Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, July 20, 2021
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Another Week of Inaction Begins

• It has been more than a week since Texas House Democrats decided to break the legislative quorum and deny debate on big issues. 
      
• And during this time neither House Speaker Dade Phelan nor the House Republican majority have broached any penalties to be assigned for those Democrats busting the legislative quorum.
     
• Of the 30 days allotted per “special” session of the Texas Legislature under the constitution, only 18 days remain including today.

Abbott Says ‘Nil’ Chance Of House Protecting Kids

• Interviewed by radio host Mark Davis, Gov. Greg Abbott said yesterday that the chances were “nil” that the GOP-dominated Texas House would take up and pass legislation protecting children from undergoing gender reassignment procedures – even if the Democrats weren’t obstructing proceedings of the chamber. 
   
• Jacob Asmussen has the details. The governor told Davis that – because the Texas House isn’t going to act – he has “another way of achieving the exact same thing” but refused to elaborate on the specifics of his plan. Abbott did say that it is “a finished product as we speak right now and may be announced as soon as this week.”
   
• Further, Gov. Abbott blamed specifically the House’s inaction on the issue as a reason for not including it in the special session agenda.
        
• Tellingly, no one from the House GOP has disputed the governor’s assertions about their chamber’s unwillingness to confront the issue that has national attention.
   
• Readers might recall that Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was roundly criticized by Texas House Republicans at the end of the legislative session for saying basically the same thing Abbott is now.

• Don’t know about the push to medically “modify” the gender of children? Want to understand how this became a debate?
   
• Watch Texas Scorecard’s feature story, Saving James.

A Forensic Audit Of Texas’ 2020 Election

• While the special legislative session in Austin is still frozen after Democrats fled for Washington, D.C. to avoid voting on election integrity legislation, Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) has filed legislation that would subject the 2020 election in Texas to a forensic audit. Brandon Waltens has the details.
   
• “We need a forensic audit to uncover all the voter fraud,” said Toth.
   
• If passed into law, the audit would begin by November 1, 2021, and be completed by February 1, 2022.

How To Handle Vaccine-Pushing Bureaucrats?

• Asked on social media what he would do to protect Texans’ privacy from the Biden Administration’s door-to-door vaccine push, Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines had an answer than some might not have expected.
   
• “The Fourth Amendment protects you from their visit. The Second Amendment gives you a tool to handle them if they get too pushy.” – Don Huffines

Biden & Big Tech Collude

• In a new commentary, Rachel Bovard explains the significance of the White House’s admission that the Biden Administration is actively working with social media companies to censor content. 
       
• “The power of narrative control, and its attendant ends of power over speech, thought, and access to the marketplace centralized in the Big Tech platforms, will always be irresistible to government, regardless of who is in charge. This is why the concentrated power of these platforms must be so urgently addressed.” – Rachel Bovard

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