What Happens When Trust In Institutions Collapses

Good Friday forces a brutal question that most people avoid: how can a day built on torture and death be called “good” with a straight face? I walk through the meaning of Good Friday in plain language, from the historical reality of the crucifixion to the Christian claim that justice and mercy meet at the cross. If phrases like penal substitutionary atonement or “It is finished” have ever sounded like church jargon, I translate what they mean and why Christians tie them to objective morality and real hope.

Then we hit major Texas headlines where trust is on the line. We talk organ donation fears and end-of-life ethics, including what Texas law can allow and why people worry about conflicts of interest in healthcare. We also cover a Houston indictment alleging a cash-only clinic pushed millions of opioid pills into the black market, and why the opioid crisis connects to chronic homelessness, public safety, and what accountability should look like.

Charles Blaine from Urban Reform joins me for a Houston and Harris County recap: the District C special election, Abbott’s violent crime task force targeting repeat offenders, crime reporting realities, a disturbing child predator sting tied to the Children’s Museum, a looming county budget deficit, and a Houston Fire Department arbitration loss that raises transparency questions. We close with teacher union activism, a Deer Park police-impersonation scam, and a Texas Senate hearing on ERCOT and electric grid security as data centers drive demand and foreign supply chain risks grow.

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Listen every day to our strong conservative programs on Patriot Talk 920 AM.  Tune-in on your radio in Houston to KYST 920 AM or download our app by visiting 920app.com or search for "Patriot Talk 920" from your app store!

Transcript

Welcome And Friday Roadmap

SPEAKER_09 0:04

From deep in the heart of Texas, it's Houston's God loving patriot in the voice of reason. This is the Lone Star Conservative Michael Wilson.

Organ Donation Fears And Texas Law

SPEAKER_18 0:31

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Shark Conservative brought to you by Texellent AC Service. Well, we made it to another Friday. Today, of course, being April 3rd, we are well on our way into the month of April. We also have a bunch of weather changes going on. We have quite a few wild stories, not only from across the state, but also from here in the greater Houston area that we're gonna go over today. And you guys know, if you've listened to the show for any time, Friday is one of my favorite days of the week, not just in general, but also for the show. Because, of course, we have Charles Blaine from Urban Reform coming on at the top of the second hour for the weekly local recap. Now, for those of you who do not know, Charles Blaine, one of, one of, right? There's a bunch of people that are pretty well informed, one of the most well-informed, well-connected people uh in probably Houston conservative politics. Charles is a great guy. He always keeps us updated on what's going on. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. When he comes on air, nine times out of ten, uh, at least half the stories that we go over are stories I did not report on because I somehow managed to just miss. I somehow managed to just entirely miss what he talked. Like whatever it is that he's talking about, I somehow didn't see it. Uh, and so he has already sent me over some topics we're gonna go over this morning. And let's just say that, yeah, I I did miss quite a few of these things. Qua quite a few of them we did not, did not report on because I did not know about them. Don't know how that's possible. Not sure where he digs for stuff. Uh I do some pretty intense digging, but uh Charles does a great job. We love having him on at 7 o'clock on Fridays. Tell us something else. You guys may not be aware of this. We'll talk a little bit more about it later in the show. But I just want to let you guys know today is Good Friday, obviously. And we'll talk a little bit about why it's called Good Friday again, not in this segment, but coming up. But I just want to say happy Good Friday uh to all my brothers and sisters that are tuning in. And, you know, it is a beautiful reminder. This weekend is a beautiful reminder of the gospel. You know, Easter, uh, while not being my favorite holiday, certainly up there. Um and and also the fact, of course, that there is a reason, right? Easter sort of represents this sort of new life, right? Not only for Christ, but for all those who are in Christ. And so as we're looking at Good Friday, a little bit more about this again as we get into the show this morning, but as we're celebrating Good Friday, one of the biggest things I hear, especially from younger Christians, is why is it called Good Friday? Because unlike Easter, right? Easter, of course, Resurrection Sunday is when we celebrate Christ's rising from the tomb, rising from the grave. But on Friday, of course, is the day that Christ died. That Christ gave up his life. That Christ willingly went to the cross, was put up there, his hands, nailed into the wood, um, and and and he died for for our sins. So a lot of people ask, you know, how how can you call it Good Friday when this is the day that the Lord that you so love died? And we will talk about it a little bit later in the show. That was a little tease, kind of where we're gonna go with the Good Friday line uh here in a little bit, here in the next couple segments. But first, I want to kick it off with a couple of very important stories uh coming out today. The first two are really kind of going over doctors, the medical industry, and the say trustworthiness of the medical industry at large. We'll kick it off talking a little bit about hospitals in the sense that apparently, and I I've already known this for a long time, but apparently it's becoming a bigger issue among the mainstream. Apparently, people are concerned about the whole organ donor situation. And I I remember back when I was going to originally get my license, that I had some conversations with some people, and I walked in there saying, I am not going to be an organ donor. And I had other people who told me that I was selfish, a horrible person, I didn't care about people, uh, which is not true. But we'll get and we'll get into it. But it there is there are a lot of wild things that go on in the medical industry. The number of the number of stories that have come out, and and you'll you'll hear some of this in this one, but the number of stories that have come out from people who maybe could have been saved, but they weren't able to save them because they were an organ donor and they needed those organs for other patients. Some of the stories out there, if they are to be believed, and some of them probably should be, are pretty crazy. And so this woman's euthanasia apparently includes allegations now here in Texas of conflicts of interest with organ donation, according to a Texas lawmaker who's warning right now that Texans can be forced under current state law to become an organ donor. And so this woman, Noelia Noelia, I think that's Noelia, I don't know how to pronounce her name. Noia Castillo Ramos apparently sought to be euthanized back in 2024 after a failed suicide attempt in 2022 left her a paraplegic. Her family fought her decision in the courts, but the Spanish Supreme Court ruled in Ramos's favor back in January. Ramos was then obviously killed on March 26th. Now her lawyer has reportedly cited a conflict of interest on the part of the hospital for assisting in that as her organs were worth millions in billable charges. He said in Texas, a hospital administrator or a district judge can make you an organ donor without your permission. Texas Health and Safety Code lists quote the hospital administrator and any other person having the authority to dispose of the descendant's body alongside his spouse, parents, and adult children, as an agent of the decident at the time of death who would have made an anatomical gift immediately before that death. Now, Kimberlyn Schwartz with Texas Right to Life said in some situations, vulnerable patients risk being seen more for the value of their organs than for their inherent dignity. Schwartz pointed out that this isn't just happening in faraway spaces like Spain and Spanish culture and not just Europe, uh, but it's a threat to Texans as well. She said, when serving as patient advocates, Texas Rights Life has witnessed hospitals pressuring families to remove treatment from their loved ones, not because they're certain the patient has died or cannot recover, but because they believe the patient's life isn't worth saving. At the same time, hospitals and organ procurement organizations argue the patient's organs can be a benefit to others who have a better quality of life. She said law laws in Texas and across the country should protect every human life and make sure no one is treated as disposable or valued only for their organs. And so apparently, Tom Oliverson, I didn't know this, filed legislation back in 2017 to end involuntary organ harvesting following a case in which a Harris County judge allowed an unidentified man's organs to be harvested after attempts to locate relatives who could provide consent had ultimately failed. The measure did not pass despite strong support from Texas right to life, with Oliver Son citing strong lobbying and financial entanglements. Of course, the left probably, especially back then, this was, you know, pre-the-ending of Roe v. Wade, uh, abortion was not on the category of things the left was willing to make deals about back then. And so he said, when I try to change it, the director of the largest organ procurement organization came to my office and yelled at me, it doesn't matter what their wishes are, they're dead, okay? We're either going to put them in the ground or take their organs and then put them in the ground. Uh now all of our son has been asking the question, is it time to try again? As we're going into the 2027 legislative session, is it maybe time that we address that if we're going to call ourselves pro-life, right? Uh many of us would, regardless of the terms, if we're going to say that we believe in the right to life, if we're going to say that we're anti-abortion, that we desire to classify abortion as murder, which it is, even if we don't classify it that way. That's exactly what abortion is. If we're going to do that, I I think it's 100% fair for us to then look at the other side of things and say, hey, you know, probably also not a good idea to euthanize people. Probably also not a good idea to just and I understand, right? There's a lot of arguments surrounding being brain dead, uh being kept alive by a machine. I understand that. And actually, shockingly, those are very difficult conversations to have with a lot of people. There are a lot of opinions on, you know, what brain activity really is. You know, if you are quote unquote brain dead according to the doctors, where's your soul? Is it still in you? And if so, is that not really enough activity for us to keep you up? Or while your body is still technically breathing, has your soul already gone to eternity? Right? Like these are all questions that I think are fair questions to a regardless of the questions, right? Put all that aside for a moment. Because that's not even really what we're talking about. We don't need to get into like the deep, deep theology of death. Even apart from all of that, the real question in front of us is and this this is my main issue with it. Let's say, for instance, and this this is you any any movie in the thriller sort of mystery category, uh, especially ones that are super status quo. If you play like clue, imagine for a moment there's been a murder. There's been a murder. It's one of us, right? It's one of our listeners. Um the first suspect would probably be if you've murdered someone, the person who stands to gain the most from the inheritance that person is leaving. Right? Is that is that a fair assessment? They may not be in the ones that did it, but if we have absolutely no clue, it's a really good place to start. In similar fashion, when you have doctors who are taking people off of life support, when you have doctors who there have been plenty of arguments that some of these people are not doing the best job they could do, some of the time there are recommendations regarding what to do. Well, the surgery is really expensive, and we're not even sure he's gonna make it. So So what? So we could just, you know, kill him. Why would we do that in a first world country? Why would we ever why would we ever do that? Well, because in a first world country, you still need organs. And as it turns out, organs are not cheap. They're actually very, very expensive. And so if you have somebody who's dead, you you're you're you're basically set. Right? If you're able to get to them and get their organs out, uh, you have you have really set yourself up in a good position. And I get it, right? It is beneficial to other people that also are struggling, people that need, you know, help, people that need those things. I know.

unknown 12:41

Right?

SPEAKER_18 12:42

We've talked before about many of the different stories, people on the organ transplant list. I get it. I understand. I I'm aware that they're that's that's really difficult to grapple with. Uh, but you know, murdering one person to give somebody else their organ probably not the right course of action. Seems a little bit like like at like an a sacrifice, right? I don't mean sacrifice in the good sense that we're all called to sacrifice ourselves. No, I mean that sounds a little bit like like a legitimate demon sacrifice. If you went like a thousand years ago, right? Go go to Europe a thousand years ago, and you were to tell anybody, yeah, if you let this guy die, then I can I can give you his lung and make you breathe again. They would look they would probably they would probably burn you at the stake. If we're being if we're being honest, that's that's probably what they would do. They would probably burn you at the stake. And really, maybe they should. Uh if you're gonna support killing people uh in order to harvest their heart, their lungs, their kidneys, maybe it's a good idea that that you should not be around patients. And again, I don't have an inherent issue with the organ donor stuff. My main issue is I think there are a lot of concerning features. I think there's a lot of stuff that you listen into the stories and you start thinking that maybe this isn't all above board. Maybe there's a lot of cases where guess we just take them off. Wait, but they just literally talk to you five minutes ago, yeah, but they're probably not gonna talk again, you know? So let's unplug it. And and that that happens. And I think that's not good. And I think furthermore, uh we we do need to craft legislation, right? Uh maybe I'm being a little hyperbolic, but we need to craft legislation aimed at prevention of that sort of issue, because it is an issue, it's a major issue. A lot of people now are refusing to be organ donors because they're concerned they're not going to receive the same treatment or their family would get the same recommendations because you have a vested interest. They have, they have a vested interest in your death at that point. Even even if they're good people and what have you, they still now have definably and uncontrovertibly a vested interest in you dying. And so, yeah, I think it's I think it's dangerous, I think it's bad, but there's other stuff going on with medical stuff. Uh, specifically, we're gonna talk about a doctor who is now being accused of illegally selling millions of opioid pills out of a clinic right here in Houston. We'll talk all about that and what I think should happen to that guy. You're gonna be totally surprised, totally surprised by what I think the just recompense for what this guy did is. We'll talk all that when we get back from the break. As always, if you'd like to text in here at the very last show of the week, uh the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779 KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. I'll be right back after the break.

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SPEAKER_18 20:37

So a Texas doctor is being accused of illegally selling millions of opioid pills by recruiting others to pose as patients and reselling the drugs on the black market. An indictment which was unsealed yesterday in the Southern District of Texas, James Robles, who's seven years old of West Lake O, Texas, is being charged with operating a cash-only clinic in Houston that he used to ultimately sell the controlled substances. Now, court documents allege that this guy, a medical doctor licensed to practice in the state of Texas, conspired with others to illegally prescribe oxycodon, hydrocodon, and uh another one that I actually had not heard of. Uh, it's called carisoprodol. And all these are controlled substances with substantial street value that are apparently in high demand here in Houston on our black market. Operating from his cash-only Houston clinic, he allegedly sold prescriptions to crew leaders who recruited others to pose as patients, filled his prescriptions at complicit pharmacies, and resold the drugs on the black market. As alleged, he often did not even see or examine his purported patients before prescribing them opioids and other controlled substances. Now, court documents, and this is where it gets kind of wild, court documents allege this guy allegedly prescribed. Over 2.9 million pills of hydrocodon, 1.3 million pills of oxycodon, and 1.1 million pills of carriciperol in just over four years. Just so you guys know, that's over five million pills in four years. That's that's a million pills per year. Right? That more than that, but you do the math out, right? That's insane. That is actually insane. The documents allege in less than three years of the conspiracy, more than two million dollars in cash was deposited into bank accounts controlled by this doctor. He is federally charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, one count of distributing and dispensing controlled substances, and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count. Now I said before we came to this segment, I said, and I'm gonna stick, I'm gonna be a man of my word, I'm gonna stick to my word. I said that I was going to give you my perspective on what I think should happen to this guy should he be convicted. I always like to clarify that because the allegations aren't always true. There's a reason we have due process. Due process is actually very good. Uh in fact, that's actually a thing that that Western civilization, again, is largely known for is good due process mechanisms. Uh that's very good. Right? It's not a it's not a throwaway sentence when I say should he be convicted. I know it might sound like that, it's not. That's very important to what I'm about to say. Because if he's not found guilty, this should not happen, obviously. If he were found guilty in a court of law, what do I think should happen? I think he should get the death penalty. And I know, I know, I already know, because every time I bring up the death penalty, every time I get text sin, uh multiple usually, and every time I'm like becoming increasingly more unhinged, apparently, according to the text, they're saying, well, does everything just deserve death now? I've been asked, does everything deserve death? Would would you kill basically anyone who you you know, you rob a convenience store, boom, kill that guy. You know, you cross the border, boom, kill that guy. You know, you have a guy who jaywalked, boom, kill that guy. No. Of course not. I also think that there is actually a very good argument to be made for executing drug producers, drug manufacturers, and drug dealers. Obviously, we can't do it retroactively, right? You you you actually can't kill this guy uh in any context, because if he had known that the penalty could be death, he may have chosen to do things differently. And so it's actually very unjust to retroactively apply a new sentence to that particular crime. But going forward, I think it should be a goal that we are far more harsh, even if we're not gonna go death penalty, far more harsh uh with how we deal with drugs. Again, keep in mind, this guy sold over five million pills. Now, I don't know if you guys know, but opioids have wrecked much of our country. Right? If you guys remember back to the war on drugs, I don't like weed, but that wasn't on weed, right? What was it on? Well, it was things like methamphetamines, it was things like opioids, hydrocodon, oxycodon, et cetera, et cetera, so on and so forth. Uh, and and there's so much of that going around our country right now, and there is a massive crisis. And I've said it before, but I will say it again. When you look at the homelessness crisis alone, do you know the number one thing you could do? All these politicians talk about spending, you know, hundreds of millions to billions of dollars tackling homelessness, and most of the time they have almost nothing to show for it in actually reducing homelessness, in changing long-term outcomes. You know what the number one driver of chronic homelessness is? It is not being out of a job. It is, it is not being down on your luck. Not that we believe in luck as Christians, but it's it's not the point. It's not that you've you know just had a misstep and you're struggling, right? That that's not the kind of people that are on the street for long periods of time. The number one contributor is drug abuse and drug addiction. That's why you'll find uh that when people are going out and trying to help the homeless, often one of the biggest ways they can help is to get them into a rehab facility, to cover the cost of being rehabilitated in a facility for people who are abusing drugs. Because that's that's uh inarguably the number one cause of long-term chronic homelessness. And so when you're seeing five million pills being shuffled into the Houston area for criminals, I I just I don't think you understand the massive impact that's going to have, right? I know that sometimes the movies make drugs look fun, and you have the rich people who are doing drugs, and they do that, by the way. That's not a misrepresentation. The rich people do drugs. But you know who else does drugs? The poor people also do drugs, and it keeps them poor. It's actually incredibly evil. It's actually incredibly wrong. It's incredibly disgusting. And the reality is that anyone who's being caught producing and selling these drugs uh should actually be removed from society entirely. I I mean, th this is an incredibly heinous crime uh that results really in the loss of life. Right. So many people die from sorts these sorts of overdoses. It's not even getting into that. Uh, but it it is it is one of the most destructive forces in American history.

unknown 27:44

Right?

Austin Testimony Logistics And Voting Fatigue

SPEAKER_18 27:44

We talked before about West Virginia. It could have been the capital, the capital of the world. West Virginia was gorgeous, beautiful, filled with great people, and drugs. I mean, absolutely destroyed. I mean, drugs, and then of course, everything to do with the coal industry. Uh it was a big mess, but especially the drugs. Right. Same thing when you look at places like LA, San Francisco, Houston. We have a massive drug issue. And right now we're trying to just pretend like, yeah, say no, just say no to drugs. Yeah, that'll stop them. And we have largely, I know this will come as a shock, been unsuccessful in the Just Say No campaign or the war on drugs. We've got basically nothing to show for it. Because we're cowards, because we're unwilling to do what actually needs to be done, which is to say, you know what, we gotta put on our big boy pants, and uh when we catch a drug dealer, we need to cut his head off. Right? It actually and I'm not just speaking metaphorically there. It is going to require some very serious strength of will to say, you know what, actually, these people are evil. And a just punishment for the sort of evil that destroys lives, gets people killed, uh, and prioritize I mean, death is is very clearly a good response to this. And it's not like you're just gonna be going out and like hunting them down like a machete. Like I'm not talking about that. They'll know, right? We'll make it very, very obvious and very public. Hey, we're changing the punishment for drug dealing. It's now going to be death. You better know this going into it. And then we nationally televise all of the executions so no one can miss, hey, this will happen to you. That is a very important step. If we want to solve homelessness, if you actually want to end drug abuse, go after the producers, go after the manufacturers, start start saying, you know what, you're done. Literally, you're done. Uh, with that being said, before we go to the break, real quickly here, we got a text in yesterday, I believe, asking, and I I just saw it asking. Sometimes I I forget to check the text. I say text in, and then I like forget to check it. They were at the end of the show, and I've got like eight texts from the show, and I'm like, ah, I'm so sorry. Uh we had a text yesterday that was asking about the buses from Houston to Austin. The only problem is, uh, this sometimes happens with my communication when we're when we're doing stories from around the state, uh, when you're on my like true Texas project that is through Patriot Mobile sending people on buses to Austin uh to speak for the school uh State Board of Education. Well, the problem is the buses are being sent from Grapevine and Denton, Texas, neither of which are very close to you. In fact, you're probably better off just driving to Austin. And so my apologies if that was not communicated efficiently the first time. Again, when we go through a lot of these stories that are from around the state, uh, and you hear speakers from around the state, and the quotes that we get are from people around the state, sometimes it can get a little muddy, right, where exactly stuff is being, you know, going on. So that's my bad. I apologize, but those buses are not going out from Houston, but it's also It's also like a three-hour drive, right? Two and a half, three-hour drive, you know. Especially if you drive like a Houstonian. So just drive on over to Austin. And like I said, if you guys are able to make it on April 7th out to that event, uh, the State Board of Education is hearing testimony for the change in social studies curriculum, which we talked about twice this week. I would highly encourage, if you're able to get out there, uh do it. I would highly encourage you to do that. With that being said, we get back in the break. Since at the bottom of the hour, we're going to have, of course, our weather update. And then at the top of the next hour, we're going to have Charles Blaine. It's going to be a while. So in the next segment, we're actually going to go over Good Friday. Because today, of course, is Good Friday. We're talking a little bit about what Good Friday is, what it means, why it's important that we celebrate it, et cetera, et cetera, so on and so forth. That'll do it for this segment of the Lone Star Conservative. If you would like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and Lord willing, I will return with Good Friday after the break.

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SPEAKER_00 35:37

Houston, this is Tom Gresham inviting all gun owners to join me live every Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. for gun talk. Call in with your questions or range reports, and let's tackle everything Second Amendment. Here on Houston's Leader for Gun Owners, Patriot Talk 920.

SPEAKER_18 36:06

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative brought to you by Textellent AC Service. So Good Friday. Uh good. The word which which to in my estimation seems just almost offensive if you don't know what's actually good about it, because of course you lay it alongside what actually happened out back, you know, 2,000 years ago, uh, where you had Jesus Christ who was stripped, who was flogged uh until his skin was hanging off his body, who was nailed through his hands and feet to two beams of wood and hoisted up with the intent to kill him slowly, uh meticulously, really by asphyxiation, uh by blood loss and by exposure in front of a crowd that largely came to watch as a form of entertainment. And so it's it's tough, right, when you lay that next to that and you say, Well, happy Good Friday, right? Uh of course, Rome called it a triumph of just order and control. Uh the Pharisees, of course, referred to it as just, and that's justice. He got what he deserved. Uh, his disciples, of course, many of them then turned around and and doubted because of it and said, No, he's not coming back. You know, he's we this is the end. This is the end of everything that we kind of believed, and we believed it, and now he's gone. Uh, but the church, the community, of course, that came out of the death of Christ, looked back on it and called it good. As we debated theology in the early church, and you know, we came out of the Protestant Reformation, all these sorts of things, one of the things we held on to was that's good Friday. Why? Why is it good uh that the only man who's ever lived, the only man who's ever lived a truly good and righteous life was murdered. What's what could possibly be good about it? Well, when the church decided to call it good, it was not because suffering is good, right? It was not because injustice is good, because what anybody did was good, but as a serious reckoning with what Christians have believed that happened there on the cross and why that ultimately matters. Now, Good Friday, of course, marks the day that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor of Judea around the 30 AD timeframe. Um, and by the way, Pontius Pilate, if you guys have read the Bible, read the historical accounts, didn't really want to do this. He was like, his blood be on your hand, right? Like I this is not something that I'm interested in. Where's the guilt here, right? Like this is not my kind of but of course he was a coward, right? And cowards also get their comeuppance. As it turns out, being a coward is is no good. Uh you should stand up if you believe it's a problem. Nevertheless, if you're coming to this and you're not a believer, right? If you're coming to and you're listening right now and you're not, you know, you didn't grow up in the church and you don't know the story, uh, Jesus had, of course, spent roughly uh uh three years, years teaching, healing, gathering followers throughout both Galilee and Judea. Um of course he became deeply threatening to the structure that was set up largely by the Pharisees uh in their sort of church hierarchy at the time. Uh Jesus was very threatening to that sort of order. Um after what Christians call the Last Supper, which was of course a Passover meal that we celebrated yesterday, he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried in a series of hasty and very irregular proceedings, even for a Roman court, uh, and handed over to Pilate, condemned, of course, then executed by crucifixion. Uh most of his followers, uh all all his followers, of course, were were just distraught. Uh they kind of scattered. He was buried in a borrowed tomb before the Sabbath began at sunset, and then Sunday came. Uh but that's that's Easter, right? That's that's that's everybody knows about Easter, rising from the grave. But today, we're pointing specifically to the cross. And the question that I really wanted to get into this morning is not really just what happened, but why. Right? What what was actually accomplished in the death of Jesus? What could possibly justify us calling it good? What could there be in addition to the murder of, again, the only truly righteous man who ever lived that could possibly justify titling his crucifixion, his slow, miserable, painful death, good. And I'm glad you asked. Whoever just asked, I could hear it. Whoever asked, I'm glad you asked because the the theology, at least that I believe in, we we we believe in penal substitutionary atonement, right? Which I know that sounds really complicated. And that sounds like a deep, complicated theological term. It's not, right? Penal, of course, refers to punishment, substitution. You have a substitute teacher, substitutionary is the in the place of another, right? And then atonement, of course, is the reconciling of parties that were separated. We used to have animals for atonement, right? Now we have Christ. So you put those three things together. On the cross, Jesus bore the punishment that we deserved in our place so that God and man could be ultimately reconciled, so that our sin would be atoned for. It is a profound act rooted in the character of God Himself. And by the way, you guys might know on this show, we'll talk about, we'll debate, you know, objective morality. We'll talk about why I believe that there is such a thing as objective morality. You know what I often point to? I point to the word of God. You know where we get the word of God? We get the word of God from God. You know why we believe in objective morality that there is such a thing as good and there is such a thing as evil, and we can be aware of what those things are and have justice for them? You know where we get that? It's all rooted ultimately in the character of God. Because of course, God is perfectly righteous, perfectly just, and perfectly good. In fact, almost everything that we understand comes from the holiness of God. Um, and and so sin, right, which the Bible defines as not just, you know, breaking the rules. It's not like you're a kid and you just kind of like didn't listen when your kid when your parents said no more cookies, uh, but it is the fundamental rejection of God's authority, right? That's what sin ultimately is, and it separates us from God. Um it is an offense against a holy God. And as I've I've said before, but but unholy things cannot dwell in the presence of a holy God. We're not capable of that. And so God cannot simply just, you know, wave sin away, not because he lacks the power to do that. Obviously, we understand about the the power, the sovereignty, and the uh, you know, omnipotence of God, but because God's justice, if he's truly holy and and truly righteous, his justice must be just as real as his love for us. So if he were just to say, okay, all is forgiven, no worries, you're good to go, that that would not be. You could argue that, well, that'd be merciful and loving, but where's the justice in that? Where's the where's the atonement? Where's the where's the punishment for the sin? Right? You could say, well, that's a very loving judge over there, uh, when he kind of like takes murders and says, Yep, feel free to go. But you'd say that's not a very just judge. Maybe we'd say activism, right, on the on the bench. God is not gonna he can't just wave away all of our sin. Again, not because of a power issue, but because he is just. And so we deserve obviously death. Um and so obviously, uh, you know Jesus, the eternal son of God, I'm kind of kinda trying to bring this home because we're coming up on the break here. I'm getting the signal. Uh, Jesus, the eternal son of God, took on flesh, human flesh, by the way, became truly man, truly God, fully man, fully God. He lived the perfect life that Adam and every human being since Adam failed to live. We didn't just like not we were it wasn't just that we managed to not do it. We would give us enough chances we'll eventually get there. No, we would never have gotten there. And then on the cross, he stood in the place of sinners. God the Father treated him as if he had committed every sin of every person who would ever trust in him. Uh the wrath that those sinners deserve, every last drop of that wrath and justice, was put on Christ on the cross. That is why Jesus Christ had, of course, in Matthew 27, famously, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That is the moment when the Son of God, now bearing the ultimate weight of sin on the cross, was separate, right? He was separated. And so when he said it is finished, the Greek word there, I'm not gonna even try to pronounce it, but the Greek word for it is finished was used in the ancient world to stamp paid receipts, which I think is absolutely beautiful. It was used as a your debt's paid. We're done. That's that's all it took. And so we're not gonna get into uh obviously a lot more of the deep theology there as we're gonna wrap up the break, go to the weather segment here in the next segment to wrap up the first hour of the show. Uh, but I I wanted to paint that because I know that a lot of people, especially people that are not, you know, informed, will hear Good Friday and then hear, wait, that's the day that Jesus Christ died. Why is that good? What what's why wh why would you call that good? If you truly believe that God was good, why would you say that that's a good thing? And it's it's tough to explain because it is a harrowing moment. It should I and it often does bring us to tears to grapple with the death of Christ, uh, but also the joy that we get because he was willing to do so, because he did so. Uh and without that, none of us, none of us would ever make it, right? Let's none of us would be making it, ladies and gentlemen. With that being said, we get back from the break. We're gonna jump over, cover the weather we have going on today, rest of this week, as we get through the weekend, and uh then of course we'll wrap up the first hour of the show and we'll come back with Charles Blaine. If you would like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779 KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and it'll be right back after the break.

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SPEAKER_00 49:10

Have you thought about buying a gun or even carrying a gun? But you don't know if that's smart or where to start. I'm Tom Gregs, the host of Gun Talk. Call in Sundays between 1 and 4, right here on Houston's Leader for Gun Owners, Patriot Talk 920.

Cold Front And Easter Weather

SPEAKER_18 49:32

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. Now, a strong cold front could bring us a few showers this weekend. Despite cloudy skies, today specifically is going to stay dry for most Houston area neighborhoods. The potential for heavy rain is arriving tomorrow and could last into early Sunday morning. As drought across Southeast Texas worsens, the question on everyone's mind really is how much rain beneficially could we possibly get? Now, like I said, rain remains pretty light for today. Early in the day you might notice some spotty showers, some drizzle on the drive into work or school. Mostly cloudy skies are expected with morning temperatures only falling into the lower 70s. Now isolated, two widely scattered showers, might bubble up during the afternoon as high as rise has to around 85 degrees. Now a cloud of thunder or or again, this sort of localized brief downpour is possible throughout the afternoon, but it will be few and far between. The day is also expected to be quite breezy. Southeasterly winds could occasionally gust to 25 or 30 miles per hour at times. Saturday is the main day to really get weather aware. The morning is going to remain dry for most areas, uh, aside from a passing sprinkle or two. Rain chances begin to climb by the afternoon, especially north of I-10 by 5 p.m. You have this sort of line of thunderstorms that could reach all the way from College Station out to Austin. And so models suggest a line of storms reaching Houston Saturday evening, likely between 6 p.m. and midnight. Because this line is coming in during the evening hours when instability is lower, the risk of severe thunderstorms is low. Much of Southeast Texas is under a level one of five risk for isolated severe thunderstorms. The lowest risk level, uh though the actually technically the lowest is like not having any risk at all. So every rain could result in some uh localized flooding as well. They're expecting rainfall totals to be quite varied uh along the coast. They're saying most areas are gonna pick up about a quarter inch, three to three quarters of an inch of rainfall. As you get closer inland, uh it's possible that they get an inch to two inches north of the city, and so that's kind of gives you the difference there. Nevertheless, Easter sunrise services could be damp, especially near and south of Houston, where lingering showers are expected. As northerly winds are gonna sweep showers south of Houston, dry conditions are expected to return by the afternoon, though cloudy skies are likely to continue. And also, with all that rain, of course, is coming slightly cooler weather. And by slightly cooler, I actually mean noticeably cooler because where our uh where our lows are right now are largely where our highs are gonna be come Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, uh, where those lows are gonna dip down into the 50s and our highs are gonna dip down into the low 70s. That'll do it for the first hour of the show. Uh, when we get back, of course, as I said, we're gonna have Charles Blaine coming on from Urban Reform for our weekly local recap. You will not want to miss that segment. Text in 713-779-5978. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and I'll be back at the top of the next hour.

SPEAKER_09 52:44

From deep in the heart of Texas, Coast Houston's God-loving patriot, the voice of reason. This is the Lone Star Conservative, Michael Wilson.

SPEAKER_11 53:01

Let's all be offended.

SPEAKER_18 53:13

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative, brought to you by Texellent AC Service. On the air, we have our great friend Charles Blaine from Urban Reform coming on for the weekly local recap. Welcome to the show, Charles.

SPEAKER_20 53:27

Good morning. Thanks for having me. Well, I'm glad to be back.

SPEAKER_18 53:30

Yeah, I'm glad to have you back. Uh also, I don't know if you've heard. I always get excited with weather changes. I'm like a nerd. Uh, I don't know if you've heard, uh, but we are having some shifting weather. If it's only gonna last a few days, but I don't know if you've looked at the weather for Easter yet. No, I have not.

SPEAKER_20 53:45

I have not looked at it.

SPEAKER_18 53:47

Yeah, so I always love that you you don't look at the weather. I found this out. And so it's kind of a rhetorical question when I ask if you've checked, it's just more me getting excited that I know you have. It's always a surprise. And I get to tell you. Uh yeah, so it's we're right now we're our highs, of course, are in the low to mid-80s. Sunday, the high is 73. Monday, the high is 71. And these the lows are in like the the low to upper 50s. So my goodness. Out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_20 54:12

Out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_18 54:13

Winter's here again.

SPEAKER_20 54:14

It's like you just get you get a little bit away from it, and then here it comes back. You just can't. It's just that time of year in Houston, I guess. Even though if it doesn't feel like it is, it's gonna feel like it's in a couple days.

SPEAKER_18 54:23

Yeah, and and then it's gonna be back and you're gonna feel like you're in summer by next weekend again. That's how it goes. With that being said, I want to kick it off. Uh just giving people an update because this is a pretty big story, and I think it's not getting enough representation tomorrow. Special election. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_20 54:37

Yeah, so this is a special election to relate to uh elect a replacement for Abby Kamen. Um, Abby Kamen is district City representative. She covers kind of Montrose area and um not Acres Home, uh Fourth Ward and that kind of some of that area. Right. And so as people know, uh Abby Kamen has run and won for a county attorney. She's obviously not the county attorney yet, she's a nominee and she will be uh running again in November. But in order to replace her on council, they have to call a special election, which will be held tomorrow. And so there are a number of candidates in it. Uh the main candidate that I think I've heard a lot of Republicans have been supporting, um, and a lot of just kind of normal individuals who want a good representative has been a guy named Nick Heller. Um the other candidate in that race are uh I can't remember her name, I'll skip the staging her right now, but it's Lena Doggles, former chief of staff. And then there's a uh transit activist named Nick Panzarella, and then there's another guy uh who isn't really incredibly well known in kind of local politics, but it's been an interesting one, and I think people are expecting it to go into a runoff. Right, right.

SPEAKER_18 55:38

Um, yeah, I mean it's it's gonna be certainly a fun election to keep an eye on, uh, especially because I think we have such, again, as always, in a lot of elections, but this one again, uh, we kind of have a wide array of possible candidates that differ on a lot of things, right? We talked about like, you know, you have some pretty crazy radicals like Zoran Mamdani. This is actually a great comparison. You can look at Zoran Mamdani of a New York City and compare him to Mayor John Whitmeyer. They're both, you know, running as Democrats, they're both obviously not conservative, but the way they're gonna run their cities is very different, right? And so obviously that's kind of similar here.

SPEAKER_20 56:12

Yes, and no, I think, and I agree. And I think when you look at this uh right that Nick Elliot has run a number of times for city council, and it's always kind of faked out this kind of moderate Democrat position. And unfortunately for him, because that's the position he's been faked out, it has never really been successful because nobody really wants either wants you to kind of be all on one side or all on the other side. And he hasn't really, I mean, he's not a conservative, so he hasn't accorded support with them, other than during this election when you're looking at district C and saying, okay, well, you know, if we have an opportunity to kind of pull it back from the progressive wing and and and you know, have someone who is in a similar vein of John Whitmeyer or otherwise left support them. And so it seems like he's getting a lot of support. Police and fire unions are behind him. Um we'll be likely to go into a runoff, which means Abby will hold that seat until the final election. Um, and I think that runoff will be scheduled sometime in May, and it won't be actually on the same day as the primary runoff, which is also in May. So if you live in that district, you're gonna be vote a lot in the next couple of months.

SPEAKER_18 57:04

Right. You need to be paying attention, especially to all these. I know this is the Republicans' main problem. Uh all the podcasts I'm hearing are these people that don't know Texas, uh, which always bugs me. When you have people outside of Texas telling us how our elections are going, I don't know why when I get like this special like possessive jealousy, it's like, that's my state. Shut up. Uh but but basically I get I get like a golem, my precious Texas kind of thing going on. But I get frustrated because they're like, oh, look at the primary turnout. It's like you understand uh that for better or for worse. For worse, I have a problem with it too. It's for worse, but we just don't show up for elections that aren't general, general big elections for no we anything that's not November. I mean, we just don't show up. It's just true. Um and we never have too many.

SPEAKER_20 57:50

We just have one to say typically that we have too many elections, but it's you know, if you live in in this district as well as uh CD 18, she'll eject in these old district, you've voted like ten times this past year. Like, I mean it's it's absurd the amount of time that you have to keep up with voting. And so it's yeah, I mean, there's there's a lot of elections, so I think people are getting fatigued.

SPEAKER_18 58:10

And and Democrats, of course, are are since a lot of the time they are so uh many of them are so progressive that it becomes their whole life. Like for us, of course, politics is a lot of our life. But for the average person who works a job, it's not. But progressive Democrats are different because they make it their whole identity, and so they'll show up for if there was an election every weekend, they'd be there. Right. Exactly. Um and so I'm like some of my cohorts, I'm not I'm not overly concerned about November for Texas. I don't think we're gonna flip to James Salarico. I don't see that happening. I'm not I'm not overly worried about it. Like a lot of people out of state are like, oh, James Salarico has a real shot. I'm like, guys, come on. Like obviously, I'm not gonna play around and say we got it in the bag and say you don't even have to show up. Uh but but I I do know Republican demographic show-up rates, and and this is not inconsistent with what we see a lot of the time. With that being said, I want to jump over and talk a little about uh Governor Greg Abbott and his violent crime task force, which I think has been dealing with a lot of dealings in Houston specifically.

SPEAKER_20 59:05

Yeah, this is a multi-agency violent crime task force to put together uh targeting Ruby defenders in Houston and Harris County. It's it consists of DPS, Texas Rangers, DPF aircraft, HPD, federal partners, all of it. Uh, and it's calling it a texted effort. Um, and the the idea that there has been a claim that uh there's been a 20% year-over-year drop in violent crime, excuse me, drop in violent crime, but he wants to target the 55% of Houston violent crimes that are committed by repeat offenders, is something we've been talking about here in Harris County for a long time. Um, you know, from Crime Stoppers to uh former DA John Whitmark. I mean, everybody's been talking about this issue. And so he's been targeting them kind of this revolving door problem that's tied to local prosecution and bail policies. And we don't know really what the results are just yet. I mean, he said that the initiative, based on how it's starting off, will serve as a national model for public safety and expand statewide. So this is kind of like a test case and seeing how this uh kind of multi-agency coordination works. It's also not the first time that that he or we have done this. We've seen a lot of these multi-u-agency coordinations here locally. Um, and so this is just another one, but this one seems to be pretty wide uh as compared to some of the others.

SPEAKER_18 1:00:14

Right. And I don't want to waste all of our time on this one story, but I do have two quick questions, and they may not end up being quick. I'm gonna make them as quick as possible. Uh, that I want to get your take on, kind of relating to this in terms of issues with bail and and re-offenders and all this sort of stuff. Um I I tend to say that unless a policy is objectively moral, right? Like obviously murder is wrong. That is a uh an obvious moral policy. We should say murder should not, right? But there's a lot of policies that aren't inherently moral or immoral policies insofar as how we address issues. And so I often say you use some sort of utilitarianism, right, to say, did this succeed? When we look at our model uh for prisons in the US, you know, when you have, I think the the longest we had like a decade-long study that was a nationwide study, this is not just Texas, but it found a near 90% recidivism rate uh among offenders. Uh we look at that, and there's got to be some level of us saying, whatever we're doing like generally with punishment is just not working. Yep.

SPEAKER_20 1:01:14

Yep. I mean, and that's the thing. And it becomes clearer and clearer when you kind of look at the system and the way that it operates. And when you do take something that's not like an inherently moral uh crime, to say, you know, uh someone who is driving with a broken tail light, say that. So you take someone like that who gets thrown in the Harris County jail because they can't afford to get a good lawyer to fight for a classy misdemeanor, gets put in there until the the day that the case is adjudicated, but then they're sitting side by side with like someone who's also in there for murder and another person who's in there for like some sort of heavy white-collar crime. And now they're in there kind of having to defend themselves and kind of get hardened by the system and then worked in by so like yet, when you kind of mix all these things in together, you see it does not work the way that it should. Um, and we should have some sort of better objective uh, I guess, perspective on how we we handle those things because it's not working. But yet we it's one that we keep doubling down on and tripling down on. And usually when things don't work in government, at least the public is willing to speak up and say, hey, something's broken here. But for some reason in this system, it's not one that that we see the same public outrage or or outcry about changing.

SPEAKER_18 1:02:18

Especially in the sense that prison as a punitive, not as a holding facility, but as a punitive response is a relatively new concept uh for the world. Um I know that we all grew up with it, and so it's normal to us, but you go a hundred year a couple hundred years ago, uh, and any time before that, and they just said, You're giving them adult time out, is that the punishment? That's it. Like that that's what they're they just get housed, fed, and that's that's the punishment. And that would just be a shock. And it's clearly, it's clearly not working as well as well as we hoped it would. The other quick question I have, because you mentioned the drop in crime. One thing that I I've been concerned about, I just want to know if you think this is a fair concern. Uh Sean Thiers, of course, labeled certain things nuisance crime, said people will not be punished. Uh, he said, I'm not even going to pursue certain cases. Is it possible that some of the drops are just due to a lack of reporting because they're not being adjudicated at all?

SPEAKER_20 1:03:07

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I definitely think that is a big part of it. Um, especially when you're it's a waiver, whether you're dropping cases, whether you are um kind of like bashing them up under certain other ones, like say you have two or three violent crimes and then kind of being bashed under one. You know, there's a number of, and then just general people not reporting it. I mean, if outside of violent crimes, I know that plenty of people have not reported uh car break-ins. I mean, I'm sure you know plenty of people who have either. I have had a car break-in in recent years and have not reported it because of the time it would take to get the police there to file a police report to ultimately never have anything done with it. So, yeah, I do think a lot of that is a combination of all of those things. And then not to mention there's a 284,000 case backlog that was allegedly cleared um a couple of years ago through HPT, which I also think served as a little bit of a deterrent from people uh for reporting certain crimes. Because if you think that that's what's gonna happen, you might not be willing to report it again.

SPEAKER_18 1:03:56

Right, right, absolutely. Well, I want to jump over uh and get your take on this children's museum. I think it was the media director who's now been arrested in this sort of sting. I think other people were arrested as well. This is the investigation is still ongoing for maybe other suspects as well. What kind of happened there?

SPEAKER_20 1:04:12

Yeah, so this is I I was caught off guard by this one. I did not know this one. Um, so Lewis Anthony, uh Tony Telinas is 50-year-old director of media production of the Children's Museum. He was there for five years and was arrested as part of a multi-day online child predators thing run by the Manville Police Department and the Houston Metro Internet Internet Crimes Against Children's Task Force. Um is actually a task force just as a side note that Councilmember Marinette Huffman had previously uh served on, I think when she was uh I think he's working with HPD or with uh uh the prosecutor's office, but I remember her speaking about this and some of the things that they've seen there. Um, but he was one of seven arrested with four more arrests still pending, all charged with online solicitation of a minor. Um, and they were caught engaging in predatory online behavior of targeting children. And so it's uh I mean, if if you've been around just in politics and the civic, I guess, world, if you will, you've heard his name before. I'm I'm familiar with the name. I don't know him, I don't think I've ever actually met him. Um, but it is it is kind of shocking. And I mean, whenever you hear these things, it's shocking, but then to hear that he's the the media director at the children's museum just asked it, it makes you wonder a lot of other things and just deeply concerned about what's gone on.

SPEAKER_18 1:05:22

Right. And then you're like, ah, I guess execution might be the only move here. I think that guy just it's gone.

SPEAKER_20 1:05:30

And shout out to Manville Police Department, too, by the way. I we're I know we were kind of talking about that right before we got on the air. And you know, shout out to them for for being a part of this and for um uh kind of hosting or or monitoring this thing. And so, you know, we we need more of that for sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_18 1:05:45

Absolutely. With that being said, I want to talk about the county budget for a moment, because as we know, we've consistently had issues with budget deficits. Uh, I don't know if you have to tie this in because Alina Dalgo's also been talking about the flood control districts um and how there's this federal grant money as well that needs to be spent in a timely manner. That's also when Lena Dalgo, of course. Came out and said she had no regrets about the way that she handled things at the rodeo. Uh, that she would not be resigning, and that if anybody has an issue with that, they're just misrepresenting the facts of what happened. Uh, but all this kind of culminating in now our budget is apparently not good, shockingly, again.

SPEAKER_20 1:06:16

Surprise, surprise. Lena, I mean, not sorry with Lena. Uh, just the county budget is is a mess yet again, as it always is. And this could be Lena's parting gift. Yeah, I'm not gonna completely blame it on Lena because uh she she's only part of the problem. But yes, they are uh looking at a massive deficit similar to, I mean, the past two to three years, um, I think in the range of$300 million. Uh and what they're saying is that it's driven by storing sale costs, indigenous defense spending, mandating revenue caps from the state, all these other things, and that um, you know, this whole structure of vacant uh positions that exist that have gone unfilled, that they filled budget, or all this combination of things are arrived where we are. Yeah, this is far, far, far from finalized phase of this. But it does not look good. And it also just kind of shows you or at least reinforces the point that they've never most of our commissioners and our uh kind of judges have not really prioritized, if you will. I mean, they when you look back at 50 funds you have to run on to run the cost of$600 million in federal funding for flood projects because they did not uh prioritize, if you will, or or at least you just focused on any of the flood projects that were tied to federal money. One of 28 projects was completed since they and since Congress passed with my own. So it's just it's a mess. This county is a mess, and we have uh what six funded it until we until our long-running nightmare is over or at least partially over. So we'll think.

SPEAKER_18 1:07:46

Yeah, and I'm sure you'll get under that. As we're getting close to the wrap here, one more thing I real quickly want to get to uh is this arbitration loss relating to Mayor John Whitmire, uh, the Houston Fire Department. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_20 1:07:57

Yeah, the first version is around City Hall right now because the city went into an arbitration with the firefighters over implementation of that recent contract that they have to pass. And so with the firefighters arguing that they were supposed to get another increase under rates that they weren't given the laundry service, or then a number of different things. The problem is that the administration didn't tell council members, and so what is until this week when council members said rumors that we lost conversations is this truth that the finance director is like to you individually about this, and then we've later found out that it happened four weeks ago. And so uh it's just kind of kind of a weird question there about why the administration would not tell council members that they not owe$12 million or the public. Uh, but we'll see what happens with that. So the firefighters are on the hook for another$12 million pay raise. Right, and and yeah, we're on the hook for their pay raise.

SPEAKER_18 1:08:56

Right, right.

SPEAKER_20 1:08:57

They're not on the hook. Right, right.

SPEAKER_18 1:08:58

But again, I think it's the bigger issue is not even just the pay and this and that. It's again that seeming lack of transparency where we should have known about this, you know, four weeks ago, right, when it was going on. We should have been updated.

SPEAKER_20 1:09:08

Uh right. And it's kind of weird because you know, I mean, one, this whole thing is not of what my rest creation, so why why would you not just talk about it? And two, if you disagreed with that, they wanted an increase and you didn't feel that it was worthy, like that's a fun argument. You're the mayor, you're making a fiscally urgent argument, so why not just tell us that you've ended up losing? So it's just it's just very weird. I don't know. It's maybe just kind of like a forced error by their part. Um they should try not to do that again.

SPEAKER_18 1:09:31

Right, absolutely. With that being said, they should do their best to like not do that. That should be a formula for what not to do. With that being said, Charles, can you tell everyone how they can keep up to date with all the reporting that you're doing over urban reform when you're not here on the show?

SPEAKER_20 1:09:44

Uh, you can just check it out all across social media, urban reform or on my social media, it's DJ Blaine 10, and you'll find everything that we do there. And happy Good Friday to everyone.

SPEAKER_18 1:09:52

Absolutely happy Good Friday, and Lord willing, we'll talk to you again next Friday as well. Talk to you next Friday. With that being said, ladies and men, when we get back from the break, we're gonna jump over and we are gonna talk about the Texas State Teachers Union, uh, the teachers Texas State Teachers Association that apparently promoted and organized participation in the series of No Kings protests, wild partisan stuff going on over the Texas Teachers Association. When we get back, if you'd like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and we'll be right back after the break.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:36

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SPEAKER_18 1:15:02

Apparently promoted an organized participation in a series of nationwide No Kings protests, which were, of course, uh specifically anti-Trump demonstrations, through social media posts and direct outreach to its members. In posts shared online, the state's oldest teachers union urged teachers to show up, speak out, and wear purple on March twenty eighth, directing them to protests in their communities. The messaging, which was tied to the National Education Association's women's caucus, promoted the demonstrations as part of a broader political movement opposing what organizers described as authoritarian power grabs. For members in the Austin area, the Union went even further, inviting them to gather at its headquarters for a rally pre-party with signs, refreshments, and coordination before heading to a march from City Hall to auditorium shores. The demonstrations themselves are, of course, explicitly political. Organizers of the No Kings movement describe it as a nationwide uprising against specifically President Donald Trump, citing his policies on immigration enforcement, elections, and economic issues while accusing his administration of chaos, corruption, and cruelty. The union's involvement drew, as it should have, pushback from some members and observers who argue that the organization was failing to represent educators and instead steer those educators towards partisan activism. Uh, one commenter wrote, The union represents teachers and staff, not just one political viewpoint. It should stand for all educators, not push political agendas. Another commented and said, No thanks. I don't participate in foolish gatherings filled with hypocrites. But hey, uh TSTA, how about you focus on fulfilling your promises to teachers and actually spend time doing your job better to better the lives of teachers, not idiotic rallies? And so while of course, union participation here in union membership is voluntary here in the state of Texas. Many teachers have dues automatically deducted from their paychecks and sent directly to unions through government payroll systems. Uh an arrangement that critics have long described as taxpayer-supported collection, which is what it is. Efforts in that practice have repeatedly passed the Texas Senate but stalled in the House. Uh, this was originally a priority even for Governor Abbott back in 2017 to a special session. Uh but then the House, led by at the time speaker Joe Strauss, declined to act on it. And so in a recent interview with Luke uh uh Messias, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick again called for ending automatic dues collection, comparing the issue to taxpayer-funded lobbying. He said we passed that every session over and over. We should not allow unions to get their dues by taxpayer funding to help get those dues. And so, of course, you also have the Republican Party of Texas, which has echoed that position, calling for a ban on government collection of union dues and requiring unions to obtain member consent before using dues for political purposes. Because you can imagine uh if they're holding parties with refreshments, drinks, food, signs, all this sort of stuff, uh on top of the social media advertising and the emails and the letters they're sending out, this stuff is not free. This is not just a volunteer sort of thing where people donated refreshments and donated signs and donated their time to make the posts. Right. This took effort and it took resources to do that, which means that if you're a teacher and you're part of the Texas State Teachers Association, your dues went to making this possible. On top of the fact that even if it hadn't, this should not be the priority of the teachers' association in the first place. But this is where we're at, right? And this is something that I think the right unfortunately frequently gets wrong. Uh I I understand that we on the right have a desire to not be divisive. I think we're actually um kind of anti-conflict. We desire that, right? We want to be peacemakers. We we don't want the conflict, we don't want the frustration, we don't want the divisiveness. We do everything we can to maintain some sort of unity. Uh that is one of our goals on the right. The problem is that that is a luxury that we no longer get to have. I I I I, as much as the next person, would love to come out here and say that the world is not a divisive place, uh, that America is still as unified as it was a hundred years ago, uh, that we all are largely fighting for the same things, we just have slightly different perspectives, but that's not the case anymore. And the left, you know, credit to them, they actually understand what they're what they're dealing with, what they're grappling with, and what war they're in. And it seems like the right has consistently played this game of in the pursuit of, you know, trying to at least claim to be virtuous, where we're not willing to push back on these sorts of things and say, well, we don't want this to be part, it is not a partisan issue. It is actually now a partisan issue. Almost everything these days is a partisan issue. It is a massive partisan issue when you're not funding TSA because you don't want to fund immigration enforcement because you don't like this president and his particular policies. When you're sending uh teacher uh education committees and and teacher associations and unions, when when they're sending out emails and newsletters about attending a protest that is that is explicitly anti-Donald Trump, right, we need to start having conversations and saying, well, if even our our teachers' groups are going to be partisan, if even our education committees are going to be partisan, then clearly we're not playing the game correctly. Again, I know that we desire to not be divisive. I know that we have this goal of the pursuit of unity, and I'm not saying that's inherently a bad thing, uh, but that is a luxury that comes when largely everyone's kind of aligned on most of the big hitting issues. And we are not. We're no longer aligned. When the left is filled with progressives that desire communism, that desire government revolutions and overthrows, that are willing to use political violence as a tool to enact their agenda. We're no longer playing, you know, a game here where we're we're trying to achieve unity. We're now in a war with these people. That that is inevitably what's happening. And the left, this is not me just saying some radical thing. The left is well aware of that fact. The right's the one that just still has not, we've just not woken up and been aware of what we're facing. The left knows it, they're very clear on it, they're very upfront about it, they know what's going on. And we're still trying to pursue some sort of unity that's not possible with some of these people. And you can see that all across the board. You can see that divisiveness on display, uh, even when it comes to constitutional issues, where consistently we're having to push back on violations of our constitutional rights from the left that will use narratives and agendas and everything else uh to push through what is largely unconstitutional policy. And regardless of where it's coming from, that's why you need to become a member of our sponsor, Gun Owners of America. Gun Owners of America understands that our rights do not come from the government. I know that the government is is called and by obligation required to protect them, but our rights, interestingly enough, actually come from God. And they're they're they're they're God-given rights, and by extension, that means the government cannot and should not take them away from you. Particularly the number one right that that is the accountability measure against the government itself, which is the Second Amendment. And so Gunners America is doing everything in their power every single day to fight for those rights, everything from, of course, campaigning and lobbying and lawsuits, the whole nine yards, right, making sure that your rights are defended and supported. But they need your support for them to continue doing that. You can go to goahuston.com to become a member. That is goahhouston.com. It is a$25 annual membership,$25 per year, which goes back again to the defense and the support of your God-given rights, which shall not be in French. That is G-O-Ahouston.com. With that being said, when we get back from the rig, we're gonna jump over and talk about a man who's been accused of posing as a police officer, uh, who apparently pressured a Deer Park coffee shop employee to send$780. Uh, the barista apparently was was fearing being arrested uh for not doing what this guy said. We'll talk more about the details of that and what should happen when we get back from the break. As always, if you'd like to text in, let us know your thoughts on anything we're covering or anything we're not that you'd like us to be covering here on the show. Text in at 713-779-5978. One more time. That is 713-779-KYST. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. I'll be right back for that story after the break.

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Why Prison Fails And Restitution Works

SPEAKER_18 1:28:00

A 20-year-old man is accused of impersonating a police officer and convincing a Deer Park coffee shop employee to send hundreds of dollars, part of a case that investigators say may actually end up involving other victims. Now, according to court records, Caden Berriman of Clear Lake posed as a Deer Park police officer during a phone call to Sycamore Grounds Coffee back in December. Court documents state that on December 18th of 2025, just a few months ago, a teenage barista received a call from someone asking to speak with the shop's owner, Jackie Springer. The caller claimed to be a Deer Park police officer and said there was an ongoing investigation involving the business, its owner, and its employees. He told the worker the owner had reported customers using counterfeit money and said he needed to verify information, including whether employees were being paid, right? And so when the employee questioned the caller's identity and asked to meet in person, the suspect allegedly threatened him with arrest for interfering in an investigation. The employee said that he heard this after he heard this. He was afraid of being arrested and did what the caller commanded him to do. Court records show the teen went to his bank account, provided the last four digits of his account number, transferred money through Cash App, and sent$780 to the suspect. Shop owner Jackie Springer said the incident had a lasting impact on the now former employee. He said it was it really bothering him. He was very scared. She added the employee was so shaken he believed he was being watched through the shop's security cameras during the call. Deer Park Police later tracked the payment through Cash App. According to court documents, the transaction list of the name Caden Barriman and included a memo reading for FDIC. Investigators also noted the profile picture on the account appeared to show a man wearing a police uniform complete with patches and a badge. And so the owner said that's even scarier. If he looked up at that and saw that that had a picture and all that, then he thinks it's for sure true. Records say investigators identified Barriman through multiple Cash App accounts linked to him using records obtained through a grand jury subpoena. Investigators matched photos and identification documents tied to the accounts and confirmed the transaction. And of course, the owner came out and said the the biggest surprise for her was how close the suspect was. She said, Sometimes you think that all the fraud comes from someone far away or living in another country or another state, but records show the suspect lived about twenty minutes away from the coffee shop. And so attempts to contact Barryman were unsuccessful. Court records show that he's out right now on a$20,000 bond. Dear Park Police also confirmed that the investigation remains active. Officials say they're chasing other leads and conducting additional follow-ups, but cannot release further details to avoid jeopardizing other cases. And so the owner said, it makes you wonder how many other people have fallen to it. Employees at the coffee shop say that suspicious calls have become common, sometimes receiving multiple calls a day, many using realistic sounding or even AI generated voices. Consumer experts warn that these type of calls often rely on urgency and fear to pressure recipients into acting quickly. They recommend hanging up if a caller demands money, contacting the agency directly using an official number, and never sending money to someone you don't know. Since the incident, the owner has said she changed how her team handles calls, making sure employees know how to identify and respond to suspicious requests. And this is going to get into the heart of it because we were talking with Charles Blaine earlier at the top of the hour this morning. And one of the things we mentioned with this violent crime task force, re-offenders in general, was a conversation as to maybe the system we've set up, the the punitive system that we've set up in our criminal justice system is not succeeding. Not maybe it isn't. It isn't. The question that we're left with is why isn't it succeeding? And you can have a variety of answers, right? You can say, well, the sentences aren't long enough. You could say, well, you know, the the the what whatever argument you want to make. My argument, I think, is very cohesive. It's very straightforward and it's very simple. And a lot of it actually is rooted in history, as I like to draw a lot of my arguments from. When I talk about prison and the concept of prison and why I don't think prison as some sort of punitive sort of agreement actually works, is one, because you can judge a thing by its fruits. Right. That's actually how humans are able to judge almost anything is by its fruits what it achieves. And when you look at prison, uh, what have we achieved? Well, we've achieved higher recidivism, right? We've achieved higher rates of crime. Uh, we've consistently achieved re-offense status, right? We're we're not succeeding, on top of with the fact that we've achieved billions of dollars, if not more, in taxpayer funding to house these criminals, right? So overall, it's been incredibly unsuccessful. It's it's very obviously been unsuccessful by almost any metric you can use. And so what's the solution? Well, for me, I say the solution is very simple. Really, the whole concept, the the entire construct of prison as a sort of punitive situation, not a a a jail where you hold people until trial, where you keep them separate from civil society until they're either convicted or found innocent. But when you have prison, in itself the punishment, it it really is like an adult version of timeout for an extended period of time. That's what it is. It's it's an adult time out. When you use that as the ultimate punishment for crimes, you you're not gonna succeed. And this again is a relatively new concept in world history. It's not that we've never had prisons before, but even then, even when we had prisons, the overall goal was that it was the holding facility for while you were actually being punished. That the punishment was not the prison itself, it was well, you're being held in the prison while you, you know, whatever your punishment is, right? If you are forced into some sort of indentured servitude as a slave of sorts, uh through some sort of work situation where you're required to to work for restitution, right? Well, it's understandable that you have to be held somewhere. Right. So in that in that sort of context, maybe some sort of prison facility could make sense. But but as in and of itself a punishment, prison simply doesn't work. It doesn't work practically, it doesn't work logically, it doesn't make any sense, and it's expensive. Right? It it's it's like a lose, it's like a losing principle and policy at basically every single level that you look at. And so we need to start having real conversations about why prison is such a failure. And even though it's become modern, in the modern day, it's become very popular and just the status quo, it's normal, doesn't make it good. Doesn't make it successful, doesn't make it work. It doesn't work. And again, that's not me just saying radical things. That's very obviously true. We by any standard you apply, it doesn't work. And so for this particular case, I I would argue largely, uh, if you want to say the punishment needs to fit the crime, sending this 20-year-old to prison is likely going to make it worse, is not going to provide any sort of benefit, any sort of justice to the victim of the crime itself. Right to the employee or to the coffee shop in general. Uh, you know what should happen? And we just talked about it, something like indentured servitude. Something like where you're forced uh to work for that person in some sort of manual labor until you have paid back your dues, multiplied, right? So if you stole, in this case, say$780, you work until you paid back after taxes, right? If you the government takes their cut, you paid back$1,500 to$1,600. You do that. And that's for if there are additional victims, you do that for every victim. They all get paid, uh, and they all get paid at the same rate. So like you you'd pay twenty dollars from each paycheck you get from the forced work labor camp uh to pay back every single one of your victims. One, that would, I think, almost ensure that all of the victims are recompensated perfectly, right? They're actually given justice on the victim side of things. I think it would be more just to the taxpayers, it would certainly be more just uh to the criminal themselves, and and crazy, crazy note here I actually think it would produce significantly lower recidivism rates and re-offender rates. I think people would be much less likely to offend if they don't get to keep a dime of it, if it's all taken from them, and then they have to work to pay it back on top of that, uh, and they're forced to work manual labor. And maybe you put them around good people, right? Instead of putting everybody in the same manual labor job, you spread all the criminals out and they're forced to work around good people, hardworking people, uh Christian families, right, where they're influenced rather than being in a big prison cell that we're all paying for, where all the worst people in the world are all getting together and having drinks and having a good time and getting to know each other and influencing each other just to be worse. I think we far more successful on basically every count. With that being said, we are from the break to wrap up the show, not only for this for today, uh, but the show for this week. Uh we're gonna we're gonna kick on over to Texas senators who are now uh kind of designing this probe into foreign threats uh and data centers in this sweeping grid security hearing where they express concerns about even things like Chinese components in the Texas State grid. Talk about all the details of that hearing when we get back from the break. As always, this is your last chance to text in. Again, not only for today, but for the entirety of this week. If you would like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and we'll be right back to wrap up the show after this short break, so stick around because you won't want to miss it.

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SPEAKER_02 1:39:45

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SPEAKER_18 1:40:16

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SPEAKER_05 1:40:56

Here's Jim Dotton, host of Texas Home Improvement and owner of Dew West Foundation Repair.

SPEAKER_12 1:41:02

It's no secret, this year has brought us a lot of rain. And that means your foundation is about as good as it's gonna get. So if you're still noticing cracks in your walls and doors that are sticking, call us today so we can help correct the problem before it gets out of hand and more expensive. Call the best. Call Dew West Foundation Repair 713-473-7156 online at du-west.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:26

Have you thought about buying a gun or even carrying a gun? But you don't know if that's smart or where to start. I can help. I'm Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk. Call in Sundays between 1 and 4, right here on Houston's Leader for Gun Owners, Patriot Talk 920.

Texas Grid Security And Foreign Threats

SPEAKER_18 1:41:46

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative brought to you by Texellent AC Service. Today's senators have spent this week grilling electric grid officials, national security experts, and industry representatives in an hours-long hearing on how to keep the state's electric system both secure and affordable, amid, of course, explosive growth in demand, largely drawn uh you know, created by demographic change, uh, things like data centers, but not just data centers, but the the power required to produce the results that you want, all those sorts of things that are they're worth having a conversation. So meeting for their first interim hearing, members of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee focused on foreign threats to the power grid, vulnerabilities in the equipment supply chain, and the mounting strain from data centers and other large industrial loads. Committee chair Charles Schwartner, uh, we're looking at Georgetown, opened by touting an American Legislative Exchange Council report ranking Texas 10th in electricity affordability with average retail rates far below the national average. He warned, however, that maintaining that advantage will require tightening protections around critical infrastructure without driving up costs for consumers, which is actually very good, by the way, because a lot of politicians will merely tout the success. They'll say, Oh, look, we're ranked 10th in the nation. We're doing so good, and then that'll be that'll be it. That'll be that. We did it. Boom. Without admitting that, okay, yes, that's very good. I would I would like to actually be higher than 10th. I think we should get to first. But even at 10th, if we're content with that, well, you have to keep that, right? It actually requires consistent effort year over year to maintain that position. And so the committee first heard from ERCOT, which is the public uh the and as well as the public utility commission of Texas, and by the way, the Office of Attorney General, on implementation of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act and follow-up legislation. Uh ERCOT officials described a two-track attestation system now imposed on every market participant and interconnecting identity uh entity, one disclosure covering corporate ownership and affiliations with China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, and another covering grid equipment and services purchased from companies linked to those countries. And so entities must provide a five-year look back on equipment sourcing and update ERCOT every 180 days when they buy covered equipment or services. Uh lawmakers pressed them on gaps in its initial paperwork, including an indeterminate country category that allowed some entities to avoid specifying which of the four targeted nations they were tied to. And so uh they kind of got into all of this because we know if you guys have not checked it out, it's still worth checking out. I know it's it's uh over a year old now, but it's still worth watching. If you've not watched Red Power, it's a documentary you can easily find for free without ads on the Texas scorecard website uh where they dove in to China's influence on Texas power, on our energy, on our infrastructure and grid reliability. Uh they did a better job than I could do explaining that. So we're not going to dive into the details, but all that to say we've got we've got a mash, massive issue ahead of us. If we want to continue to fight with affordability, dealing with data centers, and on top of that, all of the foreign threats to deal with land ownership, energy, efficiency, all those sorts of things, buying our components from China, et cetera, et cetera, and so on and so forth. Either way, we got that a lot of that coming up. Uh, but what we don't have coming up is more of the show. The show's actually ending for today and for this week. Thanks everyone for tuning in. You've been listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. First of all, happy Good Friday. Uh, happy Resurrection Sunday, happy Easter. And uh Lord willing, I'll be back bright and early Monday morning at 6 a.m. In the meantime, enjoy your Friday, enjoy your weekend. We'll be a little cooler when we come back on Monday, and Godspeed.