One of the most important things I ever learned was to ask myself what my part I played in any disagreement or turmoil in which I found myself. I trained myself to take time before I jumped into a rant of blame and demanded correction I felt was owed me by the other party.
SharesWhat do you do when a group of anarchists takes over a section of your city and proclaims it is no longer part of the United States? Washington Gov. Jay Inslee claims he has no knowledge of the Seattle takeover and laughs at the situation. Are the Democrats just waiting to see what Mr. Trump will do?
SharesAs a man who has done everything except die for his nation, I'm appalled by the radical-leftist calls to anarchy. I'm even angrier at our inept leadership, which seems to let places such as Seattle turn into sections of Mogadishu.
SharesRecently police officers and other first responders around the nation were hailed as heroes for their selfless performance and sacrifice amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Fast forward to the horrific death of George Floyd and the resultant impact of four Minneapolis cops being charged in that case. Suddenly cops throughout the nation were disparaged, criticized and verbally and physically attacked. Riots and looting ensued. Protests nationwide evolved, focusing on a demand for major reform in law enforcement including, in some jurisdictions, a ludicrous call for dismantling police departments entirely. Police officers were quickly diminished in stature from heroes to villains.
SharesEveryone agrees that the police officer who kept pressure on the neck of the handcuffed George Floyd committed murder. Unfortunately, the new normal is to blame all police officers for the actions of one bad apple. That defies logic.
SharesI can understand the family of George Floyd canonizing the man as pure as the driven snow, but I have a problem with the news media and people around the world protesting and rioting, making him out to have been a saint. It's pathetic, to say the least, to watch elected officials such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take a knee to honor a felon.
SharesVirginia Gov. Ralph Northam held a press conference June 4 in which he spoke about removing the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond. He called the monument "a symbol to shore up the cause of those who didn't want unity after the Civil War" by those who wanted to "keep the system in place." Does Mr. Northam not know that it was the militant wing of the Democratic Party at that time -- the Ku Klux Klan -- that wanted to "keep the system in place?"
SharesIn the United States, the freedom to assemble for worship is a liberty we have richly enjoyed -- and often taken for granted. It is a vital part of our national success and one I have revered my entire life.
SharesThe murder of George Floyd was horrific. It's fortunate his killer(s) were charged in record time, considering it usually takes months to indict police. But even if charges had come an hour later, nothing stops that tsunami of outrage.
SharesThe calls I see in the U.S. media to "defund the police" gravely concern me, so I would like to send some advice back across the pond to my American cousins. Here in the U.K. we have already defunded the police. Numbers of police officers have dropped 20,000 since the start of the 2008 financial crsis -- and the end result has not been freedom but a justice system that is falling apart and cannot cope. Violent crime has gone up by a third in the past decade.
SharesHow does burning down and looting book, coffee, grocery, clothing and other stores aid any cause? How does stopping Amazon, FedEx, UPS and other delivery trucks, and stealing package contents aid any cause? How does breaking store windows and stealing big-screen TVs, jewelry, clothing and tennis shoes aid any cause? How does knifing, shooting and killing police officers aid any cause? How does setting on fire automobiles, rescue vehicles, and police and fire trucks aid any cause?
SharesThe concept of history in 2020 is based on mob rule. Don't like it? It never happened. In fact, go ahead and destroy and remove any record of history as proof that it never happened. The radical minority in the United States today intimidates the populace to stay home and watch while our elected officials pander to any apparent cause, no matter how inappropriate, for a headline and a vote. The courts do not enforce, interpret or see to it that justice is served in accordance with the law. Judges pander to their own social pursuits and to the political leanings of those who appointed them to the bench.
SharesDr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream in which people would be judged by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin. That is a great goal. Those who demonstrate peacefully are allies of King's goal. Those who demonstrate violently are enemies of King's goal.
SharesThere have been attempts at so-called dialogue about race in America. But if that dialogue starts with unspoken inequality, its results will not help race relations, but instead will cause them to increase. When the dialogue starts with the premises that all white people are racists and all black Americans are innocent subjects of their racism, it is a lie. When the government's idea of equal justice is that all black Americans are committing crimes because they are poor, so let's cut them a lot of slack, that is not equal justice. When a black American robs a white grocer and shoots at him to kill, then gets off in court with a slap on the wrist while the grocer lives with the debilitating results of a heart attack from being shot at, that is not equal justice.
SharesWe are now more than a week past the inexcusable killing of George Floyd. Since that time, we have experienced daily riots (called protests by much of the media) and the establishment of ineffective curfews. We have watched rocks and bricks get hurled at our law-enforcement personnel. And we have seen the stores of law-abiding owners broken into and looted.
SharesOur collective hearts broke when we witnessed the tragic death of George Floyd. People across the United States, from President Trump to the average citizen, expressed horror at what occurred and called for justice. For a moment, we all threw away our differences and became united in outrage and indignation. Surely the moment for change had arrived.
SharesHere we go again with the use of that pejorative word, annexation ("Israel: Politics, prosecution and annexation," Web, May 30). Jed Babbin uses this word repeatedly, ignoring history and continuous attempts to get the facts straight. How can a nation "annex" its own land when it was taken away from them through war and subsequently regained?
SharesWhy are our cities crumbling just at the point they are supposed to be reopening? Our best efforts at home, school, work and in the public square have produced several generations of "youth" who are brash, bored, self-centered, poorly educated, constantly entertained, inexperienced, recently unemployed and largely disheartened with what little they know about rule of law.
SharesD.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser deserves kudos for her handling of the issues involving COVID-19 in her city. However, her recent remarks about President Trump were way off-base ("Bowser slams 'gross' Trump remarks about D.C. protests," Web, May 30).
SharesCOVID-19 has won its battle with America by forfeiture. Our leaders put us in the hands of so-called experts whose opinions have trampled on our rights and done unnecessary and unprecedented damage to our country. We thought these experts' opinions were based on hard scientific evidence, but they were guessing based on models generated by inadequate data. They should be disciplined and the politicians who heeded them dealt with accordingly come November.
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