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Volume XX Number 1 - January 11, 2021     RSS Feed   

A Periodic Newsletter for Committed Texas Conservatives

In This Issue

Neal Nobel Interview With Gary Polland

Violence Is Never Acceptable, DC 1/6/21

Clueless In Texas, County Judge Hidalgo Still Doesn't Get It

GOP Fails In Georgia, Lessons For Texas

Is American Society Rigged To Benefit The Left?

The Wall Street Journal Punts On Election Integrity By Neland Nobel, Contributing Editor

Forget Voter Fraud; This is Bigger By Bruce Bialosky, Contributing Editor

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Thoughts This Fortnight

Neal Nobel Interview With Gary Polland

Your Editor's interview with Neal Nobel, Editor of the Prickly Pear on the election and the conservative future:

Violence Is Never Acceptable, DC 1/6/21

The mob invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday was unacceptable and disgraceful. The Capitol Police were clearly not prepared, but for the small minority of the hundreds of thousands of people in D.C. protesting election issues, nothing would have occurred. Our political leadership, regardless of party, should always condemn violence, looting, attacks on the police, whomever initiates it. Which makes me wonder where that condemnation was from Democrats, the mainstream media and social media during this summer's violence?

The comments of President Trump pre-violence and President-elect Biden post-violence were problematic. The former calling on attendees to walk to the Capitol and not take it any longer and to never concede was inciting to some in attendance and not helpful. In a different way, the latter also was stoking the racial divide by his untrue and stupid comment that, "...if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday they wouldn't have been treated very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol."

So now it's about racism and racial inequality. We seem to recall during the summer of violence that BLM was treated in almost every major city with kid gloves. Biden has muddled the message of stop the violence and morphed it into one set of rules for Trump supporters and another for ANTIFA, BLM and their radical left allies.

Clueless In Texas,
County Judge Hidalgo Still Doesn't Get It

Almost a year into dealing with Covid-19, Harris County (Houston) Judge (really an executive) Lina Hidalgo still doesn't get it or is intentionally trying to injure the private sector. Once again pushing for school closures and lockdowns. Let's review what this misguided policy has done for us. First, it did not get rid of Covid-19. Second, it is estimated at least 1/3 of our restaurants are gone. Third, crime and murder rates are soaring. Fourth, unemployment is still high, with female unemployment even higher as when schools are closed they have to take care of their children. Fifth, alcoholism is rising. Sixth, there has been increases in mental illness and suicide ideation. Seventh, with school closings and virtual school many children have lost a year of real schooling. Eighth, child abuse and spousal abuse are up. Ninth, basic medical care is being neglected. Tenth, the Federal deficit has exploded as a result, reaching levels that will never be paid back (this last year: $3.2 trillion) without inflated dollars paying it off. Do we really want sizable inflation? And this is just a partial list.

The lockdown pushed by Hidalgo doesn't work and is not needed. Even the CDC acknowledges that from age 0 to 69 the fatality rate is under .5%. For over age 70 it is 5.4%. With similar outbreaks in the past we manage the disease and not shut down society.

The sooner Hidalgo wakes up and abandons her inane and unhelpful policies, the better off we will be. 2022 cannot come soon enough to send her and her misguided polices out the door.

GOP Fails In Georgia, Lessons For Texas

Like Georgia, Texas is growing with many "refugees" from blue states. Many are fleeing overreaching government, high taxes and extensive regulations. Yet when they have come, they bring with them their blue state political values.

The latest lesson, the Georgia Senate runoffs where the GOP candidates lost to two leftist candidates for the Democrats.

So what can we learn?

  • First, party unity is critical. The GOP infighting was a sharp contrast to the Democratic unity. The circular firing squad involving the Governor and Secretary of State versus President Trump depressed Republican turnout and the focus on Trump boosted the Democratic turnout.

  • Second, the GOP cannot continue to ignore African-American voters. President Trump demonstrated that with the right investment, the GOP can gain voters.

  • Third, ballot security is often won or lost before the election. The illegal deals made by the Georgia Secretary of State made ballot fraud by mail significantly easier and was surely utilized by the Democrats and their allies.

  • Fourth, new voter education is critical. We must invest in an education campaign about what ensures red state economic success and how left-wing politics hamstring that.

  • Fifth, the GOP needs to continue to run and elect conservative women and minorities. The party needs to reflect the state it is in.

  • Sixth, we need a comprehensive plan to take back the culture, education, regular and social media so it is fair and balanced.

  • Seventh, ballot reform. We need to eliminate ballot by mail except for qualified seniors that are alive. Ballot by mail per the Carter-Baker Commission is the most abused part of ballot processing. To avoid fraudulent ballots, the sending of unsolicited ballots should be banned. A requirement of matching signatures for ballot by mail must be mandatory. The prohibition of ballot harvesting must also be mandatory.

If we fail to learn the lessons of 2020-21, we will have a Georgia political future.

Is American Society Rigged To Benefit The Left?

TCR Comment: Gary Bauer, head of American Values, recently laid out why the systems in America are rigged to benefit the left. This is really scary:

"The reality is that many Americans have believed for years that the entire system - the culture, popular entertainment, the educational establishment, sports and, yes, the political system - is rigged against conservatives."

"There is no conservative viewpoint being presented on college campuses. Our colleges long ago ceased to be institutions of higher learning. They are now cesspools of left-wing indoctrination. You can count on one hand the number of prominent conservative colleges.

"The 1619 Project wins Pulitzer's for its lies, while the left tears down statutes of our heroes like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

"The left is even weaponizing pronouns and forcing people to lie.

"We're told the judicial system is inherently racist. I don't believe that, but I do believe it is inherently left-wing. For example, Hillary Clinton violates national security and gets off scot free. Gen. Michael Flynn makes a phone call and almost ends up in jail.

"Every day thousands of police officers have interactions with criminals and it never makes news. Very rarely those interactions result in an officer dying or an individual dying.

"If it's the latter, we will often know the name of the individual within minutes as social media transforms the individual into a martyr. But if an officer dies, his name will be forgotten before the day is over, and his family will grieve alone.

"Speaking of social media, Big Tech executives and their employees give more than 90% of their political donations to the left. But that's not all.

"They also censor conservatives and suppress news that would be damaging to the left. Thus, Hunter Biden's scandals were hidden from many Americans.

"After the election, when Hunter finally admits that he's under investigation and there's some reporting on the story, it turns out that one in six Biden voters would have changed their votes if only they had known what the media hid from them.

"Yes, Big Tech and Big Media did their best to "fix" the election.

"The number of sports writers who get up in the morning wondering why a controversial subpar athlete like Colin Kaepernick doesn't have a fat contract is astonishing. But let a sports writer express a conservative opinion and they will be out of a job in 24 hours.

"When the pandemic hit, your church was closed but the abortion clinic was left open. Left-wing protests were welcomed, but Christmas gatherings were cancelled.

"Quick: Think of any primetime television comedy or drama starring a prominent Christian or conservative who is featured as an admired figure in the show. I suspect you're struggling with that one.

"Meanwhile, virtually every TV show features a variety of left-wing characters who are always portrayed as noble, decent and good who are often being persecuted by conservatives."

The Wall Street Journal Punts On Election Integrity
By Neland Nobel, Contributing Editor

The Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily have the best editorial pages in the country.

It was with some disappointment we read their main editorial in the WSJ on December 31, 2020.

Like many in the "legacy" Conservative movement, they just want to sweep signs of election fraud under the rug and move on with a Democratic President. They don't seem to appreciate that fully half or more of the country believes the results were fraudulent.

Election fraud is serious stuff. It is more important than any legislative act because election fraud undermines faith in the entire democratic system we have. Why engage in politics at all, if the whole game can be rigged?

We readily admit the process to solve this is quite complicated and we urge readers to sit through the entire interview conducted by The Epoch Times and reproduced in their video section.

Perhaps Democrats should have appreciated all this before they launched their fraudulent actions.

What we don't buy is the insinuation by the WSJ that there is nothing to the charges of fraud. We think they are substantial enough to warrant some kind of judicial inquiry, Congressional hearings, or commission.

The WSJ passes out the canard that there is nothing to the fraud claims because no court has ruled as such, including some conservative justices. We say canard because the WSJ knows full well that suits have been rejected on technical grounds like standing, or time frames, and no court has actually seen any evidence and ruled on it.

Courts have repeatedly interfered in the election process, but now that they are being asked in this case to interfere, they act like this is something they should never get involved in. Gee, you can't have it both ways, can you? Some legal consistency from the courts would be appreciated.

So, if the courts demur, then the Congress has to be involved. That is what Trump is calling for.

The WSJ says Republicans should be embarrassed "by Mr. Trump's Electoral hustle."

How do we know its just a hustle unless evidence is developed and then presented? As we have suggested before, if Trump has this all wrong and there is no evidence, then shame on him. However, the WSJ has resources to investigate. That is part of their job. Why do the resent citizens who have developed evidence and are begging for their case to be heard?

Near the end of their piece, they drop what may be the real reason legacy media and some Republican officials shy away from demanding election integrity.

"...what do Republicans think would happen if Mr. Pence pulled the trigger, Mr. Biden were denied 270 electoral votes, and the House chose Mr. Trump as President? Riots in the streets would be the least of it."

So, let's see if we get this straight. Democrats systematically cheat (or not, depending on the evidence), but we should not use the Constitutional and Judicial processes we have, because the outcome would cause Democrats to riot.

There is no right to riot. Why is only one political party given a pass on the use of violence to advance their political agenda? Why is the use of violence permitted at all?

Likely because they noticed that Democrats were rioting most of the summer, devastating cities like Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle.

Democrats will have their say in court and they will have their say in the Congress. Why the assumption that violence will be the outcome? If the claims of election fraud are a "hustle", Democrats will easily prevail in the process. That should be a reason they should support the process.

Further, what do they mean that rioting "would be the least of it." Do they mean like packing the court, enlarging the Senate, or perhaps impeaching a President based on opposition party research? Democrats are quite brazen right now and capitulating would seem only to encourage them. What makes them think that looking the other way on electoral cheating and street violence will promote better behavior from Democrats?

We cannot let stand election fraud. We cannot let stand acts of violence by political parties to advance legislation or determine electoral outcomes.

We cannot accept violence as a way to get what you want. If we do, our republic will be badly damaged.

Let us have a peaceful process to determine whether or not fraud took place.

But let's have the process proceed and not act like nothing was strange in the last election.


Neland Nobel is an Arizona based free market economist and a contributing editor for TCR.

Forget Voter Fraud; This is Bigger
By Bruce Bialosky, Contributing Editor

President Trump has spent a lot of time harping on voter fraud. He may be correct that there were inappropriate actions done by voters and election officials, but he and his team were unable to prove that to our courts in order to overturn the election. Our election laws will be dealt with in a future column. For now, we must address an issue that impacts our elections in an even more meaningful way. That is how our national press censors (suppresses) newsworthy stories that impacted the 2020 election and possibly beyond.

In a prior column, I stated that the Biden campaign skirted answering questions from the national press and they allowed Biden and his campaign to do such. It was obvious that Biden would continue in the same manner once he was president. So far in the transition he and his staff have continued in the same manner. His communications staff allows one opportunity a week for the press to answer questions and then handpicks friendly members of the press to ask a meager five questions. Biden gave his first full interview to a late-night TV host who at one time was funny. The peculiar aspect is they made such a big deal out of hiring a female-only communications staff. It is quite apparent they will be muzzled for most of the time on the job.

The most flaming example of press negligence that manipulated the election is the case of Hunter Biden. President-elect Biden in his limited statements since the election said two things of consequence on this matter. First, that this story is only to get to him. Yes, that is mostly true, but from all accounts (with ample first-hand evidence) Joe Biden was intimately involved in the affairs of his son. Second, Joe Biden stated that his son Hunter is the smartest person he knows. That is a scary statement. Hunter may be smart, but his wisdom chamber is barren. Ordinary people do not leave a laptop with a massive amount of personal data and communications at a store and then do not retrieve it.

The case for investigating Hunter goes back further. When his father bragged openly about getting a Ukrainian official fired it was time to look into the activities. There was a handful of indicators thereafter, but the vast majority of the press ignored them. After the New York Post printed a major story about Hunter's horse trading (derived from the famous laptop) on his father's name, it was time for a deep dive. When Tony Bobulinski came forward as the most credible witness you could possibly want, the press should have been acting like bees in a hive. This is a gargantuan story.

Yet the press not only ignored it, they attacked it and anyone giving the story credence. The penultimate act was the mentally weak Lesley Stahl laughing at President Trump on 60 Minutes for even mentioning Hunter Biden's misadventures. We are all waiting for the mea culpas.

Let us be clear: there are two parties without guilt here. First is Attorney General William Barr. He has been chastised by some for not leaking there is an active investigation into Hunter Biden. Barr did the correct thing. Just because his predecessors in the Obama Administration and all their plants who stayed in the Dept. of Justice during the Trump Administration leaked matters constantly does not make it right. This is not a tit for tat situation.

And it is not the fault of the tech companies. There is certainly much to dislike about Google, Facebook, Twitter, et al. And Twitter should not have suspended the account of the New York Post once they reported on Hunter's questionable activities. If the press did their job and reported on this story, then the Tech companies could not have branded the few who did as outliers.

No, it is the press in this country that has fully abdicated its rightful position as protectors of the citizenry through the first amendment. If they are only going to report the negative stories on one side and let the other slide, they have created an extremely dangerous situation. Many Americans would have changed their votes if they knew about Hunter and his father and uncle's involvement in bilking funds from foreign entities for personal profit.

Just focus on the story of the wife of the Mayor of Moscow sending Hunter $3.5 million. Since these reporters were Russian obsessed for over four years, one would think they would jump on that story. Hunter could easily disprove that if not true. The press never forced him to do so.

Or the constant lie by President-elect Biden that he knew nothing about his son's (or brother's) business dealings. That was proved to be an absolute falsehood by Bobulinski with concurrent documentation. How about when Hunter flew on Air Force Two to China and received a commitment for $1.5 billion to be invested in a Hunter entity? He flew home and that was never discussed on the plane? The press should have been all over that and asked for the list of people on the plane and interviewed every one of them. The fact Joe knows nothing about this after the plane trip is as plausible as the story when former Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton during the 2016 campaign and only discussed grandchildren. What is it with Democrats on airplanes and lying about what was discussed?

We could have known there was an FBI investigation of Hunter once the laptop was released. One of the documents from the laptop had a FBI case number on it associated with an open money laundering investigation in Delaware. One reporter followed up. Where were all those crackerjack reporters at the NYT calling their leakers at the FBI and finding out whether there was a case. No one cared. But, worse: no one wanted to know.

Now we have a hot mess on our hands. We have a legitimate investigation into the activities of the son of the incoming president that reliable sources have tied to the son's activities. This is the fault of the press who were blinded by their hatred of Trump and Republicans so much they did not do their assigned and accepted responsibilities.

We may have a legitimate constitutional crisis and it is all laid at the feet of the press. The fraud happened even before we got to the polling booths and unless there is a change, matters will only get worse.


Bruce Bialosky is the founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition of California and a former Presidential appointee. You can follow Bruce on Twitter @brucebialosky.


TCR on the Air

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. New shows post Wednesdays. This week: An update on Covid and how to protect yourself and Brian Ettinger with an insiders view of Joe Biden.

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.

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-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.

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