Will the Real Israel Please Stand?

 

Will the Real Israel Please Stand?
By
James Scott Trimm

 

I am proud to say that the Texas Republican Party is a pro-Israel party, with a pro-Israel platform, and that earlier this month at the State Convention 95% of Texas delegates voted in favor of the pro-Israel plank of the Texas Republican Party Platform.

That said, antisemitism in the world, the US and in Texas is on the rise.  And unfortunately there are efforts to undermine the pro-Israel aspect of the Texas Republican Party.  There were efforts to remove the plank by some, and an effort to exclude the term "antisemitism" was successful.  

Now certain voices in our party are asking "Will the Real Israel Please Stand?" challenging the legitimacy of the modern State of Israel and what they call "Christian Zionism".

Let me begin by saying that "Zionism" is simply the belief that the world's only Jewish state has a right to exist.  If you don't believe that the world's only Japanese state has a right to exist, then you are anti-Japanese.  And if you don't believe that the world's only Jewish state has a right to exist, then you are an antisemite.  Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.  

Those making these attacks are disguising their anti-Zionism (antisemitism) as mere "eschatology" and interpretation of biblical prophecy.  They then present an interpretation which casts modern Israel and the Jewish people as a false-Israel.  Some will go so far as to identify them as the "synagogue of Satan" mentioned in Revelation. 

Christian eschatology falls under three categories, premillenialism, postmillenialism and amillenialism.  Premillenialists believe that Jesus will return to establish his 1,000 year Kingdom.  Postmillenialists believe that the Church will build the Kingdom and Jesus will return to receive it.  And amillenialists believe that the Church is the Kingdom. Premillenialism can be further subdivided into Historical Premillenialism and Dispensationalism.  Dispensationalists tend to believe that there will be a rapture of the Church followed by a seven year tribulation and then Jesus makes his final return to establish his Kingdom on earth.  The majority of Evangelical Christians in the United States are Premillenialists, mostly Dispensationalists.While Amillenialists, like Premillenialists, see a great tribulation coming and "dark decline" in the last days, Postmillenialists see the Church building God's Kingdom on earth in the last days.  This gives rise to "Kingdom Now" and "Dominion" theology.  So-called Christian Nationalism is an outgrowth of this Kingdom Now theology.  In many cases, these individuals wish to create an American Christian Theocracy.

These three different theologies tend to shape one's view of Israel.  Premillenialists, especially Dispensationalists, tend to view the Church and Israel as two separate entities.  They believe that the Jewish people are God's chosen people and that God's plan for Israel and the Jewish people is not over.  As I said, these are the majority of Evangelicals in the United States.  It is this theology that Andrew Iskar, Christian Nationalist writer and speaker, calls "dubious theological shackles."  

This leaves us with Postmillenialism and Amillenialism.  Those who subscribe to these theologies fall into two major groups: Dual Covenant Theology and Church Israel Replacement Theology. Dual Covenant theology teaches that the Church and Israel (i.e. the Jews) each have their own dynamic relationship with God thru separate Covenants.  While Church Israel Replacement Theology (also known as Supersecionism, teaches that the Church has replaced Israel, and that the Church, not the Jewish people, is the true Israel. One may hold to supercesionism without being an anti-zionist a supersionalist need not oppose the right of Japan to sexist or be anti-Japanese.

Finally a special note is required regarding the Roman Catholic Church.  Under the Vatican II declarations, the Catholic Church recognized that the Jewish people have a Covenant relationship with God apart from the Church, and rejected antisemitism and in 1994 the Roman Catholic Church established diplomatic relations with Israel, recognizing it's right to exist.  However some fundamentalist Roman Catholics reject these moves by the Church.

Now these different views see modern Israel as fitting into Biblical Prophecy in different ways, but many of them see a prophetic significance to the birth of the modern State of Israel.  Whole books have been written on this topic.  The Republican Party has always been pro-Israel and our Texas Republican Party Platform has always been pro-Israel.  

Allow me to share my own view, of biblical prophecy concerning the birth of modern Israel.   

1 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
(Ezekiel 36:1-7 KJV)

I have included only the first seven verses here, but you may want to read the whole chapter.  God does not restore the Jewish nation because of merit.  He does not do so because of anything the Jews have done.  Ezekiel 36 tells us that God would restore the Jewish people to their land because of their terrible mistreatment at the hands of other nations.  And this is exactly what happened.  In the wake of the holocaust, there was great sympathy for the Jewish people, and the UN voted to partition land for Israel out of the British Mandate (there was never a Palestinian State there).  

Is God done with the Jewish People?  The prophet Jeremiah writes:  

35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
(Jer. 31:35-37 KJV)

What is the “Synagogue of Satan” mentioned in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9?   Both passages identify this group as “those who say they are Jews but lie”.

An interpretation of the above texts have surfaced which interprets these texts to refer to those Jews who do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah. But an honest look at the Scriptures will show that it is not possible to identify the “Synagogue of Satan” in this way.

To begin with it is important to recognize that the same John wrote both Revelation and the Gospel of John. Not only is this the traditional understanding, but there are a number of common elements that point to the common authorship of these two books. Both books identify the Messiah as the “lamb” (Jn. 1:29; Rev. 5:6, 8, 12; 14:1) and as the incarnate “word” (Jn. 1:1-3, 14; Rev. 19:13) and both refer to the “living waters” (Jn. 4:10; 7:38; Rev. 22:1). 

Now we must look at how John uses the word “Jew” in his own writings. John himself frequently invokes the term “Jews” to refer to Jewish people who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. For example:

“therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus” (Jn. 5:16)
“the Jews sought more to kill him” (Jn. 5:18)
“the Jews then murmured at him” (Jn. 6:41)
“the Jews sought to kill him” (Jn. 7:1)
etc. etc. etc.

Clearly John has absolutely no objection whatsoever to using the term “Jews” to refer either to Jews who accepted Messiah or those that rejected him. Therefore the statement in Rev. 2:9 and 3:9 cannot be criticizing the usage of the word “Jews” to describe Jews who don't believe Jesus in the Messiah. Otherwise John would here be criticizing his own inspired writing in the Gospel of John in which he does just that himself frequently!

In closing, this is our Texas Republican Party Platform on Israel.  Do not be fooled:

 

 

Our Texas Republican Party Platform on Israel vs Andrew Iskar

 

 

This is not our Texas Republican Party Platform on Israel:

 

This is our Texas Republican Party Platform on Israel:

Don't be fooled!

The Texas Sovereignty Act as a GoP Legislative Priority

The Texas Sovereignty Act: A GoP Platform Priority
By
James Scott Trimm

 

 

The Legislative Priorities for the new 2024 Republican Party Platform have been released and Priority Eight is "End Federal Overreach."  This priority item reads:

End Federal Overreach - Resisting unconstitutional federal acts and mandates that restrict transportation, including mandatory kill switches in vehicles, road diets, and restrictions on the owner’s right to repair vehicles and equipment. Ensuring that Texans have medical freedom and can give or withhold consent for any vaccine or medical treatment without coercion, are not discriminated against based on vaccine status, and are not faced with any vaccine or medical mandate by public or private entities.

Some Platform Planks also involve invoking Texas Sovereignty, for example:

186. State Authority Over Marriage: We support withholding jurisdiction from the federal courts and nullifying federal Executive Branch rules, orders, regulations, or licensing requirements in cases involving family law, and especially any changes in the definition of marriage.

187. Nullify Unconstitutional Ruling: We believe the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, overturning the Texas law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Texas, has no basis in the Constitution and should be nullified.

Nearly ten years ago, in 2015 I wrote a blog titled How Texas Can Reclaim Our Sovereignty in which I proposed the idea of a Texas Sovereignty Act that would create a mechanism for Texas to enforce the Tenth Amendment and put an end to unconstitutional Federal Overreach by the Federal government.

Working with my friend Tom Glass, I wrote the Texas Sovereignty Act into an actual bill (see my 2016 blog The Texas Sovereignty Act Unveiled.) I then found a State Representative, Cecil Bell, who was happy to file the bill, as reported in the Texas Nationalist Movement News (June 15, 2017) from their interview of Representative Bell about the Act:

"A gentleman by the name of James Trimm, who is a precinct chair up in North Texas, sent me a prospective bill that he had labeled Texas Sovereignty Act,” began Representative Bell on the origins of the Act he introduced."

(Texas Sovereignty Act: Representative Bell Goes on the Record; June 15, 2017) 

In the 85th Legislative Session the Bill was filed in the House by Cecil Bell (HB 2338) and in the Texas Senate by Creighton (SB 2015).  In the House four "joint authors" added their names to the bill along with eight "Coauthors" including conservative hero Jonathan Stickland.  The Bill received a favorable hearing with recommendation from the State & Federal Power & Responsibility Committee and was referred with recommendation.  Unfortunately, like so many good conservative bills, it died in the Calendars Committee.  In the Texas Senate, the Bill was not even given a hearing.

Cecil Bell has faithfully refiled the bill in every session since.  Now with "End Federal Overreach" as a Texas Republican Legislative Priority, I believe we can finally get the Texas Sovereignty Act passed in the 89th Texas Legislative Session!  Lets all work together to make this happen finally End Federal Overreach and Enforce the Tenth Amendment in Texas!

 

 

Documents Prove Klick is Lying About Lowe's Service with Collin Country Sheriff's Office

 

 

In the press release below, David Lowe has released documents proving that Stephanie Klick is lying about him once again.  Sadly Klick has sunk to exploiting the disability of an American Combat Veteran who was injured in a combat zone.  David Lowe's "demotion" was at his own request, as a transfer from patrol to serving as a detention officer, due to challenges Lowe faced due to injuries he sustained in a combat zone while serving our country.  The documents also show that, not only was David retired from the United Stated Army with an "honorable discharge", but he was also released from his service to the Collin County Sheriff's Office with an "honorable discharge" as well.

It takes a very special kind of low, to exploit and mischaracterize the disability of an American Combat Veteran received in a Combat Zone, in a dishonest smear campaign.  

Stephanie Klick will say literally anything to hold onto power.  She cannot be trusted!

David Lowe will serve District 91 well in the Texas House!  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

DAVID LOWE RELEASES DOCUMENTS PROVING STEPHANIE KLICK IS LYING ABOUT HIS SERVICE WITH THE COLLIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

North Richland Hills, Texas (May 13th, 2024) — On Monday, David Lowe released documentation proving he was "honorably discharged" from Collin County Sheriff's Office, and that he requested the transfer deemed a "demotion.” Klick is attacking Lowe on his service with the Collin County Sheriff's Office.

Lowe says, "The challenges I faced as a patrol deputy were due to injuries sustained while serving in a combat zone. I requested a transfer to the jail, which is the ‘demotion’ Klick attacks me for. I was honorably discharged from the Sheriff’s Office, and for my opponent to suggest otherwise is disgraceful.”

Klick’s campaign continues to suffer due to her loyalty to liberal speaker Dade Phelan, and for failing to protect children from radical transgender ideology. This is a last ditch effort to save her political career.

"My heart is to serve, whether as a combat veteran with nine years of military law enforcement experience, an honorably discharged peace officer, or a State Representative. I am confident voters see through these Hail Mary attempts to save Klick's campaign,” said Lowe.

The documents revealing the honorable discharge and Lowe's request to become a detention officer are attached below.

###

All media inquiries should be submitted to:
Contact@DavidLoweforTexas.com

 

Why was the New Quantum Leap Canceled?

 

 

Last week NBC canceled the new Quantum Leap after just thirty one episodes.  Why was the show canceled?  for one simple reason, because virtually no one wanted to watch it.  Out of a nation of 333 million Americans, only 1.36 million were watching this show.  How bad is this number?  The 2007 show Viva Laughlin is widely regarded as one of the worst TV series ever made.  This show was a comedy/drama and yes, musical (yes, I said musical) about the high stakes world of the casino business in Laughlin Nevada.  The show was so bad that it was canceled after airing only two episodes.  Three others had been filmed, but to this date have never aired anywhere.  When the studio got word of the cancellation, they were actually filming a scene, and immediately stopped in the middle of the scene.  As bad as this show was, it had over six million viewers.  That is how bad the ratings for the new Quantum Leap were.

So what went wrong?  Why did no one want to watch this new Quantum Leap?  To understand that, we must first understand the original Quantum Leap.

 

The Original Quantum Leap

The original Quantum Leap aired for five seasons between 1989 and 1993.  The first episode had over 23 million viewers, and the final episode had over 20 million viewers.

The original Quantum Leap aired in the midst of the end of an era of faith based TV programs like Highway to Heaven (1984-1989) and Touched by an Angel (1994-2003).  And the original Quantum Leap was just such a program, but with Science Fiction window dressing.

Like the earlier Highway to Heaven, Quantum Leap opened with the camera passing thru a  heavenly cloud-scape.  Both shows featured a duo in a semi-anthology, with a different setting and supporting cast each week.  Each week they would often be helping those supporting characters thru difficult decisions.   In Highway to Heaven, Jonathan was trying to earn his wings, and in Quantum Leap, Sam was trying to make the final leap home.  Each had a trusty helper who was a little more rough around the edges, and not what they were.  In Highway, Jonathan's helper was a non-angel, and in Quantum Leap, Sam's helper was a non-leaper.  It is clear to see that Highway to Heaven partially inspired Quantum Leap.

The parallels do not end there.  In the very first episode of Quantum Leap, it was suggested that God was guiding Sam's Leaps.  In the first episode of Season two, Al testifies to a Senate Committee that God has taken Control of Project Quantum Leap, and is using Sam to make right things that once went wrong.  On Catch a Falling Star Sam wants to remain in a leap, but Al points at the ceiling and says that Sam doesn't have much choice, that is up to "Him."  And in the final episode Sam meets either God, or God's messenger, in the form of "Al the Bartender", who tells Sam that he has been leaping because he wants to make the world a better place, that he can leap home anytime he likes, but that he can still do a lot more good. 

In the episode A Little Miracle Sam says "Leaping around in time has made me realize that, in some strange way, I'm a servant of a Higher Power."  In The Right Hand of God, just before leaping, Sam muses to himself about having (in the previous episode) messed with time, saying that the "Big Man Upstairs" would understand,  Immediately upon leaping he gets punched in the jaw and says "maybe not."  Later in that same episode Sam looks up saying "I sure hope you know what you are doing."

The Power of Prayer 

Leap of Faith shows Al's relationship with God. Al prayed for his father when he had cancer, yet his father still died. Al didn't want to have anything to do with God after this happened. However, when he sees Sam lying on the ground with a gun wound, Al begs God not to take him. Sam gets up, alive.

In A Single Drop of Rain, Sam leaps into Doctor William "Billy" Beaumont, returning to his hometown (Clover Bend, Texas), where everyone suffers from drought. Everyone expects him to make rain, but really Sam is there to keep William's brother and his wife together.  Nonetheless the people of the area are suffering horribly under the drought, and Sam wants so badly to help them.  Al tells him that Ziggy says that, as a matter of history it would not rain in Clover Bend for eight months, one week, four days, two hours, and forty-four minutes.  Sam can do a lot of things, but he cannot make it rain, when history shows it didn't rain for months.  At one point Sam is in an open field, looks to the sky and prays:

"I don't know who's running this show.  I don't know why I was chosen.  I bounce around from place to place.  I do everything I'm supposed to do.  At least the best way I can. But I don't know how to do this one.  I mean, You gotta help me.  I figure you owe me...for a couple times anyway. You make it rain.  You hear me? You make it rain!"

It is a moment very much like Jacob wrestling with God in Gen 32:22-32, and refusing to let go unless God gives him a blessing.

That night,  the timeline is changed.... It rains!

 

Solving Problems with the Bible

In the episode "So Help Me God" Sam leaps into the body of an attorney, Leonard Dancey at the very moment he must plea on behalf of his client, Delilah Berry, a black woman in the Jim Crow South, who stands accused of murder. Based on looking in her eyes, he chooses to plead not guilty.

Sam discovers that she is accused of murdering the son of the most powerful man in town. Believing that a cover-up is afoot, but with a client unwilling to talk, Sam is able to ascertain that his client and the other witnesses have all sworn an oath on the Bible to tell a lie designed to protect the true killer – the murdered boy’s own mother.

 Sam prays that God would give him the right words to say as he tries to adjust to being a lawyer.  He prays again for help just as the trial starts.  Al gets Sam to quote Galatians 5:7-10 to the witness:

7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
(Gal. 5:7-10 KJV)

There’s talk of how they are God-fearing women, which is partly why they won’t testify (because they take the oath and the Bible seriously).  And of course, Lila quotes the title of the episode at the end when she agrees to learn to read, “So help me God.”

Sam calls the troubled mother to the stand whereupon she confesses to pulling the trigger. Sam secures an acquittal for his client.

Resist the Devil

In the Boogieman, Sam is confronted by Satan himself, who is not happy that Sam has been righting the things that he once made wrong.  Satan attempts to kill Sam, who is mysteriously delivered at the last minute (by God?).  And in three Season five episodes, Sam encounters evil leapers, who appear to be servants of Satan, trying to make wrong what once went right, and undo Sam's work. 

I write all of this about the original Quantum Leap to make the case very clearly, that the original Quantum Leap was faith based, even Bible oriented, programming, and that the Sci-Fi element was just a clever disguise.  

The New Quantum Leap

So why did the new Quantum Leap fail so miserably?  Why did no one want to watch this new show?  

The new show completely eliminated the faith based element that was the very core of the original.  God was mentioned only to dismiss the allegedly false theory that the original project team had had, that God was guiding the leaps.  

The faith based message of the original was completely replaced by a radical "woke" agenda.  None of the ensemble of characters were white men with no gender issues.  The only white male, was a cross-dresser.  And this appears to be no accident, but is said to have been built into the casting call, effectively, straight white males need not apply.  The woke propaganda of the show hit a milestone with the episode Let Them Play written by trans activist Shakina Nayfack, and supporting not only biological males competing with women in women's sports, but even the Gender transitioning of children (minors).     That week alone the ratings dropped from 2.1 million viewers to 1.75 million viewers (ultimately winding down to 1.36 million viewers).

Was the Original Quantum Leap Woke?

I keep hearing claims from fans of this recently canceled 31 episode failed Quantum Leap sequel, that the original Quantum Leap was "woke" for its time. Most of these claims seem to come from people who were very young, or not even born during the original run of the original Quantum Leap. I am 58 years old, and my wife and I watched the original Quantum leap during it's original run in the early 90's (it actually started in 89), and are still fans of the original. I was then, and still am, a political conservative. In fact I was, and am, politically involved, and during that time was serving as a GOP convention delegate. Now I would define "woke" (lots of people here have asked for a definition) as a recent term the agenda of the radical extreme left. The term "woke" did not exist in the early 90's and the liberalism of that time was no where near as radical as the "woke" agenda of today. Nonetheless, as a conservative that watched the show during its first run, it was *not* a radical left wing propaganda program, not by any means. The issues that the show tackled, such as racism, were *not* exclusively liberal issues in the early 90's. Conservatives of the 90's were just as opposed to racism as liberals, as we are today. There was only one episode that I can think of that leaned left at all, and that was the episode that dealt with gays in the military. However the show was far from gay-friendly, as the episode Good Night, Dear Heart, earned the ire of the homosexual community for its negative image of lesbians. In that episode a vulnerable emigrant girl is portrayed as having been preyed upon by a lesbian seductress, who ultimately murdered the girl, when the girl fell in love with a man, and decided to go straight and marry him. Certainly anyone who wants to portray the original Quantum Leap as having been "woke for its time" is terribly mistaken. I was a conservative activist then (and now) and was a fan and viewer of the show at the time, and I did not have any problem with the show being too liberal. To the contrary, I saw it then, and now, as a faith building, God friendly show that generally appeals to me as a conservative. So I just wanted to set the story straight here. The original Quantum leap was not "woke for its time". The racism of the 50's and 60's which the program dealt with, was not the status of conservatives of the 90'.

 

Conclusion

There is nothing like the original Quantum Leap on television today.  It was the end of an era.  We will likely never have a sequel or reboot that recaptures this quality, because the liberal  media has a different message they want to shove down our throats today.  But fortunately we can vote by changing the channel or turning their trash off.  And when we refuse to watch, they lose.  The new Quantum Leap is just such an example.  virtually no one wanted to watch this show.  It was just the latest example of the axiom "Go woke, go broke."

Why HD 91 is Ground Zero in the Fight for Texas

  

Why HD 91 is Ground Zero in the Fight for Texas

James Scott Trimm

 

The Paxton acquittal has created a great deal of energy in the grass roots against the Phelan Establishment RINOS, an energy which the media has characterized as a GoP civil war.  House District 91 is ground zero in this war on the Uniparty.

Why is House District 91 ground zero?  Because the HD 91 State Representative is Stephanie Klick, who was recently identified as one of Dade Phelan’s Dirty Dozen in the mini-documentary The Texas Heist.  Not only did Klick vote with 61 Democrats to impeach Ken Paxton, she was also one of only eleven Republicans to vote for taxpayer funding of Child Gender Modification Support and Referral programs.  And her Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rating has sunk to 49!  Klick is a committee chair and has used that position to kill several GoP priority bills in recent years.

Moreover, Klick's top two donors are Dade Phelan and the infamous TLR (Texans for Lawsuit Reform), which was closely linked to the effort to impeach Ken Paxton.  These two donors combined alone, donated a staggering $795,546.26 to Klick!  

House District 91 is also important, because it is located in Senate District 9 held by Kelly Hancock, who was one of only two Texas State Senators to vote with the Democrats to remove Paxton from office.  While Hancock is not up for reelection until 2026, he himself lives in HD91.  We need to oust Klick in 2024 to build a foundation on which to build, in order to defeat Hancock in 2026. 

Most importantly, HD91 is a competitive district.  Not all of Phelan’s Dirty Dozen are vulnerable, but Klick is very vulnerable.  She is challenged by true conservative David Lowe.  Lowe arose in the last election cycle from being an unknown, to dragging Klick to a run off and finally falling short by less than 800 votes, making this a very winnable election for David Lowe.

Additionally, there has recently been an anti-establishment grass roots uprising in North Richland Hills (all of which is located in HD91).  It is important to note that North Richland Hills is home to Hancock and Lowe.  In a recent city election, citizens of this city elected anti-establishment maverick Blake Vaughn to the City Council.  When the North Richland Hills City Manager had proposed a Tax Increase, Vaughn rallied the citizens against the rest of the council.  Nearly 500 citizens emailed the council and so many citizens showed up to the hearing to speak, that many had to watch from an overflow room on a monitor.  The result was that the City Council backed down and passed the “no new revenue rate” instead of the City Manager’s proposed rate.  So it appears that North Richland Hills is a city ready to take on a fight with the establishment. the prefect place from which to mount an offensive against the establishment.

The race for House District 91 has statewide implications, and conservatives throughout Texas should be paying close attention to this race. 

David Lowe is a grassroots candidate.  He needs your support to combat the huge RINO establishment donors.  You can donate to his campaign at his website at https://www.davidlowefortexas.com/

 

 

Stephanie Klick's Death Panels

Stephanie Klick's Death Panels
By
James Scott Trimm

 

 

Back 1999, The Texas Legislature unanimously passed the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA). Under TADA, when a doctor and a patient (or his/her surrogate) disagree about appropriate end-of-life treatment, the disagreement is taken before an ethics review committee.

TADA only provided a ten day period for the patient's family either to find another facility to accept the patient or to obtain a court injunction to extend their life. If no other facility will accept the patient within the period of time and the family is unable to obtain a court injunction, then the hospital is legally permitted to withdraw life sustaining-treatment from the patient, and simply let them die, regardless of their wishes, their living will, or the wishes of their family.  Folks, this is one of those “death panels” about you have been warned.  

I have blogged literally for years about the evils of these Texas Death Panels.  When opportunities to reform this act have presented themselves, Pojman’s Texas Alliance for Life has run interference.  For example in the 84^th Texas Legislative session (2015) Texas Alliance for Life actually supported House Bill 2351, which was supposed to be a bill to reform these death panels, but in reality this Bill only perpetuated the death panels.  

Texas Right to Life wrote about this bill (Which Pojman and TAL supported):

HB 2351 by Representative Patricia Harless (R-Spring) will also be heard today in the House Committee on State Affairs.  The stated purpose of HB 2351 is to reform hospital ethics committees (death panels), which currently hold unlimited power to remove medical treatment from patients after providing ten days notice to the patient or family.  Under the current Texas Advance Directives Act, hospitals may remove life-sustaining treatments including a ventilator, dialysis, food, and hydration from patients, even if the patient or their family has expressed a desire to continue such care and treatment.  Treatment can be withdrawn from any patient for any reason, including discrimination against a patient who is elderly, terminally ill, or disabled.

Rather than actually reforming the draconian ten-day law, HB 2351 instructs the hospital committees to write and circulate their own regulations about conflicts of interest for their own ethics committees about their own decisions on withdrawing treatment from patients.  HB 2351 also instructs facilities to write and implement policies for withdrawing treatment from patients with disabilities.  However, this section establishes yet another dangerous loophole through this provision by adding: “unless the disability is relevant in determining whether a medical or surgical intervention is medically appropriate.”  HB 2351 does not actually provide specific details about what the policies should be, just that hospitals should adopt policies on these topics.
(Committee to hear dangerous bills masquerading as Pro-Life, April 8, 2015)

In defending their silence on the Pro-Life issue of the life of Chris Dunn, Joe Pojman's Texas Alliance for Life (TAL) finally spoke.  On their Facebook page TAL wrote:

Many pro-life individuals have been gravely concerned about the tragic case of Mr. Chris Dunn, a 46-year-old man who was admitted into a Houston hospital in mid-October and was on a ventilator. Some media accounts and a pro-life organization misrepresented the situation as one in which the hospital intended to kill Mr. Dunn by removing the respirator that was considered necessary to sustain Mr. Dunn's life. The claims were made that the hospital had judged that Mr. Dunn's life was not worth living….

To help correct the record and to explain the ethical issues involved with end-of-life care, Dr. Beverly Nuckols, a family physician and board member of Texas Alliance for Life, and Deirdre Cooper, our public policy analyst, authored the following article on Public Discourse. We highly recommend every pro-lifer reads it [sic].

In defending Methodist Hospital’s Death Panel’s decision to discontinue life-sustaining treatment from Chris Dunn, Nuckols and Cooper wrote:

"It is entirely possible, even plausible, that the doctors—and Dunn’s father, in his role as surrogate—could have understood Dunn’s death as an unintended but foreseen side effect of a morally legitimate object. That object, by their own profession, was to stop the suffering caused by the treatment to sustain his life."

(Balancing the Rights of Patients and Doctors: Another Perspective on a Tragic Case; by  Deirdre Cooper and Beverly Nuckols )

That’s right, a TAL board member and the TAL public policy analyst just declared that "to stop the suffering caused by ... treatment to sustain ... life" is "a morally legitimate object."! 

In the 87th Legislative Session a bill was filed in the Texas House to end the Ten Day Rule with it's Death Panels, in Texas.  The Bill was HB2609 which was assigned to the Public Health Committee, chaired by Stephanie Klick.  Klick intentionally slow walked this bill, making sure that it "died in Calendars".  She held the bill 28 days before even giving it a hearing.  (By contrast she gave a hearing to HB2213 , a bill to protect exotic animals, on day nine). 

 

 

She then held the bill another two weeks before bringing the bill back up to the committee for a vote.  Even after that, she held the bill two more weeks on her desk, before walking it down the hall and submitting it to calendars.  After 68 days, Klick finally submitted the bill to calendars, knowing that by that point it would "die in calendars", and never reach the House Floor! Klick slow walked this bill do death, and guaranteed that death panels, like the one that took the life of Chris Dunn, would continue in Texas.

 

 

 

 

It is no surprise that in the following election cycle, Klick earned the endorsement of Texas Alliance for Life. 

 

This last session Klick authored and pushed thru her own bill (HB 3162), a bill which did not abolish death panels in Texas at all, but preserved them, merely extending the period before the death panel decision takes over, from ten days, to a mere twenty five days.  That's right, Klick's supposed "solution" was not to eliminate Death Panels in Texas, but to preserve them, and only add a mere fifteen days to the lives of their victims! And for this the establishment is already singing her praises!  Our thimble runneth over!

 

Texas still has death panels, and we can now thank Stephanie Klick for continuing to have Death Panels in Texas!  They are now Stephanie Klick's Death Panels.