As of late, the prospects of keeping a job have shrunk. Texas’ unemployment rate jumped to almost 13 percent in April with over a million jobs being lost and several industries shrinking 10 percent or more year-over-year. However, local governments in Texas have not experienced the same troubles that are affecting everyone else. The public...
George Floyd’s death is properly the responsibility of the senior arresting officer on the scene. Had that officer’s training been better, Floyd might be alive today. Had the officer been disciplined or fired for prior improper behavior, Floyd might be alive today. Had the Minneapolis City Council, mayor, and local district attorney done a better...
Since the launch of the federal and state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus, predictably, has been on how governments at all levels have fared in delivering necessary tests, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical equipment to ameliorate the spread of the disease. But government hasn’t acted alone. Far from it. Behind every...
There has been a lot of controversy over a change in the rules that govern the operation of the House of Representatives. The majority party has opted to allow proxy voting, placing the votes of most of the members of what is euphemistically referred to as “the people’s house” in the hands of a select...
Back the Blue — Sign the Pledge, Click Here. More than three centuries ago, British writer Jonathan Swift observed, “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late.” Well, a new movement to defund the police is well on its way. And in...
Though illegal immigration has come to a virtual standstill in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, decades of dysfunction in America’s immigration system continue to have deleterious effects in communities throughout the nation. As is often the case, developments in Texas, which shares almost two-thirds of the U.S. border with Mexico, provide some of the...
During most of my time at the White House over the last year, America was experiencing one of the best labor markets ever. The White House called it a blue-collar boom. And they were right. Then the Wuhan Virus changed everything. As Americans became infected, the resulting fear brought the dynamic blue-collar boom to a...
With the coronavirus still infecting and killing people, particularly the old and infirm, there have been increasing calls to move America to an all-mail-in ballot for this November’s election. This campaign is being advanced through legislation — the economic recovery package the House passed two weeks ago dubbed the HEROES Act, which would allocate $3.6 billion...
No one likes to diet. It’s hard and takes an awful lot of willpower. But sometimes life doesn’t give you a choice. Recent unemployment data from the Texas Workforce Commission has set off alarm bells and revealed some brutal new realities. For April, the state’s unemployment rate jumped to almost 13 percent as “the Texas...
Medical professionals know all about triage. When there’s a high demand for medical services — such as in a natural disaster or an outbreak of disease as we are unfortunately now facing — they must perform this risk assessment to determine who needs the most urgent and intensive care. Bail should be the same way....
With the coronavirus and now the urban unrest battering the economy, a large dose of unexpected good economic news crossed the wire this morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: the economy added 2.5 million nonfarm payroll jobs in May versus the forecast consensus of another steep decline of 7.5 million jobs. The unemployment rate fell...
The terrible situation caused by the coronavirus shutdowns across the world has led to an interesting experiment in air quality. What happens to the environment here and abroad when worldwide transportation and industrial production drop off significantly? Reading the news, the improvements seem to be significant. News reports with headlines such as “Coronavirus Got Rid of Smog”...