Good morning,

There is a constant pressure to win at all costs, but God wants us to win the right way. That is a critical lesson when you are standing at what my 18-year-old son called “the pee cave.”

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, Oct. 14, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

EXCLUSIVE: Paxton Blasts Democrat Opponent as ‘Human Trafficking Lawyer’

• Incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton is launching a new ad campaign today exposing his Democrat opponent, Rochelle Garza, for agreeing to represent human traffickers in court. Brandon Waltens has the details.

• Long affiliated with a left-wing open-border organization, Garza has also attacked law enforcement officials seeking to stem the tide of illegal aliens entering the country.
       
• According to court records, among Garza’s clients has been a trafficker as well as a repeat deportee. She has said law enforcement and Border Patrol officers were “terrorizing” border communities in a “shameless and cowardly” show of force. That force? Using a smoke bomb to disburse a large and potentially dangerous crowd trying to overwhelm a border checkpoint.
       

• “Rochelle Garza may have firsthand experience dealing with human traffickers, but the catch is that she was working to enable these criminals by defending them in court,” said Paxton. “At a time when dangerous cartels traffic illegal immigrants across our border, electing an attorney general with the experience and willingness to prosecute these vicious criminals is critical to Texans' safety – which is why voters must reject Rochelle Garza and her radical, open-borders agenda.”

In HD 70, Both Candidates Support Corporate Welfare

• In the highly competitive race for Texas House District 70, both the Republican and Democrat candidates have come out in support of corporate welfare – despite both political parties’ platforms opposing the practice. They made their comments at a forum hosted by the Plano Chamber of Commerce.
      
• Erin Anderson reports that candidates Mihaela Plesa (D) and Jamee Jolly (R) announced their joint support for reviving the discredited “Chapter 313” subsidy program that has been used by politicians to bail out cronies and subsidize left-wing environmental programs.
      
• The program is notable for relieving politically connected businesses of their property tax burdens, with those costs paid by other taxpayers.
     
• Neither candidate mentioned their party’s opposition to the policy they were promoting.
      
• “Texas taxpayers shouldn’t be stuck with increased tax bills in order to carry the cost of well-connected businesses,” said Tim Hardin, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

SpaceX Sponsors ‘All-Ages’ Drag Event In Waco

• SpaceX was a sponsor of a drag show in Waco last week targeting children with content so risqué that even the organizers had to disassociate themselves. Soli Rice has the details.
   
• Conservative podcaster Bryanna Robinson attended the event, attempting to uncover the exploitation of children. She didn’t have to look hard or long.
    
• “What I saw yesterday was not a family-friendly event. It was a bunch of adults living out their sexual kinks in front of children and attempting to bring them into it,” Robinson said in an Instagram video about the event.
     
• Robinson’s video shows one performer touch himself provocatively, drop to the ground and spread his legs wide, and then simulate rubbing his genitals. Children can be seen standing aghast as their parents cheered the man on, performing a disturbing routine directly in front of their children.
      
• Once Robinson’s video went live, event organizers rushed to release a brief apology – but then attacked Robinson for having recorded and exposed the event.
      
• SpaceX and its owner, Elon Musk, have been silent on the company’s sponsorship of the event.

Highland Park Superintendent Departs Amid Parental Outcry Over Woke Agenda

• The superintendent of Highland Park Independent School District has announced he will be resigning at the end of the year, amid dissatisfaction from parents and concern over curricula that is less focused on academics and more focused on social justice. Erin Anderson has the story.
     
• A recent article by Epoch Times highlighted four different district parents who pulled their children out of the district, pointing toward curricula based on “sex, gender, and race, instead of classical education.”
     
• Earlier this year during the district’s school board elections, candidate Spencer Siino made firing Trigg his top priority. Though he fell short in the race, the foundation of his campaign’s message continues with Trigg’s announced departure. He doesn’t want the school board to repeat their mistake.
      
• “I’m very concerned that the HPISD trustees will continue to bow to pressure from [the Texas Association of School Administrators] and superintendent search firms, who exclusively guide school districts to hire candidates with the same background as Tom Trigg, ensuring increasingly woke curriculum delivered through EdTech and the spending of taxpayer dollars on just about everything but teachers and textbooks,” said Siino.
      
• Instead, Siino and other parents want a “classical educator” who will return the district to a curriculum focused on reading, writing, math, science, “real history,” and classic works, as well as “[prioritizing] resources on teachers rather than administrators and technology.”

📺 WATCH: Is A Red Wave Coming?

• On this week’s edition of The Headline, Brandon Waltens is joined by Chris Salcedo – host of the Salcedo Storm – to talk predictions about the upcoming midterm elections.
      
• Plus, Chris Hopper of the Texas Family Project talks about the latest developments in the state’s investigation of bars holding drag shows targeting kids.
      
• You can watch The Headline right now on Texas Scorecard, YouTube, or Rumble.

Friday Reflection: Fighting Right

Few biblical vignettes puzzled me more over the years than that found in 1 Samuel 24. Let me try to set the stage. King Saul and his men were chasing David, knowing he was ordained by God to be Israel’s ruler. David and his men fled into the wilderness region known as En Gedi, and are hiding in a cave. 

It was into that very cave which King Saul entered to “relieve himself.” This is why my son called it the “pee cave” when we were there a couple months back.

As my son and I stood at the mouth of what had been the cave, looking down at the Jordan River below and marveling at the beauty of the place, it was hard not to think of the pressure to “win at all costs.” We feel it every day, just as David did.

Hiding in that cave, David and his men conspired about the opportunity to attack Saul. How easy it would have been! As it happened, David snipped a piece of Saul’s rob without the king’s knowledge. He immediately regretted having done so, and forbade his men from taking any other action.

So it always puzzled me... How were David and his men not seen? How were they not heard? How could David have moved close enough to cut Saul’s robe without the king knowing it?

Well, it turns out very easily. The cave featured a massive waterfall and raging stream that carved the cave from fragile rock. Back then, the cave would have been pitch black, the floor littered with man-sized chunks of rock. A dozen men could have been standing there yelling and never be heard. Meanwhile, one would have had to carefully disrobe before, um, going about the king’s task that day. 

When you are there, it all makes perfect sense. (As an aside, Texas Scorecard will be leading a trip to explore the biblical roots of self-governance in the spring of 2024. We’ll have more info on that soon)

While Saul was a dishonorable king, David did not want to begin his own kingship in a dishonorable way. While Saul would have thought nothing of killing David with his proverbial pants down, David wanted Saul to keep his dignity. David wanted to honor God, even in the darkness of a cave against a man who wanted him dead.

The lesson of En Gedi is that the ends cannot be justification for the means. If we want to be honorable men, we must behave honorably – even when it is inconvenient, even in the darkness, even when there aren’t any opposing witnesses. 

As a self-governing people, we must first be able to govern ourselves.