Good morning!

The organizers of GroomerFest 2023 want school districts to use taxpayer dollars so teachers can learn how to use drag queen story hours as a way to promote “LGBTQAI+” materials to young children.

Do your weekend plans include storming the gates of hell? I close the week reflecting on what that means…

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

NY Lefties ❤️ Bobby O’Rourke

• O’Rourke might be popular with Hollywood left-wingers, but recent polling of actual Texans shows him trailing incumbent Greg Abbott.
      
• Out-of-state lefties want O’Rourke as Texas’ governor so he can do to us what their policies have done to their own states. Texans will say no.

📺 RIGHT NOW: Watch The Headline

• This week’s edition of The Headline with Brandon Waltens is available to watch right now. His guests include Sheena Rodriguez and Chad Prather. Their discussion ranges from the border invasion and COVID policies to the November election!
       
• Watch the show on our website, or on our YouTube or Rumble channels.

Rodriguez: El Paso Struggles Under Rising Flood Of Illegal Aliens

• In July, it was reported that local law enforcement was experiencing a flood of illegal aliens into the El Paso sector, citing more than 1,000 apprehensions or transfers into the area per day. Since then, writes Sheena Rodriguez in a new commentary, observers say the situation in El Paso has only become worse.
     
• Customs and Border Patrol processing centers have been releasing illegal aliens into the El Paso community to “decompress” their overrun facilities. This is similar to illegal aliens released into communities in the Del Rio sector, particularly Eagle Pass, and across Texas’ metropolitan areas. 
      
• “We have no border; it is non-existent.” – Anthony Aguero

Teacher-Focused GroomerFest Features ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’

• As venues across the state continue exposing children to drag shows, an education conference aimed at Texas teachers is featuring three board members of Drag Queen Story Hour as speakers. Katy Drollinger has the details.
       

• The SXSW EDU conference will be held in Austin in March 2023. The four-day event features programming based on 11 different themes in education. The conference is advertising the drag queens’ presentation as a way for teachers and school officials to learn about promoting “LGBTQAI+” materials to young children.

      

• SXSW EDU? I call it GroomerFest.

       

• The conference also provides a pre-written “Make the Case Letter” for teachers to send to their school administrators and “convince” them to pay for an entrance badge and travel costs with taxpayer dollars. The conference costs $495 per entry badge. 
      

• Will your school district pay for local educators to attend GroomerFest? You should ask your school board.
       

• The program features Drag Queen Story Hour President Beatrice Thomas as Black Benatar, Executive Board Director Jonathan Hamilt as Ona Louise, and Board Treasurer Lil Miss Hot Mess. 
       

• Yes, seriously.
       

• Last year, four Texas school districts spent thousands of taxpayer dollars sending employees to the SXSW EDU conference. Austin Independent School District spent more than $4,000, Fort Worth ISD paid more than $9,000, and San Antonio ISD sent one teacher for $525. Round Rock ISD—a district embroiled in controversy—paid more than $12,000 in registration fees to send 30 employees to the education conference.

Ashley Biden’s Diary

• Are you listening to the Salcedo Storm? Each weekday, Texas Scorecard is pleased to host Chris Salcedo’s podcast on news and current events.
   
• Check out his conversation with Noel Fritsch of National File. Among other things, they talk about Ashley Biden’s explosive diary and explore Paul Pelosi’s ties to Ukrainian oil.

• Please join me in wishing a very happy birthday to Drew Koch, a producer in Texas Scorecard’s 1836 Studios!

Friday Reflection: Storm the Gates of Hell

The roots of self-governance, and most of what we think of as western civilization, can be traced to the 8,500 square miles of land known as Israel. Whatever one thinks of their modern politics in the context of today’s geopolitics, the history of the western world is tied inextricably with the ancient history of Israel. And so are our allusions and metaphors. 

Biblical stories, allusions, and phrases fill our language. None has intrigued me more over the years than variations around the phrase “the gates of hell.” We use it to indicate a measure of deep resolve. “We’ll storm the gates of hell!” you’ve heard countless heroes in movies and books say about the impossible task ahead.

It’s also a very real place, and I am not talking metaphysics. You can go to the gates of hell right now. It’s located in the archaeologically protected area of Caesarea Philippi, and the entire area is actually quite beautiful.

But 2,000 years ago... it was the site of nasty forms of pagan worship. The caverns were believed to be gates to the underworld – to hell – and so acts of grotesque bestiality were performed at the mouth of the cave to call forth the fertility god Pan.

To Jews living in those ancient times, the entire area was considered unclean – so they stayed far away. Yet in Matthew 16, we find Jesus took His disciples there. Overlooking the pagan site, He told those Jewish men they would be the basis of His church. That had to be a little uncomfortable. 

Rather than ignore places of unspeakable evil, Jesus wanted His disciples to overcome them; doing so required acknowledging they exist. To stand against evil, we must be willing to fight against it.

This is the place where Jesus tells Peter – a nickname meaning “the rock” – that he will be the “rock” on which a church is built “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Congratulations, eh? They were literally standing at a wholly unclean place – the picture of evil – and Jesus is saying, “You will spend your time overcoming places like this, and we’ll build the church on top of those efforts. Now get to work!”

Those expecting a “safe and comfortable” assignment were in for a long and fruitless wait.

There is nothing comfortable or safe about prevailing against the gates of hell. But we’re not called to lives of comfort and safety; we are called to be faithful. We must engage culture and politics with the conviction we’re fighting a righteous fight for the very soul of our nation. 

Ready to go do some storming?

Quote-Unquote

“I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.”

– Martin Luther​