Good morning, 

Here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Cruz: U.S. House Should Impeach Mayorkas 'Right Now'

• Count U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz among the growing chorus of lawmakers calling for the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the wake of the crisis at the southern border. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• “I believe the House should impeach Alejandro Mayorkas right now,” said Cruz on the Salcedo Storm podcast. “Mayorkas is responsible for the utter chaos at our southern border, for the worst dereliction of duty of any cabinet secretary in history, and he is profoundly threatening the safety and security of 30 million Texans and of Americans across our country.”
        
• Cruz is not the only Texas official calling for Mayorkas' ouster. Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy have also urged federal lawmakers to take action against the Biden appointee.

TxDOT Promotes LGBT Trivia on Government-Issued Devices

• Records reveal administrators at the Texas Department of Transportation are allowing employees to use taxpayer-funded government-issued devices to participate in LGBT employee resource group activities during their lunch breaks. Soli Rice has the details.
       
• This latest revelation was included in a tip from a TxDOT whistleblower to Texas Scorecard and confirmed in agency documentation that officials tried to keep secret.
       
• On the last Friday of each month, the agency invites employees to participate in a trivia game hosted by Mark Dickerman, a TxDOT program specialist, whose $76,572 salary is paid for by taxpayers. Dickerman reportedly creates an LGBTQ-themed trivia game each month.
         
• Only 15 of the agency's nearly 13,000 employees participated during the most recent program, which was observed by Texas Scorecard.

Texas A&M Offers Pro-LGBTQ Resources With Taxpayer Funds...

• Despite public frustration with leftist ideologies being promoted by state universities, Texas A&M is offering specific scholarships dedicated to LGBTQ students and their advocates. Emily Medeiros reports TAMU is putting a lot of resources into promoting a radical – and divisive – gender ideology.
       
• For example, the university operates a "Q-closet" for gender-confused students and promotes programs for students, faculty, and staff to learn how to be "advocates" for the LGBTQ political and social agenda.
       
• The university’s health center asks students to update their gender identity, with the choices: male, female, genderqueer, gender-nonconforming, two spirit, agender, and questioning.

... Names Obama Appointee as Interim President

• Fresh off a very public scandal involving senior A&M officials seeking to hire a DEI proponent, which led to the resignation of the university's president, the TAMU board of regents is bringing on a retired Air Force general as the interim leader. Sydnie Henry has the details.
        
• Mark Welsh III has been serving as the dean of A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service since 2016. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a four-star general appointed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Barack Obama. He previously served as associate director of the Central Intelligence Agency for Military Support.
         
• His appointment as interim president follows the resignation of Katherine Banks. She oversaw the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a diversity, equity, and inclusion proponent who rejected A&M’s final job offer amidst a public outcry from former students and donors.

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