... The Texas Minute ...
Good morning,
Because it's easy to confuse volume with mass in campaigns, I end the week reflecting on the physics of politics.
This is the Texas Minute for Friday, October 24, 2025.
– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Death Row Inmate Appeals Sentence, Claims Prosecution Fat-Shamed Her
- A Texas woman convicted of one of the most gruesome murders in recent memory is now appealing her death sentence, arguing that prosecutors improperly introduced humiliating and prejudicial evidence against her during the trial. Travis Morgan details the case.
- Taylor Rene Parker was sentenced to death for the murder of 21‑year‑old Reagan Hancock and Hancock’s unborn daughter, Braxlynn, on October 9, 2020, in New Boston. Parker brutally attacked Hancock inside her home—beating, stabbing, and strangling her before using a scalpel to cut the unborn child from her womb. After the crime, she was pulled over for speeding. That is when the trooper noticed she was covered in dried blood while holding the dead baby with the umbilical cord still attached.
- Her appeal centers on jurors having heard evidence that Parker had been "fat" and that "her stretch marks were gross." This, her attorneys assert, should have been inadmissible as "no less insidious than evidence going to race."
- Parker is currently housed at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, the primary detention facility for female death row inmates in Texas.
UT President: 'Loss of Public Trust in Higher Education'
- Earlier this week, the University of Texas at Austin formally inaugurated James E. Davis as its 31st president. In his address, Davis committed the university to becoming “a model of public trust.” Adam Cahn has the story.
- Davis acknowledged that there has been “a general loss of public trust in higher education.” He said academic freedom must be balanced with academic responsibility.
- As interim president, Davis has already overseen an expansion of the university’s classical education program and the removal of personnel who promoted woke policies.
OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS
- By way of update ... The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board formally adopted the rules prohibiting public colleges and universities from providing in-state tuition rates to individuals not lawfully present in the United States.
- Each institution must now appoint a Resident Status Determination Official, who will maintain records and notify lawfully present students of their duty to apply for permanent residency.
State Begins Takeover of Fort Worth ISD
- Due to five years of poor academic performance, the Texas Education Agency is taking control of the Fort Worth Independent School District. Addie Hovland reports that there are a variety of actions that the state agency can take to deal with the situation.
- Education Commissioner Mike Morath has ordered the appointment of a board of managers and a conservator to manage the district. That is scheduled to happen next week.
Victims of Locker Room Recording Scandal Sue School For Cover-up
- Three families are suing Celina Independent School District for gross negligence by enabling Coach Caleb Elliott to make illicit locker room recordings of at least 30 middle school boys while they were undressed and showering. As Erin Anderson reports, the man was arrested earlier this month in connection with the crimes.
- The lawsuit alleges the district was not only aware of Elliott’s criminal predation of young boys, but deliberately covered it up—possibly to protect the legacy of Celina ISD’s famed football program. The accused man's father is Celina ISD’s longtime head football coach and athletic director, Bill Elliott.
- The lawsuit cites two past crimes the younger coach committed involving Celina students: starting a “relationship” with a male student at the high school, and getting caught previously placing cameras in the middle school boys’ locker room. Plaintiffs allege Celina ISD officials knew about both crimes but kept them quiet.
- The lawsuit is being brought under a new law that abolishes the sovereign immunity of public schools and professional school employees in certain sexual misconduct cases.
Superintendent Arrested for Failing To Report Sexual Misconduct
- In two separate criminal cases, the superintendent of the Centerville Independent School District has been charged with a felony, while another district employee is under investigation.
- Centerville ISD Superintendent Carole Dickey has been arrested after being indicted by a grand jury for intentionally failing to report the resignation of a coach who allegedly had a romantic relationship with a student. The accused coach now works 60 miles away at Groveton ISD.
- Centerville trustees unanimously agreed to set aside $30,000 of taxpayer funds to pay for Dickey’s legal defense on the stipulation that she be found innocent. If found guilty or she enters into a plea deal, Dickey will have to reimburse the district.
- Meanwhile, an unnamed Centerville ISD employee has been placed on paid administrative leave for “unprofessional conduct” toward an elementary student.
OTHER EDUCATION NEWS
- A Bullard Independent School District custodian, Bryan Alan Taylor, was arrested this week after allegedly trapping a young girl in a campus bathroom and making a sexually suggestive comment. His bond has been set at $1 million.
- The incident allegedly took place last week at the district's intermediate school, which serves fifth and sixth-grade students. Taylor has since been fired.
This Sunday on REAL TEXANS
For Sunday's edition of Real Texans, I sit down with U.S. Rep. Chip Roy to talk about his bid to be the Lone Star State's next attorney general. Among other things, we talk about his battle against cancer, the threat of Sharia law, and what he learned working for John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, and Ken Paxton.
New interviews with REAL TEXANS every Sunday!
Friday Reflection
by Michael Quinn Sullivan
It can be very easy to confuse volume with mass in politics. Our inboxes, social media feeds, news shows … everything is set to maximum screech. All of which seems designed to separate citizens from reality.
Not long ago, a friend wrote to ask about a particular candidate in a specific race. She explained she was receiving multiple emails every day from the candidate about the campaign's strength. She told me her social media timeline was flooded with references to the alleged contender. She was surprised by how little traction the candidate had among her like-minded neighbors and friends at church.
The flood of emails, tweets, and posts she saw every day didn’t match what was happening in the real world. She wanted to know why.
Here’s a way to think of it. A tiny Bluetooth speaker from the corner store can make a lot of earsplitting noise, while a ton of gold is imposing but silent. Volume and mass.
In the physics of politics, volume can create mass … If a candidate or the leaders of a cause all run around long enough in circles and make a lot of noise, people will often join in, who will then draw in even more.
Depending on your perspective, a campaign is either trying to convert political volume into a mass of support through its messaging … Or, it is using the volume of messaging to conceal a lack of real-world commitments. Frankly, it is usually both.
Either way, citizens should be wary of those politicians who are running around in circles while yelling and screaming their own praises. With bots and click farms, such self-serving endeavors have never been easier, which means we as voters must be more sophisticated than ever in separating the political wheat from the chaff.
In our self-governing republic, citizens should demand something more and better. Sure, a bit of showmanship and a touch of volume might be necessary to cut through the clutter. But citizens deserve to see real results, not have reality distorted through algorithmically created false narratives.
For our republic to advance, we need substantive candidates offering thoughtful ideas and real plans for how they will disrupt the status quo should they be hired by the voters.
More importantly, though, as discerning citizens, we must ignore the self-serving circus and redouble our focus on the “mass” of good ideas—shaping them, moving them, and advancing them.
Quote-Unquote
"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid."
– G.K. Chesterton
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