IN THIS EPISODE:
- Host Khambrel Marshall takes a look at what’s in store for the Texas Legislative Session. He sits down with Mark Jones, Ph.D, political science fellow for the Baker Institute of Public Policy, and Bill King, chair for the Texas Forward Party.
- We look into how consumers are losing billions of dollars due to cybersecurity lapses.
A broken political system and what’s in store for the Texas legislative session
The Texas legislative session is now underway and while there are still several more months of bill haggling to be done, the overall outcome may already be in the cards.
Mark Jones, Ph.D. is Political Science Fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, and says the Republicans have the upper hand on anything they want to do.
“By and large you’re going to see conservative priorities pass in areas like schools in areas like education, border security,” Jones said. “And we’re not going to see any of the Democrat legislation on gun control or abortion rights pass.”
The conversation also focuses on politics in general and the way the extremes of both parties are influencing policies that are being advocated.
Bill King is the Texas Chair of The Forward Party and says his party is the answer to what is wrong with the current political environment.
“You have to be extreme in your views to get attention and to get primary voters to vote for you,” he said. “So that’s the people we end up electing. If you look at all the big issues in the United States and you ask Americans what they think about it, they’re in the middle on abortion, gun control, anything.”
Are there solutions? Why is New York Congressman George Santos still in Congress and what to do about the state’s more than 30 billion dollar budget surplus? All topics on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.
The dangers of cybersecurity lapses are costing billions of dollars
Billions of dollars in losses!
That’s the reality of what consumers have lost as a result of mistakes made while on the internet. Whether it’s social media interactions at home or work-related missteps, many of the problems stem from a lack of awareness.
David Finn is the Vice President of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and says even the simple act of installing an app on your phone can put all of your data at risk.
“What we found in our research is that your iPhone or any cell phone operating system has access to all that data and it will ship it to up to 14 or 15 other sites that we don’t know about,” he said.
David Finn says the advancement in technology has made cybersecurity more challenging.
“My cell phone today has the computer power that my desktop had 12 years ago,” he said. “So we think of them as phones but we hardly ever use them as phones. They’re really computers.”
David Binn provides much more advice in this week’s Houston Newsmakers EXTRA
For more information on this week’s Houston Newsmakers
· Mark Jones, Ph.D. Political Science Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University
· Website: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/mark-p-jones
· Bill King, Chair, The Forward Party
· Website: https://www.houstontx.gov/culturalaffairs/index.html
· Website: https://www.forwardparty.com/billkinghouston
· David Finn, District J Houston City Council Member
· Website: https://chimecentral.org/people/david-finn/