Good morning,

Everyone says they want to vote for a "fighter" to hold office, someone who will go out and fight the battles for us. What if that's the wrong mindset? I end the week reflecting on that question.

But first, this is the Texas Minute for Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Taxpayers Hit With More Than $4.3 Million Bill for Paxton Impeachment

• At a minimum, the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton cost Texas taxpayers more than $4.3 million, with some expenses still outstanding. Brandon Waltens has the details.
        

• An audit of both chambers’ expenses was requested after the trial by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

       
• The Dallas Morning News was given records from the Texas House revealing a team of at least 24 lawyers billed the House more than 7,800 hours of work related to the trial. For example, Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin, a Democrat, billed taxpayers $3 million for himself and 20 lawyers in his firm.
       

• The records also include thousands of dollars paid to New West Communications, a public relations firm, before and after the trial. That firm is headed by a former Austin American Statesman reporter and one-time employee of disgraced former House Speaker Joe Straus.
        

• Attorney General Paxton says the latest report is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
      

• “Voters need to send Dade and any representative supporting Dade home in the upcoming primaries. We need effective leadership in the House that quits embarrassing Texas and is focused on making Texas a beacon of freedom enterprise and opportunity.” – Ken Paxton
       

• The billing records were panned by attorneys like Mitch Little, who represented Paxton during the impeachment trial. "These invoices are rife with billing entries to have lawyers **watch and review press conferences and read articles about the impeachment.** On Saturdays and Sundays, no less."

Patrick Blasts ‘Casino Commission’ as Vegas Group Makes Dallas Land Purchase

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is blasting the Texas Racing Commission following a vote to create more licenses for racetracks. It is a move, Patrick asserts, being made in anticipation of crony casino legislation being approved.
       
• “Looks like the Racing Commission thinks it’s the Casino Commission,” wrote Patrick on social media this week. “Horse race tracks lose money — millions over the years. No one would invest in a track unless they thought they would be guaranteed a casino license one day if casinos were approved by the people of Texas.”
       
• The commission's action—and Patrick's critique—followed Las Vegas Sands purchasing a tract of land outside of Dallas near the site of the former Texas Stadium. The company has lobbied extensively for crony casino legislation. A political action committee affiliated with the company has given $300,000 to House Speaker Dade Phelan.
        
• The Republican Party of Texas, meanwhile, opposes any expansion of gambling, including legalized casino gambling. An effort to expand casinos in Texas failed in the Texas House last session. It was not given a vote in the Senate.
       
• Every legislative proposal on the issue has politically connected casinos being given exclusive monopolies granted by the state without the possibility of competition.

Judge Upholds Texas’ Ban on TikTok

• An Austin-based federal judge rejected a challenge to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on the social media platform TikTok on government-issued devices. Emily Medeiros has the story.
            
• In July, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit against Abbott and other state officials on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research. They claimed the ban violates citizens’ First Amendment rights.
      
• The judge's ruling dismantled the arguments, asserting that no constitutional violations are taking place because the policy is a "reasonable, viewpoint-neutral restriction on a nonpublic forum."
     
• Abbott's ban applies only to government-owned devices and government-owned networks (like office wifi).
       
• The use of TikTok is currently banned by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

New School Library Standards to Exclude Sexually Explicit Books

• Texas has adopted new school library standards as required by a state law designed to protect students from sexually explicit content. Erin Anderson reports these first-ever mandatory standards will apply to all materials in all Texas public school libraries, classroom libraries, and online catalogs.
     
• Among other things, the standards require that “school districts are responsible for ensuring their school libraries implement and adhere to these collection development standards.”
       
• The State Board of Education adopted the new standards by a vote of 13 to 1—Democrat Aicha Davis of Dallas was the lone opponent. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission adopted them unanimously. 

Another Fort Bend ISD Educator Arrested on Sex Trafficking Charges

• Earlier this week, a principal in the Fort Bend ISD was arrested during an undercover sting operation targeting sex trafficking. Now, a teacher from the same high school has been arrested on a warrant out of Georgia for trafficking of a person for sexual servitude. 
    
• The teacher, who has not been named, was arrested Wednesday. Fort Bend ISD said in a statement that the man resigned last week.

Today In History

On Dec. 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified as the first 10 amendments added to the U.S. Constitution.

Friday Reflection:
Fighting Our Own Battles

We all know things are not as they should be. Between a rotting culture and a self-serving government, the challenges to our republic are daunting. It is no wonder there are so many people seeking someone to fight for them.

Is that really the answer? Do we just need a better champion to go forth and fight our battles?

Our republic was founded on the premise of self-governance; that is, the citizens are the rulers. While revolutionary to the thinking of 18th-century Europeans, the idea was radical but not new.

It began with the form of government God intended for His people when freeing them from Egyptian captivity. They were to live under His laws, governing themselves without a king. After nearly a half-millennia of this arrangement, the people decided they wanted to look like everyone else.

Literally.

They said they wanted to “be like all the nations.” In demanding a king, they rejected God. 

Being warned of the problems the king would bring, they went forward saying they wanted a man who would “go out before us and fight our battles.”

The kings served themselves, even with the battles they fought. In the case of King David, a battle was used to cover up the murder of his eighth wife’s first husband!

George Washington warned that large standing armies, while useful to kings, are “dangerous to the liberties of a country.” And Dwight Eisenhower, of course, warned against the establishment of a “military-industrial complex.” Both men feared how government rulers, in possession of the tools of war, would use them against the interests of the citizens.

It isn't necessarily bullets or bombs that are our state and nation's greatest threat, but rather wholly unserious men pushing foolish ideas.

When the movie Home Alone came out in 1990, the pre-teen star left “home alone” in a family mixup is seen buying $20 worth of groceries. A recent shopping trip by an economist found that the same basket of goods today costs nearly $80.

But that is not the worst of it. Women are told they must share locker rooms and bathrooms with men. Young children are being physically mutilated to appease the radical gender fetishes of mentally ill adults. Schoolchildren are less educated than ever, while library shelves are stocked with pornography. We have an undeclared invasion taking place at our southern border. It goes on and on.

Simply choosing a self-proclaimed “fighter” for public office is not only insufficient, it is probably perpetuating the problems unless we as citizens commit to being more firmly and actively engaged.

We can no longer allow ourselves the luxury of letting a politician tickle our ears with promises of how he will fight for us and consider our job done. We must actively – even forcefully – speak out in the public square. As citizens, it is up to us to re-take our government and reform our culture.

It is time for us to set aside the self-serving promises of politicians. We must fight for our families, communities, state, and nation. If the republic is to be saved, we ourselves must do the fighting!

Quote-Unquote

"We've been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to. And we have good reason to be hopeful and optimistic. We've made much progress already. So, let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts—happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom."

– Ronald Reagan

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