Good morning,

With football season just around the corner, I thought this week we’d do a little “fantasy governing” by asking who you would pick to head Texas’ state government right now. Check out the One Click Survey below – then send a short reply with why you made that pick!

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

You’re Next

• Now that the DOJ and FBI have been fully and publicly weaponized for political gamesmanship by the Democrats, a troubling precedent has been sent.
     

• I don’t recall a former president ever having his home raided by the FBI… Not Nixon. Not the Clintons… The weaponization of the DOJ is complete.
     

• And once the 87,000 IRS agents Congress just funded are hired… they will come after you, next.
     

• “WAKE UP! Joe Biden is using the FBI to go after President Trump!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Democrats are voting to double the size of the IRS so they can come after you for MORE of your hard-earned paycheck. Is this the Soviet Union or Communist China? They MUST be stopped!” – U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)

Biden Order Forces Taxpayers To Subsidize Abortion Travel

• Joe Biden signed an executive order last week directing Medicaid to cover abortion-related costs for women who travel out of state to have an abortion. Juliana Berg reports the federal government will now be using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.
     
• It’s also unclear how this change would avoid legal challenges with the Hyde Amendment, a federal law prohibiting tax money from being spent on abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mother’s life.
        
• “In the middle of a recession, this is a gross misuse of tax dollars and, more importantly, it’s morally abhorrent. The federal government should not push the murder of countless preborn children.” – Kim Schwartz, Texas Right to Life

AZ’s Lake Wants Deportations, Not Photo Ops

• While Gov. Greg Abbott has been touting the voluntary busing of illegal aliens (he calls them “migrants”) from the southern border to Washington, D.C., and New York, Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake is blasting the program as a “cute photo op.” Brandon Waltens had the details.
      
• “It’s a cute photo op, but it just places people who shouldn’t be here further into the country,” said Lake.
     

• Lake has championed declaring the crisis on the southern border as an invasion, which would allow the state to repel illegal aliens without assistance or dependance on the federal government. She has promised to make the declaration her first order of business if elected.
    

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also called on Texas to declare an invasion, but Abbott has so far declined to do so.

DC And NYC Are Howling

• Meanwhile, Jake Peterson reports, the mayors of New York City and Washington, D.C., are struggling to deal with the illegal aliens who have been shipped to their respective cities. 
     
• Ironically, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser campaigned heavily for allowing individuals to illegally cross the border into the U.S. She is now struggling to keep up with the buses coming into her city and is calling on the National Guard for help. Bowser complains about having 5,000 illegal aliens in D.C. Meanwhile, Texas has received more than 200,000 so far in 2022.

Another County Declares An Invasion

• While located closer to the border with Oklahoma than Mexico, Wise County has joined a growing number of counties in recognizing that “our southern Texas border is suffering an invasion.” While the resolution county commissioners passed yesterday doesn’t impact policy, it does send a significant message to state lawmakers. 
      
• “The significance of other counties across Texas also declaring an invasion cannot be overstated. It clearly establishes that the border crisis impacts every county in the state.” – Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith

Fort Worth Parents Want Woke Department Dismantled

• A group of parents are demanding Fort Worth Independent School District dismantle its Equity and Excellence Department ahead of the 2022-2023 school year. Katy Drollinger has the story.
      
• In 2021, FWISD spent more than $2 million of the taxpayers’ money on race and equity efforts, including seminars instructing staff to “build racial consciousness by first providing opportunities for participants to build their racial equity lens and interrogate their personal biases.” The district also provided lucrative salaries for Equity Department employees, with two executive directors making more than $120,000 each.
     
• “The Equity Department needs to be dismantled, and all forms of wokeness need to be removed,” said Carlos Turcios, who has been leading the fight against FWISD’s indoctrination programs.

Zapata Teacher Arrested For Groping Child

• Zapata High School teacher Blake Gant Garza, 48, has been charged with indecency with a child by contact, a second-degree felony that carries up to 20 years in prison plus a maximum fine of $10,000. Sebastian Castro has the details.
      
• The incident took place on June 24, when the sexual molestation of a child was reported at a Dollar General. A 16-year old-girl stated that a man had molested her as she was shopping with her younger cousin. The alleged perpetrator was identified through security cameras in the store.
      
• Zapata ISD told Texas Scorecard the alleged perpetrator, Garza, has been placed on administrative leave.

Former Richardson Mayor Gets 6 Years

• Laura Mackza, the former mayor of Richardson, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison after a jury found her guilty of conspiring to cheat the public in a scheme to build a controversial real estate project.
      
• It was found Mackza had accepted payments from Mark Jordan, a local real estate developer, in the form of cash, luxury travel, home renovations, and a lucrative job with one of his companies once she left office. In exchange, Maczka voted for zoning changes and tax breaks that favored Jordan’s Palisades Central development deal, which allowed for construction of more than a thousand new apartments—even though she’d campaigned against such high-density projects.
     
• Interestingly, Richardson city officials had conducted an investigation but found no evidence that Maczka violated state laws or city ethics rules. 
      
• Apparently, the foxes cannot be trusted to guard the hen house… 

A Storm Is Coming!

• On Monday, Texas Scorecard will be entering into a new partnership with one of the most exciting voices in the conservative movement: the self-described “liberty loving Latino,” Chris Salcedo!

• We’re excited to welcome Chris Salcedo and The Salcedo Storm to Texas Scorecard on Monday, August 15!

ONE CLICK SURVEY

It’s time for a round of “fantasy governing.” Who would you pick to have as the governor of Texas right now: our incumbent Greg Abbott, Arizona GOP nominee Kari Lake, Florida’s Ron DeSantis, or Democrat Robert “Beto” O’Rourke?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share.
Be sure to include your full name.

Today In History

On Aug. 9, 1945, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, forcing the nation’s emperor and his War Council to issue an unconditional surrender to Allied forces.