If you are watching closely the extremist left in Texas is on the march. From trying to purge traditional liberals countywide, candidates in counties like Harris (Houston), to seeking to defeat a moderate Democratic congressman in the Valley, Henry Cuellar, to spending over $1.5 million to win a lean Republican seat backed by high profile leftists who take positions for Obamacare, gun control, the green new deal, sanctuary cities, and same day voter registration, automatic registration and online voter registration, all designed to explode ballot fraud.

Saturday, "Our Revolution Texas" held a rally. Most of them support radical socialist Bernie Sanders for President. If one looks closer at their key positions, they are out of touch with mainstream voters. The keynoter was Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who despite encouragement, declined to endorse Sanders.

This radical group's goal is to flip the Texas House to the Democrats, and they support Medicare for All, which in its first ten years would cost $32.6 trillion above current government medical spending per the Washington Post (a low estimate), Criminal Justice Reform (decriminalize crime), cancel student debt (cost to the U.S. at least $1.6 trillion), and Immigrant (illegal) Justice which is in reality, open borders. Oh, and this is a non-profit organization.

These radicals are a threat to all of us. That's why being active and engaged is critical.

President Trump continues to perform. So ignore the noise and look. Just last week, Mexico deported more than 2,000 caravan migrants to Honduras, who had entered Mexico illegally on their way to the U.S.

Mexico's newfound enforcement against illegal immigration occurred due to President Trump's encouragement. The same day, Trump signed the USMCA (NAFTA replacement) law, making trade agreements with Mexico and Canada fairer to the USA.

The acquittal of President Trump is a done deal. TCR's take: It was a waste of time. Trump did not deserve to be impeached, although his language was not perfect.

The truth is the never-Trump Democrats have been after Trump since the day after he won in 2016. It has never stopped. The Democrats and its allies in the left-wing major media told lies about Trump after the election and it has never stopped.

TCR wonders, would any other leader have accomplished as much for the country as Trump? Maybe we should actually govern and legislate and leave politics to a few months before our general election. It seems the public is sick and tired of politics 24/7, 365 days a year.

Today our country has become the Angry Americans, as used to be called the Ugly Americans, the way the rest of the world viewed us. Now, it's socially acceptable to harass people you disagree with politically, socially or even if you just do not like them. You can attack them in public places, protest, use violence to shut down someone with opposite views, use social media to put out lies, boycott business you disagree with even though this is protected the First Amendment, free speech. We are in a society that does not condemn violence but encourages it. The rule of law is thrown aside, and people lack respect for the rule of law and law enforcement. We need to hold these people accountable and unless we start doing this, we are heading down a destructive course that will destroy our country and our way of life.

The signs are there. First, we need to revise our education system go back to teaching our children the word respect. Design a course study of basic English, writing, math, and history of our country (not history as we want to change it) and prepare our children for the challenges of life. Start at the lowest levels of school and help our children learn to reach their potential. Design a course curriculum for our children and not place all in the same cookie cutter curriculum. Recognize their individual needs and not place special education students in regular education classrooms, as it does no good to help these students. It holds back the regular students and does not help the special education students reach their capacity. This creates a generation of average level students, which is the new normal with a lack of respect for their teachers. Parents need to be held accountable and teach their children to respect others, be compassionate and learn to listen to different points of views and stop the angry and violent nature. If not now, then when as it will continue and be socially acceptable to use violence and hurt others because you disagree with them. The anger displayed by groups of mask wearing individuals, extremist shouting at public officials in public, media and public leaders telling people to harass their opponents, destroy their businesses, threaten people's families and social media conveying one message supporting their views is disgusting. We have become Angry Americans.

Second, how we treat our law enforcement officers without respect for the law and tie their hands not to react and arrest these thugs after being harassed, by being called names, by dumping water and other substances on them, they need to be held accountable and charge them with a crime or have we become a society accepting no rule of law and civil recourse.

As I watch the circus in Washington DC by both parties it makes me think about how angry we are the way our public leaders speak and treat one another. Recently, some privileged students from Ivy League schools protested at a football game. They arrested 40 of them gave and gave them a ticket equivalent to a parking ticket. They have no respect and should have been thrown out of school as they have no compassion for the people who work at these events and make their living. A 16 yr. old minor wearing a Trump supporter hat and stood watching a Native American beat on a drum was vilified by the media as doing something wrong. I'm glad he is taking on the media the proper way, through our court system. The left blames President Trump for their angry ways. The right blames the left as out of touch with American values. Now is the time to stop and evaluate each other and come to the realization that if we do not respect each other, work together and stop the nonsense we just become angrier and destroy our society. Lastly, I watched the impeachment show in Washington and it's a disgusting manner for our elected leaders to act. The Democratic prosecutors showed a lack of respect to the Office of the President and the current officerholders. They have done damage and irreparable harm to the Office of the President. They and the media need to be held accountable by the U.S. citizens in the next election. The Republicans so far have not take any vindictive action but follow the law and the will of the people.

If we keep going down the path of the Angry American, this will lead to more violence and division in this country.

An observant Christian friend of mine asked me recently why there have been so many anti-Semitic acts recently. I could have asked him why there were so many anti-Christian acts though those are really occurring more in Middle East and African countries. Having been on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council (USHMC), he likely supposed my thinking would come with a certain imprimatur.

I told him I had been reading everything around about the recent escalation to understand what others think is at the root of the current rash of attacks. I then spoke with my close friend, Fred Zeidman, formerly the Chair of the USHMC. We shared our thoughts and he told me he had a column coming out that he authored with Steve Israel, a former congressman. Fred encouraged me to write a column. I told him it had to abide by my number one rule about my columns – it could not just be a "Me Too" column that reiterates what others had already written. I don't think you need to read anything from the amen chorus. Here is a different view of what is going on.

It is hard to say that anti-Semitic actions have a unique flavor to them since they have been going on just about as long as there have been Jews. There certainly have been very famous ones that are well-known to the world that cost too many Jewish lives. There has also been a significant increase of recent acts in Europe largely caused by the influx of Muslim immigrants, but we are not supposed to say that; are we?

Then there is America where Jews have been more successful as a group than in any other country in history other than in Israel. Jews are usually applauded in America. This increase in anti-Semitism started ratcheting up during the Obama years and has continued during the Trump years. The people at fault basically break down into two groups.

The first group are the plain crazy people. After the nutcase entered the Tree of Life Synagogue and shot up the place, people wanted to analyze him. Some wanted to read into his political philosophy or that guns were to blame. No, it had nothing to do with any of that. In less formal circles you could refer to the man as certified wacko. He was nuts. Walking into a house of prayer, a school, a shopping center or anywhere else and starting to murder strangers in my book is the definition of crazy. We don't need Freud here. And if you cannot accept that concept then maybe you need to see one of Freud's disciples.

When the attorney for the machete man who attacked people at a Hanukkah party came out and said his client had a few loose screws, the obvious reaction can only be "really"? Remember that old saying: "put him away and throw away the key"? If you don't want to execute these people, they should never again be near humanity. If they wrote that they did not like Jews or joined some Jew-hating group on the internet, that does not much matter to me. They are no different than the nutcases who attempt mass murder anywhere. The problem is so many don't want to throw away the key.

The group that we need to focus on are the ones that are not certified crazies. People that seem to be functioning members of society is where we are seeing a significant increase in activity. My thinking ties into a book I recently read, Punishment Without Crime by Alexandra Natapoff.

Natapoff argues that the huge amount of misdemeanor crimes is causing people to become false criminals. For many the only way out of the charges which they might not be guilty of is to plead guilty. Thus, we must remove these people from the criminal system. Her arguments tie into the current move to eliminate bail for many crimes. This is a national movement being voiced by many of the Democrats running for president. There are certainly valid points in the book and problems with the bail system. It is often amazing how certain people fall into chanting the current mantra without full consideration of the ramifications of their proposals.

I have written about Singapore many times and the lack of crime. That is because there is sure and swift punishment. We should be moving closer to their model, but we are moving further away. We are creating laws that are eliminating penalties for actions that were criminal and we have been releasing people who are not held to answer for their actions. We are telling people their actions have no consequences.

This does not mean that the rash of low-level assaults occurring are not caused by people who have taken a negative view of Jews. There will always be people who do not favor Jews. They may not favor Puerto Ricans either. We cannot stop that. With an estimated 330 million people in the U.S., there are bound to be people who don't like others. America actually has an amazing record of blending peoples of different backgrounds.

But people cannot act out on their negative thoughts. We have freedom of speech, but we do not have freedom of assault. Yet some people believe we have free assault rules now in some major cities because of lenient leaders and lackadaisical laws. Why else would two Black women start yelling at and chasing and threatening an Orthodox Jew in broad daylight in a public area? If they knew that would land them in prison for two years, they might rethink their actions. They correctly thought there would be no consequences - and, indeed, one was let go. The other was charged with assault, but my guess is she will serve no time.

Other attacks are similar. Many of these were Black people but the press refused to so identify them. If the attacks were by whites, you know they would be chastised. If they were Jews acting out, then that would be clear, and Jews would be protesting against the criminals. Black groups or preachers cannot even call out these people because the authorities and press are afraid to identify their racial backgrounds. How are Jews supposed to attempt to solve the growing anti-Semitism in the Black community when the press and elected officials live in denial of it occurring? An alcoholic has to admit she is an alcoholic before repairing the problem. Her friends do her no favors by not acknowledging the problem.

People should know there are consequences, they should be guided by their community, by their family or their God to refrain from these despicable acts. We have New York's Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio decrying anti-Semitic acts, but you don't hear them calling for revising the public policies they have created. They did beef up policing and are calling for more education. They think people need to be educated in order to know you can't commit assaults against other humans? Where are the leaders calling for these people to be locked up and telling their constituents that if they do the same thing, they will be cooling their heels in state prison for a long, long time?

The only common thread of the recent attacks except for machete man is all these people think they can get away with it. There will always be some people who dislike Jews. I have never figured it out. Jews should be appreciated not hated. They have done great good in the world.

When we have confused leaders who have a mission of tolerance, the bad actors will act out. Otherwise. good people do bad things. Unless these dysfunctional policies are changed matters will get worse, not better.

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.

Upcoming shows:
02-07-20 - Post-Impeachment Analysis with Beverley Barret (Professor at TSU, Former Policy Assistant for Cabinet Affairs for President George W. Bush and National Security Advisor), Seth Chandler (Law Foundation Professor of Law, University of Houston Law School), noted Democratic leader and attorney Barbara Radnofsky.
02-14-20 - Texas Education System with Mike Morath (Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency).

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.