Good morning!

For Christmas to mean anything, we must shift our focus less than 10 miles from Bethlehem. I’ll explain what I mean at the end of today's Texas Minute. (Or, you can listen now [[link removed]].)

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Friday, December 24, 2021

Update/change your subscription [[link removed]].

RECAP: Gubernatorial Conversations Earlier this fall, we offered all the Republican gubernatorial candidates (at the time) the opportunity to sit down for uncut interviews in the 1836 Studios. While Gov. Greg Abbott ignored the invitation, the interviews with Don Huffines [[link removed]], Chad Prather [[link removed]], and Allen West [[link removed]] are quite enlightening – and even entertaining.

Each of those links includes not only video and audio-only versions of the interviews, but also written recaps of the conversations.

Meanwhile, Brandon Waltens summarized [[link removed]] the positions Huffines, Prather, and West are taking as the gubernatorial campaign heats up.

NOTE: We’ll have more conversations with statewide candidates coming up the next several months! Upcoming Conversations Our Conversations series will continue next week. On Monday afternoon, it will be Jeramy Kitchen with Freedom Caucus member Briscoe Cain, a Republican state representative from Deer Park. They have a wide-ranging interview about the issues facing Texas… and the most controversial legislation that Mr. Cain directly impacted during this legislative year.

On Thursday, check out my conversation with Buck Johnson, who hosts the CounterFlow podcast from his home in Lockhart, Texas. I think you’ll agree he’s a fascinating fellow in the fight for liberty. Exposing EXPOSED The EXPOSED podcast series is continuing to gain momentum around the state and nation – already hitting #76 on the Top 100 news and political podcasts in the country.

On The Headline [[link removed]] this morning, Brandon Waltens and Jacob Asmussen will discuss the findings of this first season – which focused on the problems in a central Texas school district – and what it means for parents elsewhere. Join them at 11 a.m. [[link removed]], or catch the video archive [[link removed]] or podcast [[link removed]] shortly afterward. The Top Stories! Next week’s Texas Minute offerings will focus on the top 10 stories of 2021 – as selected earlier this month by readers.

Here were the top storylines of the year [[link removed]], as determined by page views and social media interactions: ​

FEBRUARY

Failure of Texas’ electric grid in the February winter storm… millions of Texans were left shivering in the dark for nearly a week. Will we get a repeat in 2022? Or were the issues resolved?

​ ​

MARCH

The Capitol was roiled by allegations that a lobbyist sexually assaulted a legislative staffer, only for it to be revealed it was a false report.

​ ​

JUNE

Texas lawmakers passed into law the Heartbeat Act in 2021 – and it has already survived numerous legal challenges, with advocates saying hundreds of abortions have been stopped each week as a result.

​ ​

JUNE

Lawmakers passed a version of constitutional carry, allowing law-abiding Texans to carry firearms without permits in most circumstances.

​ ​

JUNE

More than three decades in the making, lawmakers finally made the constitutional spending limits meaningful… though it won’t take effect until the 2024-2025 fiscal years’ budget.

​ ​

JUNE

Despite some successes, lawmakers concluded the 2021 legislative session with many of the Texas GOP’s legislative priorities unaccomplished.

​ ​

JULY

The public was horrified to learn about the legal practices in Texas of adults coercing children into gender reassignment procedures. House Speaker Dade Phelan and Gov. Greg Abbott have refused to allow the issue to be addressed, despite a majority lawmakers wanting action.

​ ​

AUGUST

Throughout 2020, lawmakers made strong comments about the need to reform issues of executive overreach, in light of mask mandates and other issues, but as 2021 comes to a close those same lawmakers did nothing when they had the chance.

​ ​

SEPTEMBER

Texans were horrified by the videotape of the wife of gubernatorial candidate Allen West being wrongfully arrested by the Dallas Police Department. She was quickly vindicated, but not before a frustrating ordeal that raised questions about police authority and training.

​ ​

SEPTEMBER

Few issues demanded action quite like strengthening the state’s election integrity laws. The legislative fights dragged the issue out until the fall, when it was revealed that while some good things were accomplished, the House GOP leadership allowed many of the penalties for voter fraud to be reduced.

​ ​

SEPTEMBER

After Democrats fled the state for 37 days to block election integrity efforts, taxpayers were shocked to watch Republicans refuse to issue any punishments. Indeed, Democrats collected their “per diem” cash and retained leadership positions.

​ ​

OCTOBER

When concerns about “critical race theory” in public schools were originally raised, parents were told it was a non-issue. But with more eyes on the issue, and intense pushback from school officials, more instances have been found – and parents have begun fighting back.

​ ​

NOVEMBER

It was revealed that the Department of Family and Protective Services has been pushing employees to sit through intense “CRT” courses and sign pledges to be social justice warriors. The training was quietly killed.

​ ​

NOVEMBER

Following the quarantine year of 2020, parents have gotten accustomed to seeing more of the “educational” materials in the schools. So many have been horrified to find libraries with sexually explicit materials – including pornographic images – freely available.

​ ​

DECEMBER

For months, the Republican Party of Texas and a growing number of lawmakers have called on Gov. Abbott to order a special session dealing with vaccine mandates – but the governor has refused to do so.

​ ​

ALL YEAR

​The crisis on the Texas-Mexico border, between the flood of illegal immigrants and rising violence, has continued to frustrate Texans.

​ Friday Reflection: Real Joy In The World [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

Listen to the Reflections Podcast [[link removed]]

If one can get past the inflatable snowmen, tinsel, and wrapped presents, Christmas’ focus is on a baby in a manger. Yet even that is just a meager sign pointing us to the destination of a joy that lasts not for a season but eternity.

The coming of the Messiah was prophesied as including a virgin birth in the town of Bethlehem. But it was just a sign.

We marvel at the thought of an angelic host singing over the shepherds. It’s easy to fixate on the helpless babe in the manger; it’s pleasant to think of a cooing child smiling at the visiting wise men.

But our months-long preparations for Christmas are a lot like standing on the roadside for hours admiring the “distance” marker to our destination. The view might be nice, but its not where we’re going.

To fully appreciate Christmas, we must travel less than ten miles from Bethlehem to the city of Jerusalem. We’re not going inside the walls of the Old City, though; our first stop is the place known as Golgotha. To meaningfully understand the baby in the manger, we must also see Him as a man hanging from a cross. But not just hanging on a cross –– many died in such a manner under the brutality of the Romans. What made this Man so important is that He rose from the dead afterward.

Two places, a 15-minute walk from each other, vie for the title of the burial site of Jesus. One has close to a millennia of history on its side, the other has a geologic formation and a pristine tomb. At one place you can feel the millions of pilgrims who have visited the site, at the other you can see how it must have looked that first Easter.

The significance to both places isn’t what is there, but what is not. That baby in the manger became the Son who, after hanging on a cross until dead, was buried, conquered death on our behalf, and then rose to take his place at the right hand of God the Father.

The joy of Christmas is but a foretaste of the joy of Easter and eternity hereafter. Baubles and trinkets under a tree will perish, but the gift of salvation through the risen Christ lasts for eternity.

As Isaac Watts wrote:

“Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns:

let men their songs employ;

while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

repeat the sounding joy.”

Merry Christmas!

Quote-Unquote

“And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer​​

Today in History

The War of 1812 came to its official end on Dec. 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

Update Your Subscription Profile [[link removed]] Request A Speaker [[link removed]] 🔒 Contribute 🔒 [[link removed]] Your Federal & State Lawmakers

Click the office to find more contact information.

U.S. Senator [[link removed]]

John Cornyn - R

(202) 224-2934

U.S. Senator [[link removed]]

Ted Cruz - R

(202) 224-5922

Governor of Texas [[link removed]]

Greg Abbott - R

(512) 463-2000

Lt. Governor [[link removed]]

Dan Patrick - R

(512) 463-0001

Attorney General [[link removed]]

Ken Paxton – R

(512) 463-2100

Comptroller [[link removed]]

Glenn Hegar – R

(512) 463-4600

Land Commissioner [[link removed]]

George Bush – R

(512) 463-5001

Commissioner of Agriculture [[link removed]]

Sid Miller – R

(512) 463-7476

Railroad Commissioners [[link removed]]

Wayne Christian – R

Christy Craddick – R

Jim Wright – R

(512) 463-7158

U.S. House [[link removed]], District

Update your address so we can display your congressman -



Texas Senate [[link removed]], District

Update your address so we can display your state senator -



Texas House [[link removed]], District

Update your address so we can display your state rep -



Speaker of the Texas House

Dade Phelan (R)

(512) 463-1000

Something not right?

Confirm we have your address correct [[link removed]]!

A product of Texas Scorecard

www.TexasScorecard.com

(888) 410-1836

PO Box 248, Leander, TX 78646

Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

This message was originally sent to:

John xxxxxx |

If you ever stop receiving our emails, it might be because someone unintentionally removed you from the list. No worries; it is easy enough to reactivate your subscription immediately on our website.

[link removed]

Before you click the link below... If someone forwarded this email to you, clicking the link will end the subscription of [email protected].

Unsubscribe [link removed]