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Good morning,

It is Valentine's Day Eve; gentlemen, you have been warned. This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, February 13, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

But First... A great way to show your love to someone special is by recommending that they get the Texas Minute [[link removed]] and follow our various shows! Find the complete lineup below.

Texas' Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed as Director of National Intelligence A relatively new resident of the Lone Star State is now the director of national intelligence, as Brandon Waltens reports [[link removed]]. Tulsi Gabbard, a former member of Congress from Hawaii, recently moved to Central Texas.

The Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 52-48, with both Texas senators—John Cornyn and Ted Cruz—supporting her. (Former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) was the only Republican to vote against her confirmation.)

Gabbard is only the latest Texan to take a prominent role in the Trump administration. Scott Turner, a former two-term state lawmaker from Collin County, was recently confirmed as the secretary of housing and urban development. Former U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), who previously served as Trump’s director of national intelligence, has taken the helm at the CIA.

Meanwhile, Brooke Rollins, a former president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a key figure in Trump’s first-term policy team, is still awaiting Senate confirmation to serve as the secretary of agriculture. Tren de Aragua Sex Trafficking Ringleaders Arrested in Houston Federal authorities have completed two separate operations in Houston this week targeting criminal illegal aliens. As a result, eight individuals have been charged for their roles in a sex trafficking ring.

Joseph Trimmer reports [[link removed]] the arrests are part of a broader investigation targeting a multistate sex trafficking ring with Tren de Aragua members accused of intimidating victims into compliance.

"All of the defendants are Venezuelan. All are in the United States without any legal status. All are in federal custody with ICE detainers," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Wildasin. Lt. Gov. Patrick: Speaker Burrows Commits To Pass Bail Reform Measures Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced yesterday that he believes a deal has been struck with the House to pass a bail reform package flagged by the governor as a priority for this session. Luca Cacciatore has the details [[link removed]].

The push is for more stringent controls over bail laws that have allowed violent criminals to roam free and commit even more heinous acts.

At a hearing of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee yesterday, lawmakers heard from the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray. She was the 12-year-old Houston girl who was sexually assaulted and killed in June 2024. Two illegal aliens from Venezuela are accused of committing the crimes.

A proposed constitutional amendment, referred to as “Jocelyn’s Law,” would require judges to deny bail to illegal aliens charged with felony offenses.

The bail reform measures passed unanimously out of the committee and will now be sent to the full Senate for consideration.

Lawmaker Seeks to End Contracts Colleges and Schools Have With Foreign Adversaries Texas' universities and public schools would be prohibited from entering into contracts and agreements with foreign adversaries under legislation filed by State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park). Valerie Muñoz reports [[link removed]] the measure designates foreign adversaries to include Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China—including Hong Kong and Macau, but excluding Taiwan.

In past years, untold millions of dollars flowed into Texas' public schools and universities from entities related to the Chinese Communist Party to promote the interests of Beijing.

Last fall, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state entities to divest from existing holdings linked to the Chinese Communist Party and halt new investments in China. The action was taken after it was revealed that the investment arm of Texas A&M and the University of Texas Systems had put money into Chinese businesses.

Under Cain's legislation, university employees would be prohibited from using educational materials produced or sold by a foreign adversary unless approved by the Higher Education Coordinating Board. The same restrictions would apply to public schools, with foreign educational materials requiring approval by the Texas Education Agency. Analysis: How the Texas Lottery Sent a $1 Million Jackpot to China In January 2021, a million-dollar ticket was printed in Waco for the illicit lottery ticket reseller Lottery.com. As Daniel Greer reports [[link removed]], the winnings were claimed anonymously, through the mail, by an individual from Shanghai, China.

The Lottery Commission should have viewed the $1 million ticket as suspicious in 2021 based on the claims of Lottery.com’s public disclosures. In a press release celebrating the sale of the million-dollar ticket, the company noted it could not locate the winner.

Allegedly, the ticket sat in Ryan Dickinson's desk drawer for five months before it was allegedly sent to China for a signature. Dickinson’s involvement is noteworthy: he was the CFO of Lottery.com and was later fired for illegally selling lottery tickets.

A week before that $1 million ticket was sold (in violation of state law) via Lottery.com’s app, its retail partner in Waco printed two back-to-back $50,000 lottery tickets. Dickinson cashed both of them at a claims center in Austin.

Back to the China ticket [[link removed]]. Recall that the Chinese Communist Party is notoriously strict about internet and telecommunications traffic into and out of the country. The circumstances of a ticket being purchased from there online would seem highly suspect. The Texas Lottery, though, just paid out the winnings to an anonymous party in China.

The Texas Lottery Commission is supposed to police the games and payouts to ensure state laws are being followed. Instead, Texas Lottery officials—in a rush to make playing the lottery frictionless [[link removed]]—have made it less secure, less trustworthy, and more prone to fraud. Luke Macias Show

Texas House Opens with a Pagan Prayer "You can’t make this stuff up. To give both chambers the benefit of the doubt, we let you listen to the prayers given to kick off both days of their work." Luke Macias contrasts [[link removed]] the differences between the Texas Senate and House. Texas Tomorrow

Why Are Local School Districts Suing? Local school districts around the country are suing social media companies, asking for damages and policy changes. Charles Blain examines [[link removed]] what they are hoping to accomplish. Houston Audit Identifies Inefficiencies Across City Departments After a months-long review of Houston’s 22 departments [[link removed]] by the city’s senior leadership and an accounting firm, Mayor John Whitmire called the results “a real opportunity for us to protect Houston’s future.”

Across the city, auditors found misuse and abuse of funds, but primarily a bloated bureaucracy. Notably, only seven percent of the city budget’s 606 performance indicators actually measure outcomes, which matter most to taxpayers.

Reviewers also identified anomalies [[link removed]] like payments to “high-end retailers” and prohibited vendors, as well as employees' use of city credit cards to split payments that would otherwise have exceeded allowable spending limits.

The report found that during the COVID era, the city spent 80 percent of the American Rescue Plan Act dollars it received on operations. In comparison, Dallas spent 18 percent of its funds on operations, and San Antonio spent 35 percent. 🔒 Donate to Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] Quote-Unquote

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

– John Adams​

Number of the Day

93 Million

The average distance in miles from the sun to the Earth.

[Source: NASA [[link removed]]]

Today in History

On Feb. 13, 1633, Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy from the Catholic Church over his promotion of Copernican theory, the idea that the Earth orbits the sun. He later pled guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. The Vatican lifted its ban on the Copernican theory in 1822, but did not formally admit it was a mistake to condemn Galileo ... until 1992.

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