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Volume XV Number 15 - June 17, 2016     RSS Feed   

A Periodic Newsletter for Committed Texas Conservatives

In This Issue

Will We Ever Learn?

Trump Gets It Right On Orlando Islamic Terror Massacre

Political Pressure Causes Clinton To Finally Acknowledge Who Attacked U.S.

Author Brad Thor Tells Us Who Really Runs Our Government

Should We Replace All Welfare Programs With UBI Universal Basic Income?

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Thoughts This Fortnight

Will We Ever Learn?

How many times do we have to replay the same mistake in the battle with radical Islamic terrorists? Let's see, there was Fort Hood, Boston, San Bernardino, and now Orlando, and the common thread is the perpetrators warned of their radicalism to our public safety officials who promptly did nothing (but they were politically correct while doing so). Our officials avoid saying what is - is nothing about terrorism, or use stupid words like "it's a tragedy," and the left wing blames law abiding Americans who own guns or Christians who oppose men in women's bathrooms.

Let's be honest, the present homeland security system is not working like it should, and the reason is "politically correct behavior and speech" enforced from President Obama on down. It's past time to replace this mess with law enforcement that profiles, takes threats seriously, describes the war we are in and who it's with to encourage citizens to report, and does not ignore warnings like we had in Boston from Russian intelligence, from co-workers of Ft. Hood murderer Major Hasan, neighbors in San Bernardino, and now Orlando - Omar Mateen, where the FBI had been tipped about him.

The disturbing pattern is that complaints were made, investigated, and closed, and now we have 49 dead Americans.

It's past time this government be accountable for its ineptitude, and the people responsible need to be fired, not promoted or given a lateral transfer.

Trump Gets It Right
On Orlando Islamic Terror Massacre

TCR has had its differences with Donald Trump, but on this issue, he got it very right.

Robert Spencer wrote the following excerpt on June 14, 2016, Finally: A Realistic Plan For Fighting The Jihad And Protecting Americans:

"What Trump said was that the Orlando jihad mass murderer was born 'of Afghan parents, who immigrated to the United States.' He noted, 'the bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place, was because we allowed his family to come here… we have a dysfunctional immigration system, which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens properly... . We're importing radical Islamic terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system and through an intelligence community held back by our president. Even our own FBI director has admitted that we cannot effectively check the backgrounds of people we're letting into America.'"

"Trump skewered Hillary Clinton for having 'repeatedly refused to even say the words radical Islam until I challenged her yesterday.' He quoted her fatuous words: 'Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism' and opined 'she's in total denial, and her continuing reluctance to ever name the enemy broadcasts weakness across the entire world - true weakness.' Clinton wants, he said, 'to take away American's guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. Let them come into the country, we don't have guns. Let them come in, let them have all the fun they want... . The bottom line is that Hillary supports policies that bring the threat of radical Islam into America and allow it to grow overseas, and it is growing.'"

"Trump declared, 'The burden is on Hillary Clinton to tell us why she believes immigration from these dangerous countries should be increased without any effective system to really screen.'"

TCR Comment: Trump's comments on our broken immigration system are not racist, they are spot on, unless one thinks we should import murdering jihadists into America.

Political Pressure Causes Clinton To Finally Acknowledge Who Attacked U.S.

That's right, Hillary Clinton, due to pressure in the 2016 campaign, finally after the Orlando massacre called what happened radical Islamic terror (she did, but not President Obama).

How can we trust her judgment given her track records on these matters?

Author Brad Thor
Tells Us Who Really Runs Our Government

TCR Comment: In his recent fictional best-seller Code of Conduct, author Brad Thor describes the dangers of the permanent federal bureaucracy to our democracy and freedom. Some writers can be more truthful when writing fiction, and Thor nails it.

"He knew a thing or two about power, small truths that others often failed to realize. Heads of agencies and their immediate underlings would come and go, subject to election cycles and political approval. The same was true of politicians. Their influence was only worth so much."

"The truly powerful were those deepest inside the government. Like the Wizard of Oz, they were the ones behind the curtain. They were the ones who know which ropes to pull. Their hands were on the very levers of power.

"They could not only raise or lower the sets but also brighten or dim the house lights. They weren't just inside the machine as middle managers; they were the machine. They knew the game. They knew the system. They had been masters of it for years.

"Theirs was a modern Rome, Rome on the Potomac - an empire in miniature - a land in and unto itself.

"New Rome know no economic vicissitudes. There were no vacant storefronts, no depressed housing prices, or reduction in take-home pay.

"Taxes, fees, fines, and lines of credit that stretched to the stars and back made sure that the treasury was awash in coin. Things in New Rome were positively booming. The future was bright indeed.

"That didn't mean, though, that the empire was secure. As its fortunes grew, it seemed to come under a more regular and more prolonged assault by the country class.

"Country class" has replaced "fly-over country" as the new contumelious term used to describe the great unwashed living outside D.C. or the nation's other Megalopoli.

"Through social media, a handful of sympathetic news organizations, and grassroots activism, the country class waged incessant guerilla warfare, demanding that the New Rome be put on a diet and scaled dramatically back.

"As far as the New Romans were concerned, it was an odd, stupid little war waged by odd, stupid little people. They were most definitely the minority. All of the polling showed it. Instead of shoving their faces full of McDonald's drive-thru and watching reality TV like the rest of the country-class Hobbits, they were strangely obsessed with what was happening in Washington and how things should be changed.

"If they were so eager to dictate how it should be done in Washington, why were they sitting on their asses in Tennessee and Texas, Idaho and Indiana? Why weren't they trundling their fat little children onto buses and coming to D.C. to help lend a hand? The answer was simple - because it was beyond them.

"They had no idea how government worked, much less how important government workers were to its continued function. Without Federal employees, it all stopped - all of it. Fees at National Parks didn't get collected, school lunch regulations didn't get enforced, border were left unprotected, and that was only the beginning. The inmates wanted to run the asylum. There was no way that could ever be allowed to happen.

"Anything that grows is, by definition, alive. Washington, D.C. was no exception.

"As a living organism, the Federal Government's number one job was self-preservation. Any threat to its existence had to be dealt with.

"When the country class came with its pathetic rhetorical torches and meddling electoral pitchforks, New Rome was ready.

"It fought back with tools no one had ever seen coming. New Rome weaponized its own Federal agencies. The International Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms - they all swatted away each and every attack.

"The country class could storm the battlements over and over. They didn't stand a chance. Not only could you not fight City Hall, you couldn't survive a fight with the Federal Government. New Rome could take every single thing you have and put you in prison. Its wasn't even a fair fight. (It wasn't supposed to be.)

"New Rome would do what it took to win, and it would do so every single time. Its responsibility to its own survival was bigger than responsibility to its clueless constituents. If they really cared about Washington, they'd be paying much closer attention. But they didn't, and so, New Rome proceeded accordingly."

TCR Comment: So when you wonder about the battle to preserve democracy in America you also wonder who will reign in our out-of-control bureaucratic monsters located in Washington, D.C.

Should We Replace All Welfare Programs With UBI Universal Basic Income?

Great minds and conservatives like Milton Friedman, Charles Murray, and others are proposing UBI that would replace all current welfare programs with an annual income of $13,000 a year beginning at age 21.

As income raises above certain levels, the sum gets taxed away gradually and, finally, at $60,000 it is totally gone.

With this plan, we eliminate all welfare programs and the related bureaucracies, and that should save enough money to pay for UBI and save billions, which can be used to reduce the deficit. It is financed by getting rid of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, housing subsidies, welfare, agriculture subsidies, and corporate welfare. As of 2014, the annual cost of UBI would be $200 billion cheaper than the current system!

This is certainly a reform worthy of further investigation.


TCR on the Air

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland and liberal commentator David Jones on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8, replaying Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 8, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpublicmedia.org.

Red, White & Blue returns June 24:
Supreme Court Review: What happened and why.

About Your Editor

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his sixteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last fourteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 13 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his 14th year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.

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