The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - January 31, 2025

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free "Remember the Alamo" hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast.This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses:Passing the Gavel: The Brawl for the Texas House SpeakershipLt. Gov. Dan Patrick Releases First Round of Senate Priority BillsRep. Leach Criticizes Health and Human Services Commission Over Changes to Pro-Life ProgramTexas Senate Committee Hears Testimony on 'Universal' School Choice BillTexas Lawmaker Files 'Abolition of Abortion' Bill, Faces Opposition from Lt. Gov. PatrickTexas Deploys Over 400 Soldiers to Border in Collaboration With U.S. Border PatrolTexas Lawmakers File Artificial Intelligence Legislation for 89th SessionTexas House Member Files Bill to Raise Minimum Death Penalty Age to 21State Lawmaker Seeks to Formalize Trump’s 'Gulf of America' in Texas Constitution

Okay, real fast, before we get into the tweeter, I do want to say that multiple people at our event came up to me and said that they empathize with me and how Brad lambast me on the podcast. I'm not kidding you. I had two or three people come up to me and say this. You haven't told me this before. Someone came up to me and said, I'm so glad you're there for Mackenzie now. That's amazing. You bash me just as much as I bash you. You just do it in a much more pleasant sing-songy voice. Much more pleasant sing-songy voice. Yeah, that is exactly it.

That is a good quote. Put that in your newsletter. Put that in your newsletter. It's true. But I just want to say thank you to those folks who came up to me and kind of see what happens internally here and you know, provides empathy. And I did have, I think it must have been the same person, Mary-Lise, because they were like, I'm so glad Mary-Lise is there. You have a partner on the podcast i was like oh it's so nice

three two one howdy folks mackenzie delulio here with brad and cameron and marie lee's a big week at the texan it's been fun it's been awesome i think yesterday everyone probably recovered from how long of a day i don't know how long of a work day it was. It was probably like 14 hours. Yeah, something like that, which was so fun, but a long day. Do you guys feel like recovered from it? Your voice sounds like you're coming down with something potentially. Possibly, but I'm here today.

I'm a good soldier. Getting the podcast done. Yeah, I don't know if I picked something up from the event, but I wasn't feeling it during the event. Okay. The event was super fun. I thought it went as smoothly as possible. Yeah.

Like, really no hiccups or anything. Yeah. Went super well. Great panels. We're going to be releasing some of the video later this week well this is coming out friday so yeah so hopefully by the time this goes out there'll be one panel up at least yeah yeah but it was really fun lots of uh really good conversations lots of interesting information especially during your burrows conversation since that was the exclusive

first time he's spoken his first interview since he assumed the speakership which was awesome and folks who don't know this is our 89 session kickoff this is an all-day panel discussion started at 8 30 ended at like six ish and we had lawmakers from all over the state all across the political spectrum come in and chat with subscribers and um attendees who just wanted to know what's going on for legislators it was awesome we were so grateful to everyone who came um we had so many subscribers it's just wanted to know what's going on for legislators. It was awesome. We were so grateful to everyone who came. We had so many subscribers. It's just fun to meet people in person and actually get to talk to them. And we're so thankful the lawmakers made time, too,

because it is hectic at the beginning of session. Even if there's not like a committee – there was a committee hearing going on in the Senate, a major one, which we'll get to later. But even if there's not explicitly crazy things happening going on in one of the chambers, it's still busy. And you're still meeting with folks all the time. And there's so much preparation that goes into getting ready for those hearings. So we're just grateful they made the time.

It was amazing. And to our sponsors as well. That was next. We had a bevy of awesome sponsors who made this possible. And I think that, too, was really what helped us make know even a better event than the last time we did this that brought it to the next level is the support that we had from our sponsors so we are so grateful to those who jumped in and said yeah we'll partner with you in this and support what you're doing it really just relieves so much pressure and being able to play in an event like this when you know that there's backing. Well, and all the sponsors that supplied swag.

The swag was awesome. For the bags. Oh, my gosh. I heard multiple compliments about that. Oh, really? Yeah. That's good. What was the favorite swag thing?

Flashlights. The mini flashlights. Oh. Was that? It might have been. Louie? Yeah, it might have been Louie Law Firm. Shout out to Adam.

Yeah. They were awesome. The Crosswind notebooks were amazing too. Yeah. Those got a lot. I saw people using them during the panels, which I thought was super fun. That's cool. We just appreciate everyone who jumped in and partnered with us in the event because

it literally made it possible to hold it and kind of bring it up a level from the last time we held this event, which was awesome then. We're just so grateful it up a level from the last time we we held this event which was awesome then we're just so grateful it went the way it did this time what was y'all's favorite panel either to watch because Cameron and Brad y'all moderated panels um what was your favorite either to moderate or to watch let's do both for y'all and then Mary Elise and I'll answer you want to go first sure um I mentioned your br conversation, but I always think it's interesting to hear from the lieutenant governor. And I think an interesting point to come out during that conversation was breakfasts are back. Yeah.

Wednesday breakfast. That's right. said sort of tongue-in-cheek like oh we're having breakfast or if this is going to be a genuine outreach to the house house leadership to try and build a bridge or who initiated like i'm curious about that too right it's like if it was a speaker or the lieutenant governor so i thought that was a really you know interesting piece of information to come out um but the favorite one for me to moderate was obviously the school choice public education panel, you know, just because there was some tough conversations that were had. Very different viewpoints. Different viewpoints. So that was really fun to just sit there and here and watch and listen and get the reaction from the

crowd as well. So you killed the moderating on that one too. That wasn't, that was like a, just very passionate folks on that panel who care super deeply about these issues and you had to wrangle. Like it was definitely an interesting dynamic and you handled it super well. Well, I think it was a good opportunity to have these opposing viewpoints at least voice their perspective on the issue. Because most of the time, it doesn't matter what the issue is. We see it come out online and passive-aggressive tweets or snippets of videos or whatever. At least they were able to sit down next to each other, voice their differing opinions, and the audience can make up their own mind. You usually don't get that unless they're on the floor debating,

and they're actually going at it from the front and back mic. Like, that's typically when you see those discussions happening. So it was wonderful to have that. What was your favorite to moderate? Well, the speaker was really cool, just because we didn't get the speaker last time. We did have the lieutenant governor, so that was awesome. As far as the most enjoyable, it's hard to pick above my favorite interview in the state,

which is Comptroller Glenn Hager, but I will. I'll pick a different one. I'll pick my legislative dynamics panel. That was a fun one. Yeah. With representatives John Busey cody the suit and cody harris um they were in rare form and they played off each other really well like a stand-up routine yeah and they had disagreements um it wasn't just sit up there and you know rattle

off a 10 minute long argument you know they were bouncing back and forth, joculating with each other. It was good, and I enjoyed it. And I thought it was, you know, the first half was kind of like a, kind of philosophical. How do you view your role as a legislator? I love that you started off that way because that's something I think about when I watch these legislators debating on the floor or just how they operate is, and that was one of the questions I was going to ask the people on my school choice panel is, how do you view an issue? Do you view it based on your own personal feelings on the issue or are you

viewing it as a representative of the constituents in your district? You know, and that's a really valid question. I think it's important to know that about your representatives. So I was glad you asked that. Yeah, and I'm glad they had good answers for it. I kind of tossed it to them in the green room above before. That way they had a chance to think about it. But they were ready to go. They didn't need any extra time to think.

We were chatting about it up there and they immediately had responses so um yeah i think i'm gonna go with that one my favorite one to watch i was in and out a lot because i had four interviews or panels to moderate so i didn't get to see i think any of them other than the lieutenant governors all the way through but i really liked the bit of the urban versus rural one that I saw. Holly did a great job moderating that. That was another great panel. I mean, every panel had an amazing slew of lawmakers, but that was a fun one.

Yeah, that was a personal favor just because that was my brainchild. And Holly did a good job bringing it out. And the legislators, representatives Shelby Slauson, Donna Howard, and Bono De Ayala did a very good job just talking about the issue and really what is the biggest divide in the building right now. It's not usually Republican, Democrat. It is urban versus rural. Absolutely. And I think what is fun is as you know, as we prepare for the

panels, like I can write down names and say, okay, I want these people on this panel. I want these people. And it all depends on who says yes, right? And sometimes you're like, man, this is going to be a really good one. And it is, because you just know the dynamics of these lawmakers will be fun. Like either they're friends in real life, or you watch them spar on the floor, and there's a friendly rapport there, even if they disagree on issues. was one where i was like this one's going to be really fun and it was i think ledge dynamics was the other one that was really fun in that regard where but i didn't even expect it to be as fun as it was it was kind of a surprise and you see them just walk into the green room and for us i think it's always interesting like the green room can either

feel kind of icy or pretty fun and like yeah it both of those panels were like the green room can either feel kind of icy or pretty fun. And like both of those panels were like the green room was just alive before they even walked out on stage, which made it for a lively discussion. My favorite to watch was School Choice. I encourage folks to go watch it. It was just fun to get to listen to that. And I think all of the dynamics at play and, of course, the ESA bill in the senate was being heard at that time as well right so there was this backdrop of the capital

being just busy and I think I heard a rumor and this is a rumor I know I'm in I'm a news I'm in the news business and I'm going to espouse a rumor but I heard the visitors barking at the capital was like packed like completely full and it was hard for folks to even find a spot. Well, there were, like, 130 people that testified, I think. Yeah. Big day. Well, and we were getting updates on SB2 from people on the panels. Because at the time we were hosting these panels, the fiscal note for SB2 was released,

and it was showing this large growth in the amount that was going to be allocated in the years following SB2 if it were to be implemented. And you asked the lieutenant governor about that, and he said, oh, that's not the correct number. I think he was mistaken in the parameter that he was talking about because he said, the fiscal note said $6 billion in the next biennium, following the one that we're budgeting for right now. Yeah. And he, I think, was approaching it from just a single year cost. And so he, because the number he threw out was, I thought it was something like $2.3 billion. Yeah.

And that was basically right, but for 2028, not 2028 and 2029. And he had staff sitting in the audience. And so that's, the lieutenant governor, it was a fun interview for many reasons, but also because he'll just like ask questions of the audience. He'll tell a story. And so he, but he asked his staff in the audience, he's like, is that right? What's going on?

And she's like, yes, there is an uptick. And so that was interesting, too. It seems like there's just some confusion about how this will all roll out. Do you know why that is? Under SB2, after the first biennium, does the parameters increase, like the amount of people that can qualify or the amount i i'm not exactly sure i just got i can only assume that's why it's increasing um just to extend the pool for which uh eligible who is going to be eligible under sb2 which is why they're

going to need to allocate more money to it from universal from universal to more universal. Yeah. Which is a whole other thing. Well, that's the question about universality of a universal school choice bill. Is it universal just because anyone can apply or is it universal because it applies to everyone? Yeah. And everyone can take advantage. Yeah. So, yeah, I'll just have to dig into the bill a little more to understand why. Yeah. It's been a little busy since then. Yeah. Um, but that was my favorite one to watch. I only moderated one panel, which was the Lieutenant Governor's panel. And I'm always so grateful for time to chat with him.

It was really just, it was just fun. Um, it's a fun, it's a fun interview and it was fun to get to do it a second time. Like it's all, it, it, it returning to the same kind of conversation with somebody that you have a little bit of rapport with is always so much more rewarding than trying to, like, find your footing with a new dynamic. So I appreciated it, and I thought there were also some really interesting tidbits that he was willing to share. The lieutenant governor loves to throw some nuggets out there, and it was a fun one. He did. He had some interesting policy points. Yeah.

The 45%—okay, you guys should just go watch the panel but like the 45% thing was interesting. He was like polling the audience in real time. Yeah he polled the audience which was he's asking everybody.

Well and I'm sure he's not just thinking about this but do you know what the primary in HT21 finished at? Yeah it was like 46. David Covey at 46.

Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. Just a little something something there but uh Marylise what about you? Well my personal favorite was the freshman panel kim roberts did a great job that was a fun one yeah i loved it because

they're so positive right they're like these fresh faces coming in they're not cynical yet which is nice and they just come in and they're so excited and they're talking about how they're going to represent their constituents they have all of these goals and plans for the session ahead and uh it was definitely the most positive one to listen to i think um which i think will be good um it'll be good for the house because how many freshmen came in i know it was a large amount of freshmen yeah it was 30 plus yeah um who came in this cycle yeah i was gonna say, but I don't know if that's exact. But yeah, I really loved that. Kim Roberts asked them some really interesting questions,

and they got to all just kind of bounce off of each other. And yeah, they seem all very hyped and excited for the upcoming session. We'll see in two years. Maybe they'll have the same panel. It'll be like year two, you know, the sophomore reps, maybe or something like that. And we'll see if they have the same outlook as they do. It's like, how do you feel now?

Yeah, exactly. But it was so fun. So, folks, thanks for coming. For so many of you, we're so grateful. And hopefully this is something we do each and every session because it's a very special thing to get to do. And it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Any final thoughts on the event?

It shows how far we've come. You know, we started and nobody, everyone thought we were University of Texas newspaper. And now we have two of the big three and almost had three of the big three at our event, if not for a scheduling conflict. So yeah, it's a great point of reflection and how much work we've all put into this and the reputation we built. So well done all around. Well done all around. I do want to say the border panel was also awesome. Cameron, that was the first of the day.

And that one was when Congressman Chip Roy joined. He chatted with Connie, our founder, the day before and was like, I'll be in town for your event. Do you need anything? And I was like, well, we have an extra spot on the border panel. Do you want to come in? And he did, and he was very gracious about it. So we had a very diverse set of i could get into all of it because i asked all the most of the questions i wanted to ask whether it was uh 14th amendment clarification the sending the

military to the border and all all that stuff i got to ask so people are interested in hearing a democrat's perspective because we did have a democrat on that panel also state versus federal perspective on a lot of these executive orders I once we release it encourage everyone to go listen to it yeah absolutely another panel where there was some not in the same way that school choice was but some like very you know lots of different opinions yeah absolutely which was super fun and um you know we hope our panelists had fun as well, just enjoying being on stage and having time to talk with folks. And we appreciate all our panelists, too.

We're talking with folks after. And, you know, we appreciate that. We hope that that makes it worth it for our attendees as well to know that they get to, you know, these folks are excited to talk to them and are gracious enough to stick around and answer their questions. So it's a fun time. Well, I guess we should get into the news this week um brad we're going to go ahead and start with you speaking of the speaker you wrote a very big piece on the race that handed him the gavel what were some of the notable scoops in there so yeah i wrote a pretty lengthy piece um

rip to mac and rob having to edit it it but there was no other way to do it just because I was trying to put everything everything needed to be put in one spot on this on the speaker is it was just so wild it could not be contained in 700 words so it was a lot longer than that. But I got some interesting things put in there. You know, a couple tidbits. The meeting to pick someone to fill the void after Dade Phelan dropped out. We had known a meeting occurred, but there were roughly 40 Republicans,

40 roughly Republicans who were not in the reform camp met, and they voted between Brad Buckley, Tom Craddock, Ken King, and Dustin Burroughs, and Burroughs won it overwhelmingly. So there was that. Also a tidbit in there, the Burroughs side during the the caucus they had planned on going in to walk out if they had reached the second ballot of the second round of voting but when the walkout happened it was just the second ballot of the first round of voting and there was a stalemate and so they pulled the trigger early and I detail it in there basically why but it was the objection to

meeting or pausing for 10 minutes and it just caused everything to spin out of control and devolve from there another one the Burroughs and McLaughlin meeting that occurred after the walkout, but before Burroughs announced his list on which McLaughlin was. And so that meeting happened, and afterward both sides left with a completely different understanding.

Burroughs' side thought, oh, we got him. We're going to put him on the list. They did. He was the first one to say, I did not agree to be on this. McLaughlin left and said, well, I like Burroughs, and they know each other from Burroughs' time chairing the investigative committee into the Uvalde shooting when McLaughlin was the mayor of Uvalde shooting when McLaughlin was the mayor of Uvalde McLaughlin left I like Burroughs but I'm sticking with Cook I gave my word about

the reform stuff so that caused some confusion and it caused things to spiral and then we saw by the end of it like five ish Republicans say we did not agree to be on this list. Another one, Representative Sinfronia Thompson between the first and second rounds of voting for speaker on the floor asked David Cook, the reform candidate, to drop out and he declined and then we saw what happened. Boroughs got across the line. That was when, that was after boroughs came in at 71 votes. And so he only needed five more to get the speakership.

It was pretty much a done deal then. We knew what was going to happen because members look at that board and they say, oh, I want to be the one that puts them over the line. So they did that. And then one more last section that I have in there, I talk about kind of these crosswinds that we're trying to get Donald Trump to wade in or not wade in. You know, you have Lieutenant Governor Patrick, obviously, Attorney General Paxton railing against Burroughs. Both very close to the Trump camp.

Yep, yep. Miriam Adelson with Las Vegas Sands, who has been spending loads and loads and loads of money backing members who were not in the reform camp, most notably Phelan, during his runoff. So an interesting set of circumstances there. But, yeah, if that interests you, give it a read. Enjoy a nice massive jug of coffee with it because it'll take you that long to get through it. But I thought it was important to get everything in one spot. Yeah.

There's both a bunch of new stuff in there, and it's a postmortem of everything that had happened up until that point. It's definitely a great reference piece going forward now that that entire race is in the rearview mirror. So Brad, well done. Cameron, let's talk about the Senate. So Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, leader of the Senate, he released the long-awaited first round of priority bills for the Senate. We knew some of these ahead of the release of the full list, but walk us through what was on that list. Yeah, this is just the first round. Yeah. You know, one through 25, he plans on releasing up to 40 priority bills. And this is an increase from 30. So, you know, it seems like almost every bill is going to be a priority after this but like you said well then you got 150 in the house yeah well um

we already know some of these and we've talked about it we've written pieces on it the budget school choice banning thc um what's interesting though some other things like the establishment of a Doge commission. We see bringing up again, placing 10 commandments in schools, drag time, story hour, stopping AI child pornography. I'll have to dig into that one because there has been federal legislation

proposed by Ted Cruz, the Take It Down Act, that might be similar to that. So reflecting some of those conservative principles here in these priority pieces of legislation in the Senate. And number 25 on the list, Make Texas Healthy Again. I thought that was interesting. Not something you'd normally think is going to be a priority piece of legislation. But we wrote about a new group that's formed here in Texas with that exact name. So I don't man, you got on the Senate's priority list in the first three months. Yeah.

That's got to be a new record. He said, you know, I'd love to take credit for it, but I don't think I had any. Well, who knows if it's setting up a cooperation between the new, the possibly new Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., if he is confirmed in the Senate. That hearing was this week. That's all the line Adam says for SB 25, too, is just make America healthy again. Or make Texas healthy. So what does that mean?

Yeah, what does that mean? We have no idea. We have no other detail other than that. Yeah, so that'll be something I'll keep my eye on. And like I mentioned when we were talking about how the panels went and how Dan Patrick mentioned he's going to have these breakfasts or he plans to have breakfasts with Dustin Burroughs, will that be – is that extending an olive branch to the lower chamber

to try and get some of these more controversial pieces of legislation through the house because the senate has no problem passing legislation it's about once it gets down to the house so a lot to a lot of things to keep our eyes on here we still have a part two to these priority pieces of legislation, and we'll report on it once it comes out. Absolutely. For the full list, go read the text. Mary Elise, let's talk about State Representative Jeff Leach, who sent a letter to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission last week. Give us the rundown. Yes, so State Representative Jeff Leach sent a letter outlining some of his concerns about a recent request for applications that was submitted by

the Texas Health and Human Services Commission regarding a certain pro-life program. So it's called Thriving Texas Families Program, but it used to be called Alternatives to Abortion Program. And in his letter, he said that he believes it's at risk for straying from its 20-year legacy of supporting women and families due to those recent changes in the request for applications, the RFA. So this new RFA, an RFA is an application that's necessary for programs such as this one, TTF, to receive allocated funds through the legislative process during this session. And it was released five days before Christmas, and so in the letter, Leach said that he thought that set an unnecessarily rushed timeline because the submission date was February 14th, so just about a month after the kickoff of the 89th legislative session. Leach also said that he was concerned that the RFA

kind of pivoted the program towards more of a focus on poverty. He said a commendable but secondary goal already addressed by other state programs. He was saying that this poverty kind of distracted from the focus from abortion alternatives for women and families to poverty. And he said that this shift in focus was due to them adding reporting metrics that are not linked to clients choosing life for their pre-born child. And he went on to expand on these reporting mandates. He said that they may trigger investigations from the Health and Human Services and removal of contractors. He said that would jeopardize these pro-life providers who would be prohibited from publicly responding to these claims from the media.

And he said these pro-life organizations are already a target of biased media attacks. So read the article for all the information on that. It's slightly complicated, but there was a pro-life group that commented on the letter on X, and they said, thank you, Representative, for raising this critical pro-life issue. They said HHSC is on the verge of adopting detrimental changes to the Thriving Texas Families Program, and then they asked the HHSC to withdraw that recent RFA to, quote, avoid undermining this life-saving Texas initiative. So yeah, definitely check out that article. That letter was sent just a few days ago. Yeah, absolutely. And this, which pro-life group was it that

said that in response to Representative? Oh yes, that was Texas Right to Life. So a big, yeah, big Texas pro-life nonprofit group. Absolutely. Well, thanks for your coverage, Mary Elise. I think the pro-life issue, because of Dobbs, it's going to be interesting to see how that is approached to this session because that had been such a huge legislative issue for so many sessions. Now we're kind of seeing it not drop off, but it's just a different approach now.

It's like these kinds of almost administrative issues that need to be addressed on the Republican side, which is very interesting. So it's kind of the front of this battle changed entirely. Well, because we saw a year ago a lot of discussions with the exceptions that were published by the Texas Medical Board. And there has been continuing conversations about needing to clarify those exceptions in legislation. And that's one side of it, the legislative side, and then this is another side of it as well. well so yeah I think it's going to be a continuing discussion especially now that the question of pro-life pro-choice abortion laws is in the states there's going to be a lot more focus on the legislature moving forward which is interesting which is gonna give an opportunity for reporters to document these things

and for advocates on both sides of the issue to become more involved as well. Absolutely. I think Brad wrote a piece about a new abortion bill that was filed, so I think we'll talk about that later. But there's still some legislation going on that has to do – I mean, this one was abolition of abortion. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Totally changes how we approach the issue in Texas after that, of course, Supreme Court decision.

But that's still on the table. We probably won't get into it, but that's just a huge conversation in itself. Yeah, absolutely. And if that bill is assigned to a committee, I'm sure we're going to get a lengthy debate. Yeah, if it's given a hearing, absolutely. Well, let's talk about school choice, and then we'll get to that bill. Cameron, we talked about this a little bit, but the school choice legislation had an opportunity to be debated in the Senate committee this week on Tuesday. Of course, the Senate has, you know, historically been able to pass this

piece of legislation pretty easily, work through the process, but a hearing still has to happen, witnesses still have to be heard. Walk us through what happened this week. Yeah, this is the, quote, fully universal school choice bill that's been presented by Senator Brandon Creighton, and the universality comes from that all parents of Texas students can apply for it and like we mentioned at the top there was a long line of people to provide testimony there was more than six hours of debate between lawmakers invited guests just the public in general were coming in and Creighton said at the top of the hearing he said quote feels familiar and it should yeah because uh the senate has uh last session passed uh different iterations of school choice

legislation I think it was four times um and all those required committee hearings and I covered many of them if not all of them so yes uh we saw many of the same arguments for and against throughout the day there. What was interesting is, again, our kickoff event had so many little tidbits of information, especially in regard to this fiscal note, which, as proposed, SB2 would grow by allocating $1 billion in cost to the program and expanding it to nearly $4 billion in 2030. And that was brought up as a concern by just the general public, but also by Senator Jose Menendez, who said, quote, my concern is that we're setting aside a billion dollars for this new education savings voucher but I haven't seen the same level in investment in our public schools so the question concerning

public education versus school choice again that was brought up during our school choice panel where it was implied that we're going to see a standalone school choice bill and a standalone public education bill. That way the elected representatives can vote up or down on both those items so the public has a clear idea of where these representatives stand on both of those issues. So that's something to look forward to. It was passed out of committee on party lines nine to two, and it's been scheduled for a full Senate floor debate on February 4th. Yeah, they intend to pass it. They intend to pass it. And they'll suspend the rules, push it through. It'll be over to the House then. Yeah, absolutely. Keep an eye on it, Cameron. Thank you. Broward's come to you this we've spoken a little bit about it alluded to this but a Texas lawmaker filed an abolition of abortion bill that has previously

struggled to see progress in the legislature but it's something that is absolutely filed just about every session um by pro-life lawmakers give us the details freshman representative Brent Money is Republican his uh HB 2197 would treat an elective abortion as murder under state law. It's a proposal to eliminate an exception in state penal code for women who obtain an abortion, providing, quote, equal protection under criminal law to unborn children. Basically, there is a carve-out that exempts from the assault section of code pregnant women who receive an abortion. And so this bill would strike that. That is the intention.

Money's told me about it. We have a situation in Texas where for years and years we have acknowledged that life begins at conception. We have said that killing a baby in a mother's womb is murder. We have said, I think for decades now, that if you kill a mother who is carrying a baby, that it's double homicide. And then with the trigger bill, we said, hey, if anyone assists a woman with an abortion, it's murder. But we still have not said that if a woman does a self-induced abortion, that is murder. He sees a logical inconsistency there, and he wants to close that. Apparently he has over a dozen co-authors for the bill.

There are, you know, the criticism, we've known about this for a while because it's been filed in multiple sessions, but the argument against it is it's cruel to punish a woman for obtaining an abortion. Those on Money's side disagree. They're going to have it out in the public square. I don't foresee this bill going anywhere. That's how it's been so far. You know, and the amount of abortions in Texas has significantly dropped since the overturning of Roe, since the trigger ban went into effect. I think numbers you put out the other day was what, 132 medically necessary abortions since?

Since 2022. I forget which month it was in 2022 it was when the judgment went in 30 days after the judgment went into effect for dobbs which probably would have been like september that's what are legally qualified is like medically necessary yeah right and so this does have an exception for life of the mother procedures and um I think, I'm not sure if, I'm not sure what the previous versions have looked like if that was in there. I would bet it was. I think that's a pretty consistent,

I would have to go back and look, but it's a pretty consistent bill that's filed. It's pretty much the same. But yeah, money says it's time to push this forward and we'll see if you can do it. And when we talk about different pro-life groups in Texas, there's Texas Rights to Life, there's Texas Alliance for Life, there's Abolish Abortion Texas, all these different groups have different aims, which is why there are, you know,

and there are more pro-life groups than even that, but they all have different aims. And of course, Abolish Abortion Texas, the aim is right in its name. Right. What's the background? We talked about a little bit about it. What's the background context for this bill? So in 2019, Representative Tony Tenderholt carried it. Republican Chair Jeff Leach declined to hear it in committee, died there. That was a very big deal. It was, yeah. On both sides, you know, a lot of people were calling into Tenderholt's office, very upset with it.

And a lot of threats were made. Also, people just being angry about it got a lot of attention. And then a lot of people called into Chairman Leach's office saying, please give this bill a hearing. Right. They're Republicans. This is the pro-life issue, something we all agree on. Yep. issue something we all agree on yep um in 2021 which was the same session that they passed the trigger bill and the heartbeat act um it was carried by representative brian slayton it was again carried him or filed by him in uh 2023 and of course he was expelled later that session.

One of the things I asked Money what was different about this, and he said, well, first of all, we've seen how things have developed since the overturning of Roe, but also previously had, quote, an author problem. So he thinks he's better suited to usher this through. Ironically, whose seat does money hold? Slayton's former seat. So it's an interesting tidbit there. Then it was once on the Texas GOP's legislative priorities list,

but it's now just in the platform. It did not make the most recent version. Which were voted on by the delegates. Yeah. RPT chair Abraham George joined a list of a bunch of different Republican activists supporting this bill when money filed it. So the party is, at least in its formal structure, is behind it, supportive of it, but, you know, it hasn't gotten much traction. Yeah. Lieutenant Governor Patrick addressed this idea over the weekend. What did he have to say? Well, he's a big reason this hasn't gotten much traction. He is, and various other, he's not the only one. A lot of Republicans think this is overkill, basically. And Patrick said,

we shouldn't punish women. Of not those are a few those being who are pushing this bill are a few people somewhere who said that and they don't speak for republicans they don't speak for americans you're not going to punish women that's ridiculous i mean that right there even at this word advance in the house that tells you this thing's dead it's not going anywhere it's not even coming close to becoming law um and money addressed this i asked him about that specifically he said i would love to talk with lieutenant governor about that i think that the position he holds is the kind of orthodox republican pro-life position which is the position that i even held just a few years ago but post post-OBs, I've just had to really reconsider not just the realm of the possible.

I still think you will see a reduction in the number of abortions just through the teaching and deterrence factor, which leads to the other things that it does. So he views it as even if, you know, let's say this gets into law, prosecutors, most of them, would probably refuse to bring these cases. Your microphone starts to levitate. I almost just got punched in the face by the microphone. You know, you might have a couple prosecutors who want to bring charges on this, but likely most would say no.

And I asked him about that, and he said, well, even if it's on the books, it would be a deterrent, and I think that's good enough. Yeah, different approaches. Absolutely. Bradley, thank you. Mary Elise, Governor Abbott issued a directive to Texas military on Monday morning. Tell us more. Yes, so early Monday morning, Governor Greg Abbott announced that he would be sending a group of soldiers. He would be deploying over 400 soldiers from our Texas Tactical Border Force to join the Trump

administration in border security efforts. So he sent them to the Rio Grande Valley to collaborate with Trump's efforts. And it says the troops took off from Houston and Dallas along with some C-130 aircraft, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing this correctly, but Chinook helicopters. I looked them up, and it looks as though they're bigger than Blackhawks, which is a fun fact. But yeah, so they took off from Houston and Dallas on January 27th, and they joined what Governor Greg Abbott said was thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers who are already collaborating with Trump's border security, border patrol agents along the southern border. So a little background on the Texas Tactical Border Force. It was launched in 2023 by Abbott, and then he said it was a response to the growing border crisis. It came right after President Joe Biden ended the Title 42 order that prevented illegal immigrants from seeking asylum in the country in the U.S. for 38 months due to COVID-19. launched it that it would serve as just an additional border force as a nation braced for

an unexpected spike in illegal immigration alongside Operation Lone Star, which we've covered extensively. So yeah, this was back in 2023. And in his directive where he announced he was sending these 400 Texas soldiers to the border, he highlighted that over 530,000 illegal immigrants have been apprehended, which Operation Lone Star is responsible for. He said that over 50,000 criminals have been arrested and that more than 622 million lethal doses of fentanyl have been seized. And this is something he's posted before that he said it was enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Wow. Yeah.

So he commented, he referred to something we talked about. I think it was last time we were on this podcast where Trump mentioned Abbott. And he said, you know, you have a partner to work with you now in the White House. Right. And Abbott said when he announced this directive, he said, Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border. And he said, to support that mission, today I deployed the Texas Tactical Border Force, comprised of hundreds of troops to work side-by-side with United States Border Patrol agents

to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws. And he said for the past four years, Texas has held the line against the Biden administration's border crisis and their refusal to protect Americans. And he said, finally, we have a federal government willing to work to end this crisis. And he thanked Trump for his leadership on this issue and said he looks forward to working with him. So this was, I'm sure, the first of many steps that Abbott will take to collaborate with Trump and the Board of Security. And obviously, this is a very hot topic right now. Yeah, we've seen videos of Tom Homan going to these different metropolitan cities, even with Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil, yeah.

Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, and so we saw the coordination with Kristi Noem, new Secretary of Homeland Security. They've been out, and they've been putting up numbers about hundreds of these illegal aliens that have committed crimes since committing the initial crime because Stephen Miller, or it wasn't Stephen Miller, it was Caroline Leavitt, she was asked about this.

The press secretary. Yeah, the new press secretary. She was asked about this during one of the press briefings, and she continued to reiterate to the journalist I was asking the question about what constitutes the criminality of these individuals who said they committed a crime just entering the country illegally. And obviously, under statutory law, it's a misdemeanor to enter the country illegally. It's not a felony. But still, the Trump administration is enforcing it, these mass deportations. And we'll see the next steps because it seems like, you know, they've been ramping up the numbers in recent days.

You know, it was a few hundred, and then Trump says we need more, and then it got into the thousands. I think he said it was like 1,500 a day or something is the goal. I thought it was 1,800 maybe. Maybe 1,800. Yeah. a day or something is the goal. I thought it came from the 18 maybe. Maybe 18. Yeah and I think the press secretary also said that you know because she was questioned on okay are violent criminals being prioritized in the deportation effort over those who've entered illegally just just entered illegally right and don't have violent records and she said two things can be true at once that we

are aiming to deport those with violent records and that also we're aiming to deport folks who are just in the country illegally like there's prioritization that's happening but all of it is happening at the same time so very interesting yeah well we'll keep an eye on it and it's good to kind of finally see where the effort will be made how Texas is going to partner with the federal government those have been questions we've had for ever since Trump was elected it's okay how is this actually going to work? And throughout the session, I think we'll have some interesting answers. And let's go watch Cameron's border panel because there's some very interesting tidbits there

from lawmakers here in Texas at the state and federal level that provide some insight. So great stuff. Mary Elise, thank you. Cameron, coming to you, let's talk AI. It's going to be a big topic this session. Tell us about some of the bills filed that address this issue. Well, it's a growing topic of discussion. It's this idea that every year technological innovation doubles.

So we've seen this with AI over the past few years. When it was first released, it seemed like a rudimentary chat bot but now the technology has become incredibly sophisticated and not just in shaping our day-to-day lives but it's become a booming industry especially here in Austin and so we've already seen Greg Abbott establish a AI Advisory Council where the bill's author to establish that council, Giovanni Cabriglione, a representative in the House, he said he introduced it in an effort to, quote, study and monitor artificial intelligence systems. And so we've seen some follow-up legislation filed for the 89th session.

We've already seen the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act. Bit of a mouthful. What a name. Yes. Is it an acronym? Is there like a fancy acronym? I was trying to think about it, but it doesn't seem like it works out. But just cram it all in there.

The Reader Act is one that I think about with that. It's like, how many letters? Like six letters? Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah. We've had this discussion about these. Let's decide. Yes.

But this Governance Act is going to focus on regulating and reporting AI systems in certain business entities, state agencies. Brian Hughes introduced legislation related to AI and the disclosure of what AI models these companies are using to provide certain services. Because that's going to be another interesting topic of discussion with how these AI models are developed either domestically or by foreign nations, specifically hostile foreign nations. We saw, if people have been following the story over the past week, DeepSeek, an AI model that was released out of China that has developed a model that is way cheaper and at the same level of performance as many of the large American AI models that have been developed. And there's the tension there of, are we going to allow American companies to build technology off of a Chinese AI model that could be potentially collecting data on American citizens?

So there's a lot of national security issues with this. It's more complex than just how AI is developing, right? It's a lot more complex. It's a very complex issue, but I'm glad to see lawmakers, at least here in Texas, are trying to address it in some aspects. But bringing it back down to the micro level here, we saw a piece of legislation filed by Mays Middleton that addresses the use of AI in schools. And in his bill, Middleton that addresses the use of AI in schools. And in his bill, he wants to prohibit the use of AI in classroom instruction. And I think that'll be another big fight as it relates to school choice. Even though this bill is related to open enrollment, charter schools, public education, we've seen AI kind of work its way into a lot of different aspects of

just day-to-day instruction in these classrooms. And it could be unintentional by these teachers if they're just trying to create like an instruction manual or a video that they're going to present to their students or whatever. But we've even seen entire private schools use AI tutors. And so that's a really interesting thing. We saw other AI bills related to election influence, political advertising, mental health services. So a lot of AI legislation. It's going to be a big topic during this session.

Absolutely. Some fun floor fights, hopefully. Gosh, I just want some fireworks, people. Mary Elise, a piece of legislation was filed that would raise the minimum death penalty age. Tell us about this one. Yes, so this one is interesting. So this was filed a few days ago, and the short summary of it is that no one can receive a death penalty for a crime committed under the age of 21 instead of 18,

which it's currently at. So it would change it to if you've committed a crime under 21, you cannot receive the death penalty as a consequence instead of it only being crimes committed under 18. The perpetrator being the one of age that we're talking about. Yes, exactly. Yeah. So this was filed by state representative Joe Moody, Democrat. He filed it about 10 days after the start of the legislative session, and it states that the Texas Penal Code shall be altered from no person may in any case be punished by death for an offense committed while the person is younger than 18 years and he would edit it to an offense committed while the person was younger than 21 years so that's it that's the change there he said in the bill that in a case where the state of Texas is not seeking the death penalty but has determined that an individual is guilty of a capital felony the bill would edit the

lifelong sentencing from if individual committed the offense when younger than 18 to younger than 21 years of age. And it would similarly alter the life without parole sentencing from being restricted to crimes committed while age 18 and above to age 21 and above. It's worth noting that this bill, House Bill 2055, would not affect any final convictions that are effective before or on September 1st, 2025, but they would only be applied to criminal action that's pending on or after September 1st, 2025. And I spoke to Representative Moody. He said, our justice system must always balance accountability with mercy, and it must be as smart as it is tough. He said, brain science has evolved significantly in recent years with some studies showing that the brain isn't the same as an older person in terms of criminal criminal responsibility and we need to take that into account when we talk about the ultimate penalty which is what House Bill 2055 is all about the death penalty so this will I'm really curious to see how this progresses where this or House Bill 2055 goes has Moody filed a bill to abolish the death penalty?

That's a good question. I believe so. Because I feel like that is filed every session. He is certainly among House members a leader in the criminal justice issue. Yeah. Because he's incredibly involved in the Roberson case as well. Yes. Yeah. Roberson case as well. Yes. Yeah, there's lots of groups out there that have this differing perspective on the death penalty.

And they're Republican ones too. Yeah, that's what I was just going to mention. Republican conservatives against the death penalty, they had released some information about the use of the death penalty a couple weeks ago. So yeah, it's obviously a contentious issue whenever it comes to life. Oh, absolutely. And not necessarily partisan. Right. Not totally partisan. Right. Yes. Another issue where you see a lot of that partisan. Well, I think with a bill like this, someone who might disagree with the death penalty but understands getting rid of it is not totally feasible in the current makeup of the legislature trying to find a middle ground maybe moving the

age yeah there might be more on board well and the other works the other way too you know people there for the death penalty could be persuaded to raise the age right so or not you know who knows who knows we'll make all those things for your coverage cameron the gulf of america could become So, or not, you know. Who knows? We'll see. Who knows? We'll make all those things for your coverage. Cameron, the Gulf of America could become a reality here in Texas. It could. Tell us about it. Well, I think it caught a lot of people off guard.

Maybe not. Trump is used to making big declarations. I know. But in his inauguration speech, he said he was going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and he actually formalized this in an executive order and so we saw reactions across the board about this laughing lauding it but step state rep briscoe Cain has already filed legislation to change the name to Gulf of America he's doing it through two modes, House Bill 2246, and then also a House Joint Resolution. The resolution would actually require an amendment to the Texas Constitution,

which would replace Gulf of Mexico with Gulf of America. And Trump's EO is... Because, as Matt pointed out on Twitter... Has Gulf of Mexico. The Constitution does. It does. So the joint resolution would be necessary to change it. And you've seen the U.S. Department of the Interior already release a plan to enact this EO.

And so despite the EO, the Department of Interior's intention, Mexican government officials have been publicly skeptical about this plan to change the name. So Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum wrote on social media that she'll be drafting a letter to Google because Google actually posted on X that they are going to be updating the name to be in compliance with official government sources. What a time to be alive. Yeah, but it's really interesting to see just the vast swath of different executive orders. Some are just about terminology. Some are about school choice,

one that I posted on X last night or on Wednesday night. And then things related to the border, energy. It's just everything. Trump is like, you know what? I'm going to issue an executive order about it and let people deal with it afterwards. Yep, exactly true. So it's fun for us, at least in in the news to see it all happen yeah it's

great great content and the pairing here in texas is hilarious i saw that last night i immediately put it in our slack and i was like cameron's gonna pick this up so fast and guess what he did um okay real fast before we get into the twittery i do want to say that multiple people at our event came up to me and said that they empathize with me and how Brad lambast me on the podcast. I'm not kidding you. I had two or three people come up to me and say this. You haven't told me this before. Someone came up to me and said, I'm so glad you're there for McKenzie now.

That's amazing. You bash me just as much as I bash you. You just do it in a much more pleasant sing-songy voice. Much more pleasant sing-songy voice. Yeah, that is exactly it. That is a good quote. Put that in your newsletter. Put that in your newsletter.

It's true. But I just want to say thank you to those folks who came up to me and kind of see what happens internally here and, you know, provides empathy. And I did have, I think it must have been the same person, Mary-Lise, because they were like, I'm so glad Mary-Lise is there. You have a partner on the podcast. I was like, oh, that's so nice.

On that note, Brad, why don't you share with us your tweeter? I'm sure it'll be brilliant. Wow. That is, that's something. Man. It made my day. It made my day. I am, I'm floored at this point.

I will just try to move on. i will say i've gotten what you know i've shared with you we've gotten listener emails about this as well being like wow brad really goes after i'm like i know i know yeah i just don't have uh you know very high eq apparently anyway so my tweetery will be about because we haven't had enough elections yet, about the next election. Oh, great. The 2026 midterm. The top of the ticket in Texas might be shaping up. Whoa.

In an interview, well, no, in a Fox News article that was recording statements Paxton made at a dinner in Denton County, a Republican activist dinner, he said, the Fox News article reads, the crowd erupted into loud applause as Paxton said. Paxton was giving the keynote. The second thing we need to do, and I might play a role in this, is replace John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate. Heard rumblings about Paxton starting an exploratory committee. We've not seen that come out yet, if it will at all.

But the talk of Paxton officially jumping into the race against Cornyn is ramping up quite a bit. Which we've seen time, I mean, this has been something he's talked about for so long now and I think any public appearance he's made to any sort of broad audience he's mentioned it as well. Like I think he did so at the Turning Point conference in Arizona he's doing so now and pretty much any time he's out and about

there is mention of this. Right? Impeachment and the potential Cornyn primary. Well I feel like the volume on these rumblings have turned up, though. Totally. Absolutely. The frequency is. Yeah.

Well, because, you know, especially by summer, we're going to have most people that are running for office in 26 either announce officially or be almost there, basically. We're so close. But then there's the fact that this is a primary, so it's even sooner than the general. So it's not like waiting on the Democratic nominee to run against Greg Abbott for governor, right?

This will get started pretty early, and it might. There were talk about it being him effectively launching something whether it was exploratory committee or something more formal by the end of the month that hasn't happened but you know these these comments just keep building and building and well since the rumblings have gone a bit louder have you either of you guys here noticed a change in tone from john cornyn on social media or how he's trying to present himself publicly supporting people in these committee hearings differently the nominees like more vocally supporting them than he might otherwise would have been i I don't know.

Maybe someone who knows Cornyn a bit better might be able to answer that. But I think that's something to maybe keep our eye on. If he's feeling the heat, maybe he's going to be more vocal, more pro-Trump maybe or pro, I don't know. As we sit here. Angling for that MAGA bass again. Because that's really. Because that's Paxton's paxton's yeah yeah bread and butter right as we sit here he was cornyn was questioning tulsi gabbard in her confirmation hearing i wasn't following at all so i couldn't tell from which

angle he was coming but um he was he was part of that he's front and center yeah and front center for all these and um yeah i mean i definitely see a different bit of a different tact but that's also been the case ever since there was a rumbling at all in some ways well yeah ever since you know trump walked away with the nomination for the republican party um and maybe even before then when it was clear he was going to yeah but um yeah these two are going to be they do not like each other and they're going to be in a war of words whether there's a u.s senate campaign on the line or not right yeah well maybe we can settle this with a brisket cook-off wow cameron that's who gets the primary nomination. That was a smooth reference. That was

a smoother, Mary, at least you get that reference. Yeah. Okay, good. There you go. That was really smooth, Cameron. Well, on that note about confirmation hearings, that's your Twitter, Cameron. Yeah, I just wanted to mention that there's some big names that had their confirmation hearings this week. The more controversial names uh RFK Jr which was on Wednesday today the day we're recording on Thursday Kash Patel for FBI director and then Tulsi Gabbard for DNI and all the nominations people had major questions about or like okay are they going to make it through it's like oh let's grab them into one week yeah yeah well and it's been interesting to try and think about are any of those three are they all going to pass are people going to vote for one over the other like saying

i'll give you my vote here but i'm going to take it back here uh for certain uh nominations so it's a great question you know there should be some sort of chart that comes out about different senators' votes. Well, I saw that the vote for Gabber's confirmation will be anonymous. And it looks like that's the only one that's going to be anonymous. Is that real? Oh, my gosh. I mean, I saw a few different sources saying that. But we'll see if that's accurate yeah i think with the

rfk junior hearing there was a lot of people tuned into that one he has sort of his own following alongside you know trump um uh activists sort of sort of group so um there was a lot of these confirmation hearings have had audience participation, it seems. You know, people jumping up and yelling things or cheering as these hearings are going on. So very heated. Lots of discussion happening around them. Just thought it would be worth mentioning.

I still cannot get over RFK's voice. How is that? I just see it. But what's funny is he's been on the campaign trail for so many months that if folks are surprised now, which I know you're not saying that, but if folks are surprised now, I'm like, have you not heard this man speak like dozens of times? It's still just grating to hear.

It's not easy to listen to. I saw some of his relatives were, I don't know if this was like a nephew or one of his relatives that posted a pretty viral video mocking his voice. Come on, it's so sad. The Kennedy family. The Kennedy family is very united all the time, aren't they? What a bastion of greatness. I also had somebody come up to me at the event and say,

I think it's, they didn't say I think it's funny. They were like, Brad's the only one who will swear on the podcast. He's like, how many times has he had to be bleeped out? I was like, only twice, to my knowledge. Only twice. Somebody brought that up as well. A lot of people had things to say about our podcast and Brad's involvement with certain,

with either bashing me or swearing you know you are such a what brad you are playing victim and you know you are not innocent i am not playing victim at all i did get someone that came up to me and said they were a semi-substantialist and i was like oh great yeah one of the five that's amazing it's like like share subscribe send it to your friends send us some stuff yeah um mary lee's i like the the intro here costco and paxton yeah costco and paxton um two names that you don't necessarily see together that often but um so trump signed this order paxton's a Sam's Club guy? Well, I am assuming that, but that might not be the case. Are you a Sam's Club?

Okay. You finish, and then we're going to do a poll after between Costco and Sam's Club. And I hope you all answer correctly. Okay. Okay. So Trump signed this executive order about DEI, right, ending DEI practices. And Costco held a press conference not long after saying that they were not going to be complying with that. And so Paxton just released this press release, and he wrote a letter, a multi-state letter to Costco,

demanding that the company fully repeal its discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, saying it follows this executive order that Costco responded to by remaining steadfast in its support for its DEI practices. Interesting. Yes, very interesting. Costco is a Washington-based company, so this is very interesting. Has there been a response from the Costco family? Not that I've observed.

Well, do they give this statement from Paxton zero booms how many booms all the coffee you mean that not the Costco guys oh the Costco guys family who never blinks as I heard someone say quoting quoting their father, the very fat child. Bradley. Look, their dad finally saw it on TikTok before it got, you know, yeeted into the atmosphere. And he had been telling them about the Rizzler for a while. And he's like, I finally saw the fat child.

How many more times can we say? We're going to have we're gonna have to bleep that out okay don't stop it would a husky work okay you stop chubby terrible anyways um costco or sam's club you guys costco all the way for me costco for sure yeah there's no comparison. Sam's Club. Why? That makes sense. My grandpa, my grandma and grandpa used to own a restaurant, and Sam's Club was the wholesaler in town, and so that was the wholesaler that they used. Do you think that they would have switched to Costco if they had a Costco in town? I have no idea.

They would have because it's better. Madeline's shaking her head. You don't like are you a Sam's Club girl wait I want to audit this I guess I gotta break the tie I only know

Costco so I have to go Costco praise the lord here's the thing with Costco Sam's Club has it's it's like Costco but worse because Costco will use they use a lot of different resources they have to be able to go and have like the batteries costco branded batteries are duracell batteries they're just repackaged and they're like a third the car or like 30%

cheaper the coffee they get is from like huge coffee roasters but it's a lot cheaper it's like the same quality stuff for way cheaper. And the Costco branded wine. Okay, don't really. It's true. I am a Costco evangelist. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I grew up in the town where it was founded at all. But for sure, far better. Their products are just so much better.

Like Kirkland branded stuff is phenomenal. In college, my sister told me she lived on Kirkland brand vodka. Oh. I didn't know they had me she lived on Kirkland brand vodka. Oh. I didn't know they had that. They have Kirkland branded. It was a great deal, apparently. Everything. But even their chocolates are like very high quality chocolate.

Just high quality stuff. And they have clothes. They're olive oil. They have clothes. It's true. Okay. On that note, we're going to go to work editing this podcast and bleeping out things brad says what folks thank you so much for listening we appreciate you tuning in and i'll

catch you next week thank you to everyone for listening if you enjoy our show rate and review us on apple podcast spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts and if you want more of our stories subscribe to the texan at the texan.new. Follow us on social media for the latest in Texas politics. And send any questions for our team to our mailbag by DMing us on Twitter or shooting us an email to editor at thetexan.news. Tune in next week for another episode of our weekly roundup. God bless you and God bless Texas.