Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio in Austin where we discuss the Winners & Losers for the previous week. President Donald Trump looks like he may get a complete sweep on his cabinet appointments, and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows released his committee assignments—so the legislative games can truly begin. Here’s who made the list this week:
Winner: Trump Proclaims End to Paper Straws (and RFK, Jr. is Confirmed)
There may be no metaphor that better epitomizes the insanity progressives inflicted on the country than the paper straw. Paper straws are worse than non-binary pronouns and those signs that are still stuck on floors everywhere reminding us to stay six feet apart. Based on no science, if you happen to find yourself in a blue city in 21st century America, paper straws are your only option, most often pushed on you by a sanctimonious waitperson who is in therapy to help her manage her fear of climate change.
But this week the paper straw nightmare ended with another victory for the frustrated and annoyed majority. Trump proclaimed that plastic straws are the straw of the land. Just read this beautiful legal language:
It is therefore the policy of the United States to end the use of paper straws [and eliminate] all policies within the executive branch designed to disfavor plastic straws.
Cue Lee Greenwood. So proud to be an American.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was also confirmed this week. President Trump continues to make it clear that when it comes to the federal bureaucracy, there is no baby in the bathwater—it all has to be thrown out. Right up to the end of the confirmation process, the legacy media told us RFK, Jr., might not make it, but in a strong rebuke to his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, who said some very awful things about him last week, the GOP Senate Majority made him Secretary of Health and Human Services on a vote of 52 to 48.
Caroline’s attack on her cousin made it clear that blood is not actually thicker than water. By spewing talking points from the lefty hate machine, Caroline made the Kennedys look like the royal family as she tried to portray RFK, Jr. as the awful Prince Andrew. Instead, she came off like Megan Markle.
Caroline apparently is unaware that few Americans care if her entire family of Massachusetts, blue-blood Democrats sets their hair on fire. RFK, Jr. now holds the highest-ranking position in federal government since his father was attorney general and his uncle was president. Trump has redefined the Camelot dynasty. The name Kennedy will stand for something different in America from now on.
Winner: Mark Fogel Released from Russian Prison
Moving news reports this week announced that Mark Fogel, an American school teacher who had been in prison in Russia since 2021, had finally been released from prison. Fogel kissed the snowy ground at Andrews Air Force Base when he finally landed on U.S. soil. He had been arrested for possessing medicinal marijuana, just like WNBA star Brittney Griner, who former President Joe Biden helped get released in 2022, after she served 10 months in prison.
Every American who is falsely imprisoned should be brought home, but Fogel’s release reminds us that Biden ignored him while trading a notorious arms dealer, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” for Griner, a gay, African-American basketball star who had walked off the court in protest of the Star Spangled Banner being played before games.
Happily, Griner’s time in a Russian prison changed her perspective, which was clear when she was one of Team USA’s shining stars at this year’s Olympics. Fogel’s mother had talked directly to President Trump during the campaign and he promised her he’d get her son home. Trump gave Russian Alexander Vinnik, a crypto money launderer, in exchange.
Loser: Californians…What are they thinking?
What were Golden State voters watching during the presidential campaign last year? A new poll shows that 57% of voters say they would back Kamala Harris if she ran for governor of the country’s largest state. Gavin Newsom, who is presiding over the current disasters there, can’t run for re-election. Guess they don’t want to be “burdened by what has been.”
Winner: Cy-Fair ISD Passes Gender Disclosure Policy
The Cy-Fair ISD school board passed a gender disclosure policy last week that will require teachers to inform parents if their son is asking to be treated like a girl at school. Dissenting parents can sign a release for the school to allow their child to say they are a different gender than they are. News reports out of Houston say that “many” parents showed up to protest, but some perspective is needed. Cy-Fair is the third largest school district in the state with about 120,000 students. If even 100 parents show up to protest something—and the photos look like the count was much smaller than that—it’s not indicative of anything about what parents think. A University of Houston poll last year found strong majorities of parents oppose policies that empower children of one sex to declare themselves to be the opposite sex.
Winner: Trump’s Team
As of this writing 16 of Trump’s 22 cabinet nominees have been confirmed by the Senate. This includes Tulsi Gabbard, who became Director of National Intelligence this week. Gabbard, with RFK Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were viewed as the longest shots so most of the heavy lifting is done. Our friend and former Texas Public Policy Foundation CEO Brooke Rollins was also sworn in as Secretary of Agriculture this week.
Loser: PBS Brags that 68% of Programs are “Diversity Related”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting abruptly fired its DEI officers this week after the Free Press published comments from a whistleblower that revealed they were trying to get around Trump’s Executive Order to eliminate DEI. Here’s what he said:
In 2023, PBS boasted that 68 percent of its programming was BIPOC or “diversity-related,” and that BIPOC employees comprised 48 percent of new hires, while women accounted for 75 percent of new hires. “Race is a major determining factor in decision-making,” the high-ranking source said. In 2024, when a round of layoffs led to the dismissal of 24 employees and the closure of seven vacant positions, “the DEI budget was untouched,” the source said.
(BIPOC means Black, Indigenous and People of Color.) The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes PBS and NPR, gets a half billion dollars in federal funding. Getting rid of its racist hiring practices and DEI programs are not enough. The federal funding needs to stop and they should compete in the marketplace like the rest of the media. Their news shows will die, like MSNBC, and you can already watch Masterpiece Theatre and Sesame Street on Prime, so it’s not a big leap.
Winner: Super Bowl LIX Breaks Viewing Record
An amazing 127.7 million people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, the most ever, which is good. We don’t have many cultural focus points anymore where everybody watches the same thing at the same time and even though it wasn’t a great game it’s good to see the country come together. President Trump was cheered. Taylor Swift was booed and the Chiefs’ Tight End Travis Kelce admitted the Chiefs’ loss might have been his fault since he took Swift out to dinner instead of watching tape with the team. Doesn’t matter. The Eagles had a big victory parade today and the fans decided not to burn down Philadelphia to celebrate, so everybody is a winner.
Winner: Texas Women’s Longhorns Rout Kentucky
The No. 3 ranked Texas Longhorns routed Kentucky last night 67-49, setting them up to play LSU on Sunday. Over a million people watched the Texas women defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday, breaking their 57 game winning streak. Good to see South Carolina go down after their coach, Dawn Staley, came out last year in support of allowing men who think they are women to play in women’s sports. Not sure how Staley feels about the NCAA announcement last week ensuring that only women will compete in women’s sports, as well as news this week that the U.S. Department of Education is asking the NCAA to return all the awards biological men have won in women’s sports so they can be given to the women who actually won them. The Women Longhorns play the No. 5 ranked LSU Tigers on Sunday at 2 p.m. Central. The Longhorns, the Tigers and South Carolina are in a three-way tie for the top spot in the SEC. Should be a good game.
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.
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