Good morning,

A friend of mine recently noted, with frustration, how leftists keep pushing their agendas even after they "lose." Today, I end the week reflecting on the exasperating tendency of conservatives to give up too quickly—either in "victory" or in "defeat."

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, January 26, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Democrats Want Biden to Federalize National Guard Against Texas

• As the standoff continues over razor wire fencing placed on Texas’ southern border, Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to take control of the National Guard. Brandon Waltens has the details.
   
• After the Biden administration ordered Border Patrol personnel last year to cut down the barriers to allow illegal aliens to pass through, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals placed an injunction preventing them from doing so. This week, however, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted that injunction, allowing the destruction of the barriers to resume.
       
• So far, Texas has held the line, preventing federal agents from entering Shelby Park—a hotspot of illegal crossings in Eagle Pass. In the past, federal agents merely ushered the illegal aliens in. Now, state officials are arresting and detaining those illegal aliens on trespass charges.
      
• Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety personnel have been seen in recent days adding more concertina wire to the existing barriers.
       
• Now, some Texas Democrats are calling on Biden to federalize the National Guard against the state's efforts.
      
• “Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border,” claimed U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.
      
• In fact, illegal crossings in the area have dropped from thousands daily to under 100 over the last five days.

Trump Promises Deportation for Illegal Aliens

• In a statement posted to Truth Social yesterday, Donald Trump encouraged other states to send guardsmen to the aid of Texas. He promised that if elected in November, he would "rapidly begin the largest domestic deportation operation in history."
    
• "Those [illegal aliens] Biden let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home." – Donald Trump

Paxton Impeachment Driving West Houston House Race

• In a heavily Republican district, incumbent State Rep. Mano DeAyala is trying to hold off a GOP primary challenge from John T. Perez, a member of the Spring Branch Independent School District’s board of trustees. Luca Cacciatore explains how DeAyala's vote to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton is driving the race.
       
• DeAyala's top donors are House Speaker Dade Phelan and the Phelan-aligned "Texans for Lawsuit Reform" political action committee, which has worked to unseat Paxton. He has also been endorsed by the Houston Chronicle.
       
• Perez's financial support is coming mostly from small-dollar donors. He has been endorsed by Paxton and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. He is also supported by grassroots organizations like the True Texas Project and Texans for Vaccine Choice.

Nearly $3 Million Spent on Botched Houston Police Raid

• This week, the Houston city council approved another $1.7 million for legal fees related to the botched Harding Street Raid. As Charles Blain reports, the civil rights lawsuit stems from the 2019 narcotics raid that led to the murders of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. 

       
• The raid was based on an alleged lie from Officer Gerald Goines, the lead narcotics officer on the raid. Goines had claimed that a drug informant purchased drugs from Nicholas and Tuttle at their home. 
      
• The claim was used as justification for a no-knock raid during which officers killed the couple and their dog. There were no drugs or illegal activity taking place, and the report was found to be fraudulent.
      
• The city has now spent nearly $3 million in legal costs associated with the situation.

Republican-led Fort Worth Celebrates ‘LGBTQ Inclusiveness’ Rating

• The City of Fort Worth has earned a "perfect" score from the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign’s Municipality Equality Index. Emily Medeiros reports the city issued a press release celebrating the rating from the leftist advocacy group.
    
• Fort Worth's mayor is Mattie Parker, a Republican who has previously seemed to ally herself with the LGBT agenda. The Human Rights Campaign is a far-left political organization.
       
• Brady Gray of the Texas Family Project said the rating—and the official celebration of it—is a reminder that "Cowtown is not exempt from the culture war."

Arlington Trustees Stonewall on Questions About Gender Policies

• A citizen is suing the Arlington Independent School District over the trustees' refusal to hold a public hearing about his unanswered questions regarding policies for gender-confused students.
        

• Dr. David Jarvis has unsuccessfully asked the superintendent and board members for information about how the district advises teachers to address sensitive sexuality-related matters. According to Jarvis, AISD officials consistently disregarded his questions, which led him to file a formal grievance against the district.
      

• Eventually, the AISD board held a hearing regarding his grievances over the unanswered questions—but held it behind closed doors.
       
• “This is the kind of arrogance and bullying tactics we’re facing at AISD, and I suspect many other school districts, particularly in the larger population cities,” said Jarvis.
       
• According to AISD Board President Melody Fowler, "The law allows the district to close a hearing if the grievance is against a district officer or employee, which was the case.”

Using the Texas Public information Act

Friday Reflection:
Never Ceasing

It is a simple truth: the forces of darkness never rest. They push and push and push. Like insolent toddlers demanding candy, those who wish to inflict harm on society seek to wear down the adults through ceaseless rants.

Twenty years ago, the LGBT crowd said they only wanted acceptance and to be left alone. They never wanted just that. Today, they demand—as a constitutional right—to force deviant sexual behavior on children in schools and libraries.

If the grim forces of evil are indeed winning, the evidence for which is abundant, it is because those who take joy in what is right and good are not fighting for the soul of our republic with the same vigor.

The political left is a death cult.

Having embraced misery for themselves, they want others to do likewise. They are constantly on the march. They will not count their mission complete until everyone in their sight is shackled as slaves to sin and death.

What about us? We make concessions with the death cult. We have been trained by pious cowards in clerical robes to think it is “OK” to “vote differently” — as if enabling government policies to butcher unborn children or mutilate the genitals of minors is somehow a “blessing of liberty.”

“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?” asked Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. “Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Even the best of us accept defeat and declare victory way too easily. We conform to the world.

And in that, we reveal our faithlessness.

Scripture calls us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing,” as well as to “press on” and “finish the race.” We are to “contend for the faith.”

At no point are we allowed to give up, back down, or walk away. We are not allowed to compromise or make allowances. We fight not to achieve morally gray neutrality but to live in the bright light of righteousness.

The battle for our republic and our culture is the physical manifestation of the struggle against the “spiritual forces of evil,” as Paul described in his letter to the Ephesians.

We must fight on. We must not stop. We must fight to win. We must be faithful. Every day, and without ceasing.

Quote-Unquote

"I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air."

– Margaret Thatcher