Good morning!

Yesterday, the One Click Survey asked readers if drag shows should be categorized as adult entertainment. You’ll find their answers below…

But first, as we continue the Year In Review, here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

🚨 Supreme Court Blocks Biden 🚨

• A Trump-era immigration policy gained new life yesterday, as the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from killing it. Brandon Waltens has the details.
      
• At issue is “Title 42,” a reference to a public health order issued by the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services in March 2020. The order allows customs officials to send illegal border-crossers from “COVID-19 impacted” areas back across the border without having to process them through the federal court system.
      
• A legal challenge led by a 19-state coalition, including Texas, convinced Chief Justice John Roberts – and now a majority of the of the court – to block the Biden administration until at least February.
      
• The court's action comes at a critical time. Illegal crossings at Texas’ southern border are surpassing all records, and there has been growing concern about the effect of the policy’s expiration exacerbating the situation.

2022 In Review

• Monday’s Texas Minute focused on woke academics infiltrating Texas’ public schools… and the invasion taking place at the southern border.
       
• Yesterday, we looked back on the increasing number of “drag shows” targeting kids and the growing outrage from parents and community activists.
     
• Today, Katy Drollinger reviews the education in corruption that Round Rock ISD demonstrated in 2022.

School Scandal

• Considered for years as a “safe” suburban school district, Round Rock ISD was revealed in exclusive reporting by Texas Scorecard to be a hotbed of scandal, corruption, and – shockingly – violence by teachers against children. More shocking have been the ongoing attempts to cover it all up by the “Bad Faith Five” on the school district’s board of trustees.
   
• This ongoing investigation has resonated with readers far beyond the Central Texas confines of the school district, with parents and taxpayers telling us and others in horror that “if it can happen there…”

Abort The Baby Or Else…

• The story actually began in 2021, with parents and taxpayers shocked by Round Rock ISD’s rushed hiring of a new superintendent: Hafedh Azaiez.
     
• Five school trustees—Amy Weir, Jun Xiao, Amber Feller, Cory Vessa, and Tiffanie Harrison—voted to hire Azaiez despite objections from two board members and local parents. Citizens in the district dubbed the five trustees who voted to install Azaiez the “Bad Faith Five.” 
     
• In January 2022, the school board voted 6-1 to place Azaiez on paid administrative leave while an external investigator looked into the domestic violence allegations. Specifically, the married Azaiez reportedly threatened his pregnant girlfriend to get an abortion.
      
• Despite mounds of evidence, the school board has voted to keep him employed. 

Arresting Parents

• In May 2022, RRISD parents Jeremy Story and Dustin Clark filed a federal lawsuit against the “Bad Faith Five” trustees, Superintendent Azaiez, and several district police officers.
      
• Why? The school district coordinated with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to have Story and Clark arrested on charges of “hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct.”
     
• The dastardly dads’ “crime”? Attempting to speak out at a public meeting against the employment of Azaiez and a proposed tax increase.

Abusing Kids

• Concerns with the district’s treatment of special needs students grew when a video emerged of a vice principal shoving a 13-year-old special needs student into a brick wall.
      
• When the student’s mother attempted to voice her complaint at an October school board meeting, board members did not allow her to finish speaking and then blocked her from speaking to the media present at the meeting.

Sorry, But It’s Not Just In Round Rock…

• If the left-wing Democrats who run the “safe” Round Rock ISD sound like tyrants… they are. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones doing all that – and worse – in school districts around the state.
     
• Tomorrow’s Year In Review looks at the sexual predators who have been preying on Texas kids… and the school districts quietly enabling them.

We're Preparing The Future!

We are taking applications for our Spring, Summer, and Fall 2023 paid Texas Scorecard Fellowships designed for 18- to 25-year-olds with an interest in public policy, political accountability, and Texas history. The program offers three tracks: writing, research, and administration. Learn more online.

Today In History

On Dec. 28, 1926, the first producing oil well began operation outside Odessa, in Ector County.

Y’All Answered

Minors are prohibited by law from entering strip clubs and X-rated movie theaters, whether their parents approve or not. In yesterday’s Texas Minute, we asked if venues that host drag shows should be held to the same standard (taxes, safety, age restrictions, etc.) as other venues of adult entertainment.

Readers responded overwhelmingly (98.6 percent) in favor of applying the same restrictions to drag shows as other forms of adult entertainment, while 1.4 percent think venues should be allowed to admit kids.

Here's a sampling of responses from my inbox...

• “I wonder if the same 'mommies' who take their kids to see those shows hand the car keys to their 10-year-old and ask her/him to drive.” – John R. Makow
      

• “This issue of drag shows is made up and perpetuated by ignorance. They should not be held to the same standards as a strip club. No one is stripping. From Shakespeare to Ms. Doubtfire, drag has been around for centuries. Focus on the economy, focus on the money we waste every year on the STAAR. Pay our teachers, fund medical care, fix the grid… Stop with the culture wars and focus on what families in Texas actually need instead of the hate.” – Sabrina Martin Ball
      

• “We have laws that keep kids from buying cigarettes and alcohol before they reach a certain age. Why? To protect them from their own lack of maturity.” – Alan Smith
     

• “This is immoral, ungodly, and just plain wrong. They are corrupting the minds of our youth, normalizing behaviors and lifestyles that are ABSOLUTELY NOT NORMAL!” – Peble Churchman
     

• “We have a duty to the next generation to not only protect, nourish, and guide them, but to teach them morality and right from wrong. This is a NO-BRAINER, absolute minimum effort to protect our kids. Let them have childhoods and leave adult matters to adults! These demands are NOT UNREASONABLE!” – Christopher Flinn
     

• “When I was growing up, we weren't allowed in a bar or a liquor store even with our parents. The downside of that was what? Nothing! So, there is no downside to not allowing children into these drag shows, unless you support exposing kids to what is clearly adult ‘entertainment.’” – Carol Spencer
      

• “Those that condone this activity should be called out as EVIL… They are destroying our country! God bless the children. God save the children.” – Glen Sartwelle
      

• “I don’t care what someone does inside their own home, but when it spills into the lives of others – especially the kids – it becomes my problem to deal with. Parents everywhere must stand up and remove the threat to their children. Now!” – Gene Klutts
     

• “Why aren’t they protected now? Children are very obviously the target. What's next?” – Marilyn Harris
     

• “You'd think even a sick Democrat like Dade [Phelan] would find the drag shows for children disgusting. I feel like screaming to the high heavens every time I think about either one.” – Lloyd Smith
   

• “While I believe people have the right to choose the road to perdition, I believe weaker people should be protected if possible. Many people without a strong faith follow whatever is portrayed as popular in the world. They and their children need our protection. So, yes, legislation limiting sexualized shows would be a help to them.” – Laura Morton
     

• “Just a few years ago, exposing kids to this trash would’ve been child endangerment or contributing to delinquency of a minor. How far society has fallen. Slouching towards Gomorrah… If we don’t get God back in everyday society, we deserve everything we get!” – Bob Davis
     

• “Any business or entertainment venue that promotes deviant behavior or provides for access to materials that should not be available to minors should be monitored and regulated as such.” – Arthur Potter
      

• “YES, drag shows SHOULD be held to the same standard!” – Dawn Martin
     

• “This is from a Keith Green song, ‘The church just can’t fight, ‘cause it’s asleep in the light.’ This ‘mess’ we have allowed, simply by default.” – Ken Jenkins
     

• “It is very disheartening to me to see the number of parents who have lost all sense of moral responsibility in raising their children today.” – Carol Dean
      

• “If adults decide that they want to eliminate themselves from the gene pool, that is their choice. But, to force, or even encourage, children to make that decision before they understand the ramifications is criminal.” – Rex Reeve
     

• “This is an attack on the core family unit. It is the same manner of attack that has normalized other perversions. Our tolerance of these sins has brought us to the point that these practitioners of these perversions are emboldened to the point they are going after our children. This must not be allowed at all.” – Randy Hartman
     

• “Protect the kids, because their parents won't. Kids in general always want to see and explore what they haven't before. Our duty is to supply wholesome lifestyles for them to thrive in. Drag shows only lead children away from God and will lead them into future roles of prostitution and other unsavory lifestyles.” – Danny Thompson

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The districts and names displayed here should reflect those taking representational effect on January 1, 2023.