HOW SAD IT IS TO BID ADIEU TO ENERGY INDEPENDENCE!

With one fell swoop of his pen, the elderly occupant of the Oval Office turned our country from energy independence to energy dependence.  For most Texans, this was truly a pathetic act, as our state has derived many advantages from its position as leader of the energy pack in the United States.

Without our energy industry, chances are we would be just another state with a state income tax and dependence on the federal government for financing government services.  During FY 2019, taxes from oil and gas accounted for the formidable sum of 16.3 billion dollars, which supports schools, roads, universities, first responders and healthcare. And, no matter in what part of the state in which you may live, these funds have a positive  effect on your life, at the rate of a daily outflow of 44 million dollars.  

Most Texans know that our state government had the foresight to create a "rainy day fund" to address financial shortfalls when they occur.  What they might not know is that 100% of the fund comes from gas and oil plus interest from the accumulated monies.

 Currently, Texans are noticing a gradual upward movement in gas prices.  Some in the know say that $3.00 gas will soon be in the offing, with even higher prices to come.  For the leader in the production of oil, this makes absolutely no sense at all.

As the third leading producer of natural gas in the world, Texas has an abundance of this form of energy to more than meet its own needs, and to export enormous amounts to foreign consumers as well.  Again, we find that such activity contributes to state government revenues, supporting any number of state services for Texans.  Less Texas natural gas in the market leads us to question what is passing for energy policy in the swamp of D.C. and for the dire consequences it infers for Texas utility bills and 
rising unemployment rates. 

All in all, the leftward leaning direction taken by the new administration does not paint a rosy future for our state, and those Texans who voted for the radicals controlling the new D.C. regime and in effect removed their uninformed noses to spite their unknowing faces.

Lt. Col. (ret) Frank J. Morris: An Officer and a Gentleman

On December 31, Cameron County, Texas, lost an officer and a gentleman.  Frank J. Morris was a man who lived his values virtually every day of his life.  He was genuinely committed to the standards and traditions which made America great, and all who were fortunate enough to know him could not fail to be impressed by his dignity and the leadership which he so generously gave to the Republican Party of Cameron County.  Indefatigable, he spared no effort in behalf of good government and the promotion of candidates who shared his love of Texas and the United States. His example was inspirational to others, and he was never afraid of the hard work and the challenges of leading those desirous of offering an alternative to the old, stale and unscrupulous politics which for too long had made South Texas a backwater of corruption and misconduct.  Frank, I greatly admired you. You were one of a kind. You loved your God, your state and your country. You will be sorely missed.

RIP: Lt. Col. Frank Morris.  

WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF KHIZR KHAN?

At the outset, it should be emphasized that the late Captain Humayun Khan was by all indications an outstanding young man, a stellar scholar at the University of Virginia and and a brave officer in the United States army, who fell at the hands of Islamic extremists in Iraq.  All honor and praise should be rendered to the memory of Captain Khan.

Captain Khan came to the attention of many Americans when an appearance was made by his father, Khizr Khan, at the recently concluded Democratic National Convention.  Mr. Khan, who is supposedly a graduate of Harvard Law School, brandished a paperback copy of the United States Constitution and called certain proposals that have recently been made to bolster the security of the United States "unconstitutional.".  Hearing his assertions, I found it more than a little curious that he should grumble about the constitutional knowledge of others, as I found his own acquaintance with the U.S. Constitution to be lacking.

As pointed out on numerous occasions, there is nothing unlawful or unconstitutional about building a border wall, or, for that matter, limiting Muslim immigration from certain countries that have spawned Islamic terrorism. Those who are not citizens or aliens legally residing in the country but, instead, are seeking to enter have no claims on the guarantees of the United States Constitution.  For example, a Muslim citizen of Pakistan turned down for a visa could not claim religious discrimination under the 1st Amendment, as such a person is not a citizen or a non-citizen lawfully living in the United States.

Further investigation on Khizr Khan reveals that his law practice is devoted in large part to facilitating visas and assisting fellow Muslims with citizenship problems, what one normally would define as immigration law.  It would seem, too, that Mr. Khan has links to two law offices, one in New York and another in the District of Columbia; however, one of those offices proffers no information at all on Mr. Khan.   In attempting to make a case that no immigration restrictions should be placed on Muslims and that a border wall should not be built, could not Mr. Khan be shaping his views by virtue of his own pecuniary self-interest?

There is also the possibility of a great deal of relevance in Mr. Khan's past history as a defender & proponent of Shariah or Koranic law, a system which treats women as inferiors, calls for capital punishment for homosexuals, does not accept the concept of freedom of religion and is, for all practical purposes, a monolithic & authoritarian system of oppression.  Having lived under Shariah law for six years of my life, I can bear witness that it is in no way compatible with a society which bases itself on toleration, diversity and intellectual freedom.  One wonders, then, why Khizr Khan and others of his persuasion would forego residence in Muslim countries where Shariah law is paramount. Is it not possible, dear readers, that Mr. Khan might have clandestine motives for residing in America other than his admiration for American history, culture & values?  Finally, let us hope that Mr. Khan's questionable forays into politics do not besmirch the laudable example of his son, Captain Humayun Khan.

Deo Vindice!

John B. is a retired college and university instructor, dean and provost.

SO YOU THOUGHT NULLIFICATION WAS SOMETHING FROM THE PAST? NOT IN "SANCTUARY CITIES"!

Nullification is usually associated with John C. Calhoun (1782 - 1850), a South Carolinian, who served as a congressman, senator, secretary of state, secretary of war and vice-president.  If those of the millennial generation were asked to identify Calhoun these days, it is likely that the great majority would be at a loss. However, I digress.

It was Calhoun's thesis that the states, as equal parties in forging the compact that created the United States of America, should be the judges as to the constitutionality of laws affecting them. Essential to the understanding of nullification is that Calhoun saw it as a means of protecting minority views, in this instance those that bolstered Southern attitudes on states rights and unreasonable tariffs. As many of us of a certain age know, nullification and its ramifications played a part in bringing the United States to the domestic conflict that may be called variously the Civil War, or the War Between the States.

Since more than 600,000 individuals lost their lives in the conflict which plagued America from 1861-1865, with the South coming out on the losing end, one would think that such concepts as nullification would be moot.  And this is especially so, given the Supreme Court decision in White v. Texas (1869) in which secession was ruled out of bounds for any and all states within the Union. However, if you thought nullification was a dead issue, you have another think coming.

At last count, the United States has some 340 cities considered to be "sanctuary cities," that is municipalities which do not cooperate with the federal enforcement of immigration law.  The city in which I reside on the U.S./Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas, is counted among their number; and, for this reason, is home to countless illegals who do not wish to risk encountering Border Patrol agents further to the north.  In a surreal incident last year, illegal alien women in Brownsville held a demonstration, protesting that they could not reach abortion clinics located outside of south Texas, owing to Border Patrol checkpoints on major highways.  But, be that as it may, the sanctuary cities are in effect practicing de facto nullification by their failure to cooperate with federal authorities in the matter of immigration enforcement.

And, yes, dear readers this is a very serious situation.  There are about 4.5 million illegal immigrant drivers in the U.S., most without official driving licenses and insurance.  Representative S. King (N.Y.) estimates that 13 Americans are killed daily in our country by illegal alien drunk drivers.  Do the math. That comes to more than 4,600 per year!  And, please do compare those figures with our losses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just a few Americans who have died at the hands of illegals

It is difficult to get a full accounting of felonies committed in the U.S. by illegals, largely because of political considerations.  In other words, state authorities do not have the intestinal fortitude to risk the wrath of the federal government, which has exposed Americans to incredible risks by virtue of its lax border enforcement.  Nevertheless, the best estimate is that more than 4,000 murders are committed each year nationwide by illegal immigrants. An internal study by the Texas Department of Public Safety showed that, between 2008 and 2014,  more than 600,000 felonies resulted from the actions of illegal immigrants,  Of those, 8,000 were sexual assaults and 3,0000 were murders.  In the midst of such mayhem, ICE in 2014, released 30,000 criminal illegals with 79,000 criminal convictions back into American society.

Texas has recently assigned additional units of DPS officers to patrol the border in lieu of effective enforcement by federal authorities.  These efforts are greatly appreciated by those of us who live in border towns.  However, it may be a matter of too little too late, for this is a situation demanding the clout and resources of a federal government which, so far, has been derelict in protecting its own citizens.

What can we do?  The answer would seem obvious inasmuch as a start can be made in letting our solons in Washington know that this is a priority issue.  And, finally, we can still vote in America, and we must vote for those individuals who are calling for a safe border and the protection of citizens from the likes of illegal marauders.  And, as for nullification being practiced by the sanctuary cities, it must as surely be disavowed as it was by the horrible conflagration of the 1860's.

Deo Vindice!

John B. is a retired college and university dean, provost and instructor who lives in Brownsville, Texas, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. More information about John B. may be had via his website:   www.johnbarham.com

SOME THOUGHTS ON TERRORISM: ARE THESE EVENTS NOTHING BUT "TRAGEDIES?"

I can't count the times I've heard the word "tragedy" after an Islamic extremist has slaughtered innocents.  Somehow the word just does not fit the occasion or carry the significance called for.  And I suppose that's because the word could just as well be employed with the occurrence of a natural disaster or, perhaps, within the context of a major accident.  The use of tragedy as a descriptor also belies reality, inasmuch as our popular culture and those who shape it persist in obscuring the gravity of the situation in which we presently find ourselves. Somehow we try to cover it all up with candlelight vigils and makeshift memorials featuring Teddy bears, reassuring ourselves that  what is cruel, sadistic and brutal has not become ordinary and commonplace.  

During the weekend, I became nauseous when I encountered the words of a presidential candidate, who once again, despite Nice and all the other gory manifestations of Islamic extremism, reminded us that we were not at war with Islam.  Why such a simpleton would inflict such idiocy on her fellow Americans is beyond me. 

Yes, it is true that Islam is not a monolithic body, and there are all sorts of interpretations in its belief system. For example, there are Sunnis and Shias; and, among them, are Wahabis, Malakis, Hanbalis, Deobandites, Twelvers, Salafis and many more. But they all fall under the tent of Islam, an institution that at its core is triumphalist, aggressive and expansionist.  And, to be sure, those who are fundamental in their interpretation of Islam accept literally all of the exhortations to violence that may be found in the Koran. Need I say that such individuals usually make good terrorists?

I have related many times my encounter with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood during the time I worked in the Middle East.  Although he was willing to converse with me, he did not give one red cent for what I thought.  His mind was like a brick wall, and there was no way that I would ever be able to penetrate it. So it is with the Omar Mateens, Mohamed Aubdulazizes, Tashfin Maliks and Syed Rizwans of the world.  They are beyond what we consider reality, totally outside those concepts that have been seen as engendering morality in the Western world. 

As for America, our enemies are not dumb.  They have quite properly reasoned that it is much easier to kill Americans in America than on far-flung battlefields.  And why not?  After all, we are preoccupied with racial discord and the really important issues of the day, such as transgender bathrooms. What better time to exterminate infidels!

Many would label their heinous acts as "cowardly."  And, truly, from the Western perspective, their methods are gutless and craven.  However, dear readers, to leave it at that totally misses the point. The psychology of a Muslim terrorist is a psychology of evil.  There, I've gone and used that awful word, which is not much in vogue in America these days: EVIL!  An Islamic jihadist acts from an all- encompassing belief to the point that he cares not for his life.  He cares only for advancing his view of Islam.  In fact, his belief system is so strong that all reason, and even the prospect of pain and total physical obliteration could not alter his intent to kill, maim, destroy and annihilate those who stand in the way of the advancement of Islam.

War has been declared on us, dear readers. Like it or not, we have an evil foe to confront.  Do we continue to allow the purveyors of disunity to diminish our ideals and our resolve?  Will the epitaph for America read that disharmony and discord transformed a once proud and powerful nation into a land of whimpering fools, enabling corrupt and fraudulent leaders to extinguish their freedoms in favor of a 15th century method of mind control and slavery?  Or do we screw up our courage, bolster it with an accurate view of the enemy and strike a lasting blow for the immutable Western principles of individualism, freedom and liberty?

Deo Vindice!

John B. retired after more than 40 years as an instructor, dean and provost in higher education.  He currently resides in Brownsville, Texas, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he lectures on Mexican history, culture and politics.  His views on Islam stem from 6 years spent living in the Middle East.  For more information, you may consult his website:

www.johnbarham.com

LISTEN UP, AMERICA! THESE ARE YOUR ENEMIES! THEY WOULD LIKE NOTHING BETTER THAN TO SLAUGHTER YOU AND BRING YOU PAIN!

ISIS "Caliph" Abu-Bakr Baghdadi

Despite warnings from high-level American officials, the United States does not appear to be taking seriously looming attacks on the homeland from Islamic extremists.  Lt. General Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency,  testified recently before a Congressional committee that Americans could expect more violent incidents inspired by Islamists in coming days.  Stewart's words were supported by CIA Director John Brennan, who noted that besides 20,000 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria, there were thousands more in Libya, Egypt and Nigeria.  Furthermore, Brennan asserted that it would defy logic to claim that ISIS operatives were not infiltrating the thousands of refugees seeking "asylum" in Europe.  Anticipating increased Western military efforts against ISIS, FBI Director James Comey predicted a "terrorist diaspora" from the ISIS caliphate that would bring more terrorists to America's shores.

With notoriously short attention spans, many Americans have probably forgotten all about the massacre in Paris at the Bactaclan Concert Hall during November 13/14 of last year, when 130 concert-goers were viciously slaughtered.  French authorities, however, withheld complete details of the atrocity, which surfaced in a French government committee last March, when law enforcement personnel testified of their grisly discoveries at Bactaclan, after the terrorists were overpowered and crushed. Those details finally were finally made public this week.

ISIS Partisans Joyfully Perform the Work of Allah

No, dear readers, in making my point, I shall not spare you the sordid details that caused a seasoned gendarme to cry to God and vomit out his own guts when he saw the sordid results of activities in an improvised torture chamber on the 2nd floor of the Bactaclan Theatre.  There, in significant numbers, were eviscerated and beheaded bodies, with most showing the garish results of genital mutilation on both male and female corpses.  There was evidence, too, that the perpetrators had filmed their barbarities, with the intent of proudly forwarding the video records to ISIS headquarters.

And just what are we up to in America?  Well, Washington blithely moves along, despite objections from several of the states, eagerly anticipating the arrival of 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the summer. But that number is not at all adequate for Mrs. Clinton, who is campaigning for a grand total of 65,000!  And, at the same time, our borders remain attractive crossing points for any all who might wish us ill.

In the name of all that is right and reasonable, dear readers, whatever happened to common sense?  Is it not at all apparent that, at least since 2001, the Western world has been involved in a war for survival?  Will we win this war by ignoring it and announcing to the world that it can be won by diplomacy?  Why would sane people ridicule those who assert that we should be cautious about individuals in our midst who profess their faith in Shariah law?    By our defiance of logic, are we not sowing the seeds of our own destruction?  Was Pogo on the mark with his words, "We have met the enemy, and he is us?" Would that the answers to these questions not be so painful to consider at this stage of our history.

May God protect our Republic!

Deo Vindice!

John B., the author of this article, is a retired provost, instructor and dean in higher education, who lives in Brownsville, Texas, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he lectures on Mexican history, culture and politics. More information about John and his role as an international lecturer may be found on his website:  www.johnbarham.com  Six years of John' s career were spent in the Middle East.

JOHN B'S TAKE ON NICE: I AM SO TIRED, SO DAMNED TIRED OF KORAN-CRAZED MONSTERS WREAKING HAVOC!

THE KORAN: 
SURAH 8, VERSE 60
Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able to gather to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies.

SURAH 47, VERSE 4
Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers, smite at their necks and when ye have caused
a bloodbath among them,  bind a bond strongly on them.

I awoke this morning with news of yet another Muslim atrocity, this one in Nice, where hundreds of individuals had gathered to watch fireworks to conclude the celebration of Bastille Day.  More than 80 persons were killed and many injured as a result of  the nefarious act of a radical Islamist slamming a transport truck like a bowling ball into a crowd of defenseless people.

The regularity of viewing flags at half-mast has resulted in a kind of  flabby acceptance that merely assumes that Western society is fated to experience more and more of the barbarity and evil of Islamic radicalism. For decades, such attacks have been commonplace in Israel.  Now, with 54 million Muslims living in Europe and more and more extremists being admitted into America,  are we simply to accept such events as part of the routine of life, events that we must live with?  Will 9/11 be absorbed into so many other dates of viciousness and murder that it loses its significance and becomes just another day of Islamic excess?  How much more of this sort of savagery will we witness?  Will the bombings of the undergrounds in London and Madrid be forgotten?  How many more San Bernardinos, Orlandos, and Chattanoogas will plague us?

I have time and again reiterated that Islam is now in its 15th century of existence.  It has never experienced anything resembling a Western Reformation or Enlightenment. Consequently, of the 1.6 billion or so Muslims in the world, millions are operating with a 15th century mindset and choose to literally accept the violent admonitions of their prophet, such as those featured in the header for this article.  And, unfortunately, the feeble leadership that characterizes Western society chooses in the name of "progressivism" to allow the Trojan horse of Islamic extremism to be erected in our midst, allowing Islamic butchers to exact their gory levies on innocent people.

In our own country, each horror is met with calls from Washington for investigations which, more often than not, conclude that our racist, bigoted society is to  blame for alienating the Muslim perpetrators.  And then too, while we are at it, let's also blame law-abiding, legitimate gun owners! I'm sorry, dear readers, but did we choose to investigate Pearl Harbor?  How about Nazi atrocities? Did we seek to understand the barbarian minds that brought us Treblinka and Auschwitz? No, we did not.  We set out to destroy the evil, and that is what we should be doing now!

I am also tired of the mental midgets who constantly proclaim that to adequately vet Muslims coming into our country would be a constitutional violation of the first order.  For crying out loud, the guarantees of our constitution pertain to citizens and non-citizens residing legally in the United States!  All others have no legitimate claim on guarantees such as those of the 1st Amendment.  During the World War II era, I don't recall that there was a great ruckus raised over any prohibitions on Nazis entering the country.  And face it, dear readers, Islam is not merely a religion, it is also an ideology which dictates to its adherents literally everything they should do on a daily basis, including personal hygiene, how to have sex, how to order economic activities, how to eat, how to be governed, etc.  In effect, it is a system of mind control as expounded in Shariah law.  In this regard, a recent Center for Security Policy poll showing that 51% of American Muslims prefer Shariah law should give us some pause for reflection.

Those who espouse radical Islam may be our enemies, but our greatest enemies are those who occupy the highest levels of leadership in the Western world and refuse to use common sense in recognizing the growing peril to which they expose us and continue to reject any and all appeals to the contrary. Yes, gentle readers, I am so terribly tired of this rubbish. And I know that you must be, too!

Deo Vindice!

John B. is a former dean, instructor and provost in higher education.  Now retired, he lives in Brownsville Texas and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he lectures on Mexican history, politics and culture.  Six years of his career were spent in the Middle East, where he personally witnessed the excesses of an Islamic monarchy.