"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Revelation 21:8
In the wake of the "bathroom bill" fight that generated strong business backlash, House Speaker Joe Straus is putting together a committee to make sure Texas can continue to chase new companies.
On Thursday, the San Antonio Republican unveiled the House Select Committee on Economic Competitiveness, saying it will look at the factors that draw businesses to Texas, including education and infrastructure. He said he wanted the panel to "work quickly and aggressively," giving it a Dec. 12 deadline to report its findings.
"It’s time that we re-assert that Texas is fully committed to private-sector growth," Straus said in a speech to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, where he announced the committee. "There should be no ambiguity that the Texas House will focus on the big and consequential instead of the petty and the polarizing."
LOL, this is literally the guy who killed property tax reform. Texas has the highest property tax burden of any no-income tax state and the second highest local government debt in the country. That'd be a pretty good place to start.
And we can already tell you what the committee will report back: More Spending!!! Spend more on education, spend more on health care, spend, spend, spend!!! It also appears they've adopted tiresome virtue-signaling cliches.
Bottom Line: Maybe he really is about to switch parties.
"He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." Proverbs 28:13
By now, we're sure you've heard about Briscoe Cain's speech at Texas Southern being shouted down by protesters:
We've seen plenty of ink spilled over the "meaning" of all this, but allow us to discuss a more practical aspect: this nonsense has now spread out from the University of Texas to infect other public universities...and the Boards of Regents (that have been appointed by Governor Abbott) continue to do NOTHING.
Remember, two weeks ago, when the communist vandals at the University of Texas went after a widely respected 40 year old right of center political organization?!? As we discussed at the time, the chain of command goes "University President" -> "Board of Regents" -> "Governor." Unfortunately, none of the above did anything about the UT incident, so we shouldn't be surprised that it's moved to Texas Southern.
[Note: While we're on the subject, we also predicted Abbott's strange appeasement of the higher ed status quo would lead to this back in June and in January, although even we thought it would be contained to UT-Austin.]
[Note II: Dishonorable mention should also go to Joe Straus for killing the campus free speech bill; but even if that bill had passed, this would have been on the Board of Regents, which means it's on Abbott.]
Bottom Line: In Texas' public universities, the Office of the Governor controls the respective Boards of Regents. Greg Abbott could shut down this nonsense in five minutes if he were so inclined. Apparently, he's not....
"You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning." Leviticus 19:13
[Note: There was a lot of ambient noise in the background and the sound wasn't amplified on site, so the audio quality on the videos we shot turned out terribly. Unfortunately, because we were filming, we didn't take notes during the press conference. We've included the videos below, but hope readers will cut us some slack over the fact that we're writing up today's events from memory without the aid of notes or good video.]
It takes a special act of chutzpah to push a tax hike so big that you piss off every Republican in town, while structuring said tax increase so that the burden falls disproportionately on the Black and Hispanic communities in East Austin to subsidize affluent white people on the west side of town, which pisses off half the Democrats; with this current bond, somehow Austin ISD somehow accomplishes that feat.
This afternoon, a broad trans-partisan coalition of grassroots Austinites held a press conference in East Austin to highlight a number of flaws with the current Austin ISD bond proposal. Objections ranged from the sheer size of the package, to the deceptive marketing of a tax increase that could easily surpass $600/year for median Austinites, to the fact that the district is holding East Austin schools hostage to the bond while structuring the bond so most of it's 'benefits' are seen elsewhere.
Obviously, this website has been opposed to the bond ever since we learned of it's magnitude (combined with the fact that they've never completed the process of selling off other real estate holdings they assured us they would complete before attempting another bond). It's just a gigantic ask when their recent record of financial stewardship doesn't inspire confidence. What have they done with the maintenance budget they already have?!?
Taxpayer advocate John Goldstone explained how the district is using deceptive language to minimize the tax impact. The district is claiming the bond won't change the tax rate. But you don't pay a tax rate, you pay a tax bill. And more debt service means higher taxes. In this case, Goldstone estimates the tax hike at over $600 per year (we will deflect all questions over how he came up with that number to Goldstone himself).
A number of other community advocates, including former #atxcouncil candidate Pete Salazar (ran against Greg Casar in 2014), LULAC head Gavino Fernandez, and Grey Panthers head Richard Franklin, discussed how the bond places a disproportionately large tax burden on the black and Hispanic communities on the East side to disproportionately benefit affluent white folks in the West side. To be honest, we hadn't thought about that aspect prior to hearing it today. But it's completely true.
And that's what's interesting: We've been fighting poorly conceived bonds for several years in Austin. And it seems like there's more opposition on "the left" this time than we've seen previously (or that they're at least more engaged). And the district has no one to blame but itself and its own arrogance.
Bottom Line: Early voting begins in two weeks; Election day is November 7.
AUSTIN -- A key business group in Texas politics is throwing its weight behind State Rep. Cindy Burkett in her bid to defeat State Sen. Bob Hall, a Tea Party activist elected three years ago to represent a district that stretches from Dallas to the Red River.
The Texas Association of Business PAC announced Thursday that they would back Burkett, a Republican from Sunnyvale, in the District 2 Senate race in 2018.
The race is one of a growing list of simmering GOP primaries that could put some of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's top allies in the Senate on the defensive.
Burkett, a commercial real estate agent, has been in the Texas House since 2010 and was once an aide to former State Sen. Bob Deuell, a Republican Hall defeated in 2014 to win District 2 in the Texas Senate.
Learn about all the various misdeeds of the Texas Association of Business here.
Bottom Line: If Cindy Burkett wants to run for the Texas Senate based on how much left-wing crony capitalists love her she is welcome to do so, although...has she seen what's just happened to the NFL for doing the same thing?!?
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:9
We'll get to the kicking game, but otherwise we were very content with what we saw in last night's double overtime victory over an always difficult Kansas State team.
While neither was perfect, both the offense and the defense turned in solid performances against a challenging opponent. The defense gave up a few big plays, but also stepped up and made several other plays when they had to. On offense, Sam Ehlinger and a multi-faceted running game continue to impress.
But, unfortunately, there's the kicking game. Junior Kicker Joshua Rowland missed two fourth quarter field goals. Had Rowland hit either, overtime would have been avoided. While the rest of the team stepped up during overtime, this was an unnecessary risk to an otherwise encouraging performance.
And it's not like this is a new issue. Rowland is now 4 for 9 kicking field goals this season. And this follows on the debacles we've seen recently with Trent Domingue and Nick Rose. This has been a problem for several seasons and we have no idea why it hasn't been addressed.
That being said, it's also worth noting that the mistakes never spiraled out of control. When they were made, they were acknowledged and contained. That, right there, is the difference between Tom Herman and Charlie Strong.
Finally, we don't have time to go into detail, but props to the following: Chris Warren, Kyle Porter, Toneil Carter, Reggie Hemphill-Mapps, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Jerrod Heard, Malik Jefferson, Breckyn Hegar, while punter Michael Dickson remain a freak of nature!!!
Bottom Line: If they can get the kicking issues resolved, this team can be dangerous!!!
The Woodlands, TX - National conservative policy expert and media commentator Autry Pruitt today launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for Congress in Texas’s 8th Congressional District saying he shares the frustration of Texas voters who are disappointed with the Republican Congress.
“Watching Congress makes me sick to my stomach,” said Pruitt, an author, broadcaster and Donald Trump campaign surrogate. “For years the smartest Republicans in the room (a.k.a. Republican Congressional leadership) told us that if we gave them the House and the Senate, they would repeal Obamacare, give us real tax-reform, and take control of our massive debt. We delivered, they did not. Much like the people of the 8th Congressional District, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and other good Texans, my family and I share the frustration of voters and we grow more frustrated everyday at their lack of resolve.”
“Many people worked incredibly hard to give the Republicans a majority. But, Obamacare is still law of the land, the government still steals your money, and America is in crisis debt territory,” said Pruitt. “The inaction of the current Republican Congressional leadership is standing in the way our pro-America agenda and that’s just all sorts of wrong.”
Good. Kevin Brady has been an abject failure as Ways and Means chairman. We're certainly in the market for an upgrade.
Bottom Line: We've never met Mr. Pruitt or even been aware of his work, but based upon ten minutes on Google it seems that his credentials check out. Furthermore, we suspect we share a number of mutual friends with Mr. Pruitt. It remains to be seen how strong of a campaign Mr. Pruitt runs, but on first inspection it looks like a significant step in the right direction.
