Good morning,

The current speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), went to a liberal fundraiser this weekend and spoke dismissively of grassroots concerns about election security. In the One Click Survey, we ask if readers believe Republican lawmakers should allow him to continue to be the House speaker.

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Speaker Phelan: ‘No Evidence’ 2020 Election Was Stolen

• While many conservatives have worked hard to protect election security in light of the 2020 election, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan dismissed concerns over the integrity of the election that saw Donald Trump replaced by Joe Biden.
      

• At a fundraiser for the left-wing Texas Tribune in Austin on Friday, Phelan was asked if he believed that the election was stolen. “I do not,” he replied. “There is no evidence that election was stolen.”

      
• As Brandon Waltens reports, this was not the first time Phelan has dismissed election security concerns.
     
• Phelan was elected House Speaker in 2021 by first securing the support of the Democrats and a small number of Republicans. 

Border Horror: Trafficked And Afraid

• Texas Scorecard sent a team to the border for the purpose of capturing firsthand the human tragedy unfolding at the hands of dangerous cartels and an out-of-touch administration in Washington. 
     
• Sheena Rodriguez, the president of Alliance for a Safe Texas, was among those in the delegation. And while she crossed paths with large numbers of illegal aliens coming across the border during this visit, one stuck out: Jocelyn, a 13-year-old from Belize. Brandon Waltens has the story.
     
• Rodriguez says she found Jocelyn “by the grace of God” just after midnight along the border outside Roma, Texas. This border city is the site of some of the worst abuses in the cartels’ human trafficking operations. The area around Roma is so bad law enforcement officials actively discourage reporters and others from entering the area at any time, day or night.

• The wristbands’ exact meaning is unknown and could refer to the amount paid, the destination, or the cartels’ intended use for the person.
     
• Jocelyn said the separation happened two or three days prior, though she couldn’t be certain. When she was taken to the river, a man brought her across on a raft and told her to wait until she found a man from "immigration." She was then left alone in the dark.
     

• Her fate going forward, however, is largely unknown. Among the many issues created by the Biden administration’s disastrous approach to the border, this is an area Rodriguez says both the federal and state government need to improve.  
      

• “There is currently no way for us to be able to follow up to make sure as a state that she is taken care of and that she does not become one of these 20 to 40 percent that go missing – even though she came through Texas and she's going through facilities in our state. There needs to be something in place,” explained Rodriguez. 
    

• The grim reality is that the overwhelmed system means Jocelyn could still end up trafficked into sex work or otherwise slip through the legal system and into a life of crime and misery.

Soldiers’ Religious Rights Targeted By COVID Policy

• As has been previously reported by Texas Scorecard and elsewhere, the Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate has threatened to eject thousands of soldiers from the Texas National Guard. A recent enlistee, Crystal Demaret, came forward to explain her faith-based stand against the mandate.
      
• Robert Montoya explores Demaret’s experience in light of military readiness, concerns about troop morale, and sharp reductions in recruiting. Reportedly, the commanding general of the Texas military forces has eliminated all religious exemptions from the COVID shots.
      
• For more than two months, Texas Scorecard has sought comment from the Texas Military Department on the issue of COVID mandates, but they have refused to respond on the record.

Aggie Professor Pleads Guilty After Hiding Connections to China

• A former Texas A&M University professor and NASA researcher Zhengdong Cheng pled guilty last week to falsifying official documents and violating NASA regulations after failing to disclose ties to institutions with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) connections. Katy Drollinger has the details.
      
• The charges against Cheng came from the Trump administration’s China Initiative, a Department of Justice program created to investigate the “deliberate, systematic, and calculated threats posed, in particular, by the communist regime in China, which is notorious around the world for intellectual property theft.”

Texas Educators: Let ‘Trans’ In Girls’ Bathrooms

• Thousands of Texas public school administrators and school board members converged on San Antonio last weekend for the annual Texas Education Conference. There, they were encouraged to let ‘trans’ girls – that is, boys who dress as girls – use the restrooms designated for biological females. Sydnie Henry has the details.
      
• Fort Bend ISD trustee David Hamilton exposed the workshop on his social media page. He wrote that the “ACLU is trying to force Texas public schools to allow boys in girls’ locker rooms, showers, restrooms, and athletics. They had a biological girl who IDs as a boy speak, because that appeals better.”
      
• For his part, Hamilton has previously spoken out against the practice of affirming the “gender confused” at the cost of other students’ privacy. “We have a responsibility to try to make sure that accommodating student A does not infringe on the rights of student B.”
      
• Yes, this leftist conference was subsidized by Texas taxpayers.

One Click Survey

Speaking at a fundraiser for a leftwing media organization in Austin last week, House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) dismissed concerns about lax election security. Should the Republican majority of the Texas House allow Phelan to remain as speaker?
   

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!