by John Bernard, ©2026
(Mar. 9, 2026) — Yes, it’s a shameless call-back to John McLain mocking Officer Al Powell in “Die Hard.” The reference, however, draws out the universal analogy of people who are dismissive of the problems in others’ back yards only to have it visited on them. I’ve been saying for a while that the divide is no longer geographical. The divide is urban/rural, which means each state has both and as such each state needs to address the division and societal issues it creates within.
For too long states like Texas assumed they were somehow immune to the madness that had gripped and overtaken states like California, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and which more recently has engulfed Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont and is closing in on New Hampshire. And there are others for sure. Recent polls reveal that 53% of people under 30 have a favorable view of Socialism which means Communism as well.
This belies several failures or likely successes of Academia to fail to present an entire historical view of the failures and utter brutality reaped by handing government absolute control and demanding what greed and covetousness births, which is theft of another’s coffers to ingratiate yourself. It is theft whether done through government taxation or by breaking down your neighbor’s door, smash-n-grab at stores, shoplifting and stealing it.
The lack of a balanced education is in many cases substituted with ideological claptrap which has robbed kids of time and the ability to glean history, develop critical thinking skills, reading with coherence and writing legibly with articulation and proper grammar. In the end it robs society at large of rational people who don’t rant or speak with insult and out of sheer ignorance of the subject.
Enter James Talarico, the next burr in the Texas political saddle.
His biography includes calling out his Presbyterian seminary education, and as no one from that denomination has felt the urge to clarify his exegetic blather on Abortion, Gender or God’s descriptive, I must assume the Presbyterian gaggle has taken a sidetrack or derailed altogether.
Let me say first that I am shocked that he would marginalize the LGBTXYZ community by personally reducing the number of genders to just six (tongue-in-cheek), which comes on the heels of saying there are not solely two sexes. I would be the first to say you can believe anything you want and say what you believe. But when you are given authority, which includes acting to force an entire civilization to declare your ramblings as fact and force compliance, that is too far.
It is also astoundingly ignorant to say that the Bible declares what you have just said. Verses Gen 1:26-31, Gen 2:18-35, and Mark 10:6 are clear that there are precisely two sexes, Male and Female – period. Science, Nature and History prove this point. Every single person born was developed in a Woman’s womb, and she got pregnant because of a man, whether naturally or through medical intervention.
People are free to think they are something else, but you are not free to make the rest of us validate it for you. Talarico is a deceitful fool for daring to suggest he got this from Scripture.
He has also declared God to be “non-binary” even though God, through His Word, self-identifies using male pronouns as these verses very clearly indicate: Gen 1:27, Deut 32:6, Mal 2:10, Psalms 24:10, 47:2, Isa 44 :6, 54 :5, 66 :13, 49 :15, Hosea 2:2, Luke 11:2, Heb 1:2, Mark 14:36, 1 Tim 1:17, 1 Cor 8:6.
Lastly, Talarico has tried to make the case for Abortion by suggesting Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her permission to be supernaturally impregnated, which is not at all what those verses say even while she, like us, retained free will and could have refused it. He draws a most uneducated conclusion from this that God is suggesting that abortion is OK when in truth, the only thing Mary had an opportunity to reject was impregnation, not to kill her unborn baby after the fact. Here is that whole conversation in Luke 1: 26-38:
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; [a]blessed are you among women!”
29 But [b]when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I [c]do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
It is deceitful and intellectually dishonest to take an established written work and change the intent of what is clearly written to make your case or to convince others of it. Talarico is free to say he simply doesn’t agree with what is written, to disregard the Bible, reject Jesus and God and even science and nature, but to suggest all these prove his ridiculous statements makes you wonder what else his fractured mind will reveal.
As always in politics, it isn’t the candidate that is the problem; it’s the voters, trained in government-run schools K-12 by teachers fused to the whims of the NEA and colleges which will pull the lever for someone like this who has proven himself to be a liar.
Texas, you have a problem and are on the precipice of inflicting it on the entire nation.
Semper Fidelis;
John Bernard