Dear ChatGPT: What did Edmund Burke say about the importance of manners?

Edmund Burke, the 18th-century Irish statesman and philosopher, placed great importance on manners as a foundation of social and political order. One of his most well-known quotes on the topic comes from his work "Letters on a Regicide Peace" (1796), where he writes:

"Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend."

This statement reflects Burke's belief that social norms, customs, and etiquette—what he called “manners”—are crucial to maintaining civil society. Here's a deeper explanation of what he meant:

• Manners support the law: Burke argued that without a general respect for tradition, civility, and moral behavior, laws become ineffective or even oppressive. Laws can set limits, but manners shape everyday conduct and mutual respect.

• Cultural continuity: For Burke, manners were part of a broader “social fabric” that connected generations. They carried the accumulated wisdom of the past and helped transmit it to the future, fostering stability.

• Civility in politics and society: He feared that the radical upheaval of traditions—like during the French Revolution—would erode not only institutions but the moral glue that held society together.

In essence, Burke saw manners not as superficial niceties, but as deeply rooted expressions of shared values that make freedom, order, and justice possible.

- Who was Edmund Burke? 

Checks and Balances: Judicial checks on the Executive

- Federal court blocks Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs under emergency powers law.

A federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.

The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country's trade policy dependent on his whims.

Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs would force manufacturers to bring back factory jobs to the U.S. and generate enough revenue to reduce federal budget deficits. He used the tariffs as a negotiating cudgel in hopes of forcing other nations to negotiate agreements that favored the U.S., suggesting he would simply set the rates himself if the terms were unsatisfactory.

- U.S. Court of International Trade.
- national emergency
- tariffs
- trade deficits
- Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974
- The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders
- Section 232 powers from the Trade Expansion Act of 1962


- Judge Blocks Shutdown of Biden-Era Migrant Entry Programs.

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from pulling legal protections from hundreds of thousands of people who entered the United States through Biden-era programs, ordering the government to restart processing applications for migrants who are renewing their status.

In a sweeping order that extended to Ukrainians and Afghans, as well as military members and their relatives, the judge, Indira Talwani of Federal District Court in Massachusetts, wrote that the Trump administration’s categorical termination of legal pathways for those groups was probably unlawful and had the potential to sow discord across the country.

The decision is a major victory for civil and immigrant rights groups that had sued to stop the administration amid a wider campaign by President Trump to strip legal status from a variety of groups living, working and studying in the country on a temporary basis.

- Federal District Court in Massachusetts
- civil and immigrant rights groups
- categorical parole programs
- Haitian Bridge Alliance
- plaintiffs


- Judge blocks Trump officials’ bid to end NYC congestion pricing.

A federal judge said Tuesday that New York City can keep charging drivers entering parts of Manhattan up to $9 until at least June 9 through its congestion pricing program, which aims to reduce traffic and raise funds to revamp the city’s decaying mass transit network.

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman of the Southern District of New York issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday against Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and other officials, blocking them from withholding federal cash or approvals from the state in a bid to kill congestion pricing. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Trump administration in February for trying to terminate the program.

Catching up with the Texas Legislature - 5/27/25

All of these are from the Texas Tribune: 


- Texas lawmaker abruptly spiked his bill to punish cities that don’t deal with homeless encampments.

A proposal in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature to enhance a statewide ban on homeless encampments met a spectacular demise late Monday when the bill’s sponsor effectively ended debate on the bill.

After several attempts by Democrats to weaken the bill and challenge its legitimacy through other procedural tactics, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, asked for debate on the bill to end and resume on June 3, one day after the session ends.

Senate Bill 241, which had already passed the state Senate, would have forced Texas cities and counties to beef up their enforcement of a statewide ban on homeless encampments. Critics had argued the legislation won’t help reduce homelessness.


- New limits for personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits may become a reality in Texas.

A proposal to limit how much an accident victim can recover in lawsuits for medical care won preliminary approval from the Texas House on Monday, but not without changes that leave open monetary awards beyond medical bills and preserve the court’s ability to decide what evidence is relevant.

The bill passed 94-52 on Monday with the support of at least five Democrats.

Senate Bill 30, authored by Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner, intends to curb “nuclear verdicts,” or jury rulings that award victims more than $10 million, which proponents say makes doing business in Texas unpredictable.

If the proposal becomes law, those who sue in personal injury or wrongful death cases can submit only the amount paid for medical services, and directs juries to limit the amount of damages based on a set of options such as the maximum that can be charged to Medicare.


- Bill that would increase oversight of Texas’ largest energy users gets OK’d in Texas House.

The Texas House approved a bill Tuesday that would give Texas more oversight over energy transactions between power generators and the state’s largest consumers of electricity.

Senate Bill 6 also proposes new ways to assess the amount of electricity that is available to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the main manager of the state’s grid.

The bill now returns to the Senate. Legislators in the upper chamber must agree to the changes made to the bill before it goes to Abbott.

The bill would give ERCOT the power to oversee energy transactions between power generators and large consumers that don’t involve the state’s grid. ERCOT would also have the authority to cut their power and use it during an emergency.


- Proposal to automatically deny bail to some previously accused of felonies falls in Texas House.

The Texas House on Monday rejected a last-minute proposal asking voters to amend the state Constitution to automatically deny bail to certain repeat offenders, with Democrats banding together to defeat a final part a long-running push to jail more dangerous defendants before trial.

Senate Joint Resolution 87, part of a broader package stiffening the state’s bail laws, fell short of the 100 votes necessary to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, winning votes from all present Republicans and just nine Democrats. It failed, 93 to 32, with 19 Democrats declining to take a position by marking themselves “present” or not at all.

The House will have one more chance to adopt the proposal tomorrow, though its path to 100 votes remained unclear. The House approved the centerpiece of the bail package and one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities, Senate Joint Resolution 5, last week.


- Bill to allow smaller homes on smaller lots resurrected in Texas House.

A proposal to allow smaller homes on smaller lots in Texas cities — part of a slew of bills intended to tame the state’s high home prices and rents — is back from the dead after a procedural move killed it in the Texas House Sunday.

Senate Bill 15 — a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate — would reduce the amount of land cities require for single-family homes in new subdivisions. That would give homebuilders the flexibility to build smaller homes on less land, reducing the final cost of the home.

The bill, which has already cleared the Senate, briefly came before the Texas House Sunday afternoon before state Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, moved to kill the bill on procedural grounds. That move prevailed. But in a sigh of relief for housing advocates, lawmakers resurrected the bill hours later, fast-tracking the bill to come back before the chamber Tuesday.

From Black's Law Dictionary: The Four Pillars of the Rule of Law

- Click here for it. 

The concept of the rule of law goes back to ancient times and it can essentially be summed up by the well-known phrase, “nobody is above the law.” In other words, in a governing system based on the rule of law, everybody is held equally accountable under the same laws. In contrast, a system that is based upon the rule of men, such as a tyranny, monarchy, theocracy, or oligarchy, occurs when governance, laws, and the administration of justice are determined by the interests of a single person or group of people. While rule of law is a fundamental principal in many countries today, the World Justice Project points out that effective rule of law itself depends on the upholding of the following four principles.

The law applies to everyone

Perhaps one of the defining features of the rule of law is that, under such a system, the law is applied equally to all citizens, including the lawmakers themselves. Rule of law simply means that the law itself, rather than individuals or organizations, reigns supreme. Therefore, even people who enforce and administer the law, such as police officers, judges, and lawyers, are still subject to the same laws as everybody else is.

The laws are not secret or arbitrary

For a rule of law system to function, the laws themselves must be public, fair, stable, and understandable. If the laws change too frequently or arbitrarily, or the laws themselves are not publicized, then citizens have little hope of being able to abide by those laws. Furthermore, the laws must not violate fundamental human rights, which would again make them unfair to citizens.

The laws are enforced fairly

It’s one thing for the laws to be written fairly, but if they are enforced in such a way that is either arbitrary or unfair then the rule of law begins to break down. For example, if a jurisdiction passes laws against drug use, but then only enforces those laws against a particular ethnic minority or social group, then the laws are not being enforced fairly. Citizens living under a rule of law system have a right to know that the laws are being administered and enforced in a way that is fair and accessible.

The justice system is fair

Not only must laws be enforced in a fair and non-arbitrary manner, but so too must justice be delivered in a way that is fair, accessible, and efficient. In other words, the judicial system must stand independent of outside interference, such as by politicians or law enforcement agencies. Instead, the justice system must function to administer the law in such a way that citizens can expect to be treated fairly, regardless of their race, gender, beliefs, or economic status.

The rule of law is foundational to many functioning governments around the world. By limiting the arbitrary exercise of power by a single person or group, the rule of law helps establish a system whereby the fundamental rights and dignity of individuals and groups within a country are respected. While the rule of law is rarely perfectly applied, it is an ideal towards which many countries continue to strive.

Chief Justice Roberts rebukes Trump's call for impeachment of judge

Texas Tribune - Catching up with the Texas Legislature

- Attempt to decriminalize fentanyl testing strips in Texas could stall in the Senate for a third time.

- Texas may put restraints on new big businesses hoping to tap into the energy grid.

- Renewable energy companies face little regulation in Texas. A state lawmaker wants to change that.

- Texas House Republicans poised to scale back legislation that targets state’s universities.

- Amid housing affordability crisis, Texas House votes to take some power from NIMBYs.

- Texas Republican lawmakers may “financially handcuff” cities that don’t play by their rules.

- Texas strips protections for teachers, parents who share “obscene” material with children.

- Will Saturday’s elections be the last one in May for Texas?

- Texas House panel advances THC bill with stricter regulations — but no ban — for hemp industry.

- Texas lawmakers advancing bill to ban kids from social media.

- Advocates fear Texas lawmakers are about to worsen the state’s homelessness crisis.

 

Are City Ordinances In Public Records? - CountyOffice.org

Texas Land Records

Understanding Ordinances: Code vs Ordinance

From the Texas Tribune: In bail talks, lawmakers close in on Texas GOP goal of keeping defendants in jail

Bail reform was one of the lieutenant governor's emergency items.

Here's an update.

- Click here for the article.

. . . the proposal’s momentum in the House this session reflects a years long shift in Texas away from efforts to curtail mass incarceration, reduce wealth-based detention and keep nonviolent offenders out of jail. Instead, under Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, state leaders have swerved toward a tough-on-crime approach to legislating, including through bills that would likely grow the state’s incarcerated population, increase penalties for various crimes and exempt police from deadly conduct charges. And while they have failed to amend the Constitution’s bail provisions, GOP lawmakers have approved more modest changes restricting access to cashless personal bonds, needing only majority support to send the legislation to Abbott’s desk.

Some relevant legislation: 

- SB 9.
- SB 40.
- SJR 1.
- SJR 5.

For a list of all bills related to crime, click on any of the subjects below: 

- Crime Prevention
- Crime Victims Compensation
- Crimes--Against Morals
- Crimes--Against Persons
- Crimes--Against Persons--Sexual
- Crimes--Against Property
- Crimes--Capital Punishment
- Crimes--Drugs
- Crimes--Juvenile
- Crimes--Miscellaneous
- Criminal Procedure--Bail & Pretrial Release
- Criminal Procedure--Defense Counsel
- Criminal Procedure--General
- Criminal Procedure--Insanity Defense
- Criminal Procedure--Post trial Procedure
- Criminal Procedure--Pretrial Procedure
- Criminal Procedure--Sentencing & Punishment
- Criminal Procedure--Trial

From the Texas Tribune: School board races across Texas deal losses for many conservatives

Pendulums tend to swing.

- Click here for the article. 

Conservative school board candidates across Texas suffered an array of defeats in Saturday’s local elections, marking a clear setback for the Republican-aligned movement to shape how grade school curriculums and library books confront issues of race, sex and gender.

The sweeping losses for conservative school board hopefuls also served as an early sign of potential backlash to the nascent administration of President Donald Trump, ahead of a 2026 midterm in which a number of statewide offices will be on the ballot. Midterm elections historically have spelled trouble for the incumbent president’s party in down-ballot races.

Saturday’s elections saw the defeat of numerous conservative school board trustees in the Tarrant County suburbs surrounding Fort Worth, the epicenter of the state’s recent culture war fights over how students should learn about race and gender. All seven school board candidates in contested races who were endorsed by the Tarrant County Republican Party lost their elections.

The fight dates back to 2022, when a network of conservative donors and groups led by Patriot Mobile Action — a North Texas Christian nationalist PAC funded by a cellphone company — backed a slate of 11 school board candidates around the area, 10 of whom won their elections. That included major gains on the Mansfield ISD board, where the newfound conservative majority gave itself oversight over which library books could be added to school shelves, presaging a proposal now making its way through the Legislature.

All three Mansfield ISD trustees up for reelection Saturday had been backed by Patriot Mobile Action and were endorsed this year by the Tarrant County GOP; all three lost their reelection bids. The party’s pick for Mansfield mayor, Julie Short, also failed to unseat incumbent Michael Evans.

Conservatives also racked up losses on the nearby Arlington, Grapevine-Colleyville and Keller ISD boards. Keller ISD trustees have drawn statewide attention over a 2022 policy that, in practice, allowed community members to block proposed book purchases.

For more: 

- In Mansfield, re-elected Mayor says voters sent a message: "People are tired of the uber partisanship" .

- Election results: Mansfield mayor declares victory, Place 5 headed to runoff.

 

https://communityimpact.com/houston/pearland-friendswood/development/2025/04/16/renewing-pearland-old-town-pearland-officials-look-to-revitalize-old-town-with-new-plan/

https://chatgpt.com/c/681a3ff2-a0b4-800a-b4e3-376f36fde493

https://www.houstontx.gov/housing/fair-housing/flyers/2021/english/FH-Hotline-Renters-Flyer-Final-V2-081721.pdf

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-weather/forecast/article/tornado-watch-tuesday-southeast-texas-20312631.php

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/06/trump-presidency-news/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/?reload=true&_=1746554064115

- Texas lawmakers moving to greatly increase control of state universities.

- SB 37.

Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board: Flood Control in Texas

SWIFT Program: No Texas miracle without Texas water

From the Washington Post: Tracking the court actions and lawsuits over Trump’s agenda

For a more detailed look at the uses of the courts to push back against recent executive actions.

- Click here for it. 

Will the courts determine that these are within the proper parameters of presidential powers?

For Review: Dear CHatGPT: How Can a U.S. President Abuse Executive Power?

From the Texas Tribune: Private school vouchers are now law in Texas. Here’s how they will work.

- Click here for the article. 

Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday signed legislation authorizing a private school voucher program into law, marking the grand finale of an oftentimes ugly conflict that has largely defined Texas politics this decade.

Senate Bill 2 will allow families to use public taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s education at an accredited private school or to pay for a wide range of school-related expenses, like textbooks, transportation or therapy. The program will be one of the largest school voucher initiatives in the nation.

“When I ran for reelection in 2022, I promised school choice for the families of Texas. Today, we deliver on that promise,” said Abbott during the bill's signing before hundreds of applauding supporters gathered outside the Governor's Mansion. “Gone are the days that families are limited to only the school assigned by government. The day has arrived that empowers parents to choose the school that’s best for their child.”

The law will go into effect on Sept. 1, with the program expected to launch in late 2026.

For GOVT 2306 - 5/5/25

- Winners and losers from Houston-area elections on bond packages, school board races and more.

- Gov. Abbott threatens to pull San Marcos funding over 'antisemitic' Israel ceasefire resolution.

- U.S. House moves to cut $3.3 billion program that would expand sidewalks in Houston.

- Houston council OKs application for $966M loan to build a new East Water Purification Plant.

- Exclusive: Houston could face lawsuit if city doesn’t renegotiate or withdraw from transportation council.

- After the failed attempt to impeach AG Paxton, state senators wants to change Texas' impeachment law.

How did Putin's military shortages get so bad? | Members Q&A

HB 4814
Author: Gerdes
Last Action: 04/03/2025 H Referred to Public Education: Apr 3 2025 12:38PM
Caption: Relating to the display of and allowance for non-human behaviors in Texas schools.

HB 366
Author: Phelan
Last Action: 04/30/2025 S Received from the House
Caption: Relating to required disclosures on certain political advertising that contains altered media; creating a criminal offense.

HB 32
Author: Button | Geren | Moody | Smithee | Leach
Last Action: 04/08/2025 H Reported favorably as substituted
Caption: Relating to the eviction from real property of certain persons not entitled to enter, occupy, or remain in possession of the premises.

For today's 2305 - and probably tomorrow also

- Outline United States policies regarding westward emmigration beginning in 1790.

- Outline United States policies encouraging agriculture beginning in 1790.

- Outline United States policies encouraging the development of cities beginning in 1790.

- Outline United States policies encouraging the development of interstate commerce beginning in 1790.

- Outline United States policies encouraging the development of interstate transportation beginning in 1790.

- Outline United States policies improving interstate communications beginning in 1790.