We, as a nation, are in serious trouble. Centuries of American jurisprudence and key rights under our Constitution are under assault and now it seems your political beliefs determine whether you are protected by our Constitution or not.

As a lifelong lawyer, your Editor has cherished such formerly universal principles of innocent until proven guilty, presumption of innocence, and the government (the accuser) having the burden of proof, but no more.

If you are a conservative with an exemplary record, you have no rights. Accusers without details or substantiation are allowed to switch the burden and have one prove a negative. Unbelievable. We have watched this political lynching of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and it gets worse and worse. This is gutter politics at its worst, and the shameless Democratic Senators are a joke. These pious and pompous "jokes" made up their mind before Kavanaugh was appointed and since then have been doing all they can to delay and smear him. They now wanted and got a seventh FBI investigation, which revealed nothing new and now they want more. This is just a continuation of the fascist resistance against all things President Trump. Bipartisanship, forget about it. Qualifications don't matter unless you pledge loyalty to the left's radical social and economic agenda.

Mobs are brought in to attack and harass Senators and Administrative officials at a private dinner, Senator Flake in the Senate elevators and Senators in their offices. This is not honest debate on public policy, instead, it's politics that would make Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels proud.

In the hearing there was a riveting historic moment when Senator Lindsey Graham eloquently and passionately laid out for the American people what is really going on! If you haven't watched it, you need to:

TCR Comment: It is essential that voters send the message that we don't want this type of leftist, fascist, radical, intolerant brand of politics, and vote Republican this November. Your democracy depends on it.

That's right, in 2010, voters and TCR supported Rebuild Houston. We were told the fee would be "dedicated" with a "lock box" to ensure money was used for infrastructure and drainage (flood control) projects.

Watch this campaign commercial from 2010:

WE WERE LIED TO. The city and Mayor Turner are back at the ballot box with Proposition A because the Texas Supreme Court found that the ballot wording was misleading. There was no lock box, and there was no dedication to projects as detailed above.

Are our streets better than they were eight years ago? NO WAY. Did we construct improvements in drainage to alleviate our flooding issues in the last eight years? NO WAY. Has the money been dedicated for these areas? NO WAY.

The facts are these: The city, including current Mayor Turner, used the program as a fund to transfer over 500 employees from the bloated city payroll to Renew Houston, they paid out reimbursements to developers and contractors (which has no impact positively on infrastructure, but makes flooding worse), they even created and paid for a position of "Pedestrian and Bike Coordinator" and, yep, paid for legal fees in contesting the ballot language issue in the Supreme Court. None of which helped our city.

So, the Bazaar is back with their sophisticated sellers to con you into paying twice for the same rug. Welcome to 2018. Voters should just say "no" to this scam. As it turns out, Renew Houston is just another general revenue tax to be wasted by the City of Houston.

Do not let them lie to us twice. Vote AGAINST Proposition A.

This year there are scores of critical races from the courthouse to Congress. What is sad is that we have virtually no media coverage in local down ballot races, including many congressional races! Yes, the John Culberson race has some coverage, but critical positions like District and County Clerk and District and County Judges have none. Nada.

Beyond that, where is the coverage and campaigns? Yes, it's hard to get above the political noise. Is it fair to say some judicial candidates are better qualified than their opponents? Sure. But do you know it? Not unless you are informed.

This is the last election for straight ticket voting in Texas, and it's important to get the picks right. To aid voters, we have discovered a new group called Citizens for a Quality Judiciary PAC, which will strive to elect the best-qualified, most experienced candidates with the requisite judicial temperament, regardless of party label. This is a good group to support at www.CitizensForAQualityJudiciary.com.

At TCR, we will be publishing and emailing our bi-annual voter's guide. This guide is especially important because the Democrats lack of standards for their judicial candidates is disheartening and scary. While some of their candidates are to be admired and respected, the vast majority are not factually qualified with a shocking lack of experience. Electing Democrats to Judgeships this year in bulk puts into office too many not ready for primetime lawyers. This is terrible for our justice system, and you cannot let it happen.

We cannot allow another Democrat straight ticket sweep wipe out decades of critical judicial experience. It is just stupid.

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

Upcoming shows:
10-05-18 - Watch Now: The Border and Immigration Crisis with guests Geoffrey A. Hoffman, Director of the University of Houston's Immigration Clinic; Charles C. Foster, Chairman of Foster, LLP; and Magali Suárez Candler, Principal of Suárez Candler Law, PLLC.

10-12-18 - Criminal Justice Reform in Harris County with guests: Derek M. Cohen, Director of Right on Crime and the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Judge Kelli Johnson, Harris County Civil Courthouse, 178th Criminal Court.

10-26-18 - Cybersecurity with guest: Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Michael McCaul (U.S. House of Representatives, 10th District).

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-first year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last seventeen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 15 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 17th year of co-hosting 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.