"If we don't act now, we will be at the point of no return," Hidalgo said.

Did you get all she wants?

As Bill King and the Mayor's media reports, we have made serious progress on Covid, bars and restaurants are open, number of vaccinations continues to rise and it's time to get back to normal.

Yet, Hidalgo (or it appears) is coming up on nine plus (9+) months at Level 1. Of course, if you were out last weekend, no one cares about her bogus threat level, our streets were packed.

Dateline Houston - Did you hear the City of Houston had two major screwups during the freeze. First, the generators at the water plants failed. So you can't blame that on ERCOT. In addition, the City of Houston just got billed for its street lights during the freeze under its variable rate plan. Over $2 million when it normally runs $100,000 a week or so. Mayor Sylvester Turner, instead of blaming everyone else just needs to accept responsibility for the screwups or is it incompetence?

Dateline HISD - Say it isn't so. After essentially letting our school kids receive a grossly inadequate virtual education for over a year, the people who run HISD want to continue their dismal efforts into the next semester. Giving students a virtual option, which is a proven failure all over the country, is just stupid. That is, unless your goal is to continue to not educate underserved populations. Here's a suggestion for the Texas Legislature: Cut off funding for all virtual students.

Forget the government's Consumer Price Index (CPI), it is notoriously inaccurate and understates inflation. Instead, the reliable Guild Basic Needs Index covering such essentials as Food, Clothing, Shelter and Energy, the year-to-year inflation is not 2%, but 15.6%. So, are we being told a giant fib by the Federal Government? Yes, we are.

TCR Note: From Gary Bauer (gary.bauer@amvalues.org) - Gary lays out the border crisis, who, what and why. A great read.

"The whole country sees the crisis at the border. And they know it is a crisis, even if the Biden Administration refuses to admit it."

"A new Rasmussen poll finds that 67% of voters say the situation at the border is a crisis. A Hill-HarrisX poll finds that 76% of voters say the situation at the border 'is a crisis that needs to be addressed immediately.'

"But some administration critics on the right still don't get it. They think President Biden made a mistake when he scrapped all the effective border security policies Donald Trump put into place. They think Biden was just clueless, and that he really didn't mean to cause a massive wave of migration into the country.

"My friends, I can't emphasize this often enough: Joe Biden is doing exactly what he intended to do. And you don't have to take my word for it.

• "During a primary debate in June of 2019, Biden promised that his healthcare plan would cover illegal aliens.
  
  
• At an Iowa campaign event in August of 2019, Joe Biden said that he wanted to bring in two million migrants a year into the United States.
  
  
• Candidate Biden promised to end deportations.
  
  
• He promised to stop construction of the border wall.
  
  
• And he also promised a massive amnesty in his first 100 days.
  

"The left wants to flood America with millions of people from developing countries who will accelerate the process of transforming America. Why would they want to transform America? Well, the left is telling us every day that they think we are a racist country.

"They want to transform America because they don't want a conservative to win the White House ever again. And if they can change the demographic makeup of America, they believe they will switch one state after another from conservative to liberal.

"What They're Saying And Doing

"Just listen to what Biden officials are saying about the border crisis. For starters, they adamantly insist there is no crisis. So, I suppose they must be okay with what's happening.

"They're not saying that they need more time to secure the border. They're saying they need more time to process more illegal aliens. If they wanted to stop the mass migration, Biden would announce that he's going to finish the border wall. But he's not saying that.

"Now let's review what they're doing.

• "In the middle of a pandemic, they have allowed detention facilities to operate at 700% capacity.
  
  
• FEMA has been sent in, not to secure the border, but to set up more migrant housing and assist with additional processing.
  
  
• The Biden Administration is paying $86 million to put migrants in American hotels.
  
  
• They are flying migrants at the southern border to processing centers along the Canadian border.
  
  
• Nearly 90% of migrant families are being released into the country. Only 13% are being sent back to Mexico.
  
  
• Many migrants are being released without court dates.
  
  
• They have thousands of National Guard troops protecting the U.S. Capitol from tourists, but no one in the Biden Administration has ordered the National Guard to secure our southern border.
  

"In other words, nothing is being done to secure the border or stop the massive wave of migration. And everything that is being done is intended to accommodate the massive numbers of illegal immigrants crossing our border.

"This complete policy reversal from one administration to the next is not a mistake. This whole-of-government approach from border security to open borders is not an accident. It requires direction and orders from the top."

Handing a government over to one political party does not always end with disastrous results. There are times when single party leadership avoids massively bad policies and destruction. But it is especially likely to occur when that one party leadership remains in control for long periods of time. The current pandemic has allowed for some of the worst examples of why not to hand over your government to one party - whether at the municipal, state or federal level.

Currently, the shining examples of this at the state level are the two bad boys of governorship – Andrew Cuomo in New York and Gavin Newsom in California. There are other examples who somehow manage to get obscured. Illinois is a perfect example with J.B. Pritzker, that man who inherited Hyatt millions, never had to work a day in his life and bought himself a shiny new toy - Illinois Governorship. He is aided and abetted by Chicago Mayor Laurie Lightfoot - that superstar of duplicity - and was until recently urged on by Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives for nearly 40 years. These Illini have done a marvelous job of destroying a once great state, but we will focus on New York and California for they are truly special.

What can you say about Andrew Cuomo that has not already been said? His unreserved arrogance is extraordinary. His New York tough guy persona fits the scene. Where was the state legislature when he co-opted dictatorial powers to supposedly save the residents of New York from the scourge of COVID? Where were the courts? Nowhere to be found because of one party rule that has been in place for years and years. The court appointees are all left-wing agitators. The only one who fought Cuomo is the worst mayor in American history, Bill de Blasio, who has a blood feud with him.

The result is mass murder of senior citizens and the state government in upheaval now because other elected leaders awoke. What is their plan with a mass exodus of people from the state occurring because of Cuomo's inane lockdown rules? Raise taxes. A perfect example of the perils of one-party rule.

Make no mistake, the current attack on him is a left-wing hit job. They don't need him anymore since Trump is out of the White House. They want someone even more ideologically pure to further destroy the state.

On the Left Coast, we have Gavin "McCool" Newsom with his slicked back hair and "First Partner" spouse. He fits California like a glove. He too runs a state that has been tie-dyed in one party rule for years. Sure, California had "Arnold", but he was counterproductive and got rolled by the entrenched powers. Try appealing a ruling to a state court. Why? They make the state legislature look downright moderate. And some in the upper echelons of the Democrat party want to use California as a model for our federal government. How perverse can they be?

Gavin has lurched from failure to failure. Shutdowns followed by more shutdowns. Rules for openings that can allow you to operate your business one day and then have to close the next because of some calculations the "high priests of science" whisper in Mr. McCool's ear. Shut down outdoor dining when the science does not support that move. And then botch the vaccination roll out and, just like Mr. Nasty on the other coast, blame Trump. If Trump were to blame then how did that South Dakota hayseed, Gov. Noem, get 80% of her shots in peoples' arms so quickly? Likewise, how did that West Virginia hillbilly, Gov. Justice, get 85% in his peoples' arms while Gov. McCool managed just 35%. Newsom is now on the edge of being recalled. Finally, a check and balance.

Fascinatingly, as the recall signatures pile up, Mr. McCool is handing out bribe money and loosening the rules. The next thing you may see is Disneyland open before they move all their operations to Florida. If the recall happens rest assured, he will open the five baseball stadiums for in-person attendance. We may actually be allowed to eat indoors. Radical moves to save his own position.

We are seeing the same one party arrogance radiating from our federal government. Our Dear Speaker has submitted every left-wing dream bill she could whip up or rehash from prior Congresses. She thinks with her buddy Chucky running the U.S. Senate they can push all their garbage dreams on the unwitting people of America.

Their biggest boondoggle is the ridiculously named Covid-19 Economic Relief Bill. The three musketeers including our President keep pushing this monstrosity on us as if it is the salvation of the nation. In fact, President Joe has challenged the press: "Tell me what would you cut from this bill?" Here is your answer, Mr. President - EVERYTHING. There is not a thing in this bill that makes sense unless you are a contributor to the Democrats and waiting for your payoff. Even the $1,400 checks are misdirected to a large portion of the recipients. We could save billions of dollars by using more current data. With one party rule the magnificent Trio think they can stuff this down America's throat and buy votes for the next four years.

Freshly empowered by what they see as one-party rule are two members of Congress, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney. They sent letters to multiple corporations suggesting that they deplatform the political opposition. They were cute about it. They did not tell the corporations to cut off Republicans. These two members of Congress knew that would infringe on the Frist Amendment. The two just used their new powers of one-party rule to coerce them with veiled threats. And we are less than two months into the life of this new administration.

People are leaving California and New York for more hospitable state governments. Unless you want to move to Costa Rica, you cannot get away from Joe, Nancy and Chuck. Americans can save themselves from this mess in 2022 - not too far away. The question is: Will the residents of California, New York and other states like Illinois wake up and finally get rid of the mess they have allowed to happen?

Gary Polland has recently undertaken the hosting duties on a new interview show, Tell It Like It Is. The show is available at American Star TV and at its YouTube Channel. Currently on hiatus.

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 & Blue, Like all business and education campuses, our show is off the air as we can't meet to tape. We hope to be back as soon as possible.

Gary 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 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 is also in his 21st 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.