Good morning, 

Yesterday, we asked readers about efforts to reduce cash bail. Find below the survey results and a sampling of responses.

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Experts: Chinese Nationals Crossing Southwest Border Threaten National Security

• More people are sounding the alarm on the threat Communist China poses to the United States after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released record-breaking numbers of Chinese nationals encountered at the southwest border. 

      
• Emily Medeiros and Robert Montoya detail the concerns raised as record-breaking numbers of illegal aliens from China are being apprehended along the southwest border. Border patrol agents encountered 4,261 Chinese nationals in October—a massive increase from the 430 encountered in October 2022.
      
• Videos reviewed by Fort Worth businessman J. Kyle Bass supplied to him by government sources show military-age Chinese men "standing at military parade rest" after illegally entering the country as they await in-processing by federal officials. Under the Biden administration's catch-and-release program, these individuals are allowed to roam the country.
       
• Experts say the United States must develop a better vetting system for all immigrants, but especially those who illegally enter the country under the guise of seeking asylum.
       
• MEANWHILE, a new investigative report examines the close ties Texas A&M University has had with Beijing and CCP-tied entities.

Last Democrat Committee Chair Leaving Texas Senate

• With State Sen. John Whitmire winning his election to become the next mayor of Houston, the Texas Senate will soon be without a single Democrat committee chairman. Brandon Waltens has the story.
      

• Ending the practice of placing Democrats in control of committees in the Texas legislature is a priority of the Republican Party of Texas.
       
• When Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced committee assignments in January, he kept Whitmire as the chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice. However, Patrick also indicated that the chamber would have zero Democrat chairs if Whitmire were to win his bid for Houston mayor.
      
• In contrast, House Speaker Dade Phelan and the House GOP Caucus have embraced placing Democrats in leadership positions, appointing eight Democrats as chairs of the chamber’s 34 standing committees during this session.

Texas Supreme Court Blocks Court Decision Allowing Abortion

• The Texas Supreme Court has blocked a lower court's order to allow a 31-year-old woman to abort her baby who is at high risk for an often fatal disorder.
        

• As Will Biagini reports, the woman's case did not meet the requirements for the state’s abortion exception—which only allows women to terminate a pregnancy if the mother’s life is directly at risk. 

      
• The Supreme Court’s one-page directive put an administrative stay “without regard to the merits” on the Travis County district court’s order permitting the abortion.

Texas Schools Drop ‘Woke’ Scholastic Book Fairs

• Schools across Texas are dropping Scholastic Book Fairs over the company’s “woke” agenda and choosing more family-friendly competitors. Erin Anderson reports that Scholastic executives have intentionally pushed books that expose children to sexual content and promote the left’s “LGBTQ” ideology. 

     
• In response, new companies are entering the marketplace to meet the needs of parents and school districts that want to keep highly sexualized and other inappropriate content out of the hands of young children.
   
• The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District dropped Scholastic last year after the company refused to provide a list of titles that would be offered to students during a book fair.
       
• Lorena ISD is switching to Literati, a Texas company that last year bought the struggling book fair business of Follett, a top vendor of K-12 school library books and technology.
      
• SkyTree Book Fairs is Scholastic's newest competitor. The nonprofit was founded by parents and school officials, and BRAVE Books author Kirk Cameron is a board advisor. BRAVE Books is a Texas-based publisher.

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Quote-Unquote

"Right is still right, even if you stand by yourself."

– Clarence Thomas​

Y'All Answered

Advocates for criminal justice reform have pushed to eliminate cash bail, saying it discriminates against offenders with low income. Recent years have seen a rise in violent offenders being released without bail, only to commit crimes again.

Yesterday, we asked readers what they thought about "bail reform." Just under 93 percent want to keep the cash bail system in place, while 7.3 percent believe it should go away.

Here's a sampling of the comments we received...

• “I do agree that bail hurts lower-income offenders. However, drug offenders get ridiculous bail amounts compared to offenders assaulting others or people who are thieves. The justice system as a whole is severely flawed. It is so political and biased on so many levels.” – Kathy Peikert
      

• “What is wrong with people today? KEEP the criminals in jail.” – Tom Gavin
      

• “The proof is in the pudding.  Bail is a monetary placeholder intended to punish someone for missing their hearing.  Cashless bail for violent offenses serves as no more than a slap in the hands and saying, ‘Now go out there and be a good boy, Johnny.’” – Arthur Potter
      

• "Cash bail discriminates against low-income classes? The low-income perpetrators don’t discriminate whom they choose to commit criminal acts against." – Jeff L. Jones
      

• “The concept of making it easier for criminals to avoid prosecution is absolutely ludicrous! We realize Austin is infected with California mentality but that doesn’t mean the whole state needs to be ruined!” – Priscilla Love
       

• “Cash Bail or the lack of it is not the problem. Prosecutors who don't prosecute and judges who let people out of jail when they really should not.  Recidivism is at an all-time high and it has nothing to do with bail.” – Rick Goncher
      

• “There must be consequences for people’s actions. We will be riddled with crime if there are none.” – Corrine Jung
      

• “Being ‘poor’ doesn’t give a person the right to commit a crime without any consequences.” – Steve Sullivan
       

• "Innocent victims of "no bail" repeat criminals do nothing to solve the poverty cycle in the United States." – Kathy Fisher
      

• "With all the available evidence that comes as a result of the progressive 'Soros type' prosecutors and judges, one would have to be a complete idiot to support abolishing cash bail. That also would make you a Democrat. But I repeat myself." – Robert Bruce
       

• “Cash bail is appropriate for repeat offenders, criminals with violent pasts, and non-citizens. We need penalties for judges who endanger law-abiding citizens by allowing dangerous defendants out on the streets.”– Thomas Camardo
        

• “My husband, a former police officer, warns us that ending cash bail is one of the stages that Marxism uses to convert a society to Communism.” – Suzanne Hobbs
       

• “Is bail a right or privilege? Are we innocent until proven guilty or not? This is a slippery slope we need to be careful with.  Our rights are not taken away directly but a little bit at a time through the kitchen door.” – Anthony Fourman
       

• “Jf you can’t pay the fine, don’t do the crime! Further, I think any prosecutor or judge who releases an accused criminal, who then returns to the streets and commits more crimes, should be severely punished. We have too many attorneys as it is.” – Mitch Ziegler
        

• “Eliminating cash bail is just another ridiculous attempt to achieve ‘equal outcomes.’ Experience has shown that wherever this ignorant strategy has been put into effect, crime rates go up.  Only a fool would argue that this would not happen.” – Charles Busbey

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