Good morning,

We tell kids, "Watch your tongue" or "Mind your language." That admonition is even more critical as adults. I end the week with a reflection on the importance of the words we employ in the fight for the Republic.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, January 12, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Abbott Seizes Border Park, Denies Access to Federal Agents

• On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that state officials seize riverfront property regularly used for illegal crossing near the international bridge in Eagle Pass. As Sydnie Henry reports, Abbott is denying federal agents access to the land so that the aliens can be detained by state officials rather than released by the Biden administration.
     
• Shelby Park has been a hotspot for illegal crossings, and now the State of Texas—under the governor’s emergency powers—has seized all city property along the riverfront. The story was first reported by NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley.
        
• All individuals who cross the border illegally into Shelby Park are expected to be cited for criminal trespass—which can include a punishment of 180 days in jail if found guilty.
       
• Wade Miller of Citizens for Renewing America told Texas Scorecard that while the move is "innovative," it represents the "bare minimum."
       
• “The only real thing that’s going to change the narrative here is if he actually starts taking the additional step of returning these people back into Mexico under an invasion declaration authority.” – Wade Miller

Devine Will Stay on GOP Ballot

• The Texas Supreme Court ruled yesterday afternoon that Republican incumbent John Devine will remain on the ballot following a challenge from his primary opponent, Brian Walker. (Justice Devine did not participate in deliberations or the ruling.)
       

• The Supreme Court rejected Walker’s request to kick Devine off the GOP primary ballot. The challenger had alleged Devine was "deficient" in the ballot access signatures judges must obtain.
    

• The court found Walker's petition “was not brought promptly, and, even if it had been, our precedent requires that, under circumstances like these, the challenged candidate first be given an opportunity to cure a defect in his petition signatures.”

Immigration Researcher Rips Biden Administration For Asylum Crisis

• The crisis at the southern border has been manufactured by the Biden administration. That is the assertion made this week by NumbersUSA's director of research, Erik Ruark. Will Biagini has the details.
    
• “The border crisis is not the result of incompetence,” said Ruark. “It’s due to the willful and deliberate decision-making by those who are ultimately making the decisions in the White House.”
       
• Congress has turned over too much authority to the president and not provided enough oversight, he said during a panel discussion with others studying the issue.
       
• Compounding the problem is the nation's asylum policy, which is being abused by cartels and other entities hostile to the interests of the United States.

Pro-Amnesty Group Returns, Endorsing Republican Incumbents

• A pro-amnesty organization—the LIBRE Initiative—is once again involving itself in Texas politics, endorsing three Republican candidates for the Texas House. Brandon Waltens reports the entity is partnered with Americans for Prosperity, which has endorsed Nikki Haley for the GOP presidential nomination.
         
• Both groups are financed by the Koch network, which has repeatedly led “immigration reform” efforts in Washington, D.C., including pushing to grant permanent legal status to those who entered the country illegally.
       
• Touting the LIBRE endorsement in 2024 are incumbent Republican State Reps. Mano DeAyala (Houston), John Lujan (San Antonio), and Janie Lopez (San Benito). None responded to requests for comment about the group's positions.
        
• During the 2022 election cycle, numerous Republican candidates in Texas—including State Sens. Mayes Middleton (Galveston), Pete Flores (Pleasanton), and Tan Parker (Flower Mound)—rejected the group’s endorsement because of its pro-amnesty views.

Issues Found in State Anti-Trafficking Unit

• An internal audit found problems at a state agency’s unit tasked with helping combat human trafficking. These findings come as Texas remains ground zero in the fight against sex trafficking, which is a component of human trafficking. Investigative reporter Robert Montoya has the story.

       
• The situation was so bad, a source told Texas Scorecard, that the troubled unit has since been disbanded and its duties and members reassigned to different departments.
      
• At issue is the Anti-Trafficking Unit at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. A previously undisclosed audit found significant issues with the unit and its operations.
       
• This comes even as Texas has been recognized as ground zero by experts in human trafficking, particularly the urban hubs of Dallas and Houston.

Friday Reflection
Language to Save the Republic

The great military philosopher Sun Tzu warned his students not to let their enemies pick the time and location of battles. Sun Tzu wrote, “The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.”

When you fight on your enemies’ terms, it rarely works out well.

You’d think this would be self-evident, but time and again, conservatives let liberals define the fights. It is no wonder the war for our culture and republic is in shambles!

Words matter; they shape how we are willing to approach the world.

When it comes to the words we use in public conversations, conservatives too often allow themselves to be backed into a rhetorical corner.

Conservative politicians will say they adopt the language of the left as a reasonable concession to civic dialogue. In fact, they do it often because they are insecure or lazy… Or maybe they are revealing their true beliefs.

On issue after issue, time after time, conservatives cede the selection of the rhetorical battleground to the left.

Take the barbaric practice of surgically and chemically mutilating the sex organs of children to achieve the appearance of the opposite gender. The left wants to call this “gender modification,” leaning into a worldview that devalues human life to little more than a knock-off Lego set.

Even self-proclaimed conservative politicians will slip into calling it “Gender Mod” thinking it makes them sound cool. In fact, it reveals them to be less than serious.

Nothing is being modified on those children, but rather mutilated. Only by calling the practice of Gender Mutilation what it is can we hope to see it stopped.

The same goes for the crisis at the southern border.

People who enter a country without permission have long been known legally as illegal aliens. They are criminals by virtue of having broken our laws and crossed our borders without permission. Yet the term “illegal aliens” became “illegal immigrants,” and now that’s morphed into “undocumented migrants.” This was a purposeful transition of language by those who would erase our national sovereignty.

How we describe the problems around us dictates how we will solve them. The problem of “undocumented migrants” is addressed in a vastly different manner than “illegal aliens” or even “invaders.” One is a paperwork problem created by a bureaucracy, the other is an existential threat to our national survival.

If conservatives want to be competitive in the war for culture and government, they must stop letting leftists define the terms of the fight. Conservatives must discipline themselves and not allow the manipulated language of the left to cross their tongues. 

Conservatives must impose on the national conversation honest language to describe the issues of the day if we are to save the republic. Like our Founding Fathers, we must have the discipline to harness language in the fight for liberty.

Quote-Unquote

"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!"

– John Adams​