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Good morning,

Here's what I have come to learn: the most important fight is never the fight itself. The real fight is the fight over what the fight is about. Accepting your opponents' branding is the surest way to lose an argument. More on that thought in today's reflection.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas A&M Professor Criticizes USAID Shutdown... in Taxpayer-funded, Leftwing Publication

• A professor at Texas A&M University is voicing strong opposition to the Trump administration’s move to shut down the United States Agency for International Development, arguing that the decision is both illegal and harmful to U.S. interests. As Brandon Waltens reports, the professor published his thoughts in Politico—which has, in recent days, been revealed to have been secretly funded by USAID.
       
• Andrew Natsios, a former USAID director under President George W. Bush and a current professor at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, characterized the Trump decision as "outrageous."
          
• Elon Musk, in his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has argued that USAID is a “criminal organization” that “needs to die.”
       
• In a post on Truth Social yesterday morning, Trump described Politico as a "left-wing rag" and said it had received $8 million in taxpayer funding.
       
• Check out the "Numbers of the Day" to see what Texas government agencies have paid to Politico... and other leftwing "media" outlets.

New Texas Legislation Would Compel Law Enforcement to Aid ICE Operations

• Legislation proposed by State Rep. David Spiller (R-Jacksboro) would require all local law enforcement agencies in Texas to assist in federal immigration enforcement efforts. Agencies that fail to comply could face legal action from the Texas attorney general and risk losing state grant funding.
    
• The measure comes in response to what Spiller and others describe as “sanctuary zones”—jurisdictions in which local law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Supporters of Spiller's legislation contend that illegal activities like human trafficking, drug smuggling, and cartel operations can flourish in such areas.
      
• “Despite what many legislators might think, Trump being elected does not mean our borders are suddenly secure. It means that it is time for Texas to get to work and assist Trump in securing our own state,” said Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith.

Paxton Demands Proof From 2 School Districts That Boys Are Not in Girls’ Sports

• Attorney General Ken Paxton is pressuring two school districts to relinquish documents proving they are not allowing boys to compete in girls’ athletic programs. Will Biagini has the details.
    
• The attorney general has sent letters to the superintendents of the school districts in Dallas and Irving after learning that their administrators were coaching parents on how to circumvent state law protecting girls’ athletics.
      
• “The idea of school district officials turning their backs on female students and sacrificing the integrity of women’s athletics to advance the radical transgender agenda is disgusting, but that seems to be exactly what occurred here.” — Ken Paxton

Betting Beyond Borders? Lottery.com Claims to Sell Texas Lottery Tickets Overseas

• An embattled Texas-based online lottery company has announced a renewed push to sell lottery tickets internationally. Daniel Greer has reviewed filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that suggest the tickets are for Texas games—despite state law forbidding such sales.
    
• Despite lacking a Texas retail license, Lottery.com asserts that it conducts business-to-business lottery ticket sales internationally. According to internal company emails, the Fort Worth-based firm has previously sold Texas Lottery tickets abroad without a retailer license.
        
• In 2023, the company was part of the Texas Lottery Commission-aided effort to rig a $95 million jackpot on behalf of foreign gambling interests by printing millions of tickets in its offices.
       
• The State of Texas was made aware of these illegal actions over the years but has taken no action against the commission or the company.
       

• In the waning days of the 2023 legislative session, Texas lawmakers attached a rider to the budget instructing the Texas Lottery to stop selling lottery tickets through "couriers" or lose funding. Gov. Greg Abbott did not line-item veto the rider but called it unconstitutional and said it could be ignored. The Texas Lottery Commission has obliged.

Northeast Texas Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting a Child

• Erin Anderson reports that a now-former northeast Texas teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a child. The superintendent of Wills Point Independent School District told parents this week that Jimmy Lee Hanks, a teacher and coach at the high school, is no longer employed there.
         
• Hanks has been charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 years of age. According to district officials, the alleged crimes did not occur on a Wills Point ISD campus or property. It is uncertain if the reported victim is a student in the district.

RELATED NEWS

• Mulkey taught social studies and coached at Sabinal High School in Sabinal Independent School District. He allegedly sent sexually explicit messages and photos via Snapchat to an undercover agent he believed was a 14-year-old boy and requested explicit images in return.
       
• In August 2024, Mulkey received a $3,000 check from the state for becoming a “Recognized” teacher through the Teacher Incentive Allotment program.

This Sunday on REAL TEXANS

Numbers of the Day

The practice of government agencies funding leftwing propaganda websites is not exclusive to the unraveling scandal involving USAID and Politico.  

Over the last decade, state agencies in Texas have given $342,850 to the Soros-affiliated Texas Tribune and $174,911 to the gossip-focused Quorum Report. During that same time, state agencies have sent $253,050 of Texas taxpayers' money to Politico.

[Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts]

Friday Reflection
Branding in Policy

With President Donald Trump proposing a new approach to Gaza and the Middle East, it is interesting to understand where the so-called “Palestinians” came from and what we can learn from a centuries-old marketing campaign against Israel.

In almost every public battle, the real fight is never the fight itself. The real fight is the fight over what the fight is about. This means establishing the terms that are used to describe the fight and the terms of victory. When you are defining the fight, you are much more likely to win the fight.

No one in history seems to have understood this better—or employed it more successfully—than the Roman Emperor Hadrian. 

After the Jewish Revolt of 68 to 73 A.D., which included Jerusalem’s destruction, everyone in Rome thought their Jewish problem had been put to rest. Not so, replied the remaining zealots and their descendants. The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 A.D.) was similarly unsuccessful, but it managed to infuriate Hadrian.

He resolved to wipe Jews and all of Israel from the map. And he went about it quite literally. 

Throughout Roman rule, the region had been known as Judea. Why? A thousand years earlier, Israel had split into two kingdoms—one in the north, called Israel, and one in the south (including Jerusalem), called Judah. Over time, that second name became synonymous with the region. And, yes, the name “Jew” comes to us from “Judah/Judea.”

So, Hadrian decided to change the name. He looked back in history and remembered that the hated enemies of Israel from centuries earlier had come from Crete. They were known as the “Sea People” and had established cities in the land of the Jews. Don’t remember “Sea People”? Sure you do; the name is rendered in modern scripture as the Philistines.

Hadrian merely latinized the Hebrew name to “Palastinia.” Henceforth, in the records of Rome and the successor overlords’ shifting languages, the region was known as “Palestine.”

But to be clear, there never was a nation or people called by that name in any sense other than as an enemy of Israel. It was a name employed by an angry pagan emperor who hated the Jews.

Hadrian understood that by changing the name, he could change the terms of the debate. It would be easier to eradicate Jews from the land if their name was removed from the land itself. 

Naming, framing, and branding are important skills; Hadrian employed them for a great evil.

Three takeaways.

First, as engaged citizens, we must not only learn to recognize the power of branding but also be aware of the actions such political branding is driving us to take.

Second, we need to be wary of using the brands and definitions set by our political opponents.

Lastly, we on the right should be more aggressive in framing both opponents and policies in ways that make it easier for our fellow citizens to join effectively in the fight.

Quote-Unquote

"A careful definition of words would destroy half the agenda of the political left and scrutinizing evidence would destroy the other half."

– Thomas Sowell