Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, January 9, 2020
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• What is taxpayer-funded lobbying? Check out our animated, two-minute explainer video... and then share it with your friends and family! Besides simply being immoral, taxpayer-funded lobbying is an issue many in the legislature (and their cronies around the state) would prefer you just ignore.

• A North Texas local official is suing a federal bureaucracy for stifling faith-based free speech. Erin Anderson reports on a lawsuit filed by Susan Fletcher, a graphic designer from Frisco who also serves as Collin County’s Precinct 1 commissioner.
      
• At issue is a federal regulation barring religious content on personalized postage stamps that Fletcher argues is unconstitutional. Fletcher wanted to create personalized stamps for Christmas and Texas Independence Day that communicated a Christian message to family and friends, using a government-approved third-party vendor. But she discovered that a USPS regulation prohibits custom stamp designs that contain any depiction of religious content, which it categorizes as “unsuitable for all-ages audiences” along with political, violent, and sexual content.
       
• Her stamps were to be variations on the “God Bless Texas” theme.
     
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the City of Austin is “failing” in their job to protect residents from crime. Jacob Asmussen reports the governor’s assessment comes after a year in which the city has prioritized left-wing social causes over public safety. Most recently, a homeless man with a violent criminal history killed an Austin restaurant employee last week.

• Let me recommend the podcast of conservative political consultant Luke Macias. It’s an interview format program with people making or driving the news, with interesting stories to tell, or simply interesting people. In this week’s episode he chats with my friends Bunni Pounds and Tracye Bradford about the formation of a great new organization, “Christians Engaged.” 
   
• Speaking of such things... Each week our own Tony McDonald hosts Texas Scorecard Radio, a program heard on stations around the state. It is also conveniently available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, and Stitcher!
   
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