Texas Tea

There is a story here and it begins with the map. It also begs the question why it is called "Texas Tea" and not Oklahoma Tea. It is attitude and a complete lack of understanding on the north side of the Red River. As it states in the body of the story, each of those dots represent an oil well and it is along those lines of dots where new pipelines will come online between August and December of 2019. One in fact just came online ahead of schedule. You might want to ask yourself a question: Why is Oklahoma not on that map? The US now produces 15.9 million barrels a day, greater than either Russia or Saudi Arabia. By the end of the next year, that total will climb to a projected 17.4 million - Thank God for Texas! Every producing state but Oklahoma has had an increase of late in drilling. Oklahoma has had a decline. Not only that but we are not building pipelines or refineries. Would you like to ask yourself, WHY? It's really basic Macroeconomics 101. By the first quarter of 2020, the US will become a net exporter for the first time in 75 years. In August, the US saw the largest annual increase in production in 98 years. What about OK? Nada! It is a question of attitude and understanding. I worked for 10 years in this state in trying to improve on our business climate. It was like pulling teeth. Why did George Nigh make industrial development his number one priority? JOBS. NOTE to the wise: A state cannot tax and spend to prosperity, nor can it tax and spend its way to educational pay equity with tax and spend. It is again, basic attitude and understanding with a smidgen of economics. California tried it and all they have been successful in so doing is exporting jobs to Texas, the same as Oklahoma. You grow your way to prosperity with JOBS and production. We just had a big tax increase, characterized as paltry by some. Do we now have equity in teacher's pay with Texas? Of course not and we never will with tax and spend policies. Throw in the mere fact that there is no income tax in Texas and we are looking at a disaster--the tale of 2 States. Texas gets an A+ and Oklahoma gets an F = FAIL. We have already sent some of our major oil companies to Houston and we should not be surprised if we send both Continental, Devon and others right down I-35 to Houston. These companies have a Board of Directors and it is their fiduciary responsibility to seek the best bottom line on their financial statements. They don't care about the Red River Shootout-it is a profit they seek. Here in Oklahoma we hear squeaking about earthquakes being caused by the oil industry, a complete and total HOAX. We aren't building pipelines because we might kill Ernie's favorite squirrel gravy for supper. Further, it costs a helluva lot more money per mile to build a pipeline in Oklahoma vs. Texas due to Profit after Tax [PAT]. What we do here is penny wise and pound foolish and that is why Houston is the US Oil Capitol, not Tulsa. Oklahoma needs growth in the economy and maybe a full helping of Grow Up! If we run the remaining big oil out, the only thing we will have left to pay our teachers is weekend Farmer's Markets and a manufacturer or two that we have not also run off, again, down south of the Red River. If Oklahoma was doing its part in production, the US would already be a net exporter of oil. Just makes ya proud, don't it...

Trump Foments Fear

Do you really think so or could that just be an emotional response to hearing something you do not want to hear? Let’s start with this, no one in the world has the Intel on that “Caravan” than the President of the United States, nice name for a phalanx of people marching el norte and planning to breech our border, OUR BORDER. Disabuse yourself of any other notion. The press doesn’t know squat.

Let’s take a look at what he has been saying about an Executive Order [EO] to force the courts to rule on the 14^th Amendment. Take a look at the education he has been giving the masses on the 14^th Amendment. If you understand what he has been saying and have been viewing my posts on the 14 A, you might consider it information the American public needs to discern just what this is all about. It is about a Constitution of a Sovereign Nation, the very basis of this Republic and it is the one single factor that distinguishes US from all others. Think for a moment about the blood spilled in the name of that Constitution, rather than some emotional response to our perceived “values”. That Constitution IS our values.

I am quite familiar with our Constitution, including the 14 A. I am familiar with how real Supreme Court Justices are supposed to rule on such, including but not limited to determining “Congressional Intent” of each piece, part and parcel, of the Constitution, word for word. That Congressional Intent is readily available to each justice. We now have 5 who actually do what they are supposed to do, rather than wetting their finger and testing the winds of feelings ruminating in the air. That just ain’t how it’s done, although it has been done for 150 years of spurious case law. That is over and you might as well forget about it.

The American public, of all ages, need to understand the Constitution, why we have it and why we must adhere to it. It will be very clear to you when you do that we are not a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic, comprised of 50 Republics, guaranteed in said Constitution. The only piece of our Republic designed to be Democratic is the election of Members of Congress. It was not until the term of President Wilson that we even elected the US Senate, when the 17^th Amendment was ratified, April 8, 1913. Big mistake and my hope is that it is Repealed, the sooner the better. Previous to that, US Senators were appointed by their respective State Legislatures, beholden to the State, not democratically elected by popular vote. We elect Presidents by the Electoral Process. The President appoints Supreme Court Justices, with the Advice and Consent of the Senate. THAT is your government, Articles I-III.

The only functions provided to Congress are spelled out, one my one, in Article I, Section 8. Period! All else is left to the States and to the People, as defined in Amendments IX and X. That is the extent and power relegated to the Federal Government. The Constitution set this system up so that the States and the Federal Government are Co-equal, neither having dominion over the other. There is no such thing as “Federal Supremacy”, other than with what is specifically stated in Article I, Section 8. Checkmate. It is the function of the Supreme Court of the US [SCOTUS] to make certain that this balance is maintained and further, to make certain the functions of government are maintained as the Framers intended—they are to determine the meaning and intent in any case, with precedent taking a very minimal role and only when that precedent follows that meaning and intent, expressed by the Framers.

Madison’s Notes have all they need to determine Congressional Intent. They are to look to that for guidance. In case you are wondering, I did not have to refer to the Constitution, my notes or Madison’s Notes to reduce this to writing. It is in my head because I took the time to learn what my forbears fought to maintain, what was so important to them and their predecessors. That is what made it important to me.

It is not fear we are selling, it is a sorely needed education. If you would really like to understand Amendment XIV and Congressional Intent:

https://tunkin.blogspot.com/2018/11/amendment-xiv.html

If you would truly like to understand the intent of the proposed Executive Order:

https://tunkin.blogspot.com/2018/10/intent-of-presidential-executive-order.html

Otherwise, just stick with the ever emotional response of “Fear”, after all that takes zero energy, zero knowledge and zero understanding.

Amendment XIV

Senator Jacob Howard Author of the 14^th Amendment

Amendment XIV

Section 1.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The very author of the citizenship clause, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, expressly said: "This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. 

Fortunately, we have the highest possible authority on record to answer this question of how the term "jurisdiction" was to be interpreted and applied, the author of the citizenship clause, Sen. Jacob M. Howard (MI) to tell us exactly what it means and its intended scope as he introduced it to the United States Senate in 1866:

Mr. HOWARD: I now move to take up House joint resolution No. 127.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the joint resolution (H.R. No. 127) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The first amendment is to section one, declaring that all "persons born in the United States and Subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside. I do not propose to say anything on that subject except that the question of citizenship has been fully discussed in this body as not to need any further elucidation, in my opinion. This amendment which I have offered is simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country.[1]

It is clear the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment had no intention of freely giving away American citizenship to just anyone simply because they may have been born on American soil, something our courts have wrongfully assumed. But what exactly did "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" mean to the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment? Again, we are fortunate to have on record the highest authority to tell us, Sen. Lyman Trumbull, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, author of the Thirteenth Amendment, and the one who inserted the phrase:

[T]he provision is, that 'all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.' That means 'subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.' What do we mean by 'complete jurisdiction thereof?' Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.

For the full text on Congressional Intent:

https://www.14thamendment.us/articles/anchor_babies_unconstitutionality.html

Photo provided by Kate Kelley Howe