Good morning,

It is all too easy to play the martyr, envisioning oneself to be all alone in the fight. It's easy, but never actually true. More on that thought below. 

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, July 18, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

NGOs Facilitating Out-of-State Gender Treatments for Texas Minors

• According to a trans-rights activist, non-governmental organizations are assisting in transporting Texas children to New Mexico and other states for “gender-affirming” treatments banned in the Lone Star State. Joseph Trimmer has the exclusive story.
        
• Mandy Giles, founder of Parents of Trans Youth, said yesterday that the groups are avoiding the "strings" that come with taxpayer funds.
      

• The disclosure highlights ongoing circumvention of Texas laws prohibiting puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender mutilating surgeries for minors. 

Man Charged in Attack on North Texas ICE Detention Center, Previously Arrested in Austin Protests

• A suspect charged in the July 4 attack on law enforcement officers outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado was apprehended this week in Dallas after nearly two weeks on the run. But as Sydnie Henry reports, this was not his first arrest connected to leftwing causes.
    
• Benjamin Song was arrested in Austin during the August 2020 protests. Despite allegations from law enforcement officers that he pointed a rifle at them, a Travis County grand jury failed to indict him.
      
• Now, Song is accused of taking part in setting off fireworks and vandalizing property near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Prairieland Detention Center to lure officers outside. A group of nearly a dozen individuals then opened fire with AR-15-style rifles, wounding an Alvarado police officer. While most of the group was quickly apprehended, Song initially evaded capture.
       
• The Department of Homeland Security recently told Fox News that assaults against ICE officers have surged by nearly 700 percent this year.

THC Classification Battle Reaches Texas Supreme Court

• While Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and lawmakers debate the merits of a ban versus regulation of THC, Travis Morgan and Paige Feild report on a case pending before the Texas Supreme Court.
         
• In 2019, the Texas Legislature established the state’s legal definition of hemp as "the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis."
        
• Sky Marketing Corp., which operates under the name Hometown Hero, is suing the state because of regulations on the psychoactive compound delta-8 THC derived from cannabis. The company claims the classification is "contrary to the Legislature’s intent."
      
• Yet the legislators who wrote the law disagree. State Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) said the legislation was "never intended to allow a psychoactive drug to be on the market with no regulation or control."

Paxton Sues US Masters Swimming for Letting Men Compete in Women’s Sports

• Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Masters Swimming for allowing the participation of biologically male athletes in women’s competitions during the San Antonio national swimming competition this year.
    
• Because the events were advertised as including only female participants, McKael Kirwin reports the suit brings several charges against the organization, including "false, misleading, or deceptive acts."
      
• In April, Hugo Caldas—who went by the name “Ana”—won first place in the 50-yard breaststroke, 100-yard breaststroke, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, and 100-yard individual medley in the 45-49 age bracket.
      
• Way to go, Hugo.

Houston Expands Civility Ordinance in Downtown Area

• A new 24-hour civility ordinance will prohibit sitting, lying, or storing belongings on sidewalks throughout downtown as Houston begins a pilot program to reshape its homelessness response. As Michael Wilson reports, the move is part of Mayor John Whitmire’s broader initiative to address homelessness across Houston.

This Sunday on REAL TEXANS

Friday Reflection
You Are Never Alone

There is no end to the discouragement we can find if we look at ourselves long enough. Self-pity is a bottomless pit when we make our lives about ourselves.

Consider the ancient prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 18, he was witness to an awesome display of God’s power. He saw the prophets of Baal defeated on Mount Carmel. He watched the people rise up and seize the priests of the false gods.

Leaving that place, though, Elijah got word that the evil Jezebel intended to kill him. She, after all, was a cheerleader for Baal. So, it’s easy to see why she was mad.

What is less easy to understand is Elijah’s response. Scripture describes Elijah as being afraid and scurrying off into the wilderness. Believing himself to be alone, Elijah metaphorically dug for himself a pit of despair into which he tossed himself.

So we find Elijah praying that God would kill him. Instead, an angel told him to go to Horeb, also known as Sinai, where Moses had received the Ten Commandments.

He had to be convinced by an angel to get on his way, but he finally went. There, Elijah complained that there were no other men of God in Israel.

He cried, “I am the only one left, and now [the people] are trying to kill me too.”

It was hogwash! He had just seen God defeat Baal and witnessed the people rise up against the false prophets. By focusing on himself, Elijah managed to turn God’s victory into his own defeat.

And so God gave Elijah something to do. Elijah was told to go and anoint a couple of kings and then appoint a successor prophet. But before he did, God addressed the “woe is me, I am all alone” nonsense.

God told Elijah that 7,000 men in Israel had not worshipped Baal. So no matter how he felt, the fact was that Elijah was never alone.

The same goes for us. We must be willing to look beyond ourselves. Rather than star as the martyrs in our self-devised tale of woe, we should actively look for allies in the redemptive story that God is working out in our lives.

Whatever else might be true in a particular circumstance of life, we can take comfort in the knowledge that God makes sure we are never truly alone.

Quote-Unquote

"I love fighting back. I love finding allies, and—famously—I enjoy making enemies."

– Andrew Breitbart