Good morning!

Life happens fast, and we don’t always get to choose our circumstances.  I close the week reflecting on the importance of choosing our attitude, despite what life throws at us.

Here is the Texas Minute for Friday, June 17, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

🎥 PREMIERE: Kitchen Table Issues…

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Biden Pushes Gender Mutilation

• President Joe Biden is taking aim at Texas and other states for efforts to end children gender modification. Earlier this week, he signed a new executive order advancing “LGBT+ equality.” Emily Wilkerson has the details.
      

• The executive order calls on the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services to protect “LGBT+ children” and their families from “attacks” on their access to healthcare.

       
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently issued an opinion stating that body modification surgeries and other forms of gender modification in children, such as puberty blockers, would be considered child abuse. 

Property Tax Fighter Targeted by Bureaucrat

• Records suggest the Tarrant Appraisal District director used taxpayer resources—on taxpayer time—to trigger a state investigation against property tax fighter Chandler Crouch. Robert Montoya has the results of a new investigation.
      
• Having lived in north Fort Worth with his family since 2007, Crouch found the greatest need was helping homeowners protest their appraisals. “People are getting taxed out of their homes,” Crouch told Texas Scorecard. “Our property tax system is broken.”
     
• Helping families navigate – and fight – property taxes put him in the crosshairs of  the Tarrant Appraisal Review Board. 

GOP Chairman: Going On Offense

• The chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Matt Rinaldi, told delegates to the biennial convention that the party would become even more active as it fights for its priorities and against the left. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• “We can’t be content with merely winning elections and slowing America’s leftward trajectory. We can’t rest on achieving a few legislative victories, then sit back proud and content from contests. We need to take the fight directly to the left and go on offense,” said Rinaldi.
      
• Rinaldi highlighted the importance of ending the practice of placing Democrats in leadership positions, a practice that has plagued the Texas Legislature and led to the demise of conservative legislation. 
       
• “Going on offense means when we put our time and treasure into electing Republicans, we expect Republicans to lead our state, not the party that wants to destroy everything we hold dear. This means that Republicans need to end the practice of appointing Democrats to chairmanships.” – Matt Rinaldi

VIDEOS From Houston…

• Visit our YouTube channel to check out all of the interviews we did yesterday on Texas Scorecard’s Big Stage at the GOP Convention in Houston. Those include conversations with party chairman Rinaldi, Federal Elections Commission member Trey Trainor, former State Sen. Don Huffines, State Rep. Byran Slaton, radio host Kenny Webster, homeschool champion Tim Lambert, national conservative activist Wade Miller, and media provocateur Tony Ortiz. 
      
• Throughout the day today, more interviews will happen live on our Facebook page with folks like Ag Commissioner Sid Miller, Texas Family Project chief Chris Hopper, and many, many others!

Friday Reflection: Defined, Or Defining?

Life comes at us pretty fast, and there are two kinds of people: those who are defined by their circumstance, and those who choose to define themselves in their circumstances.

With certain exceptions, we generally cannot control the circumstances of life. Sure, we can not take that drink at a bar, we can avoid being with a certain kind of people, or choose not to engage in a particular sort of activity. But for the most part, the circumstances of life slam into us.

A foreign ruler’s decision to invade another country upsets the global economy, triggering a recession that forces your employer to go out of business. Some cabal of politicians from other parts of the country conspire to push legislation you oppose and enact policies you believe to be detrimental to the pursuit of happiness. You get the point; many things in the world happen to us outside of our control. 

What we can control is our attitude, our outlook, and our reaction to those circumstances. We can be defined by them, or we can define them by the attitude and posture we chose to take despite them.

In the early 19th Century, the English poet William Wordsworth described the “Character of the Happy Warrior” in an ode to Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson. Having already lost an arm and an eye in a previous battle, Nelson nonetheless refused to give up the fight or his good humor. Nelson was eventually killed by a sniper while leading a successful battle, inspiring his men to even greater success.

The happy warrior, Wordsworth wrote, “Looks forward, persevering to the last… And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws his breath in confidence of Heaven's applause.”

In my experience, those who let themselves be defined by the prevailing circumstances generally, in this fallen world, are a cheerless and grumbling lot. They look back on times that were rarely as wonderful as they remember, and proceed to spend their time mourning its passing.

On the other hand, those who ignore both the jeers and the cheers of the world, are much happier. They look forward joyfully to what they can achieve in their circumstances, or the contribution they can make in the advancement of their ideas. 

The difference is found in the daily choice of personal perspective. Will our attitude be dictated by others, or will we govern ourselves?

As a self-governing people, we must learn from the past and understand with clarity the present. Yet even more importantly, we must choose to be driven – happily – by our role in shaping and defining the possibilities of the future.