Good morning!

A friend recently attended a meeting of the Texas Republican Party’s state executive committee. On the agenda was a proposal (that passed) for communicating publicly to lawmakers what the GOP grassroots expect the state’s GOP-dominated House and Senate to deliver in the coming legislative session. A sniveling apologist for the establishment fretted that the elected officials wouldn’t like being told what to do. Well, that’s too bad.

I’ll explain what I mean at the end of today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 

REMINDER: Early voting ends today. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Child Trafficking: An Open-border Effect

• The porous southern border has created an environment ripe for child trafficking, according to Craig Sawyer, a former Navy SEAL and founder of Veterans for Child Rescue. State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood) recently interviewed Sawyer about the issue. Sydnie Henry reports on their discussion, and you can watch the full interview online.
     
• “I founded Veterans for Child Rescue to expose the extent of child trafficking to American citizens so that we would all understand the nature of the threat and so we could better defend our children from it,” explained Sawyer.
     
• His own daughter was taken at knifepoint and violently sexually assaulted. She responded to this horrific experience by fighting back, both in court against her rapist and by acting as a decoy for Veterans for Child Rescue to stop other sexual predators.
      

• According to Sawyer’s estimates, the child-trafficking industry in the U.S. brings in $38-50 billion a year. “It’s bigger than all pro sports combined in annual revenue,” says Sawyer. “This is not some small side project; this is a major industrial scale crime destroying our precious and innocent children.”
     

• Sawyer said the state of the southwest border is “truly an invasion, but the humanitarian piece of it is just a smoke screen to keep you from looking behind the curtain to see what the cartels are doing and what is this heinous thing of child trafficking.”

Election Security Issues Still Plague Harris County

• While the state is still trying to resolve questions about Harris County’s chaotic 2020 election, local election watchers report problems are continuing to plague the county’s voting process during this November’s election.
      
• Erin Anderson explains that while the county has new staff and equipment, there seem to be the same old process problems.

School Foundation Board Member Resigns After Sex Sting Video

• After attempting to meet with a 14-year-old boy for sex, Allen ISD Foundation board member Neil Riddick has resigned his position. Brandon Waltens has the story.
       
• Riddick was caught on video in a sting operation conducted by Cassady Campbell, who has become known for a series of undercover videos in which he captures unsuspecting child predators on camera.
       
• In the latest video, Campbell catches Riddick, an insurance and financial services agent with Tallie O. Young & Associates. His biography notes his involvement in Allen ISD and the Boy Scouts of America. He also says he works part time at Chick-Fil-A.
       
• In other words, Riddick spends a lot of time where kids are…
      
• The 61-year-old Riddick is seen on video being greeted by a decoy posing as a 14-year-old boy that he met on an app designed for gay sexual encounters. Riddick says he likes touching and kissing, and asks the decoy to remove his clothes. When caught, Riddick claims on video that he would not have done anything sexual “today,” but that he “would probably kiss” the young man.
      
• This isn’t the first time Campbell has caught someone involved in local schools. Earlier this year, a middle-school teacher in Garland ISD was similarly caught attempting to meet a 14-year-old boy for sex.

📺 THE HEADLINE: Billions In Debt

• Right now you can watch The Headline with Brandon Waltens as he chats with Tim Hardin, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, about the billions of dollars of debt Texas taxpayers are facing on the ballot. Plus, with the election just days away, craziness at the polls is heating up. 
       

• You can watch the show now on our website, YouTube, or Rumble!

Leander ISD Asks Voters to Approve $99 Million Tax Increase

• In a year when inflation has averaged 8.3 percent, a school district in Central Texas is asking voters to approve a tax increase anticipated to generate 35 percent more revenue than last year. Darrell Frost has the details from Leander Independent School District.
      
• The school district is hoping voters will only pay attention to the lower rate, without realizing it will result in a higher tax burden.

Friday Reflection: Don’t Get Distracted 🔊

Our republic wasn’t designed for the convenience of a special elite. While we’ve been conditioned to think of it today as a vaguely uplifting political poetry, our Founding Fathers began the U.S. Constitution with three purposeful words: “We the people.”

The people are supposed to be in charge, with everyone operating under clearly stated laws equally applied. Similarly, the responsibility for the future of the republic doesn’t rest with presidents or mayors, governors or senators, but with each of us as citizens.

And yet… we have been distracted. For too long, too many of us have been lulled to civic sleep or pointed in the wrong direction. The citizens have been told to fight with each other over the table scraps offered by the self-appointed ruling elite.

In Texas, we’re approaching the 20th anniversary of complete Republican domination of the state’s political machinery. Republicans hold every statewide executive office, every statewide judicial office, and commanding majorities of both legislative chambers. Yet, government is more bloated than ever, and the property tax burden higher than when they took control.

When citizens raise these points, the elected class in Austin often raise their eyebrows in mock horror and tell of the dastardly deeds of the Democrats. Some, if they are edgy, might even lay blame on the “RINOs” – those Republicans In Name Only who conspire with the Democrats. 

But here’s the thing: Everyone in office is a Republican in name only until they prove otherwise with their actual record, delivering on their results.

The fact is, conservative policies are killed or ignored in Texas because Republicans allow it. When a Democrat is seen gleefully holding a bloody knife over a gutted GOP priority, it is because Republican lawmakers allowed it.

Citizens must understand the process and not be distracted by the self-serving fairy tales told by lazy legislators and their sycophantic cheerleaders. 

It begins by reminding ourselves that the responsibility for safeguarding our republic and advancing our priorities rests with each of us as citizens. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the public servants from our high calling as citizens.