Unjust desserts in the fundraising racket If you’re gonna tell people what you think, it helps to really know. I don’t always.

COMMENTARY You won’t have to come into work every day. That’s what my editor said when I took the job.

By the time you read this, the publisher and editor of these newspapers will be bound for the East Coast to spend the holidays with family and friends. This year we are taking a week’s vacation between Christmas and New Year’s and not publishing a 52nd edition of our newspapers—a break for advertisers’ budgets, as well as for support staff who would have to gather news and lay out pages on Christmas Day.

HANABA MUNN WELCH Google the barbell housefly Stump Google! That’s the name of the game. The challenge is to think of something that doesn’t appear when you Google it.

A half-dozen lawsuits challenging the 13 approved Texas constitutional amendments appear to be dead in the water, The Dallas Morning News reported. The secretary of state’s office last week declared the propositions approved and now a part of the Texas Constitution, while Gov. Greg Abbott canvassed the election and certified the results. One proposition that would have raised the retirement age of judges was rejected by voters.

A Sunday of NFL football means that the phrase “red zone” is within earshot when in and out of the living room. Once a team reaches the opponent’s 20-yard-line, it is within twenty yards of the endzone. Scoring opportunities are within grasp.

AUSTIN—As time runs out next week on the fourth special session, Gov. Greg Abbott said he will continue to fight for school choice, despite the Texas House once again decisively rejecting it when 21 Republicans largely from rural districts joined Democrats in stripping it from a $7.6 billion education bill. The Austin American-Statesman reported it is unclear what Abbott’s next move will be.

[ dripping with sarcasm] “Of course, Jimmy, I want you to forget the fact that you graduated in the top percentile of the United States Naval Academy and are well on your way to an illustrious naval career so that we can go home and farm. By all means, let’s give up the chance to travel the world because you feel an obligation to your mother. Sure thing, Plains is the place I want to land again, with great memories of working my teenage years to help support my family after my own dad died. Yep, honey, we will pack our kids and our dreams even though you have been handpicked to help with the Navy’s cutting-edge nuclear submarine program. Of course, Jimmy, whatever you say,” said Rosalynn Carter in 1953.

AUSTIN—The Texas House on Friday defeated a proposedvoucherplan,also leaving in doubt a comprehensive public school funding plan that became tied to it, The Dallas Morning News reported. A coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats joined together to take education savings accounts out of the bill by an 84-63 margin. t’s unclear whether proposed record funding increases for schools and teacher raises will survive this fourth special session. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made vouchers a priority. Versions of their priority have passed the Senate but continue to be stymied in the House. This special session ends the first week of December.

COMMENTARY HANABA MUNN WELCH Raise your hand if you think you might be neurotic. Raise your other hand if you don’t know what it means.