The Baines Report
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text] Photo: Sarah Pollock For a state that prides itself on having a culture of go-getters, Texas has a population of citizens who are remarkably disengaged from the political process. According to the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, voter turnout in Texas has been one of the lowest in the country for […]
Photo: Matt (CC) Your entire state loses power, and three weeks later you and 86.3% of your neighbors still can’t turn on their lights. Imagine spending day after day in a gas line, only to return with enough gas to make it home. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be able to buy enough to start your generator-it’s […]
Photo: Trish Hartmann (CC) Crook Fellow Michael Deegan analyzes current U.S. policy regarding the Western Balkans through insights gained during his time at the Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia: Earlier this month, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence paid a visit to the coastal country of Montenegro to address the Adriatic Summit, […]
Photo shows the Perkowti Valley near FOB Tillman in Paktika, Afghanistan, taken by author The guard drops Tim and Luis off ten minutes late for GED math prep at the Travis County Jail. Shuffling to our shared circular work table, they apologize for their tardiness. We dive into simple interest calculations. Tim’s got it down, but […]
Photo: persecutionbd This past week, a proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance came to University of Texas Law School to discuss religiously motivated violence in Bangladesh. The Law School’s Rapoport Center hosted the talk by Khushi Kabir (pictured above), activist and public face of Nijera Kori, a Bangladeshi NGO that educates and mobilizes the rural poor […]
Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero In my class with the Strauss Center’s Mexico Security Initiative[1], my classmates and I are fine-tuning our policy report for the upcoming 2018 Mexican elections. Set against the backdrop of brutal crime and cartel violence, our project focuses on strategies for the next Mexican administration regarding several key policy arenas—economic, security, civil society, […]
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Representative Gina Hinojosa rushes into the office just as the House is being called to the Floor, but she takes the time to greet everyone in the office and ask how they are before rushing back out again. I’m usually already at my desk, settling in and sorting through the […]
Photo: Morguefile Like many people waking up last Saturday morning, I was shocked by President Trump’s executive order restricting immigration and banning refugees from entering the United States. As a Sudanese-American Muslim holding dual citizenship, I am anxious and confused as to how this may affect my family and thousands of others. Like many immigrants, […]
Photo: Bionic Teaching Texas’ 85th legislative session kicked off last month. Lawmakers now have until the end of May to balance a state budget three percent smaller than that of the previous session. Having the power of the purse, the legislature must decide which government programs to prioritize and which to trim—or cut. Policymakers have a […]
Photo: Paul Kuhne Last fall, I decided to quit my full-time job and apply to policy school. After some consideration, I enrolled at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs as a candidate in Global Policy Studies. I had two reasons for attending LBJ. First, I believe in the values that LBJ espoused and […]