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Monday, April 22, 2019

From Vox: The Supreme Court just took up a set of very big cases on LGBTQ rights

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Key terms: equal protection, supreme court, ideology, social policy, writ of certiorari - Click here for the article . The US Supreme Court...

From the Texas Tribune: Senate bill would let felons run for office in Texas only if they've been pardoned

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- Click here for the article . A bill before the Texas Senate would allow felons to seek public office only if they have received pardons. ...
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

From the Texas Tribune: Closed on Sundays: A guide to some of Texas' confusing alcohol regulations

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Key terms: rulemaking, interest groups, sunset advisory commission, executive agencies, regulatory agencies, federalism, judicial federalism...
Monday, April 15, 2019

From the Dallas Morning News: Will fixes to Texas’ broken Medicaid system live or die? Patient groups, insurers draw battle lines

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Key terms: Health and Human Services, cooperative federalism, poverty, - Click here for the article . A package of bipartisan bills to fix ...

From the Houston Chronicle: Texas lawmakers propose major reforms for $44B school endowment

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Key Terms: education funding, plural executive, SBOE, legislature, - Click here for the article . Lawmakers are proposing a wide range of f...

From Governing: Marital Rape Isn't Necessarily a Crime in 12 States

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Key terms: criminal law, reserved powers, policy diffusion, due process - Click here for the article . By day, Minnesota state Rep. Zach St...

From the Texas Tribune: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, other top leaders propose raising the sales tax to provide property tax relief

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We might have to change our government notes again. Key Terms: regressive taxes, unitary government, fiscal policy, local government, Texas ...
Thursday, April 11, 2019

What is Medicare for all?

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A couple explainers from Vox. Cutting to the chase, lot's of different things. It's much more popular among liberals, sine it promot...

From the Atlantic: Why Europeans Don’t Get Huge Medical Bills

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For our look at economic policy, regulations, interest groups, ideology, and health policy - Click here for the article . Several Europe...
Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Bump Stock Ban

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We followed this rabbit hole in GOVT 2305 this evening. - A federal bump stock ban starts today. Here's what that means for owners . - T...

From Wikipedia: 1st United States Congress

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We went through this in class today in order to figure out how the 1st Congress began to fill the empty vessel of executive power. - Click h...

Grits for Breakfast

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A nice source of info for Texas' criminal justice system - Click here for the blog .

From the Texas Tribune Topics: Criminal Justice

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For perusal in 2306. - Click here for it . A few standouts: - Will Texas decriminalize marijuana this year? There is growing support . - Thi...

Meet FAA acting administrator Daniel Elwell

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Background from Wikipedia . Raised in San Diego , Elwell graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Affairs from the Unit...

The organization flowchart of the FAA

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- Click here for the source .

Has Boeing captured the Federal Aviation Administration?

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Recent events have lead some to say so. Key Terms: regulatory capture, interest groups, regulatory agencies, lobbying - Regulatory capture m...

Barr memorandum on obstruction of justice.

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Key Terms: executive power, checks and balances - Click here for the document .

From Politico: The Forgotten Reason Congress Needs to See the Mueller Report

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"Legislators have a responsibility to police obstruction of justice, according to the Constitution." - Click here for the article ...
Monday, April 8, 2019

From the Clarion-Ledger: COPY, PASTE, LEGISLATE You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.

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Key Terms: watchdog, special interests, federalism, biased pluralism - Click here for the article . Each year, state lawmakers across the...

From Governing: Mississippi Leads Nation in Filing Legislation Other People Wrote. Here's Why That Matters.

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Key Terms: interest groups, dark money, federalism, policy diffusion - Click here for the article . A bill that critics fear could unleash ...
Thursday, April 4, 2019

The First Republican

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And man about town: John Fremont - The great pathfinder

A few items from the City of Pearland website

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- Pearland MUDs . - Pearland Zoning . - Pearland City Manager . - TIRZ No. 2 Board . - Planning & Zoning . - Frequently Requested Ordina...
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

From CNN Business: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg calls for more regulation of the internet

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For our upcoming look at economic policy, and the factors that lead to the development of regulations. - Click here for the article . Faceb...

INS v. Chadha

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The Supreme Court case that invalidated the legislative veto, and in the opinion of some, unleashed executive power. - The Legislative Veto ...

From the Washington Post: How the Supreme Court weakened Congress on emergency declarations

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On the evolving relationship between the three branches, and the imperial presidency. - Click here for the article . When the law under whi...

From 538: Why Trump Hasn’t Seen A Post-Mueller Boost In The Polls

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Possible evidence supporting the conclusions here . - Click here for the article . The completion of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Ru...

From the Columbia Law Review: Article II Vests Executive Power, Not the Royal Prerogative

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For our look at the presidency. This seems to be a challenge to our understanding on the inherent powers of the president. - Click here fo...
Monday, April 1, 2019

From the Texas Tribune: After helping defeat the “bathroom bill” in 2017, business groups are back to oppose “discriminatory and divisive measures”

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Business groups in Texas ... - Click here for the article . In the spring of 2015, 80 companies and business groups banded together to cre...

From the Texas Monior: Heavyweight lobby group tries again to reduce power of state’s anti-SLAPP law

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For our look at interest groups in Texas, as well as free press and speech. - Click here for the article . The politically powerful Texans f...
Thursday, March 28, 2019

From 538: Trump’s Approval Rating Is Incredibly Steady. Is That Weird Or The New Normal?

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For out look at polling, and approval ratings. - Click here for the article . So what explains this lack of movement in recent presidents’ ...

For our look at the coalitional nature of the two parties.

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Both from 538 - The Five Wings Of The Republican Party . The Trumpists Often join Trump on immigration policy and in attacking institutio...

From the Texas Tribune: Advocates say the timing is right for independent oversight of Texas prisons

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More on checks and balances, executive agencies, interest groups, and bill making. - Click here for the article . After a recent slew of da...

From Vox: Maryland just became the sixth state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour

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More on policy diffusion and interest groups, among other topics. - Click here for the article . Maryland is now the third state to phase i...

CNN: Remembering Desert Storm, 20 years later

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Here's video we watched in GOVT 2305 today.

From Lawfare: Document: Attorney General Barr Letter on Mueller Report

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This is all we know right now about the results of the Mueller investigation. - Click here for it .

AC in Texas Prisons

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All from the Texas Tribune - Texas officials say it would cost $1 billion to cool prisons – but they’ve grossly overestimated AC costs befor...
Tuesday, March 26, 2019

For reference ....

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From the NCSL: REDISTRICTING AND THE SUPREME COURT: THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CASES

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A nice summary of past cases. - Click here for it .

From the NYT: Justices Display Divisions in New Cases on Voting Maps Warped by Politics

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The court again considered whether partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. The cases are Rucho v. Common Cause , and Lamone v. Benise...

From Congress.gov: H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2019

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- Click here for full info on the bill .

From Vox: House Democrats officially unveil their first bill in the majority: a sweeping anti-corruption proposal

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HR1 - For The People Act - was the first bill introduced in the House by the Democratic majority. - Click here for the article . Here are th...