Good morning, 

Following the Super Bowl, you’ll notice the Chicago Bears haven’t been bragging about being rated #17 in the NFL. Our “pro-life” lawmakers in Texas should take note.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, February 6, 2020
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• Despite some Republican officials’ self-promoting claims, Texas is not the most pro-life state in the union, nor is it even in the top ten. In fact, Texas has dropped to 17th on a national ranking of pro-life policies by Americans United for Life.
       
• As Texas Right to Life’s Elizabeth Graham points out: “In 2008, AUL considered Texas the 4th most Pro-Life state in the nation.  But by 2015, Texas dropped to 10th and continued to fall, ranking 13th in 2019. ... Falling four spots during a year in which the Texas Legislature was in session underscores House leadership’s failure and their ambivalence toward vulnerable preborn Texans.”
        
• Texas’ retreat from the pro-life battlefield has been managed by politicians like disgraced former House speakers Joe Straus and Dennis Bonnen. Their capitulation has been disgustingly cheered by faux-life groups funded by the crony establishment and led by the likes of Joe Pojman (Texas Alliance for Life), Kyleen Wright (Texans for Life), and, most shockingly, Jennifer Carr Allmon of the Texas Catholic Conference.
      
• In the packed GOP primary for Congressional District 22, one candidate is being called out for his opposition to legislation banning sanctuary cities for illegal aliens in Texas. Brandon Waltens reports Sheriff Troy Nehls of Fort Bend County is one of 15 Republican candidates seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Pete Olson in the the Houston area seat. Back in 2017, Nehls described a statewide ban on sanctuary cities as “dangerous for law enforcement” but is now re-writing history as a candidate for Congress.
      

• A wannabe establishment candidate for the Texas House has a clear message: “I am against the ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying.” That’s what “Republican” Glenn Rogers’ told Republican primary voters at a House District 60 candidate forum in Granbury. Never mind that banning taxpayer-funded lobbying has been a top priority of the state GOP. Cary Cheshire reports that Rogers also told the audience he doesn’t like the party’s position on “constitutional carry.” Rogers is seen on video saying he is “very much a Republican, but I also have a brain.”
      

• No, Glenn, it would seem you are not... and do not.
        

• The Lone Star State has earned a bad reputation due to the sometimes abusive practices of the Child Protective Services bureaucracy in its zeal to terminate parental rights. That’s changing. In a new blog post on their website, Jeremy Newman of the Texas Home School Coalition explains what the Texas Supreme Court’s newly revised Rules of Civil Procedure means for families. Going forward, parental rights can be terminated only if jurors agree on the specific accusations leveled by a CPS against the parent.
     

• “There is perhaps no more severe punishment that the state can inflict than to terminate the parent-child relationship. This makes the haphazard approach that Texas has used in termination cases in the past all the more horrendous. Thankfully, the Texas Supreme Court has now put an end to this practice.” – Jeremy Newman

• Austin is not just unaffordable, it is downright inhospitable to those trying to get their life on track. According to a recent study, Austin is the most costly major city in the nation for those making minimum wage. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
      

• On this week’s edition of Texas Scorecard Radio, Tony McDonald interviews the head of Transparency Texas, Tracy Marshall, regarding her organization’s report on the money flowing to disgraced House Speaker Dennis Bonnen after his deceptive and unethical behavior was revealed.
         

• Even if Texas Scorecard Radio isn’t broadcast locally, you can catch every edition on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, or Stitcher.
   

• Please join me in wishing a happy birthday to our very own Jacob Asmussen!