Good morning,

Faith is easy when it leads somewhere safe, but today I reflect on the faith to step into dangerous situations.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, July 16, 2021
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• Please join me in wishing a very happy Saturday birthday to our copy editor, Gabbie Shafer!

Phelan (Finally) Takes An Action

• One of the Democrats who absconded to Washington, D.C., to bust the constitutional quorum requirements for conducting business has been stripped of his prestigious title and position of influence by House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont). 
   
• It was announced Thursday that Joe Moody (D-El Paso) had been removed as Phelan’s “speaker pro tempore” – the second-ranking position in the chamber. It was a position Phelan had given Moody at the start of the regular session. (Note: Moody held the same position under disgraced former Speaker Dennis Bonnen.)
   
• As Jeramy Kitchen reports, Phelan had thus far been reluctant to punish Democrat quorum-breakers in any meaningful way.
   
• Notably, the other Democrat lawmakers currently denying quorum still maintain their committee chairmanships and vice chairmanships, as well as seniority privileges and overall membership of key House committees. Phelan claims he cannot strip them of those positions, despite House Rules to the contrary.

🚨 No Arrests Authorized 🚨

• Despite tough-sounding promises on national TV by Gov. Greg Abbott, House Speaker Phelan has so far refused to authorize the detention or arrest of any Democrat absent from the proceedings of the House – despite several Democrats posting to social media that they are still in Texas, going to work, and attending events. 
      
• That revelation came from State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg), who was told by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the House Sergeant-at-Arms that they have not been directed to arrest no-show lawmakers.
   
• On the other hand, the speaker announced he is paying for a charted plane to land in D.C. on Saturday and wait for the Democrats to board. He asked them to please call his office so he can ensure their seat is reserved. Yes, seriously.
   
• Democrats responded with an emphatic “no” – and then said aloud what every knows: Phelan owes his speakership to the Democrat caucus. “There needs to be 76 members who decide who our next Speaker is, and more than 60 are not there.”

Bounty On Pacheco

Well, This Was Unexpected…

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick dropped something of a bomb late yesterday afternoon. Not only does he want a second special session to start on August 8 (coinciding with the end of the current special session), but he wants the governor to change the quorum requirements.
     
• “I am asking [Abbott] to add changing the quorum requirement to the call. Should be simple majority plus one, like it is in most states to stop outrageous behavior by Dems,” tweeted Lt. Gov. Patrick.
      
• It does not appear the governor can supercede the Texas Constitution’s definition of what constitutes a quorum for the legislative chambers to conduct business… BUT if 2020 taught us nothing else, it is that this governor doesn’t mind creating new powers for himself.

The (Real) Big Lie

• With ballot security a top issue among voters, leftists are working overtime to convince Americans that election integrity equates to voter suppression. Nothing could be more disingenuous, reports Erin Anderson. The issue was front and center at the CPAC conference in Dallas last weekend.
      
• “There was lot of fraud, but there was also a lot of bureaucratic incompetence,” explained John Fund, a journalist who has written extensively on election issues. “The problem with our election system today is, our system is so sloppy, our enforcement is so sporadic, you can’t tell where the incompetence in our elections ends and the fraud begins.”
      
• Fund explained that “the Big Lie” the left is telling is that states’ voting integrity laws are “voter suppression.”
        
• Former U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker said one of the challenges of 2020 was that while the left was litigating in the states to get the election law changes they wanted via the courts, conservatives “didn’t put in the same amount of fight.” He described Texas as the one exception, under Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Border Insecurity

• Despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s public pivot towards border security, citizens in Kinney County aren’t getting help. Robert Montoya has the full report.
   
• “The governor says one thing, but doesn’t actually provide resources to the people on the ground and counties,” said Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith (R) in an interview with Texas Scorecard. “To this date, we have not received any assistance.”

Rinaldi On The Headline

• At 11 a.m. today catch the latest live edition of The Headline, featuring a conversation with the new chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Matt Rinaldi. (The video archive and podcast will be available shortly after.)

Unsafe In Austin

• Amid a tumultuous two-year public safety disaster in Texas’ capital city, Austin’s interim police chief is sounding the alarm on the current situation at the gutted police department. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
      
• “I’ve had individual meetings with each council member to explain the dire situation we are in,” said APD Interim Chief Joseph Chacon. “And I’m going to call it a crisis, because that’s what it is, and they all get it.”
      
• On the streets, Chacon said 911 response times are “dramatically” slower, and violent crime has already surged to record numbers in 2021.

Friday Reflection: Stepping Forward In Faith

Along the Jordan River, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, are the plains of Jericho – the mound of the ancient city and its ruins are visible for all to see.

But for today I don’t want to look at Jericho; we can discuss that place another time. (And those going with me on the 2022 Texas Scorecard trip to Israel will see it in person!) Instead, I invite you to look east from Jericho across the plains to the Jordan River and Gilgal. Not much to see out there.

First, a little background. You might recall the story of Moses and the Israelite slaves leaving Egypt. As the Egyptian army was approaching, the Jews were pressed against the Red Sea with seemingly nowhere safe to go. Moses was instructed by God to raise his staff, and the sea parted for the people to pass – with the waters then crashing down and drowning their foes.

After that amazing display of God’s power, the people of Israel stumbled – they were afraid to take the final step and enter the land promised to them. As punishment for their faithlessness and timidity, they had to wander the desert as nomads for a generation.

Some forty years later the Israelites were finally allowed to enter their promised land. Yet this time the raging waters of the Jordan protected them from their potential adversaries – the closest of whom are behind the strong walls of Jericho, a city they could literally see from across the swollen river.

At Gilgal the Israelites were told, in essence, to do the opposite of what they did fleeing Egypt. They were told God would turn the raging river into dry land so they could cross into the enemy’s reach... but first they had to get their feet wet in the dangerous river.

It’s one thing to have faith when we see the waters part, providing an easy walk to safety away from an advancing army. It’s something else entirely to have faith when crossing a raging river in order to advance into the arms of a stronger, entrenched enemy.

So it was at Gilgal where the men of God carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the raging waters... and God then dried up the river for the people to pass. Leaving the comfortable scarcity of the wilderness, they stepped out in faith toward the certain fight of claiming the long-promised land of Israel.

Do we have faith to leave our safe places and fight the fights ahead? Rather than flee to safety, do we have the faith to rush into the enemy’s grasp?

Just as the Israelites did at Gilgal, we must step boldly forward despite our fears willing to fight faithfully.

Quote-Unquote

“I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office.”

– Milton Friedman​ ​