Former House Speaker Dade Phelan isn’t backing down from his controversial push to regulate political memes and altered images.
House Bill 366, which would require disclosures on altered media used in political advertising, received a hearing in the State Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning.
During the hearing, Phelan (R–Beaumont) insisted the bill was about addressing artificial intelligence in political advertising. But as critics have pointed out, the legislation itself doesn’t distinguish between AI-generated content and simple Photoshop edits—meaning it could criminalize even rudimentary image manipulation in political speech.
The bill, which would require disclaimers on political content featuring altered media, comes in response to a campaign mailer from Club for Growth during the last election that depicted Phelan alongside Nancy Pelosi. The mailer was intended to highlight that Phelan received major campaign contributions from a PAC that also backs Pelosi.
He argues it doesn't effect memes, only political advertisements, but the people charged with enforcing the law beg to differ, and his motives suggest that he is not exactly sincere in his protestations that memes would not be suppressed.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/03/17/texas-republican-legislator-moves-bill-to-ban-memes-n3800860
Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, formally surrendered to the Osage County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma Monday morning and is reportedly expected to enter a not-guilty plea in court days after being indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in that state last Wednesday.
Arrest documents reviewed by The Christian Post show that Morris was formally booked at 7:57 a.m. and released at 8:11 a.m. on a $50,000 bail bond.
Morris' attorney, Mack Martin, declined to comment more specifically on the charges but told The Associated Press he expects to enter not guilty plea on the megachurch founder's behalf at an arraignment scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday.
Morris' surrender comes just hours after Gateway Church officials offered prayers to congregants and sought to distance the church from their embattled former leader.
The charges stem from allegations made by the now 54-year-old Cindy Clemishire last June that Morris sexually abused her over multiple years in the 1980s when he was a traveling evangelist, beginning when she was 12.
Nic Lesmeister, Gateway Church's executive pastor of global outreach, reiterated in an address Sunday that Morris, who resigned over the allegations last June, no longer has any formal ties to the church.
"Last November, our elders made it clear that we had drawn a bright line as a church, and we were moving forward. And because we're moving forward, and Gateway is no longer involved in this legal matter, we won't be continuing to update you on the proceedings of the case, but we're continuing to pray for everybody that's involved and affected in this matter," Lesmeister explained.
In a statement following Morris' indictment, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who served as Clemishire's attorney while he was in private practice in 2005, said Morris' alleged crimes were "more despicable" because he was a pastor when they occurred.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/gateway-church-founder-robert-morris-surrenders.html