Author: Sherry Sylvester

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. It remains very tense in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Virginia Supreme Court just struck down the redistricting map voters approved last month, so we’ll wait to see how that all shakes out. Meanwhile, here’s who made the list this week:

WINNER: Cell Phone Ban in Dallas ISD

Here at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), we have championed the cell phone ban in public schools, and have watched its passage last year transform many classrooms in Texas. However, some of the most concrete data came out this week from Dallas Independent School District, which reports that since the cell phone ban was put in place, more than 200,000 library books have been checked out by students compared to the previous year—an increase of almost 25%.

CBS News in Dallas quoted one 9th grader who said: “Now that I’m busy with a bunch of work and college, I don’t find myself missing my phone that much, even at home.”

Huh? These are the students who have had cell phones in their hands almost since they were born—some of whose parents who opposed the new rule, insisting they needed to be able to reach their child throughout the day. That’s all over.

It’s undoubtedly related that Axios reported this week that a “digital detox” is going on nationwide, and Gen Z is taking the lead, dropping social media accounts and even ditching their smart phones for “dumb” ones.

WINNER: Rubio Meets with Pope Leo 

On some days, it seems that nobody better understands what is going on in the Middle East than Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reminded the world in February that in the war with Iran, as in the fight on college campuses in the U.S. and Europe, we are battling for Western Civilization—“forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir,” as the Secretary has said.

So what better guy to deliver a reminder to the Pope of our shared roots in Western civilization than Rubio—diminishing the importance of the low-grade skirmishes between the president and Pope Leo.

Rubio also chose the perfect gift for the Pope—a crystal football. The left went crazy criticizing the gift, but it was brilliant on Rubio’s part. If you are truly looking for unity and world peace, nothing does it like sports—tribal disputes disappear and people re-emerge as fans.

WINNER: Abbott Pushes Back on ‘Muslim Only’ Event at Grand Prairie Water Park

Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to claw back $530,000 in state funds from Grand Prairie this week if they moved forward to allow an event at a city-owned water park that was originally labeled “Muslim Only,” on the flyer announcing it. After Abbott made it clear Texans would not stand for taxpayer dollars being spent to support a “Muslim only” event, the flyer was changed to “modest dress only,” while the organizers insisted that everyone was welcome even with the “burkinis” dress code for women. Ultimately, the city of Grand Prairie cancelled the event.

This follows the Islamic Games effort that surfaced earlier this spring. To illuminate how clueless the organizers are about America in general and conservatives in particular, the organizer of the “Muslim only” event said, “I think it’s quite funny that we’re getting pushback from other conservative groups … the thing that we’re trying to do with this event is have a modest dress code. That’s pretty conservative, right?”

They seem to be unaware of the whole “freedom” thing.

WINNER: Texas Wins the Prosperity Cup Again 

It hardly feels like news that Texas has once again won the Prosperity Cup, even with the solid national job numbers announced this morning. As Gov. Abbott points out, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Texas gained 46,000 new jobs in March. Texas gained 117,200 jobs over the last year, far outpacing the national annual job growth rate. Currently, almost 16 million Texans are working.

LOSER: Pulitzer Prizes Again

Pulitzer Prizes were announced this week and the list of winners cannot be viewed as anything but hypocritical and partisan. The Washington Post won for going after Trump’s “veil of secrecy” in reforming government bureaucracy. The New York Times won for “exposing what they called Trump’s “conflicts of interest.” The Chicago Tribune won for what was described as “reporting on Trump’s immigration enforcement” efforts and Reuters won for what they called “exposing” Trump’s use of executive power. No legacy media outlet won for reporting the cognitive decline of former President Joe Biden or the Medicaid and child nutrition program fraud in Minnesota. No major outlet reported the millions that were being wasted on luxury hotels for illegal immigrants in New York, Chicago and other cities, and nobody won for reporting that the Nashville school shooter was a woman who insisted he was a man. ProPublica, a left-wing attack site that partners with the Texas Tribune and is known for stealing IRS returns, won its nineth Pulitzer this year. There will undoubtedly be a nice dinner where they congratulate each other for what a great job they are doing.

WINNER: The Population Bombed

Hate to make someone’s death a winner, but when Paul Erhlich passed earlier this year, it was hard not to see the irony.

Ehrlich’s 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” was a best seller that predicted that 65 million Americans would starve to death by the end of the 1970s. Not only did that not happen, he couldn’t have been more wrong. Americans are drowning in fat and obesity as a result of overeating. Granted, some women are starving, but they do it voluntarily to fit into a size 2.

But being wrong didn’t stop Ehrlich’s book from ushering in the apocalyptic thinking that substantially weakened American families over the last several decades and is still paralyzing young people today. He insisted over-population would kill us, so many bought into the lie that it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a doomed world.

Before “climate anxiety” became a thing, many in my generation cited Ehrlich as the reason they were delaying marriage and kids or choosing not to have them at all. After Ehrlich’s death was announced in March, the Wall Street Journal ran this letter to the editor:

I was a college student when I read Mr. Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb.” I took it to heart and now have no grandchildren, but 50 years later the population has increased to eight billion without dire consequences. I was gullible and stupid.

Erhlich also predicted that England might not exist by the year 2000, but being wrong about everything didn’t hurt Ehrlich’s career. He continued to teach at Stanford for over 50 years and, according to his obituary, had a long marriage with children and grandchildren. He died at 93. Hopefully, he’s not resting too peacefully.

WINNER: Pentagon Releases Files on UFOs  

Fulfilling another promise from President Trump, the Pentagon declassified and released the best files they have yet on the unidentified flying objects that they have been seeing for years, along with their investigative reports of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)—which is the politically correct term for UFOs we are using now. Some of the new stuff is great.

Several of the astronauts on Apollo 12 in1969 reported seeing flashes of light from the moon when they were flying by. Astronaut Alan Bean said, “It looks like some of those things are escaping the Moon. They really haul out of here and just press off at the stars.” Another said flashes of light coming off the moon were like the Fourth of July.

Of course, where I live in San Antonio, we don’t need any more proof that aliens are here, since we routinely watch Victor Wembanyama, widely identified as an alien, play with the San Antonio Spurs. There’s a great video spoof here.

Wembanyama almost single-handedly evened up the series with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. The Spurs, the only Texas team still in the NBA playoffs, face Minnesota again tonight at 8:30 p.m.

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.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. It’s good to be on the radio in a week when all the trades are reporting that “audio is having a moment.” Big deals are brewing across the industry. Meanwhile, here’s who made the list:

WINNER: Supreme Court Ruling Eliminates ‘Majority-Minority Districts’

The United States Supreme Court is a huge winner this week for striking down racially gerrymandered congressional districts, an idea, according to Justice Samuel Alito, that assumes that a group of voters from the same race “think alike, share the same political interests, and will prefer the same candidates at the polls.”

Ridiculous, right? Particularly in a country that elected Barack Obama president twice, not to mention Kamala Harris, who was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate from the most populous state in the country.

Still, for decades, Democrats have demanded separate so-called “majority-minority districts” to ensure that African-Americans and Hispanics can elect representatives of their own race and ethnicity. Over the years, majority-minority districts have ensured that a set number of minorities will be elected to Congress, because most states have districts set aside for them.

Majority-minority districts have not increased minority participation in politics—instead, they have created political ghettos that segregate Black and Hispanic candidates and voters, stifling their voices instead of expanding them into the larger political conversation. Currently, 55 of the 59 African-American members of Congress represent majority-minority districts. Notably, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, an African-American who ran for statewide office earlier this year, does not.

Still, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries thinks district segregation must be preserved. He blasted the SCOTUS ruling, calling it “voter suppression,” and insisting that it “undermines the ability of people of color to elect their own candidates.” He didn’t say exactly how that happens, so we must conclude that Jeffries also believes people of the same race all think and vote alike.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that he hopes the practice of majority-minority districts, which he has criticized for over 30 years, has finally come to an end. It is hard to believe that racially gerrymandered districts were ever allowed, and it is a great day for America that they are gone.

WINNER: King Charles III Charms the Nation

The fifth great-grandson of George III, who the Americans defeated at Yorktown 250 years ago, was a big winner this week. King Charles III reminded Americans that the British have one weapon that is currently in short supply in the USA—dry wit and subtle humor. He demonstrated what is meant by the term “soft diplomacy.”

King Charles gently pushed back on Trump’s frequent comment that if it weren’t for the U.S., all of Europe would be speaking German, noting that if it weren’t for Britain, America would be speaking French today. In the King’s speech to Congress, he accomplished something Americans haven’t seen in years—both Democrats and Republicans standing to applaud. In these tough times, it was great to have him in the country for a few days.

President Trump seemed to agree and gave the King credit for getting him to lift the tariffs on whiskey—a boon to both Scotland and Kentucky.

LOSER: White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Why is the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) still happening? Seriously? There are no “White House correspondents” anymore, no people who sit outside the president’s office whose job is to keep the rest of the country informed on what is going on. As we learned in the Biden years, many view their job as keeping the country in the dark—cognitive decline? What cognitive decline?

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner creates a platform for the lie that the legacy media still matter, even though their credibility has disappeared and trust in the press is at an all-time low.

The horrible fact that there was an assassination attempt at the event meant that we got, literally, hundreds of news stories from reporters at the dinner who couldn’t restrain themselves from writing what they saw while they were sheltering underneath the tables. The Washington Post bragged it had the worst table there and still got the story. The New York Times published four joint perspectives featuring heads bopping up and down. Probably the most embarrassing came from the usually astute Gen Z columnist, Suzy Weiss, at the Free Press, who used her under-the-table perspective to report that the shooting helped highlight that strong men can be essential in a crisis. Indeed.

Nobody reported any real news from the dinner.

To demonstrate my point, the fact that media from around the world were reporting live from the scene did nothing to dispel almost immediate charges by some on the left, including Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, that the shooting was fake. Trump should walk back his statement that the WHCD will be re-scheduled. This is a good time to just get rid of it.

LOSER: Left Justification of the Murder of Trump

Many are puzzled as to why Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate President Trump. As National Public Radio (they are still a thing) reports, he didn’t have a “radical footprint.” But what exactly is a “radical footprint” these days?

Collaborators at the Network of Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab released a study this week that showed that 55% of respondents who identified themselves as “left of center” said that the murder of Trump could be “somewhat justified.” Almost half said the same thing about Elon Musk. Probably most of that 55% don’t have a “radical footprint” either.

We’ve been seeing this data coming off campuses from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) for years, but no one dug down on what it actually means. The latest data shows that about a third of college students believe violence is at least sometimes acceptable to stop someone from speaking. How much violence isn’t asked. Cole Allen provides some insight into the answer.

LOSER: California Billionaire Tax Going on the Ballot

In what is shaping up as a battle between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New Hampshire socialist Bernie Sanders, Golden State progressives say they have enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that will levy a 5% tax on California residents with at least $1.1 billion in assets. Newsom rightly points out that the move will fuel the capital drain from the Golden State—Bernie doesn’t care.

One Californian who doesn’t like it is HBO talk show host Bill Maher, a liberal who pointed out on his show last week that as a Californian, 60% of his income goes to taxes. Maher rattled off the stats every conservative knows by heart—that the top 10% still pay 72% of all federal income taxes, while the bottom half pays 3%. If you missed what has become Maher’s annual anti-tax rant, you can watch it here.

WINNER: Civitas Symposium on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Speech on the Declaration of Independence

After Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivered an address at the University of Texas at Austin on April 15 on America’s Declaration of Independence, his remarks prompted a national discussion on his ideas on our founding documents. I am honored to be included in a symposium on the speech presented by the Civitas Institute at UT. You can read my article here and access the entire symposium here.

WINNER: Who knows? The 152nd Running of the Kentucky Derby

For those who aren’t traveling to Louisville, you can watch the Kentucky Derby pretty much anywhere beginning Saturday at 6 p.m. Texas time.

In other sports news, the San Antonio Spurs defeated Portland four games to one this week and will move onto play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the Western Championship on Monday. The Houston Rockets are still battling with the Lakers and will play Game 6 tonight.

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.

Every Friday morning I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. The Austin American-Statesman reports we have not had enough rain to overcome the current drought, but they are predicting more for the weekend. Here’s who made the list while running between the drops:

WINNER: Exposing the Southern Poverty Law Center

Some experts say the legal allegations against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will be tough to prove in court, but it doesn’t matter. However the indictment works out, the SPLC has been exposed as hate-mongers who have been running a big ugly grift for a long time, drumming up racial hatred—or at least the appearance of racial hatred in America—to gin up their fundraising.

Since the SPLC only targets the right, for decades they have encouraged non-conservatives to see conservatives not as people with a different point of view, but as racists. Now we know that lie has been put forward by an organization that has actually worked to leverage racism—or even manufacture it—in order to increase their fundraising.

Their ugly narrative is pervasive in the progressive talking points. Just two years ago, President Joe Biden called white supremacy the greatest threat currently facing the American homeland. SPLC’s national “hate map” features 92 groups in Texas including every Moms for Liberty chapter, alongside Focus on the Family, and Do No Harm, the groundbreaking program that has worked to eliminate DEI programs in health care.  (You can watch my interview of Do No Harm founder Stanley Goldfarb here.)

Polling makes it clear that most people are not racist and large majorities of Americans in both parties and all races believe racial diversity is good for the country. Still, the SPLC has been insisting for years that conservative Americans, half the population, are racists and their primary motivation to make that foul charge appears to be money. Their latest IRS report indicates they have about $800 million on hand. We can only hope the indictment will bankrupt them.

WINNER: Texas Wins 10 Commandments Ruling

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court this week and upheld Senate Bill 10, the Texas law that requires public schools to post a copy of the 10 Commandments in classrooms. The Washington Post was apoplectic in reporting the news, calling it “a significant win” in the Republican effort to “inject more religion in the public square.” They lamented that Texas has also developed a curriculum that includes some Bible references and even will be allowing chaplains in schools.

But the Court rightly noted that posting a 10 Commandments poster wasn’t the same as requiring students to accept an established religion. They put it this way: “It does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship or whom to employ as priests, rabbis, or imams. It punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments, no matter the reason. It levies no taxes to support any clergy. It does not co-opt churches to perform civic functions.”

That seems pretty clear. A couple of dozen Texas schools, including Houston ISD and Austin ISD, filed the lawsuit. Four San Antonio school districts also were plaintiffs, but said they would post the 10 commandments after the ruling, although there are plans to appeal.

LOSER: Texas Candidate Caught in Prediction Market Scam

We knew it was only a matter of time before somebody figured out how to play one of the so-called “prediction markets” in an effort to impact a political campaign. Reports this week indicate it happened in the congressional district where I live.

Campaigns are all about momentum, and in the days before the vote, nobody knows anything for sure. Most people don’t believe polls, and everybody is bluffing.

Zeke Enriquez, a candidate in U.S. House District 21, went to Kalshi, a federally regulated exchange service that allows users to bet on the outcome of real world events, and bet he would win the Republican nomination in his race for Congress. You could see how a strategy like that could work. Enriquez was way behind in a crowded field. If he convinced others to place bets on him, he could create the impression that he had some momentum.

It didn’t work. Enriquez got fewer than 2,000 votes and has to pay a $750 fine. He’s also banned from Kalshi for five years. But it will probably work for somebody if no guard rails are put in place.

LOSER: Dan Rather Objects to Trump at White House Press Dinner

This week, a bunch of reporters issued a five-page letter listing all the reasons President Donald Trump should not be invited to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—the big shindig the press holds in Washington every year to give each other awards and pretend that their approval ratings aren’t lower than Congress.’ These are the same people whose job is to cover the presidency, but almost all of whom refused for almost four years to report that former President Joe Biden was in serious cognitive decline.

Texan Dan Rather, the guy who was fired from CBS for pushing forged documents falsely attacking George W. Bush, is one of the outraged signers—so apparently the fake documents didn’t get him kicked out of the Washington press club.

Real people don’t care much about this story, but there’s a legend that in 2011, President Barack Obama mocked Donald Trump at that year’s dinner and it so enraged Trump that he decided then and there to run for president himself. Trump usually says that’s not true, but who knows? This will be the first Correspondents’ Dinner the president has attended since he took office, so the long and boring affair might be worth watching on Saturday night.

LOSER: Virginia Wins Redistricting Vote

You can read the news reports here, but it looks like the Democrats are still holding all the cards in Virginia, where voters narrowly approved a new redistricting map on Tuesday that will likely add four additional Democrat-leaning seats to their congressional delegation. A Republican judge in Virginia immediately declared the vote unconstitutional, but an appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court has already been announced and it appears they are likely to sign off on the map.

In the current round of mid-cycle redistricting, the Virginia vote brings the increased Democrat tally of blue-leaning congressional seats to 10, while the Republicans have increased their likely seats by nine.

WINNER: America Reads the Bible

Sometimes it is difficult to see just how anti-religious and secular our culture has become. This week, a Texas-based organization, Christians Engaged, launched a week-long program that pulled people from all over the country—some famous, some not—to read passages from the Bible. Broadcast from the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., by tomorrow they will have completed both the Old and New Testament. There was no taxpayer funding involved, but still this report from the Associated Press insisted that President Trump’s reading  of 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 was a call for “Christian nationalism.”

FYI, 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 is an Old Testament passage about Solomon’s dedication of the Temple. You can watch Trump reading it here, or read it yourself here with over 20 translation options.  To suggest it is an appeal to Christian nationalism is quite a stretch.

LOSER: Austin ISD Pushes “Pride Week”

You might ask why Austin public schools celebrated Pride Week during March, when everyone knows that Pride Month—the 30 days set aside to glorify gender orientation and identity or the lack of it—is in June. But Austin ISD’s website helpfully notes that students are out of school in June, so they re-scheduled the celebration for March so students could participate.

Of course, the Texas Education Association and a number of state legislators are wondering why it was celebrated at all, since Senate Bill 12, passed last year, prohibits activities that reference gender or sexual orientation at K-12 public schools. Clubs based on gender identity and sexual orientation are also prohibited.

There was clearly an effort to get around the new law. The weeklong program posted on the school district’s web site seems harmless enough—except for missing the point that there is no reason to focus on the so-called “sexual diversity” of kids in public school.

WINNER: Sen. Tan Parker & Saving Texas History

I recently talked with Texas Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, about the importance of telling the Texas story and his work to establish the 1836 Project in Texas. You can view it here:

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.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. This morning’s news that the Strait of Hormuz is now open will change a lot of things that we are all watching, but here’s who made this week’s list:

WINNER: Strait of Hormuz is Open — Trump Gets the Win

It is a big win this morning when Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” for commercial vessels for the remaining period of the ceasefire. Oil prices immediately dropped and the stock market soared. President Donald Trump cheered the news, but made it clear that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place until we reach a peace deal. The president believes this is a signal that the war with Iran will be over soon. We’ll all be watching as the news continues to unfold.

WINNER: Clarence Thomas Gives Historic Speech at UT

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an American icon — a man who rose from poverty in the Jim Crow South and turned to the law because he understood the simple truth that segregation violated the Constitution and the promise of the Declaration of Independence. Speaking at the University of Texas at Austin this week in what will undoubtedly go down as an historic address, Thomas made clear the same clarity of purpose that shaped his upbringing also shapes his jurisprudence — he remains grounded in the enduring principles of the nation’s founding documents.

Thomas stated it succinctly — the revolutionary principle of the Declaration of Independence is that our rights come from God, not government, and the Constitution means what it says it means.

Justice Thomas talked about the many principles at play in the current debate, but at a time when Democrats proudly espouse their “progressive wing,” Thomas provided some important historical perspective about the roots of progressivism in America. He called progressivism “the first mainstream political movement — with the possible exception of the pro-slavery reactionaries on the eve of the Civil War — to openly oppose the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”

Unlike America’s founders, progressives insist our rights come from government, which is why it is alarming that progressive policies pervade so many of our institutions today — especially the media and higher education.

Justice Thomas lauded the University of Texas for the work it has done to return free inquiry and open debate to its campus. It was an amazing speech. You can listen to it all here.

LOSERS: Former Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales
Two congressmen stepped down this week after Americans made it clear that slimy sexual predators in Congress have to go. There’s no excuse for the behavior of Eric Swalwell or Tony Gonzales, and no one is sad they are gone.

But just so everyone remembers, the bipartisan unity around the resignations we saw this week is not the norm. Congress has repeatedly allowed all kinds of offenders to stick around because either Democrats or Republicans needed their vote. Recall former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, the guy who had the gold bars in his suit jacket. First indicted in 2015, he hung around for years, in and out of court, always on the brink of conviction for bribery. He finally left Congress in 2023. So did U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-LA, who had hidden $90,000 in bribery money in his freezer. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, was chair of Ways and Means, and he had to give up his chairmanship, but he stayed in Congress for a while because they needed his vote.

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep George Santos, R-NY, who was charged with identity fraud and lots of different kinds of theft, wasn’t pushed out immediately because the GOP vote margin was so thin. The same was true of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who was accused of sex trafficking. Keep that in mind if any member of Congress insists they have “zero tolerance” for corruption.

LOSER: Faith and War Debate

Pope Leo XIV weighed in on the war in Iran during Holy Week, declaring that God rejects the prayers “of those who wage war,” and insisting that “stability and peace are not built with weapons.”

Popes have been weighing in on wars for a couple thousand years, and it is certainly the Holy Father’s prerogative, but it seemed to annoy President Trump at first and produced some backlash against the president. Bishops of Fort Worth and San Antonio called on the President to apologize.

But you can’t invoke moral authority on a war, immigration, and global order, as Pope Leo has done, and then claim immunity from political criticism. Once you enter the arena, you’re part of the fight. President Trump understands this and said this morning that he wants the Pope to say what he thinks, even if they disagree.

It may or may not be relevant that a CBS Poll released this week found that Trump’s approval rating among Catholics is 58% — higher if they only count Catholics who regularly attend mass. Just saying.

LOSER: Texas Democrats’ War on Western Civilization

Take a look at this report in the San Antonio Express-News lamenting a new reading list, approved by the State Board of Education (SBOE), that includes over 300 books and readings from Thomas Jefferson, to Harriet Tubman, to the story of Spindle Top. It also includes 14 brief excerpts from the Bible. According to the news report, the excerpts “will mark the first time in modern history that a religious text is made compulsory in public school.”

If that’s true, and I doubt it, it is because this is the first time that it has been necessary to provide students with knowledge that should be the foundational baseline for any educated person in America.

Unless young Texans understand that our principles of individual rights, freedom, independence, equality, justice, law and moral responsibility all come from Judeo-Christian teachings, they won’t be able to understand why the Pilgrims came to America or what motivated Thomas Paine to write Common Sense, or Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, or Harriet Tubman to lead hundreds of slaves to freedom, or Martin Luther King, Jr., to demand civil rights.

Texas Democrats are treating the inclusion of the Ten Commandments, the story of the Good Samaritan, the Sermon on the Mount and other short passages from both the New and Old Testament in the reading list for Texas school children as a Republican plot to proselytize Christians. They are ignoring the fact that any educated person should know the Lord’s Prayer and the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, regardless of what they believe. The SBOE voted to move the reading list forward. Every Democrat member of the board voted against it.

LOSER: The Canadian Equity Card Story

In case you missed this, the New Democrat Party in Canada — a real political party with a half-dozen members in Parliament — recently held a convention where they launched an “equity card” system. As reported by the Toronto Sun and a ton of American comedians, on the first day of the Convention there were lots of policy debates where any delegate could make their ideas known. At the beginning delegates were told there were yellow cards next to the microphones that they should grab and hold up “to signal to the Chair that they have a gender identity other than ‘man.’” The yellow cards would allow them to cut the line and speak ahead of any guy.

Chaos broke out immediately as other colored cards began to appear. People challenged the yellow card flashers, holding red, blue and pink cards, insisting they were “more oppressed” than other yellow card people as a result of some gender, racial, ethnic or non-binary or disability designation. The whining continued for a couple days and is funny to watch. The antics are all anti-merit, so we have no idea who won any of the debates or what any of these people wanted to say — other than they should have a better place in line.

WINNERS: Rory McElroy and “The Summer of 1983”

I was wrong last week when I said the Masters Tournament in Augusta wouldn’t contain any buzzer beaters. The three-day tournament went right down to the wire with 11 lead changes including six lead changes in the final round on Sunday. It was a nail-biter. Rory McElroy ultimately won the first back-to-back victory since Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002. It was stunning to watch.

Meanwhile, the SEC Network has released a new movie “Summer of ’83: Texas vs. Tide” that tells the story of the 1983 College World Series and the Texas and Alabama teams that included such greats as Roger Clemens, Calvin Schiraldi, Barry Bonds and David Magadan. It airs on ESPN.

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.

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. This week they have been broadcasting all week from the annual Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Texas Policy Summit featuring great speeches by the Big 3—Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows—a raft of Texas legislators and boatloads of guest speakers with great ideas from CNN’s Scott Jennings to U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan. All winners at the best think tank gathering in the country. Here’s who else made the list:

Big Winner – Rescue of the Second Downed Airman in Iran

The story of how American forces successfully rescued a U.S. pilot who had been shot down over Iran will go down as one of the most daring rescue operations in our history. The pilot was badly injured but still managed to climb a 7,000-foot ridge in the Zagros Mountains to evade capture. He was rescued after a masterful collaboration between Special Forces and the CIA.

This was another awesome example of who Americans are and what we can do. When President Donald Trump announced the rescue with the words, “We got him,” the entire country breathed a sigh of relief.

The rescue is a reminder of the last U.S. rescue operation in Iran to free 53 U.S. Embassy staff in 1980, which failed dramatically. This is what Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, was referring to when he pushed back on his Democrat colleagues saying, “If you want to talk about a war crime, Iran is a 47 year-old war crime.” Fetterman is a winner too!

WINNER: Chancellor Creighton Kills Crazy Gender Classes at Tech

Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton released a memo today that detonated the teaching of wacky sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) classes at Texas Tech in one stroke.

Creighton called a halt to the teaching of the so-called “gender spectrum”—a theory that insists there are genders beyond male and female—on Tech campuses around the state.

To make sure there was no misunderstanding—because faculty who teach courses in the SOGI field seem easily confused—Creighton spelled out exactly what he means:

No Texas Tech course can be “centered on” sexual orientation or gender identity. That means no readings, assignments or lectures. Sexual orientation or gender identity cannot be the “central narrative or the driving pedagogical purpose” of any class.

Creighton also says no course can “include” any endorsement of a “spectrum of genders” or “gender fluidity.” Rare chromosomal variations can be discussed in biology but cannot be translated into sociological frameworks. That’s because translating this nonsense into a sociological framework is the root of identity politics, allowing some to claim that their sexual orientation or gender identity renders them “oppressed” by those who are one gender or the other.

In case they still don’t get it, Creighton’s memo also makes it clear that faculty can’t spend time in class talking about sexual orientation or gender identity, they can’t teach it and they certainly can’t test students on it. Creighton, former chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and the author of Senate Bill 17, which ended DEI programs on college campuses and Senate Bill 37, which shifted curriculum control away from faculty to the Board of Regents, is known for making it clear that his policy reforms are not suggestions. The blow-back from the academic world will be fun to watch.

WINNER — ARTEMIS II — Going Where No One Has Gone Before

What a moment when the first lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972 launched last weekend with the whole world watching. Artemis II has now flown farther than any humans have gone before. I recall being in Houston shortly after former President Barack Obama cancelled the NASA program’s planned to return to the moon. Houstonians, in NASA’s hometown, began wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a photo of the Space Shuttle and the words, “Come and Take It.”

President Trump clearly understood what Obama didn’t—Americans want to go to the moon and the stars. They never wanted to back off space exploration.

The brilliant political data analyst Chris Wilson released a report this week showing that, Artemis II is getting very positive reviews from Americans who see it as a sign of America’s exceptional innovation and technological dominance. Wilson isn’t using polling data— which he says tends to be a few days behind what people are actually thinking. Instead, he monitors on-going trends in public conversation where he found that most people see Artemis II as a sign of hope and a relief from worries about costs and gas prices. That’s why we say, “if we can put a person on the moon,” we can accomplish most anything. This week has been full of new ideas for moon development.

On the political side, Trump gets the credit. Artemis II is expected to splash down tonight about 7 p.m. Texas time off the coast of California.

Winner: President Trump Ends Higher Ed Funding linked to Race

President Trump’s new proposed budget ends funding for those colleges and universities identified as Minority Serving Institutions. His budget cuts about $400 million from colleges that create and maintain campus programs based on race and ethnicity. The president is proposing some of the funds be shifted to charter schools and civic education programs.

On a Texas note, his budget proposal also includes $30 million to purchase land for a new VA hospital in San Antonio to replace the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Hospital built in 1972.

LOSER: The Dreaded April 15 is Upon Us

Next Wednesday is April 15, when everyone has to get their taxes to the IRS, no matter what. Ugh. A new poll from Fox News this week found that 75% of Americans believe that government spending is inefficient or wasteful—that’s up 18% in the last year, so perhaps the message of DOGE has gotten through. Republicans have long believed government spending needed reining in, but the new poll found that Democrats and Independents now agree.

WINNER: A Lot of Crazy Hispanic Fans

The San Antonio Spurs are now ranked No. 2 in the West and headed for the playoffs. At a recent game, some snooty fan seated in the expensive seats down close to the floor was caught on a phone camera complaining to a friend via text that she was surrounded by “A lot of crazy Hispanic fans,” adding, “All Hispanic! How can they afford it?”

No protest marches were held. Instead, almost overnight, T-shirts and hats emblazoned with the words “Crazy Hispanic Spurs Fan” appeared all over town—the guys who manufactured them sold out almost immediately. Bumper stickers were soon added. An ignorant comment has become a battle cry—“Crazy Hispanic Spurs Fan” is now a thing.  

LOSER: Owners of Chevy Silverado Trucks

Texas Vehicle Crime Prevention Program reported last month that the most stolen vehicle was the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. The GMC Sierra was second and the Hyundai Elantra was third. To see if your car made the list click here.

Great Season for Texas Women

It was hard to watch UCLA dominate the University of Texas Women in the Final Four last weekend, but it is always comforting when the team that beats you goes on to win the national championship. The Lady Longhorns had a brilliant season. Can’t wait for next year.

Meanwhile, the Masters Tournament has begun over in Augusta—a different kind of sport, no buzzer beaters, but all-American just the same.

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

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. There was an overnight deal in the Senate to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA workers, so if the House follows that lead, hopefully, nobody will have to stand in line at the airport to read this issue. Here’s who made the list:

WINNER: Social Media Verdict Against Meta and YouTube

If Texas’ legendary plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier is right, the $400 million verdict this week against Meta and YouTube could reverse a cultural slide that is damaging our children’s ability to think and generally turning all our brains to mush.

Lanier likened the case to lawsuits in the 1990s against tobacco companies which forced them to admit that they knew that tobacco was addictive. Ultimately, we became a nation of mostly non-smoking people in no-smoking spaces. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and the plaintiffs in the court case in New Mexico demonstrated they know the algorithms they use are addictive and especially damaging to children.

TPPF has deployed a variety of strategies to get kids away from screens, including our work to pass groundbreaking legislation last session that requires app stores to enforce age restrictions on digital products known to be harmful to children—which is a lot of them. Look at TPPF’s research for the App Store Accountability Act.

Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is leading the battle to remove federal protections for social media companies that have protected them from any accountability for what they publish or refuse to publish. Most sane people support any move that will end the virtual madness in our lives and help get us back to a world where friends are people you actually know.

LOSER: Democrat James Talarico’s Vegetarian Cover-up

There’s an old saying in politics that the cover-up is always worse than the crime, and Texas Democrat U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico’s insistence that he’s a barbecue-loving Texan could fall in that category.

In 2022, Talarico made a statement—it’s on tape—that we should respect animals and not eat them. Here’s what he said:

“We have, I think, heard more and more issues of animal welfare. I think, not just because it’s the right thing to do and the moral thing to do, but also, it’s, as all of you know, necessary to fight climate change. It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption and that we try to respect animals in all aspects of society.”

Many believe this could have big implications for the general election, because Texas is the No. 1 cattle-producing state in America. We have more cattle here than in the next three states combined. If Texas were a country, we’d be one of the top 10 cattle producers in the world. This doesn’t mean that vegetarians can’t get elected in Texas—most Texans don’t actually care what candidates eat—but it does mean you can’t go around saying things like respecting “animals in all aspects of society” and then start posting photos of yourself eating big pieces of meat.

Now Talarico says he “denies all accusations of veganism,” and insists that his campaign runs almost entirely on barbecue.

The problem for Talarico is not whether he is a carnivore, the issue is whether he was lying when he said he didn’t eat meat or he is lying now that he says that he is. He sounds like just another two-faced politician who says what he needs to say to get elected.

That’s why even the Houston Chronicle, which will undoubtedly endorse Talarico, is worried about his anti-beef position. They likened it to Beto O’Rourke’s gun statement, noting this week that unlike Talarico’s other woke gaffes, there’s a video of his anti-meat declaration so the left, even with help from the Houston Chronicle, won’t be able to portray it as Republican misinformation.

WINNER: Speaker Burrows Looks at Slice of New Mexico

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Thursday issued interim charges asking House members to study the “implications” of adding one or more contiguous New Mexico counties to Texas.

Texas would love to have more counties and you can certainly understand why Eastern New Mexico would want to get away from the progressive rule coming out of Santa Fe. It is not unlike the “Greater Idaho” movement in Oregon, which would free the eastern half of the state from the loony progressives in Portland, and the folks in downstate Illinois who want nothing to do with the corrupt government in Chicago. Upstate New York has a secession movement, as does Colorado, where some folks would rather be part of Wyoming. It all makes a lot of sense, but there’s just one catch—ultimately, Congress has to approve and think how hard it has been just to get them to pay the TSA workers. Hopefully, under the Speaker’s direction, the Texas House will break some new ground.

WINNER: U.S. Olympic Committee Bans Men in Women’s Sports

The U.S. Olympic Committee banned men from competing in women’s sports this week so we won’t see men beating up on women in the Los Angeles games in 2028. The IOC ruling follows a rules change by the NCAA last year that prohibits men from participating in women’s sports—although women who think they are men can compete in men’s sports if they want.

It is illegal in Texas for men and boys to compete in women’s and girls’ sports in both public school and college, but not in California where the state just filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, charging it is their right to keep a boy on the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State. San Jose State essentially shut down women’s volleyball in the Mountain West in 2024 when almost half the teams forfeited their games rather than risk injury by playing against a team with a male player.

Los Angeles is in California, of course, so this rule change is important.

WINNER: Americans Really Are Flocking to Texas & Other Red States

We see numbers like this all the time in Texas because everybody from U-Haul to U.S. News and World Report posts frequent listicles on where America is moving and why. But some new info coming out of the Internal Revenue Service lays out the hard data of Americans and their money moving from red states to blue ones. The latest IRS migration data shows that 6.7 million people moved from one state to another in 2023 including about 700,000 people who earn more than $200,000 a year. According to IRS calculations, that means that Texas gained 111,079 new residents in 2023 and $5.3 billion in new income.

Meanwhile, California and New York lost a combined 368,000 people and $23.6 billion in annual income in 2023.

LOSER: Austin Red Tape Stifles Small Business Growth

Meanwhile, the city of Austin received a report last week showing that it can take more than 400 days to get through the permitting red tape to open a business—an obstacle course that requires 105 steps and can cost $9,000. The authors of the report found that the cost of opening a restaurant in Austin is higher than it is in Philadelphia and Seattle, and costs four times as much as it does in San Antonio.

The report suggests that the red tape and high costs may be driving small businesses out of Austin or discouraging them from opening altogether. Ya think?

William Inboden: Academics, Reagan, Cold War and Hot Conflicts

Dr. William Inboden was appointed Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Texas last year and is a leader in the effort to restore trust in American universities. He also served on George W. Bush’s National Security Council and is the author of the seminal book on Ronald Reagan, entitled “The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War and the War on the Brink.” He joined me on my podcast this week where I talked with him about all that as well as what he sees today as America is engaged in a hot war with Iran.

WINNER: March Madness Continues to Score

The University of Texas Longhorns lost an absolutely terrific game to Purdue last night in the Sweet 16. The Longhorns had to play their way into the Big Dance, and went on to win a couple of games nobody expected them to win. For a short time early in the week, they earned the coveted “Cinderella” moniker, before being outlasted at the last second by the Boilermakers.

The No. 1 seed University of Texas women face Kentucky in the women’s Sweet 16. No. 3 seed, TCU, is also still in and will play Virginia on Saturday.

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.

Every Friday morning I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. In a weekend with long lines at every airport and record heat predicted, here’s who made the list.

WINNER: 7 Countries Unite for Strait of Hormuz Coalition

Seven nations have signed a letter expressing their support for re-opening the Strait of Hormuz for commercial ships and oil tankers. Left-leaning media, which is most of it, insist the Coalition letter doesn’t mean much because none of the countries committed naval vessels, but that assessment misses the point. The countries raised their hands to sign up for the Hormuz Coalition because Trump did a great job reminding them that most of their oil comes through the Strait and there’s no reason the U.S. should have to take care of the problem—which is closer to them than it is to us—alone. Time for them to put their big nation pants on.

This report by Axios tells a great story of how French President Emmanuel Macron was absolutely opposed to signing any kind of letter and German Chancellor Friedric Merz was also skeptical, but British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Marc Rutte convinced them to come around because it is important to keep Trump happy. The other countries that signed on were Italy and the Netherlands along with Japan and Canada.

Meanwhile, a new poll released yesterday found that despite frequent reports of schism, there is virtually no division among Republicans in support for the war against Iran. Currently, 83% back the president and only 8% say they agree with podcasters Tucker Carlson and Megan Kelly in opposing the war. Finally, Al Jazeera published a column this week reporting the success of America’s military operation in Iran—yep, Al Jazeera.

LOSER: The Legacy of Cesar Chavez

The fact that the legacy of Cesar Chavez evaporated so fast speaks volumes.

My colleague Ariana Guajardo published an excellent and damning piece immediately following the breaking story by the New York Times, which revealed the history of molestation, rape, abuse and sexual harassment perpetrated by labor leader Cesar Chavez throughout his life. Ariana details how “The Left Hid Cesar Chavez’s Rapes and Turned Him into a Saint.” You can read it here.

I met Cesar Chavez, the saint, in the 1980s when the United Farm Workers were recruiting Mexican farmworkers who worked in the Willamette Valley outside Portland, Oregon. He was “saintly”—soft-spoken and singularly focused on the dangerous conditions the farmworkers experienced in the fields where they were not covered by any of the workplace protections American workers had. Chavez was completely different from the hateful, screaming leftists we see on American streets today. His demeanor was Gandhi-like. Former President Bill Clinton referred to Chavez as “the Moses of the farmworker movement.”

But Chavez wasn’t Moses, he was just another leftist who used farmworkers to build a socialist movement while keeping them trapped in the fields, lying to them about the opportunities provided by capitalism. The women weren’t the only people he betrayed.

It is telling that since the news of his many sexual crimes became public on Monday, there has been no pushback on the news report, even among those who do not take the New York Times as gospel. Not even the democrat socialist or communist worker types are challenging the news reports, either by suggesting the usual caution or calling for an investigation. No one is reminding us these are just “allegations.”

Instead, Cesar Chavez Day marches have been cancelled across the country. The Cesar Chavez Foundation announced it was shutting down. Gov. Greg Abbott immediately ended any official state observance of Cesar Chavez Day while Austin and cities across the country have begun the process of changing the names of Cesar Chavez streets and boulevards. Preparations for the celebration of the 100^th year anniversary of his birth next year have been halted, and statues are being slated for removal.

Everyone involved in the cover-up during Chavez’s life and in the 33 years since his passing is at least morally liable for all of it—and they know it.

WINNER: Cornyn’s Bill to Stop Congress from Jumping the TSA Line

Texas Sen. John Cornyn knows where the rubber hits the road, or perhaps where the landing gear hits the runway. This week he introduced a bill he calls the Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act, which pretty much says it all. His bill would prevent members of Congress from being able to jump the TSA line at airports. This would give them a glimpse of how the rest of the country has to travel since they stopped paying TSA workers. Hopefully, the threat of this legislation will cue some outrage and get Congress moving to fund TSA and the rest of Homeland.

WINNER: UNT Closes Low Enrollment Program

Add the University of North Texas to the list of state funded schools that are closing down programs that students aren’t enrolling in and are unlikely to get much return on the cost of their degree. Because the classes include ethnic and gender studies—Africana, Mexican American, Asian, women and LGBTQ classes—where fewer than 20 students are enrolled, the media is treating the UNT action like a conservative attack on higher education. The Dallas Morning News noted that the University of Texas made similar moves after “months of conservative pressure to eliminate programs deemed too liberal for the state’s flagship university.” There are almost 47,000 students at UNT, so it is hard to figure how eliminating classes where fewer than 20 students enroll is some kind of ideological purge.

WINNER: Texas Drag Show Ban in Public Spaces Can Be Enforced

Two years after Texas banned drag shows in public spaces, the Federal Fifth Court of Appeals ruled this week that Texas can enforce the law even as a lawsuit moves forward challenging that is unconstitutional. The opinion in the unconstitutional ruling stated that drag shows are not sexual at all, but whoever wrote that has clearly never seen a drag show.

Shortly before the bill was passed, I published an op-ed showing how drag shows use the same belittling techniques to demean women that blackface used to disparage African Americans. You can read it here. Drag Shows are Blackface.

LOSER: Everything Mamdani Did in NYC This Week

It’s good to keep an eye on New York City, to stay current on how socialists run things. The Big Apple’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, had a busy week. First, he lowered the speed limit in school zones to 15 miles an hour and announced police would be enforcing the zones 24 hours a day, making it clear his move is all about increasing traffic fine revenue and has nothing to do with safety.

Then he responded to the news that the city is spending $81,000 per person on homeless services by announcing a plan to increase that to over $90,000 per “unhoused individual” next year, with no changes in policy, even though people are still sleeping and dying in the streets.

On St. Patrick’s Day, he greeted the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, lauding her for her support of terrorists and describing Palestinians as victims of genocide. Finally, the mayor is expanding city-run Pre-K centers, and increasing regulations which are forcing privately run centers out of business—essentially forcing parents to send their children to city-run Pre-K programs. Again, that’s just this week.

WINNER: Republicans Nationwide and in California

Democrats don’t appear to have changed their thinking much since the last election. The latest polls continue to show that former Vice President Kamala Harris remains their top choice to run for president in 2028. She has double the support of the next folks in line, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in single digits.

Meanwhile, in the crowded race for governor of California (there are 10 major candidates), a new poll from Berkeley’s Institute of Government Studies found that Republican Steve Hilton, a conservative who used to have a show on Fox News, is in first place. The guy in second place is also a Republican—Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco. Two big name Democrats, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, and former Rep. Katie Porter, D-California, are further down on the list. It’s a long time until the election, but these are good numbers for Republicans.

ICYMI – Podcast with The Texan Founder & CEO Konni Burton

WINNER: March Madness & First Bracket Update
In the opening round of the men’s tournament, the big news is that the Longhorns beat Brigham Young University and will face Gonzaga tomorrow. Texas A&M and Houston also advanced to the second round and will face each other on Saturday.

The NCAA Women’s Tournament kicks off today with the University of Texas, a number one seed, playing Missouri. No. 3 seed TCU, No. 6 seed Baylor and No. 7 seed Texas Tech are also on deck. The University of Texas at San Antonio is returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years. They will face the reigning champions from the University of Connecticut on Saturday.

It will all look very different by this time next week.

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.