Good morning,

In yesterday’s One Click Survey, we asked about the new kids movie from Disney… and, wow, y’all had answers. We’ll get to those at the conclusion of today’s Texas Minute.

This is Thursday, June 23, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

EXPOSED Episode 5 Debuts Today

• THANK YOU! The second season of EXPOSED is one of the Top 100 political podcasts in the United States. We appreciate everyone who has subscribed, downloaded, and told their friends about this groundbreaking series.
     
• Season 2 reveals the machine that has taken over public education in Texas to the detriment of students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers.
     
• Is there a way to finally fix Texas’ broken public education machine? Who are the heroes fighting to make things better? Jacob Asmussen dives into that today in the explosive finale of EXPOSED.

Border Crisis Worsens

• As the border crisis exacerbated by Joe Biden’s policies worsens, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered a record-breaking number of illegal migrants in May, wreaking havoc on the southern border. Sydnie Henry has the details.
      
• According to CBP, “In total, there were 239,416 encounters along the southwest land border in May, a 2 percent increase compared to April.” Meanwhile, the agency also saw a rise in the number of unaccompanied minors attempting to cross illegally: 14,699 encounters in May, compared to 12,180 in April.
      

• The Center for Renewing America proposes that each border state declare the border crisis an invasion and defend its borders in the absence of federal action. Republican delegates to the state convention agreed, making securing the border a legislative priority for the upcoming session.
      

• “We can’t keep going like this,” said Kinney County District Attorney Brent Smith in an interview with Texas Scorecard last week. Smith called for the governor to act and declare the crisis an invasion.  

Texas GOP Announces Priorities

• At the Texas Republican convention, delegates voted Saturday to establish the party’s legislative priorities. Those were first announced Wednesday afternoon by Texas Scorecard. (Watch Brandon Waltens’ first look at the priorities.)
      
• The party’s legislative priorities committee narrowed down suggestions to 15 items, which more than 5,000 of the delegates then voted on to determine the top eight. The priorities are meant to serve as directives for lawmakers on what Republicans want to see accomplished during the 140-day legislative session that begins in January. 
      
• The eight priorities are:
  👉 Protect Our Elections
  👉 Ban Democrat Chairs
  👉 Abolish Abortion in Texas
  👉 Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids
  👉 Ban Gender Modification of Children
  👉 Secure the Border and Protect Texans
  👉 Parental Rights and Educational Freedom
  👉 Defend Our Gun Rights
     
• “We are proud to be a grassroots-led party and look forward to supporting these priorities next legislative session,” said RPT Chairman Matt Rinaldi. “These priorities indicate that Republican delegates want our Legislature to prioritize protecting our rights, our borders, and our children.”

Harrison: Every Texas Child Deserves a Quality Education

• In a new commentary, State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Waxahachie) urges his fellow lawmakers to adopt education reforms that empower parents as a “signature issue” of 2023.
       
• “When I ran for the state Legislature, parent empowerment was the defining issue. I was advised to avoid speaking about it but unapologetically championed empowering parents through school choice. There is nothing more immoral than telling poor families, who are trapped in schools that have stopped educating in favor of liberal indoctrination, that they just have to suck it up. I was viciously attacked with tactics that have historically worked to defeat champions of choice, but I won by 11 points.” – Brian Harrison

Huffines Launches Liberty Foundation

• He didn’t succeed in his bid to be the Republican Party’s gubernatorial candidate, but Dallas businessman Don Huffines isn’t going away. Speaking on Texas Scorecard’s Big Stage at the GOP convention, he told Brandon Waltens that he is launching the Huffines Liberty Foundation to hold lawmakers accountable.
      
• Emily Wilkerson reports on the interview, which you can also watch online.
   
• “Our goal and our mission is to educate Texans about liberty and freedom, and to help them hold their elected officials accountable to liberty and freedom,” said Huffines. “There’s a great shift right now, and I think a lot of our elected Republicans are scared.” 

Yes, We Need You!

Y’All Answered

The new Disney movie Lightyear by the company’s Pixar division gives the popular Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear its own movie. The movie features a lesbian kiss and a same-sex relationship side story. And it is tanking at the box office. 

We asked if any of this should matter to the movie-going public, and 98.3 percent of Texas Minute readers said “yes.” That left 1.7 percent who said it shouldn’t matter. Here’s a sampling of responses from the inbox…

• “Maybe the new motto for Buzz Lightyear in the new movie should be, ‘To insanity and beyond!’” – Tom Glass
     

• “Stop trying to indoctrinate children and normalize perverse behavior that the Bible calls an abomination according to verses in Leviticus 18 and 20. We've not seen many of the newer Disney movies anyway, because of disagreeable content. I won't willingly give money to companies that go against my beliefs and values.” – Cathy Blake
      

• “People absolutely should avoid supporting Disney in any way as long as they continue promoting issues outside the traditional family unit.” – Gene Glass
     

• “We were already boycotting this one since the REAL Buzz Lightyear - Tim Allen - was thrown out in favor of flaming lib Chris Evans. The gay stuff is just another nail in the coffin.” – Kevin Wade
     

• “The entertainment we ingest impacts our eternal soul; movies, shows, and music can either strengthen virtues in our life or erode our morals.” – Elizabeth McClung
     

• “Now Progressives want to redefine what entertainment is. Sorry, I'm not buying.” – Thomas Camardo
     

• “Through the years, I've watched Disney programs and films with my grandchildren, and have not been happy to see their gradual progression away from family-friendly entertainment to suggestiveness and smart-mouthed ‘role model’ characters , to edginess, and now this crap.” – Madeleine Myers
     

• “‘Are you going to see the movie?’ Not just no, but hell no.” – Philip Johnson
     

• “We want traditional heroes over woke agendas.” – Jason Kerr
     

• “No, we won't watch this Disney movie or any other Disney movie until they realize the majority of Americans do not support their agenda!  Why should the ‘feelings’ of 5% of the people control the other 95% of us?” – Lloyd Smith
     

• “Walt has to be rolling in his grave.” – Bob Davis
     

• “The woke crowd thinks that we will just relax and give-up/give-out but thanks to TEXAS MINUTE / TEXAS SCORECARD, maybe enough of us won't!” – Bill Calvert
     

• “Disney went from being an entertainment company to being an organization that attempts to indoctrinate and groom children.” – Terry Fokas
     

• “Go woke, go broke. When will these people understand that we are not going to pay them to watch a movie we don't want to see? Stop giving in to the LGBT alphabet minority.” – Andrew Cox

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.