The Texas Tribune began its coverage of the 88th Session this year with a news report screaming that “LGBTQ Texans Ready for Legislative Session as GOP lawmakers target them in dozens of bills.” The Tribune warns that many LGBTQ people say they are leaving Texas because of the GOP “assault” on their rights. If LGBTQ...
In our constitutional system, individuals have rights and governments have certain powers to protect those rights and to promote the common good. When local regulation unduly interferes with individual property rights, it is appropriate for the sovereign state government to act. From exceptionally high lot-size regulations to impossible land setback requirements, and other overly-burdensome constraints,...
The question is whether letting some U.S. aid corruptly enrich a few Ukrainians is worth it to degrade the threat of nuclear war with Russia. Critics of America’s support for Ukraine often cite the latter’s corruption as a rationale not to provide assistance. Ukraine has struggled under the burden of corruption, but that does not...
The left’s latest attack on pickup trucks is because they’re large and scary and allegedly bad for the environment. Unlike with the right to bear arms, there is no constitutional amendment protecting our right to own vehicles — other than a generally recognized right to move about freely (Crandall v. Nevada, 1867) — and, with...
It’s like those congregants who wrongly confuse a building as being the Church. Confusing buildings, organizations, and traditions with being the essence of public education gets it wrong. In reality, public education is simply a public political commitment to provide schooling to all children without regard to each family’s ability to pay, and funding such...
In the last two years, five states have abolished politically motivated ESG investing from state-operated pensions, and almost half of states have raised antitrust concerns that BlackRock and other ESG-focused investing firms may be abusing taxpayer dollars. ESG activists are now claiming these commonsense protections for retirees could increase costs. But the real cost of buying into...
Media’s rush to praise Biden’s visit to the border is drastically premature At the outset of the new year, President Joe Biden deserves some acknowledgment for finally doing the bare minimum and visiting the U.S.-Mexico border. But the mainstream media’s rush to praise his visit as a sign that the president is getting serious about...
Since taking office, my overarching goal has been to utilize the natural resources we have been blessed with to ensure energy is cheap, plentiful, and reliable for Texans. Under President Biden’s tenure, the cost of energy for American families has soared (the energy inflation index has risen 7.3 percent over the past 12 months alone)...
Teamwork in action—that’s what we saw when Tyler, Texas-born Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took the field last week in the AFC playoffs—for the second half. An ankle sprain in the first half had the press corps all but dismissing the Mahomes’ chances. But Mahomes, a Texas Tech grad, adapted his playbook for the...
Every child should have access to the education that best meets their unique learning styles. Yet, for decades, this hasn’t been the case for students with disabilities in Texas. Like all children, students with disabilities deserve the opportunity to flourish. But in a nation where education has been designed around the “average” student – rather...
Our asylum laws were never meant to encourage millions to make a dangerous journey to the U.S. They are not a blueprint for a human trafficking pipeline America is under siege by both cartels and our own politicians. Since day one of his presidency Joe Biden has made it clear that he would rather allow cartels to...
The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House have all stressed the importance of property tax relief. The Comptroller too. And now the Texas Legislature has weighed in. Yesterday, the House and the Senate released their introduced budgets (see here and here), providing an outline of the tax relief package that could be...