If you are paying attention, the Texas area left-wing blogs are hyperventilating over the Houston Chronicle's endorsement of Mealer in an editorial that goes on for pages. This was the only debate-joint appearance because Lina refused to debate or make joint appearances with Alexandra anywhere.

It says here, that the endorsement happened because as Alexandra Mealer has said, the key issue in the race is public safety. Better late than never, the Chronicle has recognized the key issue in the race.

Unfortunately, it has not carried over to other races where some leftist-Democrat judges who have been lenient on bonds for dangerous criminals still got the Chronicle's nod.

We also fully expect Commissioner Cagle and former Commissioner Morman to not be endorsed, despite almost 100% law enforcement support.

Keep this in mind, if we don't elect Alexandra Mealer, re-elect Jack Cagle and/or elect Jack Morman, nothing will change regarding our crime problem, the wasteful spending problems and the corruption problems we face in Harris County.

Guest Contributor Neland Nobel is a columnist with great insight for The Prickly Pear, a sister publication in Arizona.

"One of the cardinal questions in politics for voters to answer is: are you better off today than you were before? Has the party in power made your life better or worse, easier or more difficult, safer or more dangerous? Are you freer, or less free than before?

"We think an objective answer to this question, in relation to the Biden Administration and those in the Democrat Party, is things are worse off in all those terms.

"Wages have trailed inflation for over nine months. The real standard of living of people is declining. Our wages are down and sadly, our savings in the form of our IRAs and 401ks, are down as well.

"About a year and a half ago, we opined that 2022 would be a "risk off" year, meaning risk assets of all kinds would do poorly. We specifically mentioned the classic 60% stock, 40% bond configuration so often used by both financial planners and investors when preparing for retirement. Coming off a long period of zero interest rates, we suggested that it would not work.

It frankly has been worse than we thought. The chart below from Bank of America tells the story.

"The 60/40 split has produced the worst results in 100 years. That is a devastating blow to the retired population and those within a few years of retirement.

"That is not to say other configurations have done much better. As we chronicled in a series about the "Investor's Dilemma", we pointed out that nothing really could work under the Biden policy of rising inflation, rising interest rates, rising taxes, and rising regulation.

"Even those smart and nimble enough to be all in cash have seen their purchasing power hit by at least 10%. There has been no place to hide. When you couple losses in stocks and bonds of about 25%, with purchasing power loss of 10% or more, Bidenomics has made you 35% worse off in just about one year.

"That is why this mid-term election is so critical. To stop the bleeding, we must defeat the Democrats decisively and stop this slide into penury.

"Even gold and silver, often a hedge against such conditions, has not done all that well, although to its credit, gold has lost less than the stock market.

"Some maybe thought they would be immune from poor governance. But bad policies create bad outcomes, and when you erode the currency in which everything is denominated, you can't hide.

"Thus, from real wages to market returns, you are far worse off under Democrat rule.

"Food, fuel, and shelter, the basics of life, are moving much higher in price while the administration pushes chimerical green policies that specifically attack fuel production, food production, and housing development.

"The 30-year mortgage rate has risen from just above 3% to almost 6 3/4%. Combined with sharp increases in price, the cost of financing has left many unable to buy a home. The last holdout is now starting to slide, which is residential real estate.

"The Democrats are destroying the American dream. Why? Because they never liked it in the first place. To them, it was all built on a lie and our prosperity was based on slavery, even though that ended over 150 years ago and was practiced in the backwaters of our economy. In their view, we are a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, trans-phobic country and people. With that kind of view, why would you support the "American dream"?

"Progressive policies have made life infinitely more difficult for most but the few ultra-wealthy. And in terms of safety, you are more subject to crime today, more concerned about how the intelligence agencies are being turned against the people, and closer to nuclear war with a foreign power. We are once again sliding into a war with no strategic purpose, no definition of victory, and no end.

"We have all experienced times like this before. Being old enough to remember stagflation and Vietnam, the memories float back. That was also a time of social upheaval as well, as radicals pushed new theories about race and gender. But in that period, the left was a minority assaulting the establishment. Today, they are the establishment and they control all the nodes of political power and the centers of culture and communications.

"Hard economic times often come with social upheaval. That too seems to have gotten worse. People who once championed women, now define them out of existence. Blacks are no longer to be treated equally, they are to be given preferential treatment, even in front of Latinos, and especially Asians. Those who were for integration and fair treatment to all, now want special treatment just for some.

"Progressives have stood our educational system on its head. Starting with the proposition that a free society should be confident enough to examine its own faults, our educational system now concentrates on nothing but our faults. They want our kids to have the same sour view of our country as they do.

"Moreover, while the sexual revolution had its day back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was mostly an argument about the roles that men and women should play and what new rules society should have for the sexes to find a new equilibrium with each other.

"Today, the argument is whether the idea of men and women even exists. Progressives think men can become women, women can become men, and many people can just dart back and forth between the two, depending on how they feel. This is adding a national neurosis to an already difficult economic condition.

"Some suggest this is intended, precisely to create revolutionary conditions.

"Intended or not, the policies stink, and our only chance at improvement and getting out of this mess is to vote Democrats out en mass.

"We recommend readers approach this election with a fervor reserved for wartime. You must vote and you must convince your friends and neighbors that this election is perhaps the most important in your lifetime. Give of your time, and give of your money. That is, while you have some money left."

That's correct. Houston area Community Impact papers invited both campaigns to answer questions and submit their brief biographic highlights, and you understand why Hidalgo has been a failure on the core responsibilities for county government.

Please vote the ballot from top to bottom, every race is important for you, your children, and our future.

Coming up on our 18th year of publishing election guides and the 2022 edition is coming soon. You can take either a printed checklist from our website or from the mail edition, endorsements into the polls.

Dave Beckwith RIP

As The Washington Post described Dave Beckwith,

"A tall, slender journalist known for his booming laugh and fiery intensity, Mr. Beckwith went on to serve as the founding editor of the Legal Times, a weekly newspaper covering white-shoe firms, government regulations and other legal affairs in Washington. He later turned to Republican politics, serving as the press secretary for Vice President Dan Quayle and as an aide or adviser for several senators from Texas, including Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn and (unofficially) Ted Cruz."

"From his years as a Washington journalist, 'he knew who you could trust,' Hutchison said in a phone interview, 'and who you probably couldn't.'

"Mr. Beckwith was 79 when he died October 2 at his home in Austin. The cause was lung cancer, said his longtime friend Tom DeFrank, a contributing editor at National Journal and the president of the Gridiron Club.

"Although Mr. Beckwith's story on the Roe case was not widely heralded at the time, it received renewed attention earlier this year as journalists and historians pointed out that Politico's Supreme Court scoop was not entirely unprecedented.

"As Mr. Beckwith told it, his interest in the case was piqued by what he called 'one of the strongest stories I'd ever seen,' an unbylined article that ran on the front page of The Washington Post on July 4, 1972. The story said that there was 'a dramatic last-minute struggle' over abortion rulings at the Supreme Court, with a majority of justices supporting a constitutional right to the procedure. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger dissented and sought to delay a ruling on Roe until President Richard M. Nixon could fill two vacancies on the court and potentially alter the case's outcome.

"Mr. Beckwith remained at the Time magazine until 1978, when he was hired by Stephen and Lynn Glasser to serve as the inaugural editor of their new publication, then called Legal Times of Washington.

"'Before the Legal Times, there had never been a general interest, independent commercial publication that promised an objective outside look at lawyers, particularly the big firms operating in major cities,' Mr. Beckwith said in an email last month, after Stephen Glasser's death at 79. Mr. Beckwith recalled that 'the first issues hit Washington's legal world like a bombshell,' as corporate clients suddenly had access to second opinions on legal tactics and strategy, and 'competing firms suddenly had a window into their rivals' business practices.'

"Mr. Beckwith returned to Time magazine in 1981 and covered law, economics, the Reagan White House and the presidential campaign trail before hired as Quayle's press secretary after the 1988 election.

"'David Beckwith has a tough job, some would say the toughest in town: trying to turn around the image of the most ridiculed public figure in Washington,' Washington Post journalist Lois Romano write in a 1990 profile. The article noted that Mr. Beckwith could be aggressive - overly so, in the eyes of some journalists - in confronting reports and their editors about unflattering coverage of the vice president.

"'His passion was legendary,' said his friend DeFrank, who was then working as a White House correspondent for Newsweek. 'He was so angry at the way the press treated Quayle that at one point he threatened to fire himself as best man [at my wedding] because he was so angry at the way Newsweek had treated Quayle. Happily, his wife and my fiancé got together and basically said, 'Go stand in the corner.'

'I have to say,' DeFrank continued, 'in all sincerity, he was the best man in every sense of the word.'

"The older of two sons, David Cameron Beckwith was born in Seattle on October 30, 1942. His father was a typesetter, his mother a homemaker. After graduating from high school in the Chicago suburbs, he studied history at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., receiving a bachelor's degree in 1964. He completed a master's in journalism the next year from Columbia University, and worked for the Minneapolis Star and Houston Chronicle before receiving a law degree from the University of Texas in 1971.

"After working as a press secretary and communications director for Hutchison, who in 1993 became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, he was a vice president of communications for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. He also worked briefly as a spokesman for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, before being ousted in part because he was seen as 'too friendly with the Beltway press,' according to a Post report at the time.

"Survivors include his wife of 42 years, the former Susan Blackwell, of Austin; two daughters, Fleur Beckwith of Seattle and Valeah Beckwith of Austin; and two grandchildren."

TCR Comment: Your editor had the privilege of knowing Dave for fifty years! Our relationship started in the early 1970's when Dave then a Time Magazine Washington correspondent used my Austin address for his Texas Drivers license. By doing so, Dave could avoid paying for his hundreds of parking tickets in D.C.

Politically, we worked together in various campaigns after his return to Texas after being Press Secretary to Vice-President Quayle among other assignments. Dave loved the Longhorns, his bride, his family and principled GOP candidates.

Let me state that in certain aspects doing what can be done to protect our planet is a good thing. Renewable energy, wind, and solar are good alternatives to supplement our energy needs but will never be the sole sources. If anyone seriously thinks we are getting off of oil, natural gas, clean coal, bio fuels, hydrogen generated power and nuclear power plants as the main energy sources are foolish. To follow a minor's perception with the green climate change fever is ridiculous. We need to immediately fire John Kerry, Secretary of Energy, Interior, Transportation and Energy Czar. Make massive repairs and upgrades to our electrical grid, build more pipelines including Keystone, build or repair more refineries, allow more drilling on public lands, permit and build nuclear power plants and streamline all the regulatory processes.

This needs to be done now in the interest of our country's national security business and commercial industries. The US should be a major export of energy including LNG and the other energy sources to our allies. Russia, China, Iran cannot hold these countries hostage based on their energy needs. Our farmers, manufacturers and energy companies would have a reliable source of power and be able to expand their business operations. Our federal government needs to promote all these energy sources and give low cost loans, government grants, or reduction in taxes by building and fixing these infrastructure projects.

The "Build Back America" needs to include these goals. This would create an economic, stable and growing economy. But as long as we listen to minors and individuals who view climate change as a cult then we will continue to spiral downward. Saving our planet in a smart and inclusive approach as outlined above is the way to move forward, not the childish way we are going about it. The American public does not need to feel any pain brought on by these climate alarmists. The adults need to be back in charge and get going on addressing real solutions and not the approach being implemented. It will soon be too late.

Gary Polland is now a regular on "What's Your Point?" hosted by Greg Groogan on Fox 26 Houston, appearing every other week. Tune in or set your recorder for 7:00 am Sundays.

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 twenty-sixth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last twenty-one years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 18 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary also for 20 years cohosted Red, White and Blue on Houston Public Media TV 8 PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary serves on the Board of Directors of American Values, a national pro-family, pro-faith, conservative organization supporting the unity of the American people around the vision of our founding fathers and dedicated to reminding the public of the conservative principles fundamental to the survival of our nation. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.