Good morning,

Today I reflect on how facts, taken out of context, can make just another lie.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, October 16, 2020
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• Coming Up: There is a lot of information – and misinformation – regarding the situation involving Attorney General Ken Paxton. On Saturday at TexasScorecard.com, Jacob Asmussen and I will have a long-form article taking you through the actual facts and what it means.

• Continuing our series on conservative organizations’ endorsements for the 2020 election, Jacob Asmussen reports on the electoral guidance given by Gun Owners of America. The pro-Second Amendment organization rates incumbents and candidates on their trustworthiness to uphold and expand citizens’ right to self-defense.
   
• A national organization, GOA’s Texas chapter has nonetheless been at the front of the fight for constitutional carry, while pushing against liberal lawmakers’ attempts to implement gun control.

• From the “You Thought It Would Never Happen” File: Former political rivals State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) and Scott Fisher have joined forces to endorse Jeff Cason to be the next member of the Texas House from Bedford. Check out their video endorsement.

• As Democrats try to flip the Texas House this November and gain control of next year’s pivotal redistricting process, Erin Anderson reports Dallas-area Republicans are working to regain seats lost during the last “blue wave” election while keeping the ones they still hold.
   
• In 2018 Democrats flipped five Republican House districts in Dallas County, unseating three GOP incumbents in the process.
   
• The two remaining Republicans in Dallas County’s legislative delegation—State Reps. Morgan Meyer (Dallas) and Angie Chen Button (Garland)—face rematches against the same heavily funded Democrat challengers they narrowly defeated two years ago.

• Citizens won a victory against coronavirus tyranny when they held Southlake Mayor Laura Hill accountable for requiring that masks be worn when voting at election spots in the city—which violates one of the specific exceptions listed in Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate. Robert Montoya has the details.
   
• Mayor Hill had posted a video and signs telling voters they were required to wear a mask when voting in Southlake’s city hall. That ran afoul of the election code and Gov. Abbott’s mask mandate. 
   
• “Once a city/church/etc. enters into a contract to become a polling location, that location is under the jurisdiction of the Election Code and Secretary of State,” Christine Welborn, Direct Action Texas’ director of election integrity, told Texas Scorecard. “During the hours of voting, the Election Code supersedes any rules, laws, or ordinances normally in place at that location.”
   
• Julie McCarty of the True Texas Project spotted the problematic city requirements and spoke out on social media, alerting other citizens who also began raising concerns.
   
• Mayor Hill responded appropriately and quickly by admitting fault, apologizing, and ending the requirement. “We were absolutely incorrect,” she wrote.
   
• No one expects elected officials to get it right every time, but Mayor Hill stands as a good example in the case of someone with the integrity to make things right.

• In a new commentary, Seth Kaufman writes that parents and students are frustrated with the conflicting COVID-19 protocols in Texas schools. He finds many students are being forced into quarantine based on contact tracing.
     
• Specifically, Kaufman looks at the challenges families are experiencing in the Frisco Independent School District, where they aren’t accounting for mitigating factors recognized by the Texas Education Agency that may lessen a student’s chance of exposure and transmission of the virus.
   
• “They refuse to consider any mitigating factors when conducting their contact tracing and close contact investigations, as recommended by the TEA and CDC,” said Blayne Rush, a Frisco ISD parent.

Friday Reflection

In the economy of civics, “trust” is the only currency that counts. We all know that a flat-out lie is wrong, yet we tolerate “shading” of the truth if it serves our political purposes. It is so easy to pull honest-to-goodness facts out of their context to further our own ends.

Every parent has had this experience. A child is caught eating a snack right before dinner, so you ask, “Why are you spoiling your meal?” The child replies, “Mom said I could.” The child isn’t exactly lying; mom indeed had said the kid could have a snack... three hours earlier. 

Scripture is replete with condemnations of lying. Proverbs 12:33 tells us “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”

And let us not forget that most awkward of the Ten Commandments. To be clear: the Ninth Commandment doesn’t say, “Don’t lie,” which is how we try to explain it. True enough, but this explanation misses the mark through simplification.

Instead, God tells us to “not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This covers a lot more waterfront than just “do not tell a lie.” It goes to the heart of what we say, what we communicate, and what we are attempting to make our neighbor hear.

This is where context matters. Facts, when presented out of context, can create a lie.

We see this all the time in politics. 

Not long ago we were treated to the spectacle of a Republican lawmaker bragging in a special election about how he was a proponent of a popular GOP reform. In fact, he was responsible for the measure being watered down to the point of being useless. After the bill was gutted, he then voted for it. So when he told his constituents he supported the measure he was telling the truth way outside the context of what he had actually done.

This is why Americans have grown weary of the establishment media. Rather than report facts in their correct context, many legacy reporters and newscasters lie through manipulative editing and careful omission. 

Our system of self-governance demands that we tell each other the truth, using facts in context. It isn’t always convenient to the establishment politicians, their apologists in the media, or paymasters in the lobby, but it is critical to the high calling of citizenship. 

Let me end with a practical and personal request.

Telling the truth by using facts in context is the expectation I have for all of us at Texas Scorecard. As the Proverb I quoted a moment ago puts it, this is an act we must take on faithfully and daily. Just as in our walk as Christians and in our practical work as citizens, we need you to hold us accountable.