Energy & Environment

Here’s One State That Has The Guts To Burst The Woke Bubble

Investing to support social or political causes is as old as investing itself, but what we now know as Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) investing began in the 1960s as socially responsible investing. In 2005, “Who Cares Wins” stated that “embedding environmental, social and governance factors in capital markets makes good business sense and leads to more sustainable markets and...

September 12, 2022

Taxes & Spending

Corpus Christi governments should adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate

Ronald Reagan once observed that, “Whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off.” The Texas version of that statement equates to: Whenever we lower property tax rates to the no-new-revenue level or lower, our entire state is better off. For those not familiar with the term, the no-new-revenue tax rate is...

September 12, 2022

Family

Empowerment Accounts: 21st Century Safety-Net Reform

Frankie Johnson, a college-educated single mother from Washington, D.C., moved to Atlanta to distance herself and daughter from an abusive husband. Without a job or place to live, she sought government assistance for childcare and transitional housing. While she waited for this assistance, she was offered a job paying $70,000. She turned it down. Why?...

September 12, 2022

Foreign Policy

AMLO talks tough on crime—except when referring to narcos

Mexico’s president is pressuring the high court to declare automatic pre-trial detention constitutional, arguing public safety depends on it. Critics say the practice covers for sloppy investigations. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his functionaries have been jawboning the supreme court to uphold the practice of automatic pre-trial detention for a long list of crimes—resorting...

September 7, 2022

Local Government

Gov. Abbott Proposes the Largest Property Tax Cut Ever in Texas

On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pressed for property tax relief, telling a big crowd in Fairview that he wants to take half of the projected $27 billion state surplus and use it to reduce property taxes. If this happens, it’d make for the largest property tax cut in Texas history. The news is sure...

September 2, 2022

Local Government

It’s the Wrong Time for Tax Hikes

Former President Barack Obama once proclaimed that: “The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of the recession because that would just suck up and take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole.” Like a broken clock, he got that one right. Raising taxes...

September 2, 2022

Immigration

Biden Administration’s Shameful Treatment of Border Patrol Agents Will Make Us Less Safe

The president and vice president made up their minds as soon as they saw the photos of mounted Border Patrol agents riding behind fleeing Haitian illegal immigrants. With reins flying in the riders’ wake, there were immediate claims that Haitians had been “whipped.” “It’s horrible what you saw,” President Joe Biden said. “To see people...

September 2, 2022

Health Care

A Stethoscope for Spending: Transparency for PBMs

At its invention, the stethoscope was revolutionary—the first non-lethal way of exploring a patient’s internal anatomy. It opened a new world to physicians. That’s the goal of the bipartisan Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act—a measure that is completely non-invasive, but that opens up a world of information about how our health care system delivers prescription drugs and...

September 2, 2022

K-12 Education

Texas State Board of Education Should Give TEKS Draft a Failing Grade

UPDATE: From TheTexan.News: “State Board of Education Votes to Scrap Proposed Social Studies Standards Drafts Amid Allegations of CRT.” When we see statistics showing that almost half of younger Americans prefer socialism to capitalism, you have to wonder how they became so delusional and unaware of the opportunities and quality of life that the free enterprise system has brought to so many...

August 30, 2022

Election Integrity

FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago: 5 things the redacted affidavit reveals

As a former U.S. Attorney with a criminal justice career that spans decades, I find it remarkable that some in the legal profession are already willing to close the case on the FBI warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home based on the heavily redacted affidavit. The unredacted portions of the affidavit attempt...

August 30, 2022

Family

Texas Foster Kids Deserve Better

I want to address an issue in our Texas foster care system. But it’s not completely about foster care. It’s about an agency that ignores the wishes of the Legislature and the governor (elected by Texans) to do its own thing—and gets caught doing it. This is unacceptable in Texas. This is why our interim...

August 29, 2022

Criminal Justice

The FBI’s Trump Raid Should Concern Every American, Including His Detractors

The long-awaited release of the “affidavit” of probable cause in support of the Trump raid is finally here. Oh, there are plenty of redactions; more than 20 out of 38 pages are full or partial redactions. Even the list of reasons for the redactions is completely redacted except for a couple of “Agent Safety” references....

August 29, 2022