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...
People often talk about the federal government as if it is set in a bubble removed from time and space, existing outside of the influence of the people. It is often forgotten that this government is made up of people selected from the public and that its authority is derived only from the consent of...
Nevada enjoys one of the freest observation laws in the country. NRS 293.274 requires that county clerks allow “members of the general public” to observe the elections. In most states, observers must be affiliated with a candidate or a political party. But in the interest of transparency, the Nevada Legislature has written a law that allows anyone...
“I remember saying … I feel so sick I need to go home.” This is how a young woman, identified only as Adele, began describing the time she overdosed after injecting heroin many years ago. She went on, saying that as she rested on her ex-partner’s bed “suddenly, I’ve gone into this overdose.” She was...
Fiscal conservatism is alive-and-well in Texas’ 3rd largest county. As evidence, consider that Tarrant County officials last year approved a tax rate below the no-new-revenue (NNR) tax rate, resulting in an astonishing “13.17 percent” rate reduction. As impressive as that was though, county leaders took things one step further by creating a 10% local option...
Shortly after it was announced that 79 people had been arrested during the anti-Israel protests at the University of Texas at Austin in April, university officials and police reported that 45 of those arrested had no affiliation with UT. Subsequent arrests of campus protesters in Austin and around the country had similar metrics—a substantial percentage...
Steve Allison, an outgoing Republican state lawmaker, ramped up the school funding debate earlier this month with a commentary in the Express-News, “Abbott duty bound to call special session on school funding” (June 9). Are Texas schools actually underfunded? Let’s look at the reality. Texas taxpayers give enormous amounts of money to public schools. According to...
It’s just a shame the media in control of the debate will be unlikely to focus on the most vital issues. The media have begun their predictable lead-up to the first presidential debate slated for June 27 with the usual question — “Do debates really matter?” — before answering it themselves. As Politico’s Jack Shafer...
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 21. The...
Being born and raised along the Texas-Mexico border, I have firsthand experience of how the border crisis and the threat of domestic terrorism has heightened. After three years and more than 10 million illegal aliens, and after a growing increase in military base breaches, enough is enough. What more is it going to take for...
The Biden administration is planning one of the largest amnesty efforts in recent history, potentially granting legal status to over a million illegal aliens. This initiative raises significant legal, procedural, moral, and policy concerns that should worry every American. The new executive order proposed by the Biden administration, known as “Parole in Place,” aims to...
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. Back to the Future Part II, the sequel to the blockbuster hit, was a terrible movie. Perhaps its most sinister element was persuading 12-year-olds across the country that hover boards...