...
Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, was on Fox News defending his city’s homeless policies Tuesday during an interview with Bill Hemmer. Last summer, the all-Democratic 10-member Austin City Council voted to lift the city’s ban on sleeping or camping on public property, such as sidewalks and parks – except for City Hall itself. Immediately following the vote, Austin’s...
Everyone likes the idea of fair competition. That’s why everyone supported the 2007 investigation of an N.B.A. referee who knowingly influenced the outcome of professional basketball games on which he or his associates had placed bets. There was an outcry by the players, the owners, the league, and the fans — because the idea of picking winners...
Texas Voters Approve Billions in New Debt On Tuesday, voters approved an overwhelming majority of the $9 billion-plus in new debt pitched by cities, counties, school districts, and special districts, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Bond Election Roundup website. Here’s how the top 10 largest new debt proposals fared and a few observations to boot....
In “Can You Still #Resist When Your State’s On Fire? A postcard from the Californiapocalypse,” Amy Wilentz, a journalist, writer, and English professor at the University of California, Irvine, details for The New York Times a truthy series of myths about California’s fiery, electric-less travails. She establishes her credentials at the onset by letting her...
“Two days. Two reports citing the same data. Two different conclusions.” That is how Rick Seltzer described the near-simultaneous release of two studies looking at state funding in Inside Higher Ed. The first study was written by myself for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and found that state disinvestment is a myth. The second study, by Michael Mitchell, Michael Leachman, and...
Two new renewable energy generators are being proposed in Cooke County. The two projects – BT Cooke Solar, LLC and Wildcat Creek Wind Farm LLC – are both seeking significant tax breaks in return for bringing their investment to the area. BT Cooke Solar’s application was posted in March of this year, and Wildcat Creek...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren released significant details around her Medicare for All proposal last week. Much of the critical commentary has taken exception to the math and logic behind the Democratic presidential candidate’s analysis. She appears to have significantly underestimated the costs of the proposal and exaggerated or double-counted the revenue that could be raised from her new...
Did you know that the Constitution provides a means for the people, acting through their states, to propose constitutional amendments, without needing any support or participation from the U.S. Congress? Under Article V of the Constitution, if two-thirds of the states approve resolutions calling on Congress to hold an amendments convention, Congress has no choice...