Austin’s regional public transportation agency is spending money like it’s going out of style. And at least some of it appears wholly unnecessary. Earlier this week, KUT revealed CapMetro’s unofficial logo redesign, which arrives just ahead of a “$7.1 billion expansion of public transit known as Project Connect.” The agency, working in partnership with an...
In recent years, there has been a well-documented rise in “climate anxiety” among young people, a phenomenon in which younger generations fear their futures will be doomed by catastrophic climate change. According to a study in Lancet Planetary Health by Elizabeth Marks and Caroline Hickman, nearly half of the respondents reported that “their feelings about...
In response to a Public Information Act request, the Bond Review Board (BRB) recently provided TPPF analysts with new local government debt data for fiscal year 2021—and the figures are simply stunning. According to the BRB, cities, counties, school districts, and special districts owed a grand total of $389.7 billion in FY 2021, up from...
With inflation hitting a 31-year high, commentators are now routinely giving their opinions on inflation. Unfortunately, most of them—on both the left and the right—are mistaken. The left initially claimed there was no inflation before switching to its oft-repeated line that inflation is transitory, meaning not long-lasting. But inflation has proved to be quite resilient....
Would you hire an accountant who has never even read the tax code? Probably not. That accountant wouldn’t know the rules of our tax system or how it should work. And without that knowledge, he or she could jeopardize your filing and leave you in serious legal trouble. Unfortunately, that is essentially the same mistake...
Over 100,000 deaths from drug overdoses occurred in the United States between April of 2020 and April of this year. Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were responsible for nearly two-thirds of those deaths. Altogether, drug overdoses have now killed twice as many people as car accidents and gun violence combined. A crisis of this magnitude demands...
Thousands of cases a day go through our nation’s court systems, but most do not grab the headlines or scrutiny of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. The power and prejudice this prosecution is wielding should worry anyone who advocates for the fair administration of the rule of law. As experienced prosecutors who have handled high-profile criminal cases and made...
For anyone who cares about the rule of law, civil liberties, and individual freedom, the Kyle Rittenhouse trial should shake you to your core. The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office attempted to sacrifice 18-year-old Rittenhouse to the protesters determined to see Rittenhouse punished while allowing a “trial by Twitter” to shape the charges and sentencing. Rittenhouse’s constitutional...
It’s easy enough to rebut Ruben Navarrette—a columnist for the Washington Post and other outlets, perhaps the most widely read Hispanic commentator—but he and his readers deserve more. What Navarrette gets wrong about critical race theory is brushed away like the straw man it is; what he gets wrong about race is far, far more...
The two sides of a coin are typically regarded as opposites. In the case of President Biden’s $5 trillion Build Back Better bill, the two sides are actually the same. Both the revenue and expenditure provisions of this agenda will cause substantial decreases in employment. The only difference will be how. The Build Back Better...
MONTAUK, NY—A brisk early season nor’easter kept many local boats in that week, but with Saturday’s forecast looking better, Montauk fisherman Dave Aripotch is willing—he’s weathered much worse than a little cold and a little wind. By 5 a.m., he’s dockside at the fishing vessel Caitlin & Mairead. For now, he lets his crew sleep....
“Eva, dear, did your father teach you anything last night?” My grandmother, Eva Hahn, received this question almost daily at school in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. While the question seems innocent enough at first glance, the teachers were actually fishing for proof that my great-grandfather, Jaroslav, was teaching his daughters “non-communist” ideas, such as the...