Good morning!

Yesterday, we asked readers about private businesses mandating COVID shots. The responses flooded in. Down below you will find the survey results and a sampling of comments I received.

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Dan Patrick to Dade Phelan: "Resign"

• As the third special session of the Texas Legislature began yesterday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued a blunt statement to Speaker Dade Phelan: "Resign." Brandon Waltens has the story.
      
• “I am calling on Dade Phelan to resign his position before the House gavels in this afternoon,” said Patrick.
      
• Phelan did not resign. Instead, the House immediately adjourned until Thursday. The Texas Senate, meanwhile, referred relevant legislation to committees and began those hearings.
      
• It should be noted that this special is addressing issues that were killed in the Texas House.
      
• The State Republican Executive Committee, the elected body overseeing the Texas GOP, passed a resolution last month calling for Phelan's resignation. So has Donald Trump.

Ken Paxton Files Criminal Complaints Against House Members

• After House Impeachment Managers released documents revealing his personal home address in internet postings, Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced he will be filing criminal complaints against each of them. Revealing such information online on anyone is a violation of a new state law, punishable by up to six months in jail.

      
• The information was released last week as “additional evidence” despite the trial being long over.
     

• Paxton said yesterday he is referring the issue to local prosecutors in the House Impeachment Managers' home districts. Those managers included State Reps. Andrew Murr (R–Junction), Ann Johnson (D–Houston), Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth), Joe Moody (D–El Paso), Jeff Leach (R–Plano), Terry Canales (D–Edinburg), Oscar Longoria (D–Mission), Morgan Meyer (R–Dallas), Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park), Cody Vasut (R–Angleton), David Spiller (R–Jacksboro), and Erin Gamez (D–Brownsville).

How Will Texas Lawmakers Stop Another Colony Ridge?

• Following national media coverage, Gov. Greg Abbott has included Colony Ridge on the call for Texas’ third special legislative session. As Sydnie Henry reports, Colony Ridge is a controversial housing development that reportedly advertises itself to illegal aliens.

      
• It has been gaining attention for its strain on local resources and increasingly violent crime.
      
• Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Babin’s congressional district includes Liberty County. He recently released an op-ed saying, “Colony Ridge has been an enormous concern since I learned of its existence shortly after taking the oath of office in 2015 – frankly, keeping me awake many nights since.”
        
• State Reps. Steve Toth (R–The Woodlands), Nate Schatzline (R–Fort Worth), Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian), and Tony Tinderholt (R–Arlington) have created a plan they say will address cartel activity in the area.
      

• They propose budgeting state money to establish a Department of Public Safety substation in Liberty County, thereby multiplying the law enforcement presence in the Colony Ridge community. They also want to explore placing the county under state conservatorship.

      
• The Texas Public Policy Foundation has been studying the effects of Colony Ridge since 2020. The think tank's policy paper recommends increased cooperation between local and federal jurisdictions in immigration law enforcement.

School Administrators Admit to Bypassing Critical Race Theory Ban

• A new investigation into San Antonio government schools reveals officials are attempting to bypass the statewide ban on Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools. Emily Medeiros has the details.
      

• A new undercover report from Accuracy in Media finds multiple San Antonio government school administrators saying the law prohibiting CRT in schools doesn’t affect them or school plans.

        
• “Personally, I have been in over 250 school districts across the country investigating this sort of thing, and some of the absolute worst deception we’ve seen in America was in Texas,” said Adam Guillette, the president of Accuracy in Media. "Parents have every right to be morally outraged by these law-breaking administrators who are happily deceiving them."

Abbott Appoints ‘Hard Democrat’ as Nueces County DA

• Nueces County Republicans are fuming that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chose someone with a “hard Democrat” voting record to replace the rogue district attorney who quit last month. Erin Anderson has the story.

      

• DWI defense attorney James “Jimmy” Granberry was appointed at the end of the week by Abbott to fill the remainder of the current DA term, which ends December 31, 2024.

      
• Granberry’s voting history shows he is a “hard Democrat.” His law practice partner, John Gilmore, was the campaign treasurer for the former DA.
      
• “Everyone here takes it as a slap in the face to the Republican Party,” said Suzanne Guggenheim, who leads the Coastal Bend Republican Coalition.

Y'All Answered

As the third special session convenes, lawmakers are being asked by Gov. Greg Abbott to prohibit private employers from issuing COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment.

Yesterday, we asked readers if they thought private employers should be allowed to require a COVID jab. Only 6.7 percent of readers said businesses should be allowed to require it, while 93.3 percent responded negatively.

Here is a sampling of the responses we received...

• “Employers have for a long time required vaccines for employees who work overseas--many mandated by those countries; the COVID jabs are NOT vaccines; NO employee—working in either public or private sector—should be required to take fake COVID jab for working in the USA!” – Marie Day
      

• “I generally believe if employees don't like their employer's rules, they can switch jobs to a company with different policies. The difference here was the pressure placed on large corporations by federal agencies and their enforcers in the media, so I voted ‘No.’” – Spencer Siino
      

• “While I do NOT want anyone being forced to get unwanted vaccinations, I am even more opposed to giving any government entity any more powers over free citizens... including business owners.  Business owners are free to set their work requirements (up to a point), and workers are free to quit if they object to those requirements.” – Romeo Riojas
      

• “Employees should not have to violate their conscience in order to get or retain a job.” – Cathy Blake
      

• “Working in healthcare for many years, I have witnessed its decline, in my opinion, due to the overreach of government into the private sector. Although I would not recommend the COVID vax to anyone, we must pause and not hurriedly ask or expect the government to do our job of standing up for what’s right. Most, if not all, health care providers were ‘required’ to get the vax. Many just complied, some did not. Those who did not comply had to stand up to the bullies by filling out exemption forms.  Some were fired. Some chose to quit and work elsewhere.  If we just speak up, stand up, and do what is necessary to fight the bullies ourselves first instead of waiting on big government to intervene, these private businesses would get the message and comply with us.” – Shonda Juarez
           

• “The Covid vaccines have not proven to be nearly as effective as big Pharma claimed they would be, not to mention the unforeseen side effects that nobody wants to take responsibility for. There’s no reason someone should have to take a shot that they don’t know what effects it will have on them in order to keep their job. Did we not learn our lesson over the last few years? Stop the insanity of taking our freedoms away from us!” – Sudie Sartor
      

• “Governments should leave private businesses alone as much as possible.” – Jerry Harben
       

• “I believe a private enterprise should be able to require whatever they want in order to hire someone.  I do not agree with adding requirements after an employee is hired.  I clicked ‘no’ when I really wanted to say, ‘it depends.’” – Brian Mahagan
       

• “Since the ‘vaccines’ have been proven to neither halt the spread nor even keep the individual from getting the disease, and the masks, as we all knew all along, are worthless, what reason do businesses have to require either?” – Charlene Roberson
      

• “We have lost too much freedom since 9/11. People should be free to make their own choices. Besides, the vaccines have proven to cause lots of health problems for people that took them.” – Sam Bridges 
      

• “Vaccines should be a PERSONAL choice, not mandated. I think all COVID mandates issue by anyone, including the governor, should NOT be mandatory. People are capable of making their own choices.” – Debra Davis
      

• “The right of a business owner to run his business is outweighed by the right of the worker to make personal medical decisions. OSHA was formed to require safe work environments. This should be one of them.” – Steve Sullivan
      

• “I can hear it now: ‘But conservatives... private employers... government overreach…’ Okay, now do EVERY payroll law on the books, and research them carefully before you throw them all out.” – Kevin Wade
     

• “No one should be able to mandate a poisonous attack on your physical body.’ – Nancy Burrus
      

• “No employer or state-mandated COVID vaccinations should ever be permissible. HIPPA Laws must be repealed, and 4th Amendment protections must be restored back to pre-1980's levels ASAP.” – David Clark
      

• “Private businesses have a duty to provide a safe environment for their employees, and that includes vaccines for highly contagious diseases such as Covid. It seems very ‘Big Brother’ for the State to meddle in these businesses.” – Kathi Thomas
      

• “Private employers should always be free to set the conditions of employment in their company. Dress codes, hours, and, yes, immunization requirements. Anything else is central planning (socialism).” - David Holden
      

• “Employers should have never been allowed to require Covid vaccine mandates in the first place.  It was all wrong to start with.” – Nancy Wood
      

• “Employers should never be able to mandate medical treatment any more than they could mandate diets, hours of sleep, religion, or number of children, especially when the employer is exempt from civil and possible criminal liability.” – Terry Harper
      

• "COVID vaccine mandates are a threat to our freedoms.  I worked in the oil and gas industry for 25 years without ever being required to take a shot for a disease that you have to take a test to see if you even have it." – Gary Alford
      

• “Not only is the correct answer ‘NO,’ but also that employers should have ZERO immunity from liability if they have any at all. Employees should be able to freely sue them for harm done by these experimental jabs. I find it amazing that a ‘medical school’ is one of the first in Texas to make this unconstitutional move. Thanks for letting us know which medical diplomas to avoid!” – Ken Baxter
      

• “Companies should not be allowed to mandate the COVID shot as most companies have never mandated any other type of health care shot for employment purposes.  In addition, the Covid shot does not work as it was only created and mandated for financial purposes.” – Patty Carter
      

• "While I am generally in favor of private businesses making their own policies, to live or die by, Medical Treatment is one of the last truly individual choices, and should remain so at all costs." – Reid Davidson
     

• “Employers should have the right to make their own rules, within the law, and we can choose to work for them or not.” – Tim Boyd

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