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Good morning,

For 25 years, we have said we would never forget, yet the posture of many of our countrymen towards our nation ... and our nation's avowed enemies ... makes me wonder. More on that thought below to end the week.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, September 11, 2026.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan [[link removed]]

UPFRONT: A mistake in yesterday's "Today In History" section provided the wrong date for the American victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. The correct date is Sept. 10, 1813. I apologize for the error. --" width="434" src=" GOP Midterm Convention Concludes Closing out the second and final day of the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention on Thursday night in Dallas, the agenda was just as heavy on Texans as the first night. Brandon Waltens has the details [[link removed]].

Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina, two Republican candidates challenging Democrats in South Texas, highlighted the GOP's significant gains along the border during President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.

Gov. Greg Abbott contrasted [[link removed]] the Democrats' legislative records with the policies he has signed into law. "This election is a choice. It’s the choice between common sense and crazy. Common sense always wins. It will win this year too. Together, we are going to demolish the Democrats."

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz used his speech to warn [[link removed]] about what he described as an emerging red-green alliance between communists and Islamists.

"Sharia law has no place in America. Sharia law is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution, and we need to stand together and stop it now." --" width="434" src=" Mexican Cartels Could Exploit Proposed Transmission Line A border county official and a security specialist are cautioning that a proposed extra-high-voltage transmission line project could provide opportunities for the Mexican cartel to exploit. Robert Montoya has the story [[link removed]].

At issue is a transmission line project before the Public Utility Commission that would stretch nearly 370 miles across South and West Texas, from the San Antonio to Fort Stockton areas. It would pass through Kinney County, which borders Mexico. The area was considered the front line of the immigration crisis caused by the Biden administration.

Kinney County Judge John Paul Schuster said the proposed pathway would increase security burdens by creating a "super highway" for illegal immigration.

Ammon Blair, a security specialist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, has warned that placing critical infrastructure within easy reach of cartels could also make them vulnerable [[link removed]] to hostile foreign powers. "China, Iran, and other hostile state and non-state actors do not need to seize territory along the U.S.-Mexico border when they can use organizations that already control the approaches to it."

Earlier this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick warned [[link removed]] that the PUC could be in jeopardy after moving forward with another 765-kV project. Lawmakers asked for all of them to be paused ahead of the 2027 legislative session.MORE 765-kV NEWS Top Regulator Recommends Remanding Transmission Project to Administrative Law Judges [[link removed]] --" width="434" src=" Fifth Circuit Won't Rehear Challenge to In-State Tuition Ban As Riley Wanasek reports [[link removed]], the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request to rehear a challenge to Texas’ ban on in-state tuition benefits for illegal aliens. This leaves the court's July ruling in place.

At issue was the 2001 Texas Dream Act, which allowed qualifying illegal alien students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. In June 2025, the Department of Justice sued Texas over the policy because it gave benefits to illegal aliens not available to all U.S. citizens, in violation of federal law.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agreed [[link removed]] with the DOJ position and settled the case, ending the Texas Dream Act. Two outside groups, a community college, and a student tried to intervene in the settlement to block it, but the courts denied them permission. They tried again, and failed again.

As a result, illegal aliens are still barred from seeking in-state tuition rates at Texas' public universities and colleges. --" width="434" src=" Judge Disciplined for Requiring Parents To Be Vaccinated Travis Morgan reports [[link removed]] that an East Texas judge has been publicly admonished for requiring two parents to receive the COVID-19 vaccination or produce negative tests 72 hours before exercising their child visitation rights.

A Republican, Travis Kitchens Jr. is the current 258th District Court Judge, serving Polk, San Jacinto, and Trinity Counties. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct was also examining requirements he placed on defense attorneys and their clients ahead of entering into plea arrangements.

The SCJC found [[link removed]] that Kitchens' conduct constituted "a failure to comply with the law and maintain professional competence in the law."

First elected to the bench in 2018, Kitchens was re-elected in 2022 and is running unopposed in November. --" width="434" src=" Amarillo City Council Reviews Flock Camera Policies After Former Officer’s Arrest After a former police officer was accused of using the Flock automated license plate reader system to track a man for personal reasons, Amanda Lindberg reports [[link removed]] that the Amarillo City Council is now reviewing the policies that govern how its employees access and use the data.

In a meeting earlier this week, Police Chief Thomas Hover outlined new department safeguards even as council members and residents debated whether additional public oversight is needed to protect privacy and prevent misuse.

Christian Eder has been charged with 78 counts of tampering with a government record after he allegedly used the Flock system for 76 searches to track the victim. It is unclear what the personal relationship was between Eder and the victim.

Amarillo's mayor has proposed [[link removed]] a civic oversight committee that would evaluate and audit Flock camera searches.RELATED NEWS Manvel City Council Votes Unanimously To End Flock Safety Contract [[link removed]] --" width="434" src=" More Texas News --" width="434" src=" Last Laugh The Talarico Bible

by Gary Varvel

--" width="434" src=" This Sunday on REAL TEXANS Justice James Sullivan [[link removed]] on the Texas Supreme Court On Sunday's edition of Real Texans, Brandon Waltens talks with Supreme Court of Texas Justice James Sullivan about his background and rise to the state’s highest civil court. They discuss the importance of making legal opinions accessible to real Texans.

Watch the preview [[link removed]].

New interviews with REAL TEXANS [[link removed]] every Sunday!

--" width="434" src=" Support Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] --" width="434" src=" Friday Reflection Did We Forget? [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

It is difficult to believe that a generation has now elapsed since the horror of 9/11. Looking around, our nation seems not to have learned the lessons of that day. Worse yet, we seem not to remember who was responsible.

Even today, 25 years later, the magnitude of the attack is still staggering.

There were 2,977 people murdered that day by the adherents of Islam. Millions more had their lives forever upended.

Then, as now, the Islamists wanted America destroyed. Perhaps they thought toppling buildings could achieve that end? They took advantage of America’s welcoming history and our liberties to kill and destroy. Maybe they thought shedding the blood of civilians would make the rest of us kneel before their false god?

That evening, as the nation grappled to understand what happened, there was a palpable fear that America had been dealt a crippling blow. Fortunately, the horror of 9/11 gave way to the steady resolve of 9/12: America would not be cowed by Islamic terrorists.

The phrase “Never Forget” makes the rounds this time every year with dramatic pre- and post- attack images of the World Trade Center, but the slogan feels empty.

The post-9/11 “War on Terror” was a branding misdirection. Rather than name Islam as the enemy, we were left as a nation fighting the vague notion of a cowardly tactic. Political correctness and simpering politicians sought to send down the memory hole any reminder of who wanted to destroy America.

On the 25th anniversary of that horrible day, there are those in our country carrying out the terrorists’ ends. I do not mean that as a rhetorical device. We literally have Muslim imams calling for the destruction of our nation and the end of our republic—not on some distant shores but from inside our country. And we have American politicians eagerly defending them; some are even enabling them.

Islamic groups, even in Texas, are openly supporting terrorist organizations that exist to conduct jihad against Western civilization.

Too many Republicans have ignored the Islamic threat, afraid of being labeled as intolerant or politically incorrect. Worse, though, are the Democrats who find common cause with the anti-American rhetoric of the jihadis. (Pity the purple-haired lesbian waving “Free Palestine” placards outside city hall when she realizes the intersectional alliance between Marxists and Muslims was a one-sided affair all along.)

In a fallen world, attacks on our way of life should be expected. But we should not be expected to tolerate those who aid and abet the enemy.

Those who brought their war to America never forgot their goal; they just changed tactics. Islamic communities operating under Sharia mandates here will be no different than the expanding—if unofficial—no-go zones in France and elsewhere in Europe.

This new generation of Islamists remains committed to the fight of their fathers and grandfathers. They want to bring down more than the Twin Towers; they want to take out America.

So what will we do? Will we resign ourselves to the inevitability of an Islamic tyranny? Will we shrug our shoulders and shuffle along to the cemetery where Western Europe is being buried?

Patriots must rise up. We must rededicate ourselves to the founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We must fight for what America can be. We must, in the words of the Old Testament exhortation, be “strong and courageous.” We must remember what happened 25 years ago. We must never forget.

The choice we make today about what we do tomorrow will shape the future of our Republic.

--" width="434" src=" Quote-Unquote

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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