The Republican Club of Sun City

N E W S L E T T E R

November 2015 Everett Schmidt, Editor Sun City Texas

rcsctx.com

(Subjects of Reports in This Issue: Congress Approves Spending Bill, School LGTB Issues, Impeachment Proceedings)

APPELLATE LEVEL JUDGE AND JUSTICES TO ADDRESS CLUB

A panel consisting of an appellate level Judge and three appellate level Justices representing three levels of appellate jurisdictions will address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 19 in the ballroom of the Social Center in Sun City. Panel members and the courts they represent are:

Texas Supreme Court: Justice John Devine

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Judge Bert Richardson

Third Court of Appeals: Justice Melissa Goodwin and Justice Cindy Olson Bourland

District 395 Judge Stacey Matthews will serve as moderator. District 425 Judge Betsy Lambeth will present opening remarks.

The panel will discuss the requirements for office, responsibilities and jurisdictions of the respective appellate courts represented by the panel. Their work is important as evidenced by the fact that notices of appellate hearings and rulings are frequently published in metropolitan newspapers and elsewhere and frequently are about public officials of note and matters of public interest.

The club is honored that this respected panel of jurists would take the time and travel a significant distance to make their presentations at a dinner meeting of the club.

Meredith Chiles, VP for programs, reports she will provide on dinner tables information sheets revealing the “Court Structure in Texas” and the “Judicial Qualifications and Selection in the State of Texas.”

BEGINNING TIMES: Social Hour – 6:00 PM; Dinner – 6:30 PM; Program – 7:00 PM (approx.)

MENU: Fiesta Italiana: chicken pesto alfredo on bowtie pasta, baked ravioli, sweet Italian sausage and peppers, garlic cheese bread, caesar salad, sauteed vegetables with Italian herbs. Dessert: assorted cookies.

COST: Cost is $16 per person. Checks made out to “The Republican Club of Sun City” should be mailed to: The Republican Club of Sun City, 1530 Sun City Blvd., Suite 120, Box 227, Georgetown, TX 78633. The deadline for payment or reservations is Friday, November 13.

Bill Harron, treasurer, has set up a special collection box on his front porch at 125 Stetson Trail for individuals wishing to hand-deliver payments. For information about reservations, contact Bill at 512-864-0965 or Bharron@aol.com

VISITORS ARE WELCOME! (Non-members may attend a maximum of two meetings per year – as attendees for the dinner or as observers for the program – without having paid membership dues.)

CLUB WILL NOT MEET IN DECEMBER

In accordance with the usual practice, the club will not meet in December. Meetings will resume on Thursday, January 14, 2016 in the ballroom.

Club members will be given a calendar of meetings for the entire year 2016 in advance of the January meeting.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE FOR 2016 CONTINUES

Both residents and non-residents of Sun City who “believe in the philosophy of the Republican Party” may join the club for the year 2016 upon payment of the $15 per person membership fee payable at the club meetings of November 19 and January 14, 2016. Payments may also be made by mail sent to the address shown in the “COST” section above. (Memberships for the year 2015 are closed.)

The Renewal Process for Current Members: Current members who have no changes in contact information as shown on the 2015 club roster may renew for 2016 by simply remitting the $15 membership fee – without having to submit another application form. If there has been a change in contact information, an application (showing updated information) must also be submitted. Applications are available at club meetings and at the club website, rcsctx.com

Special Incentive for Current Members. Any club member who brings a guest to the November or January meeting will, provided the guest joins the club for 2016 that night, receive a free dinner during one of the two cited meetings. (This means a married couple may invite a prospective couple to a meeting and, provided the prospective couple joins the club, receive two free dinners.)

Prospective New Members. A current non-member wishing to join the club for 2016 may submit an application (available at club meetings and the club website) along with a membership fee of $15 per person to the address shown above in the “COST” section or during club meetings.

OTHER CLUB NEWS

Bylaw Changes Approved. During its meeting of October 11, the club approved proposed changes in the bylaws, including the addition of the added positions of Publicity Manager and Hospitality Director.

Nominating Committee Submits Nominations. Also during the October 11 meeting the Nominating Committee – consisting of Robert Fears, Meredith Chiles, John Congdon, and Alan Doane – nominated the following slate of officers for the year 2016: President – Meredith Chiles; 1st Vice President (for programs) – Ted Kennedy; 2nd Vice President (for membership) – Cathy Cody; Treasurer – Bill Harron; Publicity Manager – Kathy Kennedy; Hospitality Director – Terri Adsit. Nominations may also be made from the floor, provided that are made in accordance with Art. VIII, Sec. 2 of the bylaws. Voting on next year’s officers will take place during the November 19 meeting and will be followed by a brief installation ceremony.

Statistics. Club treasurer Bill Harron reports there were 137 attendees at the club’s October 11 dinner with one individual attending the program as an observer.

NEWS OF THE COUNTY PARTY

The County Party Executive Committee appointed Terry Putnam to fill the unexpired term ending in June 2016 of Everett Schmidt who recently resigned as chairman of Precinct 396.

Anyone interested in filing for a full two-year term beginning in June of 2016 of a precinct chairman position should note these deadlines: The filing period is September 15 through December 14, 2015; election is held during the primary election, March 1, 2016; and duties begin in June of 2016. This is a separate procedure from that involving unexpired terms. Interested parties should contact party chairman Bill Fairbrother about filing procedures. (The filing period for elected office positions is November 14 – December 14.)

Chairman Fairbrother announced that the 2016 Williamson County Reagan Dinner is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9, 2016 in the Sun City ballroom. The keynote speaker is Gov. Greg Abbott.

CONGRESS APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL TWO-YEAR SPENDING BILL

The Senate, following approval by the House, recently passed a controversial two-year spending bill, now the law of the land, which, according to AP writer Alan Fram, “staves off a destabilizing U. S. default, eases the threat of a federal shutdown and spotlights the pitfalls – and opportunities – posed by the current brand of divided government.”

The agreement will, “increase spending by $80 billion through September 2017 and increase the federal government’s borrowing limit until mid-March 2017. It raises spending evenly for both military and domestic programs: $50 billion in fiscal-year 2016 and $30 billion the following year.” In general terms, “the agreement divided Republicans between those who wanted to see higher defense spending and those who said the bill didn’t extract enough spending reductions in exchange for increasing the debt limit.”

Some House members were very critical of the legislation as approved. Newly elected House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, although he voted for the legislation, said the deal “stinks” and ripped the way it was negotiated. Rep. Randy Weber (TX) said, “We cannot keep kicking the can down the road. . . This bill was negotiated in secret with an Administration that would rather throw money at the problem than address it. Rep. Joe Barton (TX) said, “Unfortunately, back room deals with little transparency or an adequate review time have become the new norm in Congress.”

Political activist Ken Cuccinelli II, president of Senate Conservatives Action, offered these two devastating comments about the Senate vote: (1) “If you didn’t know otherwise, you would think the Democrats still controlled the Senate. Senator Ted Cruz was right when he said McConnell is ‘the most effective Democratic leader in modern times,” and (2)”Senator McConnell has broken so many promises and betrayed the party’s core principles so often that more Democrats now approve of the Republican-controlled Congress (13%) than Republicans (9%).”

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh provides a comprehensive analysis of that legislation with special criticism of Republican leaders. Following is a sampling of some of his points:

 VIOLATION OF PLEDGE. Not only is this not conservative, it’s not even Republican, even moderate Republican. This is rubber-stamp liberal Democrat budgetary philosophy. This violates every pledge and promise that they’ve made in the election campaigns going back to 2010, repeated in 2012 during the presidential race, and repeated again in 2014.

 BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDING. I don’t see any difference between Republican leadership and the Democrat leadership. I think the bipartisan project is to destroy conservatism . . .I’m talking about the Republican leadership.

 HILLARY AS BENEFICIARY. So the idea that the Democrat Party and their nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton, pose a grave threat to this county’s future because of their runaway spending, their expansion of the welfare, the expansion of the entitlement state, the creation of more and more dependents [is something] we can’t say anymore. They have crafted a budget that essentially gives nobody any reason not vote for Hillary Clinton.

The Vote in the Senate. The proposed legislation passed by a vote of 64-35 in the Senate, with 18 Senate Republicans joining the Democrats in approving the proposal. Those 18 Senators were:

Lamar Alexander (TN) John Cornyn (TX) Lisa Murkowski (AK)

Kelly Ayoatte (NH) Lindsey Graham (SC) Pat Roberts (KS)

John Barrasso (WY) Orrin Hatch (UT) Mike Rounds (SD)

Shelley Moore-Capito (WV) Mark Kirk (IL) John Thune (SD)

Thad Cochran (MS) John McCain (AZ) Thom Tillis (NC)

Susan Collins (ME) Mitch McConnell (KY) Roger Wicher (MS)

The Vote in the House. The House approved the proposed legislation with the following six Texas Representatives joining the 187 Democrat Representatives voting “aye”: Kevin Brady, John Carter, Mike Conaway, John Culberson, Kay Granger and Mac Thornberry. The following Texas Republicans voted “no”:

Louie Gohmert Ted Poe Kenny Marchant

Sam Johnson Jeb Hensarling Michael Burgess

Joe Barton Michael McCaul Pete Sessions

Randy Weber Michael McCaul Roger Williamson

Randy Neugebauer Lamar Smith Blake Farenthold

Pete Olson Will Hurd Brian Babin

BOTH U. S. DEPT. OF ED. AND DEPT. OF JUSTICE

TAKE SIDES IN SCHOOL LGTB DISPUTE

(Many more disputes involving school/parent clashes with government are now expected)

The reader may recall from the June 2015 club newsletter mention of the Fairfax County (VA) school board voting to add “gender identity” as a protected class to its policy on non-discrimination. That addition came as a result of pressure applied by the Office of Civil Rights, and the threat made by that federal agency (or some other federal agency) to withhold federal funds unless the board adopted that measure – which it did despite howls of protest from parents.

At present there are a number of similar disputes beginning to erupt throughout the nation as illustrated by the report below. In another Virginia school, the U. S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice have gotten involved via a friend-of-the-court brief submitted in support of a Virginia teenager (biologically a girl) who is suing for access to the boy’s restroom at the teenager’s high school. In addition to the involvement of the two federal agencies mentioned above is the involvement of two leftist non-governmental organizations, the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This means that four entities are arrayed against this school of limited resources which is resisting change.

Because more and more entities – public schools (everywhere, including Texas), cities (like Houston), businesses – will be experiencing these kinds of disputes. On grounds the reader may find it instructive, the following report from the Associated Press is provided. Although highly excerpted, the report may be valuable in that it reveals the “legalese” being employed by the government against resisting schools. In regard to a related matter it may be “eyeopening” to be aware that the AP (and probably others), when making news reports, uses the terms “her,” “him,” she,” and “her” on the basis of how the protesting person identifies himself or herself. The AP report concerns a biological girl wanting concessions as a boy:

The government’s filing says a Gloucester County School Board policy that requires 16-year-old junior Gavin

Grimm to use either the girls’ restrooms or a unisex bathroom constitutes unlawful bias under Title IX, the 1972 law

that prohibits sex discrimination in education.

The policy denies Grimm “a benefit that every other students at this school enjoys: access to restrooms that

are consistent with his or her gender identity,” lawyers for the two departments wrote. “Treating a student differently

from other students because his birth-assigned sex diverges from his gender identity constitutes differential treatment

on the basis of sex under Title IX.”

The brief “sends a crucial message to schools across the country – transgender youth are valuable members

of our community who are entitled to full protection of the law,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said.

“No one should be humiliated or marginalized by the adults responsible for helping them to achieve.”

After the Justice Department indicated in July that it wanted to weigh in on Grimm’s lawsuit,Gloucester County

Attorney Ted Wilmot said that existing court precedents do not support the idea that the school board’s restroom rules

violate Title IX.

Grimm, who was born female but identifies as male, told his parents he was transgender in April 2014 and was allowed to use the boys’ restrooms at Gloucester High School during the last school year. After some other families complained, the school board voted 6-1 to restrict students with “transgender issues” to single-stall unisex facilities or those corresponding to their biological sex.

The ACLU sued to overturn the policy on behalf of the student. A federal judge sided with the school board last month, dismissing the sex discrimination claim the ACLU had advanced and that the Obama administration had embraced. The case is now pending before the 4th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It should be noted that at present reports of litigation involve public schools.

HOUSE COMMITTEE BEGINS IMPEACHMENT

PROCESS AGAINST I.R.S. COMMISSIONER

Should impeachment also be considered for other officials, including the President?

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz began an impeachment process against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, accusing him of misleading the public and destroying documents that were sought under a congressional subpoena. He was joined in that effort by 18 of his fellow Republicans on that committee.

Among the specific charges were (1) that Koskinen misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior executive Lois Lerner’s emails and (2) that he oversaw destruction of evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the emails.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Committee’s top Democrat, said the impeachment resolution was “ridiculous” and a waste of taxpayer money. But, notes columnist Katie Pavlich, “It is important to keep in mind that Cummings himself is embroiled in controversy and alleged unethical behavior surrounding the IRS targeting scandal. In fact, previous reporting shows not only did he try to obstruct the investigation into the IRS for targeting conservatives, his office took part in the targeting.” The targeting included True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht from the Houston area.

The House will vote on the impeachment resolution in the coming days.

Some Benefits of an Impeachment Process. While an impeachment by the House followed by a conviction in the Senate could result in the removal of an offending party from office, an impeachment, alone – without Senate conviction, could provide benefits. Those benefits could stem from the message an impeachment conveys to Congress, the media and the general public. Columnist George Will makes the following observation in this regard: “If the House votes to impeach, the Senate trial will not produce a two-thirds majority needed for conviction. Impeachment would, however, test the mainstream media’s ability to continue ignoring this five-year-old scandal, and would demonstrate to dissatisfied Republican voters that control of Congress can have gratifying consequences.”

A Wall Street Journal editorial makes the following similar points:

Yet the exercise will have the salutary effect of reminding executive-branch officials that they are not a

government unto themselves. The U. S. Attorney has refused to honor Congress’s contempt charge against Ms. Lerner

for refusing to testify, the Justice Department has closed its investigations into IRS targeting without prosecutions, and

the press corps winks at abuses of power when conservatives are the targets.

With an executive who refuses to honor the normal separation of powers, Congress is obliged to use its

authority to hold government accountable.

Should the House Begin to Prepare for a Possible Impeachment of President Obama? Columnist Andrew McCarthy wrote a book published in 2014 titled, Faithless Execution, Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment, in which he notes that “High crimes and misdemeanors, the Constitutional standard for impeachment, are the misdeeds of high officials . . . [and are] violations of a ‘political’ nature . . . Impeachment is a political remedy, not a legal one.”

Also in his book, McCarthy presents model Articles of Impeachment as they might be applied to President Obama. In other words, in his view, the grounds for impeachment are already present; what is missing is political will.

McCarthy contends, “it is not crazy to talk about impeaching President Obama . . .Not only is impeachment the intended Constitutional remedy for systematic lawlessness [as is the case today], it is,

practically speaking, the only remedy.”

Following are some questions to consider about the impeachment process. (1) Is the lawlessness by the President generally recognized by the general public? (2) Should there be concern that what many people see as incompetence in foreign affairs constitutes danger that the nation will be dragged into another war or, alternatively, made to surrender its sovereignty? (3) Does the existing evidence that Obama is a pathological liar and an extreme narcissist place the nation in danger? (4) Does his announced intent to utterly “transform” the nation and his reported great concern for his precious legacy place the nation’s interests second to his? (5) Should the nation accept without resistance whatever Obama and the leftists have to offer even if in doing so the nation, as we have known it, is destroyed?

For more information about these topics, the reader is referred to the July 2014 newsletter for a report titled, “A Comparison of the Impeachment of President Clinton With the Contemplated Impeachment of President Obama” and to the January 2014 newsletter for a report titled, “Some Professional Comment About Liars and Narcissists.”

HEADLINES REVEAL CONTINUING TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA

Following is a variety of headlines with an accompanying sentence of explanation which can reveal at a glance some significant events which are transferring America. These headlines, in the main, will not appear in the printed media nor heard over mainstream TV. This void may account to some degree the large number of “low information” voters in the nation.

A FEW TRANSGENDER STUDENTS TIE SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN KNOTS OVER LOCKER ROOMS

School districts now have to deal with both transgender students and rebellious students after adventure

BOARD MEMBERS RESIGN AMID CONTROVERSY OVER RESTROOM FOR TRANSGENDER STUDENT

The Hillsboro School District accepted the resignations of three board due to “strained philosophical differences”

CHAPLAINS BANNED FROM PREACHING THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN

Chaplain not permitted to tell inmates at Juvenile Center (KY) about sin because that is “bias”

STUDENTS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF OFFICER WHO FLIPPED GIRL FROM DESK

High school students protest the firing of County Sheriff’s Department Deputy who forcibly removed a student from class

ACLU FILES LAWSUIT TO BLOCK SCHOOL CHOICE FOR NEVADA CHILDREN

ACLU attempts to block home-schooled students from participating in Nevada’s savings account plan

OBAMA ALTERS U. S. OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO COMPLY WITH ISLAMIC LAW

Oath of Allegiance administered to immigrants are now more conducive to Sharia law

HOMOSEXUALITY CELEBRATED AT FORT HOOD DURING “PRIDE MONTH”

Deputy Commander introduces guest speaker who is married to another man

ARMY GEN. RANDY TAYLOR INTRODUCES HIS HUSBAND AT PENTAGON GAY PRIDE EVENT

General Taylor introduces his husband, Lucas

BLACK LIVES MATTER SEEK LIAISON WITH TEHRAN

Tehran hosts several African American activists to discuss American police brutality

NYPD CHIEF SAYS HIRING BLACK OFFICERS IS DIFFICULT: SO MANY HAVE SPENT TIME IN JAIL

Hiring more non-white officers is difficult because so many recruits have criminal records and we can’t hire them

COLLEGE QUOTAS FOR ASIANS

Harvard limits Asian-Americans to a flat 15-18 percent of the student body

JUDGE: UTAH MUST RECOGNIZE “MARRIED” LESBIANS AS LEGAL PARENTS

Utah must now recognize a married lesbian couple as the legal parents of their daughter on state-issued birth certificates

WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO RELEASE CLINTON EMAILS

A White House official said the White House will not release a batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails until President Obama leaves office

100 U. S. CITIES BEG OBAMA FOR MORE MUSLIM REFUGEES

Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake speaks of need to rebuild city with immigrants and refugees – and so do other mayors

IS THERE A COMING ERA OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE?

Civil obedience like the 60s when court orders were defied may be repeated. This time by the right.

SCIENCE INCREASINGLY MAKES THE CASE FOR GOD

Science, which at one time was used to justify atheism, is now used to justify existence of God

NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

(Some random observations on this crazy world in which we live)

 There are only 10 U. S. Senate seats held by Democrats that are up for election in the coming election cycle – compared to 24 Senate seats that Republicans must defend. And there is a unique problem with California. Current polling shows that two Democrats are the two leading candidates for the primary Senate race. This is significant inasmuch as California has what is called an “Open Primary” which means that only the top two vote-getters would advance to the General Election. If the polling data hold up, there will be two Democrats on the general election ballot and no Republicans.

 Seattle was the first city to adopt a minimum wage of $15 per hour. Liberals ridiculed claims that paying workers a higher wage could have any negative impact on employers and the regional job market. A study released by the American Enterprise Institute said that even though the full impact of the wage increase has not been felt, Seattle is already losing restaurant jobs at a time when the rest of Washington is gaining them. The report said 700 restaurant jobs already have been lost.

 The federal judge involved in sentencing of county clerk Kim Davis to jail is a judicial activists. He required students and staff of certain public schools to attend mandatory diversity training, “a significant portion of which would be devoted to issues of sexual orientation and gender harassment.” He also ruled against a law banning partial-birth abortion, was nominated for his lifetime job when only 34, and was confirmed because his father was a Senator, despite having inadequate legal experience and an “unqualified” rating from the American Bar Association. (Source: Phyllis Schlafley)

 The U. S. Chamber of Commerce said it’s looking for opportunities to get involved in Democratic Party primary races next year to help block far-left candidates. It hasn’t been involved in a Democratic primary before but “We’re also very concerned about the move to the far, far, far left and what that’s doing to the Democratic Party,” said a Chamber spokesman. (Source: Austin American-Statesman)

 Studies of students in New York and Minnesota, published by Teenwise Minnesota and the American Journal of Public Health, found that gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth are more likely than their peers to have been pregnant or caused a pregnancy. In Minnesota, 2.4% of heterosexual males and 1.5% of heterosexual females in ninth through eleventh grade had experienced pregnancy, compared to 8.9% of bisexual males and 8.2% of bisexual females. In New York, twice as many lesbian and bisexual females had been pregnant compared to heterosexual females, and three times as many bisexual and gay males had caused a pregnancy compared to heterosexual boys. (Source: AFA Journal)

 For years, pastor David Wells has ministered to inmates at a nearby juvenile detention center. However, in July his volunteer credentials with the Kentucky Department of Justice were revoked because he refused to agree to a new policy that forbids quoting the Bible or discussing sexual orientation and behavior. These issues often arose as he ministered to young inmates. The new policy requires staff and volunteers not to imply or tell any juveniles that they are “abnormal, deviant, sinful, or that they can or should change their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

 After Walmart announced plans to raise store workers’ minimum wage, thousands of workers are less content than they were before. You might expect workers to be grateful that Walmart is raising its lowest wage from $9 to $10 per hour. The workers who were already earning over $10 an hour – many of them company veterans – see no increase in pay. “It is pitting people against each other,” complained an employee who earns $12 an hour. (Source: newsmax)

 There was social discontent at the time of the nation’s founding. Washington had to contend with a lack of popular support for a war. He never had the backing of more than 1/3 of the colonists. Another third of the population was loyal to the king, and the rest were indifferent. But by the end of the war in 1783, the Continental Army had defeated the most formidable military force on earth.