Good morning,

What kind of leader are you? Michael Quinn Sullivan poses that question in today's Friday Reflection.

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, September 8, 2023.

– Brandon Waltens 

Paxton ‘Whistleblower’ Says He Went to FBI With No Evidence

• In a bombshell admission towards the close of the third day of the Senate’s impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a former employee admitted he reported his former boss to the FBI with no evidence.
   

• The revelation came as Ryan Vassar, the former deputy attorney general for legal counsel, was being cross-examined by Paxton’s legal team.
   

• “Let me get this straight, you went to the FBI and reported him for potential crimes without any evidence, do I have that correct?” attorney Mitch Little asked Vassar.
   

• “We went to the FBI and reported our belief that criminal activity had occurred,” Vassar obfuscated. 
   

• “That’s not my question,” Little clarified. 
   

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the Senate’s trial, directed Vassar to answer the question directly. 
   

• “That’s right, we took no evidence,” Vassar conceded.
   

• Little then read through several of the 20 impeachment charges levied against Paxton, with Vassar testifying that he did not believe he violated them. 
   

• Many of the impeachment charges were spurred by a group of employees of the Office of the Attorney General that reported Ken Paxton to the FBI in 2020 due to what they said were illegal and unethical abuse of office.

University Pushes DEI-Based ‘1619 Project’ on Students

• Despite lawmakers working to eliminate so-called "diversity, equity, and inclusion" agendas in state's institutions, the University of Texas at Arlington is requiring students to read and write a paper on the DEI-based 1619 Project. Soli Rice has the details. 
   

• Activist Carlos Turcios was sent information and images from a UTA student showing that The 1619 Project is part of the required core class materials.
   

• The 1619 Project is The New York Times Magazine’s “initiative to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."
   

• Assigned in a mandatory History class, students are required to respond to the following prompt: “How have laws, policies, and systems developed to enforce the enslavement of black Americans before the Civil War influenced laws, policies, and systems in years since?” The students are told they may only use the 1619 Project as a source.
   

• “I’m concerned that taxpayers’ money is being used to promote a radical program that changes US history and pushes the notion that the US was only founded because of slavery,” said Turcios.

Liberal Republican Launches Re-election Campaign

• Six-term State Rep. Kyle Kacal announced he is running for re-election to Texas House District 12. The district includes Grimes, Madison, Robertson, Walker, and Washington counties, as well as a portion of Brazos County.

• As Erin Anderson reports, the rural Republican drew a primary opponent in 2022, but Kacal beat GOP challenger Ben Bius in a primary runoff with 58 percent of the vote. He was unopposed in the general election.

• Kacal’s top campaign contributor in the 2022 election cycle was the Texas Farm Bureau ($145,000), followed by House Speaker Dade Phelan ($76,000). Other top contributors included the anti-school choice Charles Butt Public Education PAC, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC, Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, and the pro-casino gambling Texas Sands PAC.

• In 2022 Kacal was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott as well as one of the state’s top teacher’s unions, the Texas State Teachers Association. He has repeatedly opposed Abbott's push for school choice this year. 

Texas Power Grid Enters Emergency Conditions

• While Texans continue struggling in a record-breaking heat wave, Katy Marshall reports the Electric Reliability Council of Texas warned citizens that the power grid has moved into “Emergency Operations.”

• On Wednesday evening, September 6, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve electricity, claiming the power grid’s operating reserves were expected to be low due to “continued high temperatures, high demand, low wind, and declining solar power generation.” And again, on Thursday evening, another alert was issued. 

• ERCOT requested that government agencies—including city and county offices—reduce their offices’ energy consumption.

• Texas’ power supply once again broke the peak record of energy demand, with the grid requiring 82,705 megawatts on Wednesday.

Educator Charged with Sex Crimes Against Multiple Students

• The Arlington Police Department arrested Anthony Rashad Hawkins, 25, on Tuesday in Grand Prairie. Erin Anderson has the story. 

• Police say Hawkins is now a former employee of Sam Houston High School in Arlington Independent School District.

• Hawkins was charged with three counts of improper relationship between educator and student—forcible rape and two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. All are second-degree felonies punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

• Texas Scorecard has reported on dozens of Texas educators accused of sex crimes involving students and other minors, and more “bad apples” are being charged almost every day.

Friday Reflection:
Be A Leader

How do you rule the people around you? What kind of leader are you? Don’t think of yourself as a leader, as a ruler? Think again.

Whether we want to admit it or not, each of us are leaders. For better or worse, we influence people around us. 

I thought about the power of personal influence as I read again about the life of Gideon in the Bible’s Book of Judges. He’s always been one of my favorite men from that period of history, but he is complicated. 

Gideon is clearly a hero, but the legacy he left behind is mixed – a bit of a cautionary tale.

I’ve written previously about the unorthodox military leadership he provided under God’s direction. We all know the story of him gathering the 300 soldiers and defeating an army of thousands. The Sunday School lessons usually end somewhere between that victory over Midian and Gideon’s refusal to be named a king.

It appeals to our American heritage. I recall Gideon being described as a "George Washington" figure. After his military success, the people of Israel pointedly asked him to be a king. He replied, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you."

That, my friends, is the Sunday School answer if you are studying the biblical history of self-governance. The bell rings, and the class is dismissed. Except the story, inconveniently for those preferring neatly wrapped tales of virtue, didn’t end there. 

Gideon asked the men of Israel to share some of their plunder with him. This made him exceedingly rich. With the gold, he made a religious icon that we are told "Israel whored after" – that’s not a good thing, as one might imagine. When he died, the people "turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side."

Gideon was right to refuse a monarchy; God specifically wanted the people to be self-governing under His lordship. But even a self-governing people will look for opinion-shapers, for wise counsel, for smart leadership among themselves. They had seen all that in Gideon, and they respected him for it. 

As it turns out, Gideon handled war and adversity better than he handled peace and success.

He used the people’s respect to enrich himself, and then he abused it by giving his countrymen the opportunity to set a false god over themselves – rather than the God of Jacob.

When the fighting stopped, as Israel entered a 40-year period of peace purchased by Gideon’s early efforts, his poor leadership led a complacent people into a worse place than they had been before. Gideon said he and his son wouldn’t rule, but they did – they just did so very poorly by their example.

What about you and me? How are we ruling? How are we leading? In times of peace and plenty, do we lazily point people to the false gods of the day, or are we zealously encouraging them to pursue self-governance under God? 

Whether we want to admit it or not, each of us are leaders. For better or worse, we influence people around us. Let us resolve daily to make it for the better.

Now Available: 'Reflections on Life & Liberty'

• The book comes in three formats: hardcover, paperback, and digital download. For now, "Reflections on Life & Liberty" is only available at Amazon.