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...
China’s race to be a maritime superpower presents the greatest threat to the U.S. since the British burned down the White House in 1814. On April 24, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report on China’s naval modernization, noting that, “China’s navy is, by far, the largest of any country in East Asia, and sometime between...
Every Friday morning I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Somehow it is already May, and the Texas House will start working Saturdays tomorrow as they speed toward June 2. Meanwhile, the numbers on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days are dazzling—although...
Sometimes—though I will admit it’s rare—serious policy discussions can turn into comedy gold. In my recent op-ed, I discussed the capture of social-emotional learning (SEL) by DEI as I experienced it while in the Stanford Teacher Education Program, where I received my Master’s in Education. Apparently, my critique didn’t go over well with one of...