In 1999, concerned about the looming rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and noting a deficit of books on the topic, I used my skills as an Army intelligence officer to research the order of battle of a conflict between the PRC and Taiwan, then war-gamed the fight. Needing an expert in Chinese...
Economic freedom hit a record high in 2019—but then came 2020. That’s when government shutdowns limited economic freedom, with devasting impacts to people’s lives and livelihoods. According to the 2021 Economic Freedom of the World Report, which measures economic freedom according to a number of economic variables, the global average for economic freedom hit a...
Austin ISD, the largest government-run school district in Central Texas, has just proposed a big tax increase despite shrinking enrollment and overstuffed coffers brimming with federal aid. The move, which comes at a time when area food banks are “still seeing high demand,” has left many Austinites understandably frustrated. On Monday, the Austin American-Statesman reported...
Last month, off-duty New Orleans Detective Everett Briscoe and his friend. Dyrin “DJ” Riculfy, were shot and killed during an aggravated robbery in Houston. The tragedy surrounding their slayings was only aggravated by the news that their suspected killers had been walking free on a combined six felony bonds, including cash-free bonds, a $40,000 bond for...
Woke society continues to take aim at the nation’s education systems, insisting that minority students are simply incapable of meeting the academic standards that other students are expected to reach. One example: Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 744 into law in July. The governor’s deputy communications director said in an email that suspending the reading, writing and math proficiency requirements...
In the days immediately following the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a poem was left at a makeshift memorial near Ground Zero in New York. It began simply, “You rushed up the stairs of the towers, as we rushed down…” I took my son to the official memorial just a few weeks ago. As...
The climate army is coming. Dissatisfied with the American people’s lack of concern for their issue du jour, self-righteous coastal elites are moving on from slick PR campaigns and headline-grabbing protests to deploy a legion of climate activists across the nation — paid for by your tax dollars, whether you like it or not. President Joe Biden’s proposed Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) would be the biggest mobilization of government labor since the New Deal, a...
The dramatic initial success of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, by any measure one of history’s most effective military offensives, gave way to 20 years of increasingly bureaucratic, decreasingly effective nation-building efforts, culminating in this month’s surrender to the Taliban and calamitous evacuation of Kabul. As the Biden administration planned what would become the August...
Tackling the complexities of reentry is an issue facing Mississippi—as well as every other state in our nation. As I testified this week before a Mississippi State Legislature joint House and Senate Committee hearing on national best practices for reentry, I was left with no doubt that when stakeholders work collaboratively, there’s great potential for...
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decides to quash the island nation of Taiwan’s successful run at democratic self-governance, will the Chinese try to limit the conflict to Taiwan and its immediate waters, or will they immediately embark on a wider conflict involving the United States, Japan, and other nations? It’s a big question. History...
California is a tax haven for the middle class? Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom made that risible claim during a Sacramento Bee editorial board meeting last month as he battles the Sept. 14 recall election. Newsom’s questionable boast came in response to a reporter who prefaced her question by noting that California has the nation’s “highest housing costs, highest...
Even as Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in Tyler on Tuesday, Democrats and special interest groups were filing lawsuits to stop its implementation. They’ll challenge it on constitutional grounds, claiming it’s a blatant attempt to suppress minority votes. Yet that’s not the sole strategy at play here. Just as they used...