Why We Fight
What to know: The anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks reminds us of why we must secure the border.
The TPPF take: Have we become more vigilant today? Sadly, no.
“We have made it easier for terrorists to enter in the past few years by opening the doors of our southern border,” says TPPF’s Carine Martinez. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that since October 2022, Border Patrol made 149 encounters between ports of entry of people who were on the U.S. government terror watchlist—146 of them at the southern border—compared to 98 in 2022 and three in 2020.”
For more on the border, click here.
A Matter of Priorities
What to know: Texas school districts may be wildly underperforming from an academic perspective, but they excel at one thing—spending Other People’s Money on stadiums. One media outlet recently reported that ISDs “spent about $500 million on over 150 indoor practice facilities.”
The TPPF take: Misplaced priorities doesn’t even begin to describe school district spending.
“School district budgets are overstuffed with Other People’s Money. So much so that many ISDs have Taj Mahal-like facilities and multi-million dollar stadiums, sometimes right next door to each other. But this extravagance comes at a cost—and property taxpayers are bearing the brunt of it,” says TPPF’s James Quintero.
For more on local spending, click here.
China’s Coal
What to know: China is a world leader—in opening new coal-fired power plants, despite its green rhetoric.
The TPPF take: China’s coal boom shows that its promises on emissions are empty.
“In one decade, 2010 to 2020, China’s coal-fired electricity generation rose roughly 57 percent, with China consuming more than half of the world’s coal,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “But the brilliance of China’s energy strategy is how the Chinese Communist Party has cloaked its efforts in a cape of green, allowing U.S. climate czar John Kerry and his court to remain blissfully blind to its military utility.”
For more on China, click here.