In a decade or less, the America we studied in history and grew up with and grew old with will be gone, leaving a nation our ancestors would not recognize and our Constitution functionally annulled.

The Harris County Republican Party political sign provider for years and years reports that this year the Harris County Republican Party declined the opportunity to distribute Trump-Pence signs at a profit.

Author Erica Brown has used the Passover story and applied it to mass immigration, illegal primarily in the U.S.A. and Europe in her recent commentary "Give Me Your Huddled Masses?" It is a fascinating application of the Book of Esther.

"In the Book of Esther, when the Jews claimed victory, there were also those who sided with them: 'And many people of other nationalities became Jews because the fear of the Jews had seized them' (Esther 8:17)."

"Some of these narratives suggest that our repeated command to be kind to strangers must be balanced by thoughtful consideration should those strangers decide to take up residence among us. Applied to the current Syrian refugee crisis, we must make sure that compassion and our social justice impulse do not minimize the complexity of this crisis. Beyond immediate lifesaving, there is also the need for social integration within the normative culture of the host country - language, education, culture and taxation - while not losing the ethos of one's home country.

"How well did these subgroups in the biblical accounts integrate? We don't really know...

"The Talmudic mandate 'dina demalkhuta dina' - the law of the land is law - underscores the obligations to be law-abiding citizens wherever we are. Reports of crime by and against refugees in European countries remind us that the socialization of such large numbers of people so quickly without the appropriate financial and structural support can result in abysmal failure.

"The world is built on kindness, we are reminded in Psalms. As a people of compassion in a global landscape... we must be a beacon to humanity. Saving lives is a commandment that precedes virtually all others. Welcoming the stranger is an important religious imperative. Making sure the stranger does not compromise the integrity of our community, as these biblical stories demonstrate, is also foundational to our master narrative.

"(When the) Seder night (opens) with an invitation to the stranger: Join us at the table. And, if you're planning to stay, let us know who you really are and what you really want and need."

You can learn a lot by studying the exemplary lives of those we lose. Naomi Warren's life story is worth a review. She passed away recently at the age of 96. The below are important facts that should be learned and absorbed from her obituary in the Houston Chronicle.

Naomi Warren was born Naomi Kaplan in Wolkowysk, Poland (today Belarus) on September 1, 1920. Her early life with her siblings Mark and Elizabeth was joyous, blessed with lively discussions, family gatherings, and trips to the countryside for holidays. She was taught early in life the importance of education, and she thrived in school and in sporting endeavors. Naomi's innocent youth was brought to an abrupt halt by the rise to power of the Nazi Party. Poland was invaded by Germany on her birthday in 1939, while she was finalizing her plans to attend university in England. Shortly after this life-altering event, further disruption came upon the Kaplan family when Soviet troops marched into Poland from the east, taking Wolkowysk under their control. Her father Samuel was taken prisoner by the Russians and sent to Siberia because, as president of the local bank, he was considered to be a capitalist.

With this negative came a positive; the law enforcing a quota of how many Jews could attend Polish universities was altered. This meant that Naomi could enroll in a university in nearby Bialystock. Indeed, this was a life changing possibility, for in Bialystock, Naomi was to meet a handsome young physician, Alexander Rosenbaum, who she married in 1940.

Again, Naomi's good fortune was cut short by world events. In the summer of 1941, German forces overtook eastern Poland and began to separate, intern, and murder Jews in the Polish population. By January 1943, as the Nazis pursued their ideology of racism and worked towards the "final solution," Naomi, Alexander, and her mother and brother were gathered and placed in rail cars to be transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Naomi has said of that horrendous, terrifying trip, "It seemed to last a lifetime." Upon arrival, Naomi was separated from her loved ones as the men and the women were sent to different parts of the killing center and labor camp. Naomi was selected for labor; her mother was selected for death and sent to the gas chambers. One of the most harrowing aspects of Naomi's testimony is her description of her mother being put on a truck, looking at Naomi for the last time with her beautiful gray eyes.

Alexander would perish in Auschwitz several months after arrival. Naomi resolved to survive. Remarkably, she did, despite deadly conditions, illness, and starvation. In her testimony, Naomi spoke about her conviction to remain alive. She knew it was essential to go out to work, despite how miserable, weak, and ill she might feel. Her valiant effort and her determination allowed her to survive Auschwitz-Birkenau. As 1945 began and Soviet troops neared Auschwitz, Naomi and her fellow female prisoners were transported to the infamous women's camp, Ravensbrück. This camp was terrifying; regularly, surgery was done without anesthesia, and heinous experiments were conducted on prisoners. Naomi's determination continued. She was fortunate to volunteer to move to a new location, and she next was interned at Bergen-Belsen, from where she was liberated in April of 1945 by the British.

In 1946, Naomi was again fortunate, having used her ingenuity and determination to contact family to let them know she had survived. With the help of her uncle, her sister, and brother-in-law, who had settled in the United States before the war, Naomi made her way to America. Hearing her speak about seeing the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor was always moving. She loved her new found freedom and reveled in her opportunity to become an American citizen.

Naomi first lived in New York, where she met Martin Warren, a fellow Holocaust survivor. They would marry, after meeting while Martin had been invited to a dinner with a blind date. That didn't work out for his date because Martin and Naomi left the dinner together, and the rest is their history.

Working from their garage and the trunk of their car Martin and Naomi established a company importing sardines. From these humble, hardworking early days would grow a thriving business.

Naomi was recognized widely as a leader in Houston. Certainly, she was a leader at Holocaust Museum Houston, always supporting the Museum's mission with her resources, intellect, integrity, and compassion. Naomi exemplified empathy and action. She served on the Board of Holocaust Museum Houston, as a Lifetime Trustee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

In her honor and memory, we offer a reflection from an award-winning Warren Fellow and teacher, Erin Balfour: "We celebrate her life not only as a singularly magnificent human being, but also as one who shaped the lives of so many around her. She is the stone dropped in the pond that sent ripples throughout the world. Ripples of peace, love, and hope."

For someone who has held the Clintons in disdain for 25 years, I did not believe I could be stunned by any activity in which they participated. Still, you read Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer and you sit there slack-jawed. Is there nothing these people will not stoop to?

The introduction defines Schweizer and the creditability of the book. His two most recent books before this were Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison and Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets. Two clear attacks on the bipartisan graft and crony capitalism being done at the highest levels of our federal government.

His manuscript for Clinton Cash was provided to investigative reporters at The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News and FOX News. This was an obvious effort to diffuse the anticipated onslaught from the Clintons and their cronies and to a great extent establish the integrity of his findings. Clearly he was not some anti-Clinton wacko as he would soon be branded by the Clinton flock. The NYT and WP took parts of the book and exploded them into bigger stories of Clinton corruption.

Everyone will have their favorite story of the Clintons skirting rules to enrich themselves, but mine comes in the second chapter where President Bill hooks up with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. Calling him "president" is a loose use of the word as he has really been dictator of the country since 1990. Any elections are just charades. This guy is so despicable the sleaze oozes from the pages of the book. Why Clinton would want to associate with a guy like this and grace him with the credibility of our country defines the corruption of the Clintons and their endless money chasing as Bill says "I have to pay the bills."

The book is so rich with material of questionable or illegal activity that even Schweizer blew right by something that was blatantly illegal. He was reviewing the relationship between Bill Clinton and the most notorious person from the book, Frank Guistra, a Canadian businessman. Clinton often flew on Giustra's private plane. Schweizer mentions in passing that Clinton used the plane to attend campaign events for Ms. Clinton in 2008. Well, that is an in-kind contribution to a political campaign -- and from a foreigner. That is blatantly illegal, if Schweizer is correct. He was so overwhelmed with the Clintons' activities Schweizer never even cited the illegality.

The book did disclose that Clinton accomplished something as secretary of state, which was a revelation. She decided to take over the secretary of commerce's job helping American companies do business in foreign countries. This proved the Commerce Dept. does not need to exist, but that wasn't the purpose of her work. As always with the Clintons, there were strings attached for their help. Boeing cut a $3.7 billion deal with Russia with Ms. Clinton's help and magically a $900,000 donation showed up at the Clinton Foundation.

Then there is the fact that Clinton used the Foundation and State Department as an employment center for their minions. But Hillary could not live with that because her people could not make enough money as federal employees so she allowed them to do outside work (when did these people sleep?). If you are granted Special Government Employee (SGE) status, you can work outside the government for a period of 130 days. That was abused by Clinton and her favored aides such as Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. Their attempt to hide this was so disconcerting that even the left-wing ProPublica had to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and the State Department came back and complained about having to do too much work to collect the info.

The Clinton Foundation has been rated to varying degrees by independent organizations. Part of the problem is its unusual model. Charity Navigator could not even rate the Clinton Foundation, citing its structure. With the thousands of charities that exist, one can easily question why this entity which should be pristine is so peculiar that it does not meet normal models of American charities.

The Clintons have said that if Ms. Clinton wins, and only if she wins, they will stop taking foreign and corporate contributions. That leaves many problems, of which I would like to describe three. 1) This policy opens up the foundation to a rush of questionable contributions from the time of the announcement until they make the change. 2) Wealthy individuals still have the ability to buy influence from the Clintons from their own bank accounts. 3) Foreigners can shuttle cash to American citizens and disguise things that way. Related entities to the Clinton Foundation will not be restricted from taking monies from corporations or foreigners. Whoever knows with the Clintons when they say "stop taking certain donations" really means to stop.

The only acceptable thing is to shut down this operation which is only a shill for the Clintons and all their cronies. If they want do charity work, they can become the face of fundraising for the Salvation Army.

You already know this, but the Clintons do everything for themselves and their team. Hillary is crisscrossing the country flailing at an attempt to tell people how she is the real candidate who cares about their wants, needs and desires.

Make no mistake, there were payments directly to Bill and Hillary Clinton for deals they engineered on others' behalf. That is called pay for play and blatantly illegal.

My question, which I have had for ages, is: Why would you vote for this circus?

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

Upcoming shows:
Author David Cay Johnston on his book The Making of Donald Trump.
Congressman Ted Poe.
2016 Election Preview and Review.

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 nineteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last fifteen years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 13 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 15th year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.