Mamdani and the Border
What to know: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and for “sanctuary” policies throughout the U.S.
The TPPF take: Mamdani acknowledged recently that he’s never been to the southern U.S. border.
“The issue is not whether Mamdani has physically visited the border,” says TPPF’s Selene Rodriguez. “It’s whether he understands why towns that experienced the border crisis firsthand reached a very different conclusion. It is easy to defend sanctuary policies from behind a podium at New York City Hall. It is much harder to defend them to the communities that have already confronted the reality he seems to ignore.”
For more on the border, click here.
Working As Intended
What to know: The Dallas Morning News has an amazing editorial that acknowledges the truth: “Low-income families and disabled kids are the big winners of education savings accounts.”
The TPPF take: Texas Education Freedom Accounts are working as intended.
“Under TEFA, eligible Texas children can receive public funds deposited into a personalized account to be used for approved education expenses,” says TPPF’s Brian Phillips. “If demand exceeds available funding—and I expect it will—a prioritization system and lottery will determine participation, favoring children with disabilities and lower-income families.”
For more on school choice, click here.
Data for Sale
What to know: An app that helps women track their periods was supposed to protect that very private data. Instead, the company behind the app has sold that data.
The TPPF take: Most of us think our data is being protected. It’s not.
“HIPAA, the federal health-privacy law most Americans vaguely know exists, protects your data inside the clinical system,” says TPPF’s Caroline Welton. “But HIPAA was written in 1996, before smartphones, before apps and before the commercial health-data economy came to be. It covers a specific, narrow list of institutions. It does not cover the fertility app. It does not cover the prescription discount platform. It does not cover the online therapy service.”
For more on health data privacy, click here.