Month: February 2026

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Next week you can join us at the Texas Public Policy Foundation for Winners and Losers LIVE. Click here for more info.

See you there. Here’s who made this week’s list.

WINNER: Marco Rubio & Western Civilization in Europe

There is no question that the biggest winner of this week (and in many weeks) was Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he reminded Europeans and the rest of the world exactly what Western Civilization is and why we must fight for it. There were many “best lines” in Rubio’s speech, but here’s one of my favorites:

“It was here in Europe…which gave the world the rule of law, the universities, and the scientific revolution. It was this continent that produced the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, of Dante and Shakespeare, of Michelangelo and Da Vinci, of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And this is the place where the vaulted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel and the towering spires of the great cathedral in Cologne, they testify not just to the greatness of our past or to a faith in God that inspired these marvels [but] how it is critical to our make up as countries with shared heritage.”

Rubio’s speech has been compared to Churchill. I have no doubt going forward that it will become required reading in our history books. You can read or listen to it here.

WINNER: Protecting Western Civilization in Texas

Although it was undoubtedly written before Rubio gave his speech, the University of Texas Board of Regents passed a new set of guidelines for faculty this week that requires professors to “not attempt to coerce, indoctrinate, harass, or belittle students, especially in addressing controversial subjects and areas where people of good faith can hold differing convictions.”

Predictably, UT faculty has gone wild, calling the move an end to academic freedom. Meanwhile, the media, both in Texas and nationally, are running headlines screaming that the University of Texas is limiting the teaching of “controversial subjects,” instead of saying what is true — that the new initiative prohibits coercion, indoctrination, harassment and bullying, in classrooms at public universities.

Rubio said in his speech that America does not want allies in Europe to be “shackled by guilt and shame, but who are proud of their culture and heritage and understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization.”

Similarly, Texans want those who graduate from state universities to also understand who they are — with pride, not shame, which is why classrooms that were indoctrinating students with the idea that America’s founding motivation was racism — the bedrock principle of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs — have been eliminated along with women’s and gender studies classes that teach that the patriarchal subversion of women is the driving force behind America’s government and economy.

Stating that “people of good faith can hold different convictions” may seem obvious to most, but it is a sentiment that has long been absent from too many college classrooms. Just ask the young woman at Texas A&M who was told to leave class because she challenged an instructor’s insistence that there are more than two genders.

The war against American universities, including those in Texas, over the last several decades has actually been a war against Western Civilization, a fact that became horrifyingly clear when we watched thousands of college student mobs across the country demonstrate in support of terrorists killing Jews.

The war on Western Civilization that Secretary Rubio spoke about in Munich is the same war that the leadership of the University of Texas is fighting over on the Forty Acres. Rubio says America is “charting a path toward a new century of prosperity.” The latest changes by the Longhorns indicated they are committed to doing the same through truly open dialogue and debate.

LOSER: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Air Quotes “Western Culture”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, condemned Rubio’s speech about Western Culture, which she put in air quotes to show her contempt for even having to discuss it. She insisted that, somehow, it wasn’t the West, but enslaved Africans (and not the Spanish) who brought horses to Mexico. If you don’t believe we are in a war about Western Civilization, watch AOC’s comments. Also, showing that she had clearly gone to schools that were long on DEI classes and short on geography, she lost lots of points for claiming that Venezuela was below the equator.

LOSER: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is Historically Illiterate

After California Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that the U.S. has never deployed the National Guard domestically, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz blasted him for being “historically illiterate,” pointing out that the National Guard had been deployed a number of times during the civil rights movement to help enforce racial integration in the schools. Newsom fired back, insisting that Cruz was making fun of him for being dyslexic. I didn’t bother to follow it after that, but want to make sure you know that Newsom is on the losers list again.

LOSER: The Brother of the King of England, formerly known as Prince Andrew

The week’s list must include the perpetually clueless British Royal, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, who was arrested this week on suspicion of having given British trade secrets to Jeffrey Epstein years ago when the two were friends. The former prince was stripped of all his titles the other year when his close relationship with Epstein and his entourage of underage women was revealed. Mountbatten Windsor denies doing anything illegal, but then how can you believe a guy who says that the only reason he stayed at Epstein’s apartment in New York was that it was convenient for his meeting schedule. Andrew is still eighth in line to the throne, but I suspect they will pull him off the chart in the coming days. Meghan Markel probably has a better shot.

Things also don’t look good for the real leader of the British people, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed Peter Mandalson, another Epstein buddy, as U.S. Ambassador. Some say Andrew’s antics could bring an end to the monarchy — but I doubt it. Who would want to jeopardize the next season of “The Crown?” After this, it’s going to be terrific.

WINNER: Kansas Legislature Champions Privacy for Women & Girls

Republicans in Kansas overrode the veto of Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly this week and passed a law that will require that public buildings including schools and state offices to designate restrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex. The fact that this is an 80/20 issue among most thinking Americans was revealed in the vote, which was 87 to 37 in the Kansas House and 31 to 9 in the Kansas Senate.

LOSER: Southwest Airlines is the new New Coke

Southwest Airlines is a great Texas brand that many used to call the “company jet,” because it worked especially well for the Lone Star State. You could fly between all the big cities in our massive state in about an hour, crossing hundreds of miles with ticket flexibility that allowed for late meetings and early starts. You got a ticket with a number on it and you got in line and got on board. That’s all over now.

Southwest flyers must pick a seat in advance, like every other airline, and wait in a large group to board — even if you are in seat A1. But on Southwest it’s worse. The overhead bin space is a mess — whoever gets on first takes all the space — blocking both entry and exit to the plane. The result has been chaotic boarding and departures.

TPPF CEO Greg Sindelar voiced his complaints on X, where thousands agreed with him and Southwest’s hometown newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, reports that nobody is happy. Still, it doesn’t appear changes are likely. We can only hope they will look at what happened to “New Coke.”

WINNER: Rescinding Greenhouse Gas Endangerment

It’s finally done — the 2009 Endangerment Finding has been rescinded in what is being called “one of the largest deregulatory actions in US history.” TPPF has all the background facts here, but the short version is that greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming will no longer be treated like pollutants because they are just not that dangerous. This will be a huge blow to professional protestors and the upcoming No Kings March. Polls show 85% of Generation Z describe themselves as “climate worriers,” or even worse, victims of “climate anxiety.”

LOSER: New York Times Neglects to Report Ice Hockey Shooter is Transsexual

Four days after the shooting, and Breitbart points out that the New York Times has yet to report that the shooter at a Pawtucket High School hockey game in Rhode Island is a transsexual. There is lots of disagreement about whether the data indicates that the number of mass shooters who are transsexual is increasing, but it is hard to see how that would justify the New York Times not reporting that the shooter was named Robert when he was born and now he goes by Roberta.

WINNER: USA Women’s Hockey Team Restores Global Order

After the whiney speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos last month, complaining that President Trump’s arrogant attitude not only hurt everyone’s feelings but had created a “rupture in the global order,” it was especially gratifying when Team USA slammed the Canadian team this week in women’s hockey. The American women took the gold, capping off an undefeated season after shutting out the Canadians in all five preliminary games.

Carney initially got a standing ovation for his anti-American comments immediately following his speech, but enthusiasm has cooled as even the EU Secretary made a point of saying she didn’t agree with him. Canada’s progressive policies have devastated the country’s economy where stagnant productivity has driven the GDP lower than Alabama. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had the best critique of Carney’s remarks, saying that he would have been better off just saying thank you, adding: “In the context of the United States, I’ll point out the Canadian economy is smaller than the economy of Texas.”

Medal Count

The U.S. moved past Italy to the No. 2 position in the Olympic medal count today, way ahead of Canada. Norway is No. 1 — it’s winter sports, after all.

Have a great weekend.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Friday the 13^th may be the reason for so many losers this week, but there are some big winners too. Here’s who made the list.

WINNER: Sen. Paul Bettencourt Gets the Story at Texas A&M

Only a small percentage of Texas university professors actually belong to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), but it seems like any time one of their members opens their mouth, reporters in the Texas media copiously write down everything they say and treat it as news. When Houston Public Media reported about the Texas A&M decision to eliminate women’s and gender studies classes last week, they described life over at College Station as “academic and political turmoil.”

This week, Texas State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, waded right into that “academic and political turmoil” at A&M and he should win some kind of Texas Pulitzer Prize for getting the real story.

Bettencourt hosts a radio show on KSEV in Houston every week, “The Amigos,” and, while nobody in the Texas press could manage it, Bettencourt invited Texas A&M President Tommy Williams to explain every detail of the process that culminated in the cancelling of bachelor degree programs in women’s and gender studies at Texas A&M.

Bettencourt questions Williams for 30 minutes or so asking about the dozens of faculty members and administrators Williams got involved in weighing the value of the women’s and gender studies programs—which served only 56 students. Williams reported that the process took weeks before the final decision was made. He didn’t mention any turmoil—academic or otherwise.

Bettencourt did not ask anyone from the AAUP what they thought.

If you want to know what actually happened, listen to Sen. Bettencourt’s interview on KSEV with Williams here. 

WINNER: Henry Cuellar is the John Fetterman of Texas

Laredo congressman Henry Cuellar is the John Fetterman of Texas, spewing common sense wherever he sees it. Cuellar is the only Democrat who voted in support of requiring a photo ID in order to vote when it came up in Congress this week. Facing the ire of his fellow Democrats, Cuellar said, “I believe in the fundamental principle that American citizens should decide American elections.”

Cuellar also noted that the proposed federal law mirrors Photo Voter ID laws in Texas, which have been in place for years, and have the support of the vast majority of Texans including Hispanic and African Americans.

WINNER: GOP Lawmakers Pushing to Lift Time Limit on Detransitioning Lawsuits

When the battle for tort reform began in Texas, there weren’t enough doctors. The likelihood of getting sued was so high, particularly in South Texas, that physicians were leaving the state—particularly obstetricians and orthopedic surgeons—because they could not afford malpractice insurance. Fraudulent lawyers who targeted those specialties were allied with corrupt judges to ensure big settlements. Tort reform changed that, bringing doctors and accessible health care back to Texas.

At that time, nobody could have imagined that medical doctors and health care professionals would set up clinics to counsel people with a wide range of issues—from autism to anxiety disorders—into thinking that they had actually been born in the wrong body and could be fixed if they took massive cross-sex hormones and had their reproductive organs removed.

No one imagined that doctors would tell parents they could prevent their child’s suicide by allowing him or her to go through sex change surgery.

But that kind of corruption is now routine. In fact, the anti-life group Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of these so-called “gender-affirming care” programs.

That’s why we hope we are reading the tea leaves correctly from the arguments before the Texas Supreme Court, where a number of Texas GOP lawmakers are asking the justices to allow Soren Aldaco to sue the therapist who helped her “transition” from female to male at the age of 19, including a complete, medically unnecessary mastectomy. Aldaco is past the time limit on this kind of case, but this is not a frivolous lawsuit. This woman is the victim of a horrible scam, and she and others should be allowed to sue their doctors and anybody else involved in these programs. The lawmakers are winners this week, and the Texas Supreme Court is teed up to be a winner too if it lets Aldaco’s case move forward.

WINNER: Greg Abbott Cracking Down on Illegal Drivers Licenses

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced this week that he has told the DMV to tighten up their rules to ensure illegal aliens are not being issued drivers licenses. There’s lots of good reasons for that, including getting the state out of the business of creating phony ID cards, but, speaking for the millions of people who drive on I-35 every day, it is also a public safety move. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is now keeping track of fatal crashes caused by illegal immigrants driving 18 wheelers, and in Congress, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, launched a tip line this week that will allow people to report illegal aliens who are driving big rigs.

WINNER: Trump Invites Democrats After All

It was a good move for Trump to backtrack—or whatever he did—to make sure the Democrat governors were included in the traditional White House meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington. The president is pretty charming in person and Democratic leaders should get a chance to see that.

On a similar note, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, is begging his fellow Democrats not to disrupt President Trump during his State of the Union address on Feb. 24—not because it wasn’t nice, but because it didn’t work. Even Texas Rep. Greg Casar admitted that their antics last year—which ultimately got Houston Rep. Al Green escorted off the floor—were counterproductive. Americans are tired of Congress turning into a reality show.

LOSER: Bad Bunny Wasn’t Very Good

I live in San Antonio, so when it comes to music in Spanish, I’m all in—but Bad Bunny just wasn’t that good.

Even if we let the NFL off the hook for picking a guy for their half-time show whose literal brand is to bash America—and I’m not suggesting we do that—the dancing trees and the crotch-grabbing was just too much. Best line I saw on X was that the Bad Bunny show is the final nail in the coffin of Puerto Rico ever becoming a state. It goes without saying that the TPUSA show was better, even though it was their first year.

LOSER: Threatened Investigation of “The View”

ABC’s “The View” is a talk show with four Trump-hating ultra-liberal women, including most famously former Hollywood movie star Whoopi Goldberg, who spend an hour every morning blasting all things conservative. They have high profile liberal guests like the Obamas and Kamala Harris, as well as other political people. But mostly it’s celebrities selling books or movies. If you don’t watch it, there’s no reason to start now.

It’s not clear why this week the FCC announced it is going to investigate “The View,” because Texas Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico was on the other week and he didn’t get the same amount of time as his Democrat primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas. I’m not sure if the FCC thinks the incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, or his current challengers, Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton and former Congressman Wesley Hunt, also deserve equal time, but whatever, government should drop this.

Television talk shows are on the air to make money—as long as people keep buying advertising, “The View” should be allowed to continue—just like Greg Gutfeld should be allowed to continue on Fox, along with all the other late night shows, which are virtually all left-leaning. If advertisers want to pay for them, they should be able to continue. Nobody wants the government deciding who can be on television.

LOSER: The French Figure Skating Judge 

So far at the Winter Olympics, Team USA is running third in the medal count, with Norway in the lead and Italy working its home court advantage into second place, ahead of America in both the gold and overall medals.

There is a bit of a scandal over the figure skating competition in which Team USA lost the gold to the French skaters—because of a vote by the French judge. There’s a big petition going online, calling for an investigation. It is true that the same French judge has been found guilty of swapping votes in the past, but it’s been a while, so we’ll see how it goes.

The NBA All-Star Game Sunday afternoon has two Texas teams represented—Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun from the Rockets and, of course, Victor Wembanyama, from the San Antonio Spurs.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. We will be doing a live, in-person recording of Winners & Losers at TPPF headquarters on February 26. Audience members will be invited to make their own nominations and ask questions during the program. RSVP here.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. With the Super Bowl looming on Sunday and Texas’ primary election less than a month away, here’s who made the list:

WINNER: Compared to What?

Monday looked like the start of a pretty bad week for conservatives, Republicans and other thinking people. Rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota and across the country threatened President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, and all kinds of polling showed Americans increasingly weighing their commitment to a secure border with their rejection of the use of deadly force against people who oppose it. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Border Czar Tom Homan, the temperature has dropped dramatically and many of the battles have moved over to Congress via budgeting votes. But riots and protests continue nationwide and, as the president himself said this week, nobody is happy.

This comes on top of the special election in Tarrant County that became national news on Saturday when a ruby red state senate seat flipped blue, giving hope to the perpetually hopeless Texas Democrats. But in assessing how all this will play out politically, it’s important to employ the one political rule that does not change: The only relevant question is, “compared to what?”

When you ask that question, things look much better for the right.

Currently, the top contender for the Democrat nomination for president in 2028 is California Gov. Gavin Newsom —the same Gavin Newsom who has taken his state from budget surpluses to deficits and virtual bankruptcy. His catastrophic mismanagement of California’s forests resulted in the bigger and hotter fires that destroyed entire communities in the most beautiful part of the state. Now the state’s onerous regulations are blocking any meaningful rebuilding. California’s energy costs are astronomical and its grid is unreliable. They spend billions on homelessness strategies that have had no impact beyond changing the term “homeless” to “unhoused persons.” And yet, according to the betting markets right now, Newsom is far and away the front runner for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2028.

Happily, the bookies go even farther and ask the “compared to what” question, which leads them to say that, if the election were held today, it would be very close but Vice President J.D. Vance would defeat Newsom.

LOSER: State Rep. James Talarico (Compared to what in Texas)

Meanwhile, in Texas, State Rep. James Talarico, who is running for the Democrat nomination for the U.S. Senate, is the biggest political loser of the week. Talarico ran into a virtual buzz saw after a Democrat podcaster reported that he referred to former Rep. Colin Allred, who ran for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Ted Cruz last cycle, as a “mediocre black man.” Stopping just short of calling Talarico a racist, Allred promptly endorsed Talarico’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, saying, “this man should not be our nominee for United States Senate.”

It’s all here in a Washington Post article entitled “Texas Democrats Taste Victory, then Turn on Each Other.” Talarico says he didn’t say it or at least that it isn’t as bad as it sounds, but Democrats don’t seem to be paying attention.

If that wasn’t enough, Talarico appeared on ABC’s “The View” and told the ladies that he’d missed a lot of votes in the Texas House because he’d left the state to bust the quorum last year. Of course, here in Texas, everyone knew that’s a big fat lie. When there’s no quorum, there are no votes.

The Dallas Morning News editorial board called out the Democrats for identity politics and fighting among themselves, which is hysterical since identity politics is the No. 1 plank in the Democrat Party platform. But the Morning News may have had the best line of the week when it warned that Texas voters will see the Democrat infighting as “a better fit for the faculty lounge at Berkeley than for public office in Texas.”

LOSER: ‘Stolen Land’ at the Grammys

One of the advantages kids who go to public school in Texas will have as a result of the Bluebonnet Curriculum is that if they ever get famous and win a Grammy or an Oscar, they won’t go to the award show and say something stupid like Billie Eilish’s dumb quip this week, “no one is illegal on stolen land.”

Any educated person knows that pretty much all the land in the world is “stolen land.” Take England, which was Celtic before the Romans came about 40 AD. Lots of Roman walls are still standing over there. No one has proposed tearing down those historic marvels and charging the Romans with being land stealers. After the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons ran the show before William the Conqueror arrived with the Normans in 1066. Lots of people accused William of “stealing land” at the time, but he defeated them, which sort of explains why Charles is now the King of England.

How far back should we go in prosecuting for “stolen land?”

The Romans came to the British Isles only a few years after Christ’s crucifixion, and were there for over 400 years. That seems like a pretty strong claim. Should Britain give England back to the Italians? Of course, the Celts were there first, except for whoever it was that built Stonehenge — if we figure that out, does England belong to them? The country is named after the Angles, which could count for something, although the Saxons might also sue since they somehow got lost in the naming rights. You get the point.

LOSER: What’s Going on in Wylie

Reports from Wylie, a suburb of Dallas, revealed this week that a group called “Why Islam” was handing out Qurans, hijabs and pamphlets on Sharia law at the high school there.

The “Why Islam” action comes just a week after two large Texas school districts considered—and then rejected—proposals to use public school facilities for so-called “Islamic Games,” a sports program where only Muslim students could participate. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a winner for issuing an interim charge last week directing lawmakers to prevent the establishment of Sharia law in Texas. The latest news coming out of Wylie is that a teacher is on administrative leave for inviting people on campus without approval, but many questions remain, the biggest being “Why Islam?”

LOSER: Public School Students Walking Out of Classes in Austin

Public school students—even elementary and middle school students—have been participating in protests against ICE all over Texas. Among the first school systems to release students to protest was Austin ISD, where it is increasingly clear that teachers, rather than students, were the instigators. For an eyewitness account of what happened in Austin, read my colleague, Brian Phillips’ report of how it all came down last week when the busy city center was flooded by children carrying protests signs. The Texas Education Agency is investigating.

WINNER: Texas A&M Ends Women & Gender Studies Degrees

Some professors at Texas A&M issued a letter this week wailing and gnashing their teeth because the Board of Regents decided to stop giving a BS and BA degree in women’s and gender studies. You won’t believe what they said. In case you missed it, I wrote all about it here.

WINNER: Women’s Basketball

The No. 4 ranked Lady Longhorns won the Red River Shootout with Oklahoma last weekend in a great game. (I know, we are not supposed to call them the Lady Longhorns, but I never really got how “lady” became a bad word). Anyway, UT is the only Texas women’s team in the top 10, although TCU, Baylor and Texas Tech are in the top 25. The University of Houston men are ranked No. 8 and Texas Tech is No. 13. They are all playing this weekend.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

No way to call winners and losers on Super Bowl Sunday yet. Will Bad Bunny give Americans one more reason to loathe the NFL, or will he follow the advice of Commissioner Roger Goodell and use the giant platform to unite people? Trump says he’ll be watching Kid Rock, who will be streaming at the same time on Turning Point USA’s livestream and a bunch of other YouTube channels. Can they compete? Some are asking the same thing about New England. The Seahawks are the heavy favorite, but who knows. Let’s just hope nobody mentions “stolen land.”

Have a great weekend!

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.