Good morning,

It's natural to be afraid of the giants destroying our culture, so I end the week with a reflection on choosing to faithfully overcome that fear. 

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, August 8, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Launches Investigation Into Soros-Funded PAC

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced the launch of a formal investigation into Texas Majority PAC—funded by leftist billionaire George Soros—for its “role in potentially unlawful financial coordination and bribery of Democratic legislators who fled Texas to break quorum.” Sydnie Henry has the details.
      
• This is the second investigation launched by Paxton in as many days seeking information from groups alleged to be supporting the Texas House Democrat quorum break.
    
• Paxton alleges that Soros' PAC has played a “coordinating role” in assisting with illegal fundraising operations and possibly bribing Texas House members. These actions, Paxton maintains, may have incentivized lawmakers to abandon their legislative responsibilities, an act that—if financially rewarded—could constitute bribery under state law.

Despite Uncertain Future in House, Senators Pass Women’s Privacy Act

• Members of the Texas Senate passed the Women’s Privacy Act this week, a measure aimed at restricting access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and women’s shelters based on biological sex. McKael Kirwin reports that with House Democrats currently breaking quorum, the legislation's future is uncertain.
      
• Authored by State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), the legislation would apply to all state agencies, school districts, prisons, public colleges, and women’s abuse shelters. It also requires prison inmates to be housed according to biological sex and mandates that women’s shelters only serve biological females and their children.
      
• Individuals found in violation of the law could face civil penalties of up to $5,000 for the first infraction and $25,000 for each subsequent offense.
     
• “The Texas Senate will continue passing this bill each legislative session to protect women and girls until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ and get back to work for the people of Texas.” – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

Texas Casino Interests Prepare Comeback Attempt

• After dumping millions into the 2024 election cycle and coming up short, Las Vegas Sands appears ready to roll the dice again. Brandon Waltens examines how the group is leveraging its foreign cash to get a government-monopoly casino in Texas.
      
• New financial disclosures show that Texas Sands PAC, the Texas-based political arm of the casino giant, has more than $9 million in cash on hand heading into the upcoming election season. Despite its name, Sands does not operate casinos in Las Vegas or anywhere in the United States; its operations are mostly in China.
       
• Despite getting casino legislation to the floor of the Texas House in 2023, Sands watched its momentum collapse in the 2024 primaries. Voters rejected the very lawmakers who had sided with the casino giant.
      
• Now, Sands is recalibrating. Its head political consultant, John Jackson, is running the campaign of Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock. One of Sands' lobbyists, Jordan Berry, is the lead consultant on State Sen. Mayes Middleton's run for attorney general.

TCEQ Fights Paxton’s Order To Release Documents

• The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is fighting an order from Attorney General Ken Paxton to release records. Paige Feild has the story.
    
• At issue in the case is the ability of government entities to delay prompt access to open records requests by repeatedly asking for clarification, and whether public interest in government transparency outweighs an agency’s claims of privilege. 
       
• Typically, responses to public information requests are due within 10 business days, but government agencies and officials have blown a hole in this provision. They restart the 10-day clock each time they ask for clarification or other requests of the person seeking the information. The attorney general’s office found TCEQ made an error in its clarification request, and the 10-business-day clock was not reset.
      
• Rather than release the records as required by the attorney general, TCEQ sued. The AG's decision was upheld by the district and appellate courts, but the agency has now appealed to the Supreme Court of Texas.
      
• Tax-funded organizations—such as the Texas Association of School Boards, the Texas Association of Counties, and the Texas Conference of Urban Counties—have filed briefs in support of the TCEQ position, fearing they may lose the ability to extend PIA request deadlines with frivolous "clarifications."

Harris County Commissioners Block Two Tax Hike Proposals

• As Joseph Trimmer reports, Harris County commissioners rejected County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s proposed property tax increase. She wanted to generate $60 million in new county revenue to continue child care programs that had been funded by expiring federal COVID-19 relief monies.
    
• Throughout the meeting, Hidalgo disrupted the proceedings by interrupting her colleagues and holding signs with her staff in an attempt to push the tax hike. Right before noon, the meeting reached its chaotic peak with commissioners accusing each other of lying to the public.
      
• When Hidalgo's plan failed to garner support, County Commissioner Rodney Ellis proposed his own tax hike. It, too, was rejected.
      
• Remember: local governments were told not to get addicted to those COVID dollars ...

This Sunday on REAL TEXANS

NOTE: All three announced candidates seeking the GOP nomination for comptroller have been invited to schedule an interview.

Friday Reflection
Fear is a Loser

No weapon is quite so debilitating as fear. And, all too often, it is a weapon we point at ourselves. We let our minds turn our opponents into fearsome and unconquerable giants, and then that fear becomes an excuse for inaction.

As anyone who has been around me long knows, I love the story of David and Goliath and everything around it. I draw constant inspiration from David’s confrontation with a very real giant by acting faithfully on God’s promises. The result, of course, was victory.

Yet earlier in Scripture, we find a very different reaction to giants. This happened after Moses led the people out of their Egyptian captivity. When they reached the outskirts of Canaan, a dozen spies were sent to scout out the land. The majority returned and said the land was indeed beautiful ... but filled with powerful giants. The people cowered in fear, turned from the land, and began 40 years of wandering in the wilderness for their faithlessness.

When God finally let the Israelites return, those fearsome giants turned out to be conquerable after all.

Whether the Israelite spies actually saw giants or not, they let their fear overcome their faith. These people had seen the very real power of God in escaping Egypt and living on the run in the wilderness … but they still feared these “giants.” I’m willing to accept the testimony of those spies who said they saw giants, but I refuse to excuse their cowardice.

Instead of faithfully confronting their enemy, they ran from the promise of God. They let their fear prevent them from enjoying the blessings He had laid out for them.

What about us? Frankly, many of the giants in our path today have been revealed to be little more than shadow puppets.

When the people of God finally put their fear behind them, they entered the Promised Land and took their first city with a roar of defiance.

Today, we live in a land overflowing with Marxist indoctrination, abusive bureaucrats, and faithless servants. Cultural giants take pride in their sins while demanding we indulge their dangerous delusions.

Some of our friends will give up, claiming to be weary. Others will claim to have calculated the odds, hiding behind a faulty analysis to justify cowardly inaction. And still others will admit to being too scared to fight, fearing a loss of reputation or income.

What about you? What about me? We cannot choose for anyone else, only ourselves. We must choose every day if and how we will fight.

As for me, I see the enemies of our republic on the run. Now is not the time to draw back, but to press forward. Now is not the time to quake in fear, but to roar in defiance. Now is not the time to slink into the shadows, but to advance boldly in the brilliant light of truth.

Let’s go slay some giants!

Quote-Unquote

"Freedom lies in being bold." – Robert Frost

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