Good morning,

The righteous cause of liberty is rarely advanced through unholy alliances. More on that thought at the conclusion of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 

They Had Time

• The Texas House leadership has apparently broken a deal with Gov. Greg Abbott about school choice. Worried about the response from voters back home, some Republican members of the House are already telling constituents that school choice (and other conservative priorities) did not get done because there was not enough time available.
            
• This is the 307th day of 2023. The legislature had 140 days of regular session, two complete special sessions of 30 days each, and now this third, of which four days remain. That is to say, the Texas Legislature has been in session for 226 days.
        
• In that time, the Texas Senate managed to complete all the work put before it. The House, on the other hand, took 5-day weekends for several months.
      
• On the other hand, the House announced and voted on the impeachment of a popularly elected statewide official in just 48 hours.
       
• Your House members did not run out of time. They ran out the clock.

Lawmakers Accuse Dade Phelan of ‘Flagrantly Violating’ the Constitution

• A group of Republican lawmakers are accusing House Speaker Dade Phelan of disregarding Texas’ constitutional rules by unilaterally deciding to have the House stop conducting business for a long weekend. Brandon Waltens has the details.
    

• Instead of having the chamber adjourn until a specific day and time, he declared earlier this week the House would “stand at ease” until Monday or Tuesday as he waits for the Senate to approve some legislation. While a motion to adjourn requires a vote by members, standing at ease does not.

        
• Republican State Reps. Tony Tinderholt (Arlington), Nate Schatzline (Fort Worth), Steve Toth (The Woodlands), and Brian Harrison (Midlothian) say the maneuver is in violation of the Texas Constitution.
       
• This is not the first time this year that Phelan and the House have abandoned the legislative process. During the first special session earlier this year, the House adjourned “Sine Die,” after the first day, meaning they would not return for the remainder of the special session—a move meant to force the Senate into accepting their property tax proposal.

University of Texas to Host DEI Roundtable

• Even as the state’s new ban on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs for public universities nears its effective date, the University of Texas McCombs School of Business is set to host a DEI Roundtable. Emily Medeiros has the story.
        

• One of the new law's proponents, State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian), said he wants answers from the UT leadership over the decision to disregard the intent of the new law. He said he "will remember this next time UT says they ‘need more money.'"
       

• The law bans Texas’ public universities from establishing a DEI office, using DEI criteria in their hiring practices, and requiring employees or prospective employees to attend DEI training. Currently, UT has multiple DEI offices, including one in the McCombs School of Business. 

Parents Successfully Pressure Plano ISD

• Following months of public pressure, Plano Independent School District officials say they will remove dozens of sexually explicit books from campus libraries. As Erin Anderson reports, this is a big win for local parents, students, and conservative activists.

          
• According to the grassroots group Citizens Defending Freedom, which helped Plano families raise awareness about the sexual content of books available to students, 64 of the 67 explicit titles in question have been identified for removal from school bookshelves.
       
• Parents are happy with the results but say they should not have needed to spend months publicly pressuring Plano ISD officials to do their job.

Temple Sales Tax Proposition Opens the Door for Higher Property Taxes

• At the bottom of Temple voters’ November ballots is a simple-sounding sales tax proposition that would have a complicated effect on city taxpayers, opening the door for the city to increase property taxes without voters’ approval.
    

• Temple currently imposes a one-and-one-half percent tax on sales within the city. One percent is a general revenue sales tax that is used to fund city services. The other one-half percent is a dedicated “additional” sales tax that is levied specifically to offset property taxes.
      

• The ballot proposal abolishes Temple’s half-percent “additional sales and use tax” and replaces it with another half-percent “sales and use tax.” If the proposition passes, the property tax off-set will be removed.
      

• The result will be the same sales tax but the potential for higher property taxes.
       

• “Want higher taxes? Vote FOR Proposition A,” said Temple-based policy analyst and government watchdog Lou Ann Anderson.

Friday Reflection:
My Enemy's Enemy

No bit of common wisdom is more unwise than the notion that an enemy’s enemy is a friend.

An old joke goes that you don’t have to run faster than a bear, you have to outrun whoever you are with. That might be true at that moment, but if you let a bear get a taste for human flesh, you will be alone the next time it is hungry.

The last several weeks have provided the tragically comic results of this impractical thinking through the twisted left-wing politics of intersectionality. Over the years, radical Islamists have proudly and routinely videoed themselves tossing homosexuals from building tops in the Middle East as a form of cruel torture and execution.

Nonetheless, we have seen the emergence of “Queers for Palestine” and other LGBT groups protesting in favor of the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.

While the LGBT crowd may not like Israel, aligning themselves with Hamas and the Islamists seems dangerously ill-advised.

Such poorly considered alliances are not the sole domain of permanently aggrieved leftists. This occurs with frustrating regularity on the right, as well.

Republicans fighting internal battles over matters of policy will shift to the politics of personal destruction by embracing attacks against other conservatives from leftist media sources. They will embrace vile misinformation and outright lies spun by leftists if it gives a leg up against those viewed as “foes” for prestige, perceived power, or access to donors.

The crony establishment of the GOP thinks nothing of propping up dying left-wing entities when they are attacking grassroots conservatives. And, yes, vice versa.

Those who bemoan the sorry state of the leftist-controlled press will gleefully share articles against fellow conservatives with whom they have a disagreement – even knowing it to be untrue or the sources to be shoddy.

In doing so, they embrace an avowed enemy who will next attack them.

Hamas is happy for the rhetorical support from LGBT activists against Israel, but the Islamists will, at the first opportunity, torture and execute the homosexuals within their reach.

The same goes for those Republicans who collude today with the left-wing attacks against conservatives.

Feeding an irksome frenemy to an alligator in the fray of an internecine fight might feel good, but it ignores that the alligator will next be looking to feed on you.

The enemy of my enemy is unlikely to have my best interests at heart. We must fight our own battles without making unholy alliances.

Now Available: 'Reflections on Life & Liberty'