Month: September 2025

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Charlie Kirk’s horrific assassination continues to produce aftershocks in Texas, America and the world. It was a week where many moved forward, finding strength, meaning and purpose in these dark times while others recycled old angers. Here’s who made the list:

WINNERS: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows

Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Burrows announced this week that they have created joint committees to examine free speech and civil discourse on public university campuses in Texas. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, will chair the Senate Committee while Rep. Terry Wilson, R-Georgetown, will chair the House Committee. Both Patrick and Burrows said they were very concerned about some responses to Kirk’s murder at colleges around the state, including the response of a student at Texas State University who mimicked Kirk’s shooting at a campus vigil, and a Texas Tech student who attended a celebration of Kirk’s life in Lubbock and began screaming profanities at mourners, calling Kirk a “homie” and saying she was glad he was killed.

When you trace the source of this kind of oblivious ignorance and hatred, all roads lead back to our universities. They are indoctrination factories that teach young people, including those who go on to teach in public schools, that America is built on racism and patriarchy. Everyone is identified as either oppressed or an oppressor and these hateful students put Charlie Kirk in the “oppressor” category, so they believe they are justified in glorifying his killer.

Texas has done more than any other state to reverse the ideological damage on campuses and return universities to their role as places of open inquiry and debate. The hearings that will be convened by these joint legislative committees will help Texans understand more about what happened and identify what still needs to be done to move the transformation forward.

They will also help answer the question of how almost 300 public school teachers, most of whom are graduates of Texas universities, have been reported to the Texas Education Agency for posting incendiary comments about the Kirk assassination.

Last week we reported that the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is threatening that college professors will leave the state because of Texas higher education reforms. This week, Fox News reported that while the AAUP has expressed concern about faculty members being fired for inappropriate comments, it has not made a statement condemning Kirk’s murder.

WINNERS: The Monarchy

No one, not even America, can outdo the Brits when it comes to Set Direction and Stage Design, and what they pulled off at Windsor Castle this week for President Trump and Melania was spectacular.

America’s royals—Trump and Melania, brought much of their court, including the Tech barons, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Princess Tiffany—to meet the original royals and celebrate what, as King Charles said, neither George Washington nor King George III could have ever imagined. The queen looked queenly and the Prince and Princess of Wales looked absolutely perfect like they always do, a reminder that they will be able to handle this big show long after both the seventy-something guys at the top have moved on.

LOSER: Pete Hegseth’s Department of War

It is not really clear why they changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. The new name undercuts one of President Trump’s most positive assets—he is the strongest anti-war president we have had in decades. No one has more clearly articulated the senselessness of the body counts coming out of both Ukraine and Gaza than Trump. He is usually more conscious about branding, so I blame Secretary Hegseth. The DOW is one more example of Hegseth’s failure to think things through.

Here’s another. Hegseth was right to end wokeness in the military—getting rid of DEI training and race-based promotions, prohibiting drag shows and gay pride celebrations on military bases were all important things to do.

But for some reason that is hard to fathom, Hegseth decided he should also prohibit Black History Month, Hispanic History Month and Women’s History Month.

What is he thinking? Perhaps he doesn’t’ like the idea of a whole month devoted to history and we can understand that. It has always seemed odd that Women’s History Month goes on for all of March while Washington and Lincoln now have to share a day in February that isn’t either one of their birthdays.

But the long and storied history of Black Americans in the American military, starting with the Revolution, is important for every service member to know. The same is true for Hispanic service members, who now make up just under 20% of our fighting forces. And the history of women fighting for America by land, sea and air throughout our history is part of everyone’s heritage. We work very hard in Texas to get history right (see the next winner). We tell the stories of who we were because it helps us understand who we are as Texans and Americans. Somebody should explain that to Hegseth.

WINNER: SBOE Passes Social Studies Teaching Plan

This week, the State Board of Education (SBOE) passed a new social studies curriculum that is a vast improvement over the one our public schools have been using for years that simply forced students to memorize dates and facts about history in the early grades and repeat the process again before they got into high school. Kids will learn more about Texas and how it fits into American history and how America fits into world history under the new plan. My colleague, Mandy Drogin, explains it all here and I invite you to read her brilliant breakdown before you look at this story in the Houston Chronicle with the headline: “SBOE Passes Right Wing Plan to De-Emphasize World History and Culture.”

There should be a special category of LOSER for the Houston Chronicle, because this headline is the worst distortion we have seen in a while. Only about 30 percent of our kids have a clue about any kind of history. Why would anyone demonize the people who are trying to improve those numbers?

LOSER: Jasmine Crockett—Wannabe Hitler and Defining Criminals

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, told us this week that committing a crime doesn’t necessarily make you a criminal. Huh?

Crockett also defended her frequent descriptions of Trump as a “wannabe-Hitler,”  insisting that she is simply informing people of history.

Crockett clarified this week that she is only interested in a possible run for the U.S Senate, saying unequivocally that she doesn’t want to run against Greg Abbott for governor. That is disappointing. Would love to see what Abbott’s advertising team could do with the quote “just because you have committed a crime doesn’t mean you are a criminal.”

LOSER: Jimmy Kimmel and the Search for Motive

Why was Jimmy Kimmel cancelled and why is there a national debate about the motive? I didn’t watch him and I don’t know anyone who did, but I did see a clip that he went on TV and insisted, after the investigators from Utah presented lots of evidence to the contrary, that the MAGA crowd was responsible for the killing of Charlie Kirk and they are desperately trying to cover it up.

Dumb thing to say for sure, but did they fire him for it?

Kimmel had lost about half of his audience in the last six months, which is why we saw the story of his suspension roll out the way it did. Nexstar, which owns most of the ABC affiliates in Texas, couldn’t sell any ads during his show so the outrageous comments gave them a good excuse to get rid of him.

Incredibly, the left has taken off on this, insisting this is a debate about free speech and overreach by the Trump Administration with the FCC weighing in pretty heavily against Nexstar and Sinclair—the major player—but that isn’t why they took him off the air. Kimmel was cancelled because nobody watched him, just like Stephen Colbert.

LOSER: Kamala Harris’ Identity Politics

Former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote in her book “107 Days” that she really wanted former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to run as her Vice President last year, not Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but she thought it was too much to ask the country to accept a “black woman and a gay man.” She is so steeped in identity politics that she also wrote that she carries the additional identity baggage because she’s married to a Jewish man.

There are so many sad things about Harris, but one of them is that she seems to have no idea who the American people are. Nobody cared that she was Black, nobody cares that Buttigieg is gay and nobody cares that Walz is white. What Americans were looking for in 2024 was a leader who would pledge to shut down the border, focus the economy on creating jobs, stop getting into wars, end the crazed takeover of campuses across the country, keep boys out of girls restrooms… They were looking for a leader who wasn’t afraid to step up and stand firm. These new identity revelations of Harris checking identity politics boxes are more proof of why Kamala Harris was never that leader.

WINNER: The Ted Cruz Curse is Over

In case you missed it, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was in College Station last Saturday to witness No. 16 ranked Texas A&M defeat No. 8 ranked Notre Dame 41 to 40 in a barn-burner of a football game. Cruz was believed by many Texas football fans to be bad luck. and they made all kinds of efforts to keep him from attending their games.

The Harris County Democrats tried to ban him from Texas football (see how they are) but the junior senator has now proved that, in fact, he could be a good luck omen.

The Aggies are off this week and the University of Texas is playing Sam Houston State. The Red Raiders game with Utah in Salt Lake City at 11 a.m. looks like a good one to watch.

Have a great weekend.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. This week, the day before the 24^th anniversary of September 11, the country experienced a political assassination that will also be remembered as a day of infamy. Many are calling the murder a watershed moment, and hopefully they are right. It is important to remember that Charlie Kirk called his organization, “Turning Point.”

Here are some reflections on our loss and other happenings this week:

Charlie Kirk’s Mission — Prove Him Wrong

So much has been said and will continue to be said about the amazing Charlie Kirk – brilliant thinker, inspired leader, husband, father, man of faith who changed the political landscape in America. I met Charlie after hearing him speak at a large conservative event a number of years ago—I don’t remember which one.

I didn’t take him seriously at the time, after he stated his mission was to win over younger voters. I have been in and around politics for decades, and every election cycle or two somebody rises up and professes they will win the next election by getting out the youth vote. It had never worked before.

Charlie Kirk changed that, wading onto college campuses across the country, and talking to students about everything from Marxism to immigration to Native American health care to sex before marriage — whatever they wanted to debate with him. He believed that in order to save the greatest country in the world it was critical to talk with people who disagree with you. He said:

“…when people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. When marriages stop talking, divorce happens. When civilizations stop talking, civil war ensues. When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group. . . . What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement, where violence is not an option.”

Charlie was an evangelical Christian who recently told the Catholic News Service that if he died, he wanted to be remembered for acting with the courage of his faith. This moved me to go back and re-listen to his appearance on comedian Bill Maher’s podcast “Club Random.”

Maher is the most prominent and outspoken atheist of our time. He not only doesn’t believe in God, he believes religion is a malevolent force in our culture. His documentary film, “Religulous” combines the words religion and ridiculous and is designed to expose what he sees as the absurdity of faith.

But, like Charlie, Maher believes dialogue and disagreement are critical. “Everybody is a monster until you talk with them,” Maher says.

Charlie sat down with him in April. You can listen to their conversation here. In the opening minutes, Maher casually comments on the security people Charlie brought with him, asking “do you need security?” Knowing what we know now, the exchange is chilling.

Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel notes that what usually happens in America after heart-breaking political violence like this is the country is on good behavior for a week or so before politicians on both sides go back to stoking up their supporters, insisting that their political opponents will bring tyranny and an end to civilization as we know it. The likely suspect captured today apparently believed killing Charlie was fighting fascism. Ironically, when a student once accused Charlie of being a fascist to his face, Charlie asked him to “name one fascist thing about me.” The student not only didn’t know what Charlie stood for, he also didn’t really know what fascism was.

Charlie believed talking to people who disagree with you is the only path to real change. He bet his life on it.

LOSER: Texas A&M Professor Fired for Closing Minds

Melissa McCoul, an English professor at Texas A&M, was fired this week after a recording of her was leaked revealing her response to a student who questioned a lesson on gender identity. The class was focused on “children’s literature,” so the professor was instructing a class on how to teach gender identity to kids.

On the leaked tape, the student pointed out that President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on gender extremism affirming that there are only two genders. The student asked if it is legal for the professor to be teaching that there are multiple genders and she also said the topic went against her religious beliefs.

The professor insisted she was free to teach whatever she wanted and the student was free to leave. After she was fired, the professor hired a lawyer and now claims her academic freedom was violated. Just the opposite is true.

Academic freedom is about open debate and discussion. The professor demanded that a student who disagreed with her leave the classroom—that’s indoctrination. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department Chair were removed from their positions, but it is not clear whether they were terminated.

LOSER: Texas State Professor Fired for Wanting to Overthrow U.S. Government

Meanwhile, at Texas State University in San Marcos, a professor was fired for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. Thomas Alter, who teaches history, said on a zoom call that, “without organization, how can anyone expect to overthrow the most bloodthirsty, profit-driven mad organization in the history of the world, that of the U.S. government?”

According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), college instructors across the state are thinking about leaving Texas because of legislation passed in the last couple sessions that prohibits so-called DEI offices on campus and requires universities to adjust all programs and classes to focus on merit, open inquiry and debate instead of ideological indoctrination, race, gender and political identity.

To hear the AAUP tell it, there’s a stampede for the border, but the facts don’t bear that out. Fewer than 5% of Texas professors are members of the AAUP and most campuses report piles of resumes for every job opening.

Loser: Texas Universities Show Little Improvement on Freedom of Speech

The day before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) released part of their latest annual campus survey with the headline “1 in 3 students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech.”

In Texas universities, the percentage of students who say violence is at least sometimes acceptable to stop someone from speaking is 35% while 71% believe it is OK to shout someone down to prevent them from talking. Overall, FIRE gives Texas university students an “F” on political tolerance—their willingness to hear speakers with whom they disagree.

On campuses across the state, there are roughly two liberal students for every conservative—a sharp contrast to the statewide profile of Texas where 6.5 million conservatives voted for Trump last year compared to 4.6 million who voted for Harris.

Breaking down the “F” on political tolerance, shouting down speakers is very popular in Texas. 80% of Aggies approve of it, at least in some situations. At the University of Texas at Austin 76% of students say shouting down a speaker you disagree with is sometimes acceptable and 42% believe violence can also be called for. Among the Longhorns, the ratio of liberals to conservatives is just short of 4 to 1. At Texas Tech 68% of students said shouting down a speaker was sometimes ok, while 34% condoned occasional violence.

LOSERS: Matthew Dowd, Elizabeth Warren and AOC

Political commentator and former advisor to George W. Bush, Matthew Dowd, was fired from his pundit role at MSNBC for blaming the victim, saying of Charlie Kirk, “harsh words lead to harsh actions.” Those who realize that Dowd is a Texan will remember that he briefly launched a run for Lt. Governor in 2021 before announcing that he was stepping aside because a “diverse” Democrat candidate was needed. Dowd is white. Texas Democrats nominated Mike Collier for Lieutenant Governor. Collier is also white.

Most Democrats, especially U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, were respectful and thoughtful regarding Kirk’s murder, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, decidedly was not, claiming that the president’s hateful rhetoric created a climate of violence. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, tried to blame the shooting on a lack of gun control.

LOSERS: Democrats Love Socialism

The new Gallup Poll released this week found that 66% of Democrats view socialism favorably while only 42% of the folks on the Blue Team have a favorable view of capitalism. Among Republicans, only 14% have a favorable view of socialism and 75% are fans of capitalism.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, who is a winner, said he visited a communist country one time where he asked people there about the Democrats going soft on socialism and communism. He said they told him “they are morons,” to even consider socialism. Fetterman is sticking with the “morons” assessment.

Winner: Cell Phone Ban (Except in San Antonio)

The Texas public school cell phone ban has only been in effect for a couple of weeks but reports from around the state are that it is going better than most people imagined—even the kids like it. They are talking to each other at lunch, playing games, and engaging. The research showing that banning cell phones in class substantially improved student performance appears to have been right.

Ironically, it appears parents are complaining the most. A large majority want their kids to have phones so they can get ahold of them whenever they want. Two large San Antonio school districts have buckled under parental pressure. Northeast Independent School District and Alamo Heights Independent School District insist they have found a loophole in the cell phone ban signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, which allowed them to re-define the school day to only the time a student is in class. They can use their phone before every class, while passing between classes, after every class, at lunch, when they go to the restroom—anytime they are not sitting at their desk.

State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, points out the “loophole policy” completely defeats the purpose of the cellphone ban which was written to be enforced “bell to bell.” The mission is to create and expand phone-free environments for kids rather than turning the classroom into a place where students wait until they can be back on their phones again. Fairly is currently the youngest member of the Legislature—she’s 26 and a tenacious fighter. You can bet she’ll get that loophole closed.

WINNING: Week 3 of College Football

Texas A&M has a lot on the line this weekend as they travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame. The Aggies go in as underdogs, but that doesn’t mean anything to the fans. The game starts at 6:30. The University of Texas at Austin will play the University of Texas at El Paso at home with a 3:15 kickoff while Texas Tech will play the Oregon State Beavers in Lubbock starting at 2:30.

Looks like a solid football Saturday. Have a great weekend.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Many dreams died last week with Texas’ big loss on the opening day of college football, and the list got longer when the Second Called Special Session of the Texas Legislature adjourned with a hefty list of unfinished business. I’m still sifting through all that and, as promised, it will be a short list this week, but I want to acknowledge a couple big winners.    

WINNER: Texas Tech University Names Creighton

Texas Tech announced this week that Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has been named the sole finalist to become the next Chancellor of Texas Tech University.

Creighton, the author of Senate Bill 17, which closed down so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices on all Texas public university campuses, ended DEI training and the requirement that all employees pledge fealty to DEI before they could be hired, set the national standard for higher education reform. This session, with Creighton’s absolutely fearless leadership, Senate Bill 37 scuttled the power of the noisy, often left-leaning faculty senates that lorded it over campuses statewide. With the backing of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Creighton’s legislation strengthened the roles of the Boards of Regents, appointed by the governor and empowered by the Texas Constitution, to run taxpayer-funded universities.

Universities have been the Wuhan Wet Labs of woke for decades — everything bad originates there, starting with hatred for America rooted in contempt for all Western thought. Plus, there’s all the theories — critical race theory, gender theory, intersectionality theory — that had become required courses for many Texas students. If you wonder how all this junk got into our public schools, it’s because universities are training public school teachers.

Texas university systems are massive — seven multi-billion dollar flagships, often blindly supported by thousands of alumni who have no idea what is actually going on in the classrooms. Creighton saw what was happening and took it all on — starting the process of unraveling the left-wing ideological straight-jacket that was hampering free speech, open inquiry and the growth and achievement of every student on Texas campuses.

Creighton has laid down the framework for a return to merit-based achievement and a focus on successful outcomes for every Texas kid — a path to ultimately get rid of the ideological blight that has corroded our university systems. Texas Tech is a big winner.

WINNER: We’re Number 4! We’re Number 4!

It’s always tricky to figure out how these Wallet Hub reports are calculated, but its latest names Texas as the 4^th hardest working state in the nation, after North Dakota, Alaska and South Dakota. It reports that Texans are second only to Alaskans in working more than 40 hours per week. The Dakotas get into the top spot because there’s no unemployment in either of those states — of course, there’s not very many people either. We could complain about the referees, but we have too much hard work to do. Let’s just take the W, such as it is.

WINNER: Squad Member Ilhan Omar Marries Money

In 2023, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, reported a net worth of $51,000 on her congressional financial disclosure report. This year, she reported $30 million as a result of her marriage to her campaign consultant, Tim Mynett. Mynett was broke when she met him, but he seems to be doing well now (except for a few lawsuits and a couple of Federal Election Commission complaints). It’s a great rags to riches story — you can read it here.

Omar, of course, is not the first Democrat to demonstrate how to make money from public office. Remember when the Clintons and the Obamas didn’t have any money? Now they both have a half dozen homes each. I wonder how they did it?

LOSER: New York City

It was fun news earlier this week when the rumor that a Clinton and a Kennedy were both eyeing the congressional seat held by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, after Nadler announced he was stepping down. With Zohran Mamdani leading all the polls, no matter what they do, Democrats seem to be trying to recycle their greatest hits to prove they aren’t communists. Chelsea Clinton has already backed out, but Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the late president John F. Kennedy, is still in the race to represent New York City’s upper west side in Congress — the last bastion of white liberalism. Mamdani announced plans this week to raise taxes on residents earning more than $1 million annually, raising corporate tax rates and instituting a city-wide rent freeze. One more reason to be thankful we live in Texas.

In Other News —

I was interviewed about U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s proposal to challenge the American Bar Association’s exclusive role in accrediting law schools — which definitely needs to be challenged. My comments were picked up several places — here’s one of the clips.

I also talked with KTRH Radio about the Bluebonnet Curriculum in public schools, which is getting a lot of blowback from the media because it includes some Bible references as part of our cultural history. Here’s a clip.

WINNER: College Football

Even with the defeat of the Longhorns in Columbus last week, college football season had a great opening week with more to come on Saturday. The now-7^th ranked University of Texas will take on San Jose State in Austin, while Texas A&M, ranked 19^th, will travel to Utah State. The Red Raiders, ranked 24^th, will play Kent State in Ohio.

Have a great weekend.