In 1790, George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, to present his vision for America as a country where “bigotry finds no sanction” and “persecution no assistance.” He celebrated a nation where all citizens, including the “Children of the Stock of Abraham,” could dwell securely under their own “vine and fig tree,” free...
Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. The clock struck midnight on Thursday and put the dream-killing Deadline Day in the Texas House behind us. Now, we have 17 days to go in the legislative session. But that’s just...
Our health is being held hostage by high drug prices. We’ve all heard stories of people who’ve died because they can’t afford life-saving medication—stories like that of Cole Schmidtknecht, who couldn’t afford his asthma inhaler. Despite advancements in drug manufacturing, drug prices go up—and up, and up. President Trump highlighted how complex and convoluted the...
We’re seeing it in every city: housing prices going up, up, up. It’s increasingly evident that Texas’ housing market can’t keep up with the soaring demand. Almost every Texan feels the squeeze. A recent survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University indicates that 9 out of 10 Texans say that the cost...
Earlier this year, it was revealed that local governments spent as much as $98.6 million in 2023 to hire contract lobbyists whose only job was to advocate for higher taxes, more spending, and bigger government. That level of expenditure is up from $75 million in 2021 and $41 million in 2017. Of course, that nearly...
2025 was a dramatic year for school choice in Texas. But educational reform doesn’t stop here. The Legislature passed the state’s first private school choice program — a nearly-universal education savings account that will enable at least 100,000 Texas families to use public funds for higher education expenses, tutoring, testing services, educational therapies, online courses, textbooks, school...
During the May 2025 election cycle, Texas voters were asked to decide on 313 separate propositions seeking $41.3 billion in new principal debt. These 300+ proposals were put forward by many different cities, counties, school districts, and special districts, each for a particular purpose and cost. Among the score of bonds proposed are those pitched...
Either this is an abuse of the Antiquities Act, or the Antiquities Act is itself an unconstitutional delegation of Congress’s power to the executive branch. There’s something undeniably American about searching the American Southwest for gold. As a young man, Mark Twain traveled to the Nevada Territory and, among other adventures, became a gold and...
Producers at CBS, CNN and MSNBC took the time to blur the faces of child rapists, murderers and other violent criminals whose details were posted on signs lining the lawn at the White House last week. But it was a telling win for the Trump administration—because the media’s narrative of “innocent” illegal immigrants being wronged...
Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. With tariffs are coming down everywhere but China, and less than a month to go in the Texas legislative session, here’s who made the list: WINNER: Catholics Weigh-in With New Pope We...
Under the current standards of review, 1 in 5 school districts in Texas received a D or F in their yearly evaluations. 42 percent of all Texas students are not on grade level in math, reading, science, or social studies. While all of this is happening, superintendents are earning obscene salaries and school districts are...
Higher education is losing its luster. Once a beacon of opportunity, the traditional four-year degree has seen a steep decline in public confidence, dropping from 60% of Americans expressing strong faith in 2015 to just 36% in 2024. Young men, in particular, are opting out, with only 41% of high school-educated men aged 18–24 enrolling...