Energy & Environment

Texas’ Anti-ESG Legislation: Why It’s Working as Intended

In 2021, Texas passed Senate Bills 13 and 19, groundbreaking legislation designed to protect its vital energy and firearms industries from the economic and political pressures of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) dictates. These laws prevent state and local entities from engaging with financial firms that boycott these critical sectors. Despite recent criticism suggesting these...

July 6, 2024

Economy

Who Needs Nanny State Water Breaks?

Almost one year after being mocked relentlessly for a holding short-lived “thirst strike,” U.S. Congressman Greg Casar is once again promoting the idea that government should mandate water breaks. On Tuesday, Casar took to X (formerly Twitter) to cheer on “a new federal heat rule to give American workers the right to rest, shade, &...

July 3, 2024

Economy

If Independence Day Has No Future, Neither Does American Democracy

It seems that virtually every year around Independence Day, we are told by some in the media that we really shouldn’t be celebrating after all, because the Declaration of Independence, source of the American Creed, is, in reality, “a beautiful lie.” I have written about this rejection of the Declaration previously, but I must repeat...

July 3, 2024

Local Government

Who are Austin’s Highest Paid Public Employees?

On Tuesday, the Austin American-Statesman published an interesting new look at the “highest paid city of Austin officials as of June 26.” This latest wage data reveals a handful of extremely well-paid city employees whose annual earnings often approach or exceed the President of the United States’ salary. According to the Statesman’s statistics, which were...

July 2, 2024

Local Government

Which Texas Cities are Worst for Traffic?

It turns out that Texas’ most progressive cities are not only unaffordable, but they’re also terribly gridlocked. According to Inrix’s new 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard, there were 4 Texas cities that ranked among the most heavily congested in the U.S. Those cities were: Houston (#8), Dallas (#17), Austin (#21), and San Antonio (#25). It goes...

July 2, 2024

Other

Jilted Journos

The following commentary is published on Thursdays as part of TPPF’s subscriber-only newsletter The Post. If you would like to subscribe to The Post, click here.  The left-wing bias of the mainstream media is nothing new. It will likely be on display in the questions asked and coverage following tonight’s presidential debate. For most of my...

July 2, 2024

Other

The Media and the Presidential Debate

The country awakened this morning following the worst debate performance by an incumbent president in television history to find that we are basically back in the same place we were before last Thursday night. Polls taken immediately following the debate show that almost 70 percent of the country say Trump won the debate, but most of the...

July 1, 2024

Technology

AI’s Insatiable Appetite For Energy Can’t Be Satisfied By Renewables

AI is bringing an unprecedented surge in energy consumption, whether policymakers understand the energy implications or not. In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), where data crunching and machine-learning algorithms reign supreme, the demand for energy has emerged as a critical concern. Mark P. Mills, the executive director of the National Center for Energy Analytics (an initiative...

July 1, 2024

Technology

Why Communist China-Connected Temu Is Worse Than TikTok

Once downloaded, Temu can access almost anything on your phone — the camera, internet, audio recordings, and more — according to one study. If you polled Americans on whether they would be comfortable handing over sensitive personal and financial information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), you would likely get a near-unanimous declaration of “no!”...

July 1, 2024

K-12 Education

Amarillo teachers make the most of high-quality instructional materials

At Eastridge Elementary School, Principal Genie Baca’s teachers have enough challenges. Their students are mostly refugees, recent immigrants from countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Vietnam and Burma, among many others. The parents are often shift workers at local meatpacking or poultry processing facilities, meaning that no one’s home to ensure the children are fed and...

July 1, 2024

Other

9th & Congress: Winners & Losers – June 28, 2024

Every Friday morning at 8:30AM, I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. We run the gambit from public policy and political trends to sports and culture in Texas, America and the world. Here’s my list for the week ending June 28. The...

June 28, 2024

Public Safety

The Supreme Court Delivers a Win for Safety in Public Spaces

Homelessness in America has reached its highest level since point-in-time (PIT) counts, the method used to estimate “the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night,” first began being recorded in 2007. The total number of those without shelter in this country has reached a staggering 653,000. In many cities, homelessness is not...

June 28, 2024