Good morning –

Tomorrow marks 20 years: Never Forget. 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, September 10, 2021
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Biden Mandates The Jab

• President Joe Biden signed two new executive orders on Thursday requiring all federal employees and private government contractors to get the COVID-19 shot. Griffin White reports the move affects millions of Texans.

Hall Still Has Questions About TMB

• Despite a receiving a response from the Texas Medical Board, State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood) still has questions about whether or not the agency will target doctors who express concerns or hesitancy about the COVID shots. Robert Montoya has the story.

Citizens Fight Property Tax Hikes

• Across Texas, local governments are in the final stages of deciding how they will spend taxpayers’ money in the coming year and are setting property tax rates to pay for that spending. As Erin Anderson explains, savvy taxpayers are paying attention – and taking action.
     
• Since Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature have abandoned meaningful property tax relief this year, citizens are left to take action limiting the impact of property taxes by appealing to city councils and county commissioners. (School districts account for the biggest share of Texans’ property tax bills, but most have already set their tax rates for the year.)
       

• Property tax bills are a product of both appraised values and tax rates set by local governments. Taxes are driven by spending, so the way to keep citizens’ tax bills in check is to limit local government spending.
   

• “Just because our tax rate is lower, it does not mean we pay less in property taxes,” said resident Bridgette Ann, who publishes the local government watchdog site McKinney Citizen to Citizen. “As long as our property values keep going up and our tax rate does not lower enough to offset the property value increase, we’ll be paying more in taxes.”

GOP Challengers Rebuke Abbott

• After announcing a third special session with several key conservatie priorities missing from the agenda, Gov. Greg Abbott is taking heat from some of his Republican opponents. Brandon Waltens has the story.
   
• “There is still an obvious silence with gender mutilations, property tax relief, and other Republican priorities,” media personality Chad Prather told Texas Scorecard. “When will our state government comply to doing the business of the people and prioritizing what the people want done? Greg Abbott is using the taxpayer dime to get noticed in a campaign season, but in fact, he’s running on a ‘how to not get re-elected” platform.”
   
• “Texans elected Republicans to statewide office and sent strong Republican majorities to the Texas Legislature so they could pass Republican policy priorities into law. Sadly, many important issues for our state remain unaddressed,” said former State Sen. Don Huffines. “Any legislation the Texas Legislature fails to pass will be an emergency item under my administration.”

Biden DOJ Targets Texas

• U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is suing Texas, claiming the new Heartbeat Act is unconstitutional because it “prevents women throughout Texas from exercising their constitutional rights.” Griffin White has the details.
       
• In response to the Department of Justice’s legal crusade, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi tweeted: “We’ve got four words for you: Come and take it.”

New Podcast Series Continues

• A new episode in Texas Scorecard’s newest podcast series will premiere today at 2 p.m. on Texas Scorecard.com and wherever you listen to podcasts. 
      
• In the third installment of our Autopsy File podcast series, Brandon Waltens visits with Texas Right to Life’s John Seago to look at one of the successes from the last legislative session: the Heartbeat Act, which has drawn the ire of the pro-abortion mob since going into effect. Seago and Waltens cover how grassroots activists helped make the bill into law, the reaction it has received since, and what the next steps are for the pro-life movement.
        
• And speaking of podcasts… In the new episode of Liberty Cafe, Bill Peacock examines the role that “experts”–and our willingness to listen to them–is playing in the downfall of culture.

Friday Reflection: Resolved To Fight

We were waiting for the movers to come on September 11, 2001. My wife and I were sitting on the front porch that morning, sipping coffee, excited to be heading back to Texas. Our townhouse was a couple of miles from the Pentagon. In retrospect, we heard the crash. We remember saying, “Did you hear that?”

At the time, we couldn’t process what it possibly could be. Our toddler played near us, while her infant sister gurgled in a car seat. We couldn’t imagine the death, the destruction, the horror happening so close.

There were 2,977 people murdered that day. There were millions whose lives were upended. There are billions who have been affected.

Today, 20 years later, the magnitude of the attack is still staggering. 

The Islamic terrorists wanted America destroyed. Perhaps they thought toppling buildings could achieve that end. Or maybe they thought shedding the blood of civilians would make the rest of us kneel before their 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 terrorists.

And yet, on this 20th anniversary of that horrible day, there are those in our country carrying out the terrorists’ ends. They want to topple our constitutional rights. They target Christian ministries for their faith. They want us to kneel before secular gods. Many hold public office.

Our cities have been terrorized by people who despise liberty and would see the American experiment in self-governance ended. Just as those Islamic terrorists dreamt of a globe-spanning caliphate, we’ve spent the last year watching BLM and antifa terrorists try to impose a radical socialist agenda on the rest of us. They use multinational corporations to silence dissent.

In a fallen world, attacks on our way of life should be expected. When the inevitable assaults come, we can choose the ease of surrender ... or we can fight back faithfully. In fighting, we have the opportunity to love God, love our neighbors, and take our place in history amongst the men and women who boldly stood against tyranny.

So what will we do? Will we resign ourselves to the inevitability of a leftist tyranny? Will we shrug our shoulders and shuffle down the road to serfdom?

Or will patriots rise up? Will we rededicate ourselves to those founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Will we fight for what America can be? Will we fight for that more perfect union of self-governing sovereigns? Will we, in the words of the Old Testament exhortation, “be strong and courageous”?

At the end of his life, the Israelite leader Joshua gathered the people of Israel together and told them they must “choose this day whom you will serve. ... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

The choice we make today about what we will do tomorrow will shape the future of our Republic. As for me and my house, we resolve to fight.