It is important for us to be vigilant observers of our deteriorating culture and disappearing traditional principles this nation was founded on. The latest insult to this is found in Springfield, Pennsylvania where an elementary school principal was ordered by educrats to stop singing God Bless America after the Pledge of Allegiance. This stupid order occurred as the school district was threatenend by an atheist group with a lawsuit. What the district should have done is say, "stuff it" and invite the lawsuit.
I am wondering, are you as tired as we are at TCR that one U.S. District Judge out of the entire country can issue a nationwide injunction? This is a judiciary run amok and interfering with the other branches of government. These issues are generally solely not related to litigation in the particular District Court's district. Vice President Pence recently laid it out as follows:
"These orders are issued by federal district court judges on a broad range of issues - from national security to immigration, from border security to healthcare reform. And these orders prevent the entire Executive branch from enforcing a statute, a regulation, or a policy on a nationwide basis. And they apply everywhere, to everyone..."
"It's remarkable to think a Supreme Court justice has to convince four of their colleagues to uphold a nationwide injunction, but a single district court judge can issue one, effectively preventing the duly elected President of the United States from fulfilling what he believes is a constitutional duty.
"This era of judicial activism must come to an end... In the days ahead, our adminstration will seek opportunities to put this very question before the Supreme Court."
Texas Legislature Finishes The 2019 Session
With the 2019 session now history, we had some good things for conservatives and some things we didn't get done.
This week let's salute what we got done:
- Property tax reform with a cap on an increase in property tax revenue limited to 3.5% (the Senate started at 2.5%), above triggers an automatic rollback election. School districts are subject to a 2.5% limit with an automatic rollback election. There are some provisions limiting the impact on smaller taxing jurisdictions.
- School finance reform which has been pending for years as most of us hate the Robin Hood school finance plan, that even was starting to impact districts like Houston with lower economic class of students who have significant education needs.
- The Legislature created a state flood infrastructure fund in response to Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters.
- Born Alive Act that protects children born during a failed abortion attempt. One wonders why this isn't standard procedure, but the left will say this interferes with a woman's right to choose.
- Religious Freedom Bill - basically prohibits government entities from taking adverse actions on people or businesses based on their religious beliefs.
- School safety is the Legislature's answer to improve the safety of children in response to school shootings. It also addresses mental health issues.
There are usual disappointments and we will deal with them in the next issue.
Battling State Of The City Of Houston Speeches, The Good News
You Can Believe Your Own Eyes And Ears
TCR's take: Houston we have a problem. Let's take a quick glance of the areas for concern!
- Crime across the board is up since Mayor Turner took office.
- The Houston homeless crisis continues with more vagrants, street panhandlers, tent cities, and worst of all, human waste soiling our city.
Photo recently taken across from Jones Hall on stairway to city-owned parking
- The Mayor's office continues to grow in significant numbers while basic city services deteriorate.
- The City is not prepared for the next Hurricane Harvey with the continued diversion of Renew Houston (Drainage) funds that is well documented. The most recent flood in May took place in Kingwood a few weeks ago and it was devastating yet again.
- The City infrastructure continues to deteriorate with street spending cut by 29% on Sylvester Turner's watch! The Mayor's pothole program is a joke with fewer than 59% of the potholes being filled as compared to Mayor Parker.
- And finally, while revenue for the City is up over $475 million since 2015, under Mayor Turner we are running the largest operating deficit in the history of Houston, or in simple language, we are overspending and digging deeply into the City's critical reserves. Keep it up and they will soon be gone.
So the real question is, are we better off in the City of Houston today as compared to December 2015? The answer is clear - no way.
Democrat Congresswoman Tlaib
Makes It Up As She Goes Along
From the Atlantic magazine, Professor of History Benny Morris educates us about Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib who is talking about the Holocaust and has totally misrepresented what occurred in the Middle East pre-World War II.
"But the historical reality was quite different from what Tlaib described: The Palestinians indirectly, and in some ways directly, aided in the destruction of European Jewry..."
"Palestine's Arabs - led by the cleric Muhammed Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem - mounted a strident campaign to pressure the British... to bar all Jews from entering the country... in 1936 they launched an anti-British and anti-Zionist rebellion that lasted three years...
"British entry certificates for Jews to Palestine declined [dramatically from 1936 to 1938]. Those who couldn't get in were left stranded in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere. Almost all died in the Holocaust, which the Germans unleashed in 1941.
"But the Palestinians' contribution to the Holocaust was also more direct. Husseini... helped pro-Nazi generals launch an anti-British rebellion in Iraq in 1941 (which itself engendered a large-scale pogrom against Baghdad's Jews, the Farhoud).
"When that rebellion failed, he fled to Berlin, where he... lived in comfort until the end of the world war. During the war, he helped recruit Muslims from the Balkans for the German army and the SS, and in radio broadcasts exhorted Middle Eastern and North African Arabs to launch Jihad against the British and 'kill the Jews.'"
TCR Comment: It seems Tlaib can't help displaying her ignorance of objective history. Remember, everything she says is based on hating America and Israel. And to think this joke is a member of Congress. Can't the Democrats do better than her?
On Iran, We Don't Need Advice From Failed Leaders From The Last Administration
Ben Rhodes, John Kerry, Wendy Sherman, and John Brennan, the architects of the failed Obama deal with Iran are back in the news criticizing President Trump and his team for being tough with the number one enabler of worldwide terrorism.
If you like coddling of self-described enemies like Iran and appeasement of Iran and billions of dollars in bribes, then these folks are for you. However, if you believe in peace through strength, they are clearly not.
Have You Ever Noticed That?
By Neland D. Nobel, Contributing Editor
People who loudly proclaim the unrestricted right of foreigners to break American immigration laws are usually the same people who condemn earlier immigrants that displaced the land and culture of native Americans?
People who often support the complete legalization of drugs, hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti also tend to also be opposed to tobacco smoking or tobacco chewing?
People who suggest that gender is a choice, a fluid concept based on feeling and identification and not biology, also are adamant that homosexuality is not a choice but rather is genetically determined?
People that see the purpose of art is to offend, shock, challenge and disturb people, are likely the same people who are easily offended and require safe spaces, speech codes, and protection from ideas with which they might disagree?
People who argue that a man cannot discuss the issue of abortion, because he can't understand how a woman feels about her body, usually are the same people who suggest any man who feels like a woman, is in fact a woman, and can compete in women's sports?
People who have COEXIST bumper stickers on their cars usually are difficult to get along with, tend either to be hostile to religion altogether or are ignorant of the different precepts among faiths?
People who profess a belief in racial equality tend to favor racial favoritism, affirmative action, and quotas, especially directed against talented Asian Americans?
People who talk incessantly about cultural appropriation tend to like Swedish directors, sushi, yoga, and Native American flute music?
People who claim that President Donald Trump is crude, abrasive, and stupid, tend to be crude, abrasive, and stupid? Think Robert De Niro and late-night comedians.
People who claim a Western diet of meat increases methane levels through cow flatulence, believe that millions of people who eat rice and beans are the most beneficial people on earth?
People who see a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, cannot see a conspiracy between the Democratic Party, ex British intelligence agents and Russian disinformation operatives, the CIA and the FBI, in the campaign of Hillary Clinton?
People who do not believe in Biblical laws of right and wrong, and believe that morality should be ever evolving based on their feelings, tend to have rather uncompromising views on abortion, the environment, men, President Trump, and capitalism?
Celebrities and politicians who rave against the "gun culture" in the US and wish to ban the ownership of guns usually travel with armed professional security?
People who frequent global warming conferences usually own multiple homes, fleets of luxury automobiles, fly private jets and are picked up in large gas guzzling limos?
People who support unlimited abortion tend also to support legalized euthanasia and population control to benefit the environment, yet at the same time say they are in favor of allowing unlimited immigration of families and children? They do everything "for the children" except have any themselves?
People who support animal rights tend not to support human rights of property and free speech and also do not believe humans are a legitimate and permanent part of the environment?
People who say that "real socialism" has never been tried, and that it always gets perverted from its pure form, can't seem to explain why every experiment in socialism gets perverted whether at the governmental level or at the local collective level?
People who say minorities should be respected don't seem to believe that minorities are really fully capable of having moral agency and thus are ultimately responsible for their own reactions and decisions relating to life's difficulties? So, who is it that believes in racial inferiority?
People who claim women are underpaid by 30%, actually believe businessmen would deliberately reduce their profits by hiring more expensive men when equally competent or superior women are available?
People that say President Trump is violating the Constitution generally think the Constitution is an outmoded document that needs to be read not for its clear textual meaning but instead for its penumbras and emanations that only they can see?
People who want to remove Christian crosses and the Star of David from public display generally are silent on head scarves, genital mutilation, and the BDS movement?
People who don't believe skyscrapers should be made of steel and glass, who believe that men and woman are the same, that recommend women go on a sex strike, that believe the world will end in twelve years, that opposes nuclear power, and who believe a baby is not a human; belong to a party that says they believe in science?
People who claim to be non-judgmental and open minded, who suggest all cultural traits are equal and should be honored, tend to have a very dim view, and suggest an economic boycott of fellow Americans from Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri and other areas outside of New York City and San Francisco?
People who decry the deep divisions in America are usually the same people who have been dividing the country by race, by sex, by age; and by attacking the dominant culture for the past 50 years and dividing the country up in the name of diversity?
People who often attack large drug companies are the same people who are certain of the medical benefits of marijuana, without the same science and double-blind studies that drug companies are required to pass before introducing a new drug?
People who say the nature of the United States is that of a racist, homophobic, misogynist, colonial oppressor, when confronted with a policy they disagree, tend to use the phrase "this is not who we are?"
Neland D. Nobel is an Arizona based free market economist and a contributing editor for TCR.
TCR on the Air
Red, White, and Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland on Fridays at 7:30 pm on Houston Public Media TV 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.
Red, White, and Blue will return after the current pledge drive. Previous shows are available for streaming at Houston Public Media.
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 twenty-second year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last eighteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 16 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 18th 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.
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