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Good morning,

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, June 10, 2022.

– Brandon Waltens

Matthew McConaughey Blasted Over Gun Control Proposal

Actor and Texas native Matthew McConaughey’s calls for gun control are being greeted with derision by gun rights activists in Texas. Jake Peterson [[link removed]] has the details.

On Tuesday, McConaughey spoke to the press at the White House about the recent shooting at a Uvalde elementary school and his opinions on what needs to change.

“We need responsible gun ownership. We need to raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15 rifle to 21. We need a waiting period for those rifles. We need red flag laws and consequences for those that abuse them. These are reasonable, practical, tactical regulations to our nation, states, communities, schools, and homes.” –Matthew McConaughey

In doing this, he angered many Second Amendment advocates who say his speech consisted of misinformation and an infuriating lack of specificity and proposed to strip away their liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

Chris McNutt, the executive director of Texas Gun Rights, told Texas Scorecard, “Another Hollywood actor shilling for gun control while they live in a gated community and work on movie sets surrounded by guards with guns? Not surprising, but sad, to say the least.”

McConaughey—who flirted with a gubernatorial run in Texas last year—is largely echoing the talking points of Texas Democrats, who have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to order a special session of the state Legislature to implement similar measures in the weeks since the Uvalde shooting.

The Costs of Texas’ Porous Southern Border

Under President Donald Trump, the country saw illegal immigration fall and border security increase by building the wall and implementing policies that would deter immigrants from crossing illegally.

However, when President Joe Biden was elected into office, he soon reversed Trump’s policies and halted the building of the border wall that aimed to ensure border security.

Now, illegal immigration on the southern border is pouring through, with no signs of stopping. Emily Wilkerson [[link removed]]takes a look at the toll—both financial and human—that illegal immigration is taking on Texas.

Will Texas Follow Florida’s Lead Against Grooming?

“Grooming” is a term that has been used to describe when a sexual predator attempts to establish a relationship with a child in order to take advantage of them. There is usually a point in the grooming process when the predator provides explicit or age-inappropriate information.

Today, in the wake of LGBT normalization, there is an alarming effort across the nation to expose children to sexual material beyond the basics of sex education...even in Texas.

Sebastian Castro [[link removed]] explains how Florida fought back— and whether Texas will follow. With the Republican Party of Texas’ biennial convention slated to take place in Houston next week, it is expected that the Texas GOP will face widespread pressure from grassroots activists to act on this issue.

Texas GOP Vice Chair Candidates Interviewed at Grassroots Forum

Speaking of the Republican Party of Texas convention, last weekend the Tyler-based conservative organization Grassroots America - We The People hosted a candidate forum for the three women running for vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas: Alma Jackson, Dr. Dana Myers, and Adrienne Peña-Garza. Sydnie Henry [[link removed]] recaps the candidates' responses.

Doing What is Right [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

Listen to the Reflections Podcast [[link removed]]

There is a sense of personal fulfillment that comes from knowing you are trusted to make the right decisions. But being trusted to do the right thing, and actually doing a thing right, are two different things.

Which makes the final words of the Book of Judges so jarring. The book spans approximately 400 years of Israel’s history, focused on a repeating pattern. That is, the people are doing well, they turn from God, they get into trouble, God raises up someone to save them, they repent for a period, things are going well… Rinse and repeat.

Here then is how the Book of Judges concludes: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

To be clear, this was not a call for a monarchy, nor was it a cheery description of some anarcho-libertarian paradise. Instead, it should be read with a resigned sigh, as a sad statement of fact.

God had given His people the opportunity to govern themselves under His kingship. He gave them clear guidelines for how to organize a peaceful and prosperous civil society unique in the world. They rejected all of it.

And in that rejection they had no fixed standard for what was actually right, what was good, what was just. So each man simply did what he decided was right. If the 400 years covered in about 15,000 words by the Judges demonstrates nothing else, it shows that, without the fixed standard of God, men cannot be trusted to know what the right thing is.

Having refused to do what was right in God’s eyes, and having failed to govern themselves, that 18-word epitaph explains what would come next. The people chose to live under a human king, and it went badly for them.

They did what was right in their eyes, and they suffered mightily for it.

When work was finished on the U.S. Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was allegedly asked what sort of governing system was adopted. His response: "A republic, if you can keep it."

This was the same Benjamin Franklin who declared that, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

The modern history of our nation has consisted of a series of surrenders: giving up little bits of liberty to gain some perception of safety. And in so doing, we have begun to allow our republic to slip away.

In each case, it is because we have tried to do what was right in our own eyes.

We must recognize that our standard of right ends up being very wrong when it is unhinged from the truth of God. To reclaim our republic, to restore that essential liberty, we must take our eyes off ourselves and fix them on the word of God.

Quote-Unquote

"Do right and risk the consequences."

– Sam Houston​

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.

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

State Board of Education [[link removed]], District

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

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Texas Senate [[link removed]], District

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Texas House [[link removed]], District

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Speaker of the Texas House

Dade Phelan (R)

(512) 463-1000

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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).

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