Good morning!

The weather outside is a bit ❄️frightful❄️ for most of us today, but the Texas Minute is here to warm you up with raging fires of truth!

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, February 3, 2022
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But first... Please join me in wishing a very happy birthday to Texas Scorecard's investigative reporter, Robert Montoya!

Will Abbott's Letter Keep Texans Warm?

• With freezing weather hitting the Lone Star State, Brandon Waltens explains Texans are right to worry that not enough has been done – even if the lights stay on for everyone today and over the weekend.

        

• After facing criticism for the Texas Legislature’s lack of action in addressing the root causes of the February 2021 winter storm blackouts that left millions of Texas households without power, Gov. Greg Abbott took action in a way that has become familiar for the state’s leader... He sent a letter to the Public Utility Commission urging them to take several actions to improve energy reliability. The PUC, which is appointed by the governor, oversees the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency that manages the state’s power grid.

      
• Writing in Forbes last summer, David Blackmon outlined that since the February 2021 winter blackouts the Texas grid had not been upgraded or changed, no weatherization of “big power plants or wind turbines or gas pipelines had been done,” no new thermal dispatchable energy generators had been created, and no new transmission lines had been built.
   

• None of the issues were added to any of the three special sessions called by Gov. Abbott in the last half of 2021.
   

• The biggest unaddressed problem has been the over-reliance on unreliable energy sources, like wind and solar, according to Bill Peacock of the Energy Alliance.
   

• “We know all the generation sources had problems, but none of them had problems as big as wind and solar. They were off the board,” said Peacock. “Since the early 2000s, generators have invested $66 billion in building renewable generation in Texas because they were chasing after the $22 billion in subsidies that federal, state, and local governments were sending their way. So, if they hadn’t spent that $66 billion on wind and solar, and spent it on natural gas, for instance, then we would have had a lot more natural gas online and [been] able to function and bring electricity to the grid.”

UNCUT Conversations... Ag Commissioner Candidates

• Three men are vying for the Republican nomination for Texas' Commissioner of Agriculture – including incumbent Sid Miller. Brandon Waltens sat down with all three, asking them about the office and why it is important.
       
• Among the things you’ll learn is that Commissioner Miller – a staunch ally of Donald Trump – hasn't had a single meeting or phone call with Gov. Abbott in the eight years both men have held their respective statewide jobs. 

• A Democrat hasn't held statewide office in Texas for 24 years, making the Republican primary the most important election on the calendar.

Klick Won't Protect Kids

• Despite a years-long fight to protect children in Texas, top state officials continue to allow medical practitioners to perform disfiguring gender operations on minors—and one key citizen continues calling out the Republicans. One father who has been at the forefront of the issue says State Rep. Stephanie Klick (R-Arlington) bears much of the blame for kids not being protected. Jacob Asmussen has the story.
      

• Dallas-area father Jeff Younger recently described his personal interaction with Klick, a committee chairwoman who blocked a proposed state law last year that would have banned insurance coverage on certain mutilation procedures. Younger has been working to stop his ex-wife from forcibly “transitioning” their son into a girl. 
     

• “She found what I was trying to do to protect my son very distasteful,” said Younger. “She never looked me in the eye, but she told me … ‘My main concern is that there will be transgender people who will have their feelings hurt.’ That’s literally what she told me. Remember, all this bill would do would take away liability insurance for doctors who literally cut penises, testicles, and breasts off kids.”

Democrats Denied Election Delay

• A federal court has denied a request by a group of Texas Democrats seeking to temporarily delay the state’s March 1 primary over what they claim are discriminatory redistricting maps. Erin Anderson reports on the ruling from a three-judge panel.
      
• State Sen. Beverly Powell (D–Burleson) is among dozens of Democrats and allied organizations challenging the newly redrawn boundaries in State Senate District 10 in North Texas. Powell, a white liberal who currently holds the seat, has alleged the Republican-controlled legislature intentionally discriminated against minority voters in redrawing the lines.
       
• Not so, has argued the state. The office of the attorney general says the redrawing of SD 10 was merely done to favor Republican candidates as “a partisan exercise devoid of racial considerations or motivations.”
   
• Yes, that's the standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court and used everywhere in the nation, but the Democrats don't let facts get in the way...

Texas Military Department Has Worsened Under Norris 

• Documentation obtained by Texas Scorecard shows problems—similar to the ones that have recently surfaced during Operation Lone Star—were identified in Texas’ military during the 2017 Hurricane Harvey relief operation. Instead of those problems being fixed, they appear to have worsened under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, who was appointed to the post by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2018.
       

• Robert Montoya has the details.
      

• Since her appointment, the Texas Military Department has become a scandal-plagued governing body, drawing national attention due to soldiers’ paycheck hardships; suicides; concerns about sexual assault; and punishment through physical exertion, a practice called “smoking soldiers.” These issues came to light after Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last March.

DEM Sheriff Puts Pronoun Preferences Ahead Of Crime Fighting

• As the national spotlight shines on the city of Houston's dramatic increase in crime, the Harris County Democrat sheriff is vigilantly focused on... pronoun preferences for transgender staffers. Yes, seriously.
      
• Sydnie Henry reports that while Houstonians and Harris County residents are suffering under a flood of violent crime, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has released a memo to his office staff asking they respect their fellow employees’ “pronouns and gender identity.”
   
• At least you know what's truly important to Democrats... and it most definitely isn't protecting the lives and property of taxpayers.

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