We are remembering the 190th anniversary of the War of Texas Independence in March and April of this year. And recalling both the lessons we should remember or learn afresh, while countering the “modern” condemnation of the First Republic of Texas.
For us here at TPOL, this is a personal matter. Our family roots are largely Texian, and the West (highly influenced by Texas). From childhood (or marriage), we’ve been taught the lessons learned from Texas between about 1800 and 2000. Good and bad examples.
So read on and let us share some thoughts about liberty and Texas and the West today.
James L. Haley, a biographer of President Sam Houston, wrote: “It seems it is the modern intellectual fashion to treat the Texas Revolution as a felony committed against the dignity of the Mexican nation by a besotted gaggle of slave smuggling American land speculators and to humbug any voice that there may have been a kernel of justification for it.
It seems that every day we have yet another example of how corrupted, how disgusting the media (press) has become in 2026.
There are several very recent examples. Let us share them.
Many readers will recall the murder of the young woman, Iryna Zarutska, in North Carolina. The Blaze recently reported on the psychiatric evaluation of her killer. Consider these headlines:
The headline: Homeless schizophrenic man accused of stabbing Iryna Zarutska to death is ‘incapable to proceed’ to trial.
The very first sentence: The man on trial for allegedly stabbing to death a Ukrainian immigrant without provocation
Aaaand, the kicker: Video from the light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, captured the moment that Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly brutally stabbed Iryna Zarutska in the neck, according to prosecutors.
It is hard to believe that “once upon a time” labor unions were enemies of government. Fedgov and State governments both. 150 years ago, and much more recently, the FedGov and States used the Army and National Guard (Organized Militia) to suppress labor union activities. Especially strikes. Quite often, using military forces (literally the threat of force or show of force) did result in actual use of force. Violence: killing people (usually unarmed people).
These violent acts of suppression by State or Federal military forces, from the 1870s through the 1930s, were not the result of panic or matters getting out of hand. They were planned and commanded, not just by governor’s or presidential executive orders, but by legislatures.
This was, of course, wrong: one of the many ways in which human government treated and treats people wrongly.
Today, to some degree, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. In Colorado, for example, we find the Regressive-controlled General Assembly (the Legislature, both upper and lower houses) pushing for government to treat labor unions like the senior house of the General Assembly. In some really stupid ways!
Especially since what the unions want means government agencies snatching more power to micro-manage everyday life, and create opportunities for new government jobs (more government parasites) and fees and fines, and at the same time increase the incentives to shove campaign contributions into the pockets of politicians. And treat everyone like the children they seem to be.
This meme recently showed up. You may have seen something similar.
Humm. Does this make sense? For years, we have seen the so-called Progressives (Tranzis and Regressives in our opinion) use this sort of tactic frequently. “The United States,” we are told, “must learn from the rest of the (Western/European-based) world, and jettison old-fashioned, out-dated, and so-called conservative ideals and concepts.”
Now it appears that the easily-labelled and frequently-derided extreme-right-wing conservatives are imitating their political enemies. As common as that is, it still comes across as odd. And dangerous for their own cause.
From the point of view of lovers of liberty (like us here at TPOL), none of the nations listed in the image seem to be very good role models. For anything, including how they run immigration or migration. The graphic does not point out that many of these nations also are very authoritarian. Some would also punish anyone daring to migrate from their wonderful, blessed motherland.
Today, especially in the Mountain States and some of the Great Plains, there is massive alarm being broadcast by a wide range of people. One of the fears is that of mining: controversial for more than half a century: gold, rare earths, coal, even sand and gravel.
The other is much newer: a fear of data centers. Data centers are demanded, we are told, by the explosive growth of so-called AI. By the massive expansion of the internet.
Mining, we are told, destroys the land. It consumes massive amounts of water. millions of gallons of Diesel fuel are burned in the equipment. It destroys wildlife habitat, pollutes the waters of the US, drives away tourists, and more.
Data centers are equally bad. They consume gigawatts of electrical power, their demand driving up prices for electricity and even denying people adequate power for their homes. To produce that power requires mining and burning of coal, or drilling for and burning natural gas, all producing air pollution. They also consume millions of gallons of water for cooling. They occupy square miles of land.
There are many other evils associated with these operations. Thousands of postings, tens of thousands of words, are being written weekly in opposition to these things.
All of them, we are told, are the result of greedy corporations, lusting after the almighty (or not) dollar: they are the Robber Barons of the 19th Century, reborn and just as conniving, despicable, and corrupting. Virtually all of the postings also demand that government, and voters, do something to get rid of them: to prevent new ones and even close existing ones.
Due to work, travel, and other issues, TPOL missed National Tax Day. But we can’t totally ignore the horrible status of tolerating evils like taxation.
This meme was very recently posted. We think it is a legitimate question. Dear readers, do you agree?
Is this not criminal? Morally if not legally? Even worse is the distribution:
As someone pointed out with this chart, we don’t have a tax fairness problem (at least not from the point of view of Populists and those who claim to be the vanguard of the poor people). We have a spending problem. You can see this in the State tax burdens.
Now consider this recently published map:
We point out that this does not include any direct federal taxes: income (individual or corporate) or excise (on booze, fuel, lubricants, tires, etc.). Just what State and local governments rip off people who live, travel through, shop, or work in their jurisdiction.
We admit to being surprised that New Mexico is the third worst (after Hawai’i and New York State). Which, admittedly, is probably skewed by New York City. For us at TPOL, we are pleased to see that South Dakota is tied for fourth best (together with New Hampshire) and just after Alaska, Tennessee and Delaware. (And are proud for a friend/correspondent who helped, years ago, to eliminate the income tax in Tennessee and also overall lower taxes.)
It is interesting to see that except for a few outliers in the East (and of course, Alaska), the bite of State and local taxes is quite a bit less in the northern part of “flyover country” – but we will tell you that taxes are still way too high, and the waste of money is just as high in those States that are under 8%.
And remember:
Now, since Uncle Milty is not a modern guy, we’ll also quote someone else:
We will look at more tax issues from a libertarian and christian point of view in future commentaries.
Apparently, Jennifer Siebel Newsom recently said in a public speech: “Boys, we all know … are moving away from the more progressive—Boys [who] have spent time online are moving a little bit—I’m trying not to be political here but are moving to the right and are being sort of influenced by the Andrew Tates and some of that sort of alt-right socialization online that we know is very, very dangerous. My husband and I were alarmed when our kids were watching sports online. My son knew about Andrew Tate, thought he was pretty cool… We were one of the most progressive households and our son is confused and asking all these questions.”
Ah, you ask! Who is Jennifer Siebel Newsom? According to Wickedpedia, she is the “first partner” of Governor Gavin Newsom. She is his “current spouse” and who used to be called the “First Lady” of a State. To be more accurate, she is the consort of His Imperial Highness Gavin the Slick. Oddly enough, although a filmaker and writer, she supposedly was a Republican at one time.
In the last commentary, we discussed how Europe is melting down: its supra-national government (the organs of the tyrannical EU) is corrupt and growing more so. The EU’s 27 national governments and the half-dozen or so independent nations (such as Norway, Switzerland, and a few others) are also largely corrupt and face the same demographic dooms that the EU’s members do.
But the EU’s current, Tranzi powers-that-be seemingly ignore those approaching dooms, apparently lulled by the vast wealth they are harvesting from the people of their nations. And driven by their hatred of the US and Russia. And indifference to China, India, and much of the world. But their hatred is particularly directed to DC. And not just to DC, but to virtually every American State. Not because we are so much “freer” than they are (we are not), not because we are so much wealthier (again, we are not), but because we(the Americas) are an alternative.
Especially if Europe melts all the way down in the next decade or so, as it seems intent on doing.
Conditions in Europe, particularly in the EU, seem to be deteriorating rapidly.
We have, of course, the impact of the Russo-Ukraine War. And added to that is the American war against Iran, and the resulting severing of oil and gas (and fertilizer) life-streams. We have The Donald screaming out at NATO, jerking the rest of the alliance back and forth, together with the Greenland issue and others. We continue to see massive immigration into multiple EU states from Muslim and Christian Africa and Asia. American tariffs are freaking out European politicians and industrialists (and the tourist industry), especially given the on-off nature.
But not all the problems are external. One of the latest is very internal indeed. That is the growing instability of the central organs of what more and more people (inside and outside of Europe) are calling a tyranny. A very complex one, at that.
[Here is a truly evil example of jack-booted thugs abusing information technology. A guest commentary from Matt Insley with our own added comments. A warning for us all.]
It’s a July 2025 morning in rural Tennessee. Fifty-year-old grandmother Angela Lipps is babysitting four young children at her home.
Then the U.S. Marshals arrive.
They’ve come to arrest her — at gunpoint — not for anything she’s done in Tennessee, but for bank fraud allegedly committed in North Dakota. A state she’s never once visited. Ms. Lipps would spend the next 108 days in a Tennessee jail cell before being extradited to North Dakota, held there without bail.
The Price of Liberty 
Texas was free – if imperfect
We are remembering the 190th anniversary of the War of Texas Independence in March and April of this year. And recalling both the lessons we should remember or learn afresh, while countering the “modern” condemnation of the First Republic of Texas.
For us here at TPOL, this is a personal matter. Our family roots are largely Texian, and the West (highly influenced by Texas). From childhood (or marriage), we’ve been taught the lessons learned from Texas between about 1800 and 2000. Good and bad examples.
So read on and let us share some thoughts about liberty and Texas and the West today.
James L. Haley, a biographer of President Sam Houston, wrote: “It seems it is the modern intellectual fashion to treat the Texas Revolution as a felony committed against the dignity of the Mexican nation by a besotted gaggle of slave smuggling American land speculators and to humbug any voice that there may have been a kernel of justification for it.
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