tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13031567255833942672024-03-06T00:30:50.007-05:00Discourse WeeklyLive life traveling the river from end to end. A winding river and its tributaries are like life. Each tributary holds a different point of view. Here divisions are sown between the wise traveler and the not so wise. The wise visit each tributary to gain knowledge. The not so wise live their lives in the headwaters of a tributary, never experiencing the river of life to its fullest. Don't get stuck in the headwaters, never to return to the river. River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-40366780055107569752024-02-10T10:03:00.002-05:002024-02-26T14:16:11.416-05:00Democracy is explained, the Constitution evaluated, and the writer leaves out the 2nd amendment.<p><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif">Joesph Filco has taught economics and American government. Joseph writes commentary for the Williamsburg Gazette. The gentleman is relatively well-versed. Sometimes, I disagree and write my discourse here because the local Williamsburg Gazette and Daily Press refuse to print the discourse. When writing about the Constitution in his recent article dated February 10th, 2024. " Did they (meaning our founding fathers) mean to elevate <b>material needs </b>into rights? Or did they envision a system of ordered liberty and limited government whose proper function was to protect the rights of self-reliant people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Democrats will, of course, look to Article One, section 8 of the Constitution, to say the federal government can impose a tax for the general welfare of the people. But then, what is general welfare? General welfare, in my opinion, is limited to the power of the Constitution as written. To provide for a standing army or defense of our country as an example, but not welfare, food stamps, or school funding for the individual as an example. These needs would be the responsibilities of the states and not the federal government. </span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Democracy is explained, the Constitution evaluated, and the writer leaves out the 2nd amendment.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif">Excellent article, albeit a bit 5th-grade, but then you are writing to an ignorant class of people who mostly do not understand our Republic anyway. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">It was, after all, our founding fathers who did not trust the majority to elect a president. Democracy or pure democracy is, of course, "rule by mob," and Democrats like Hillary Clinton maintain the idea she was robbed of an election because she won the popular vote. I have to ask, is that treason not accepting an election? </span></p><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">According to some, one of the most hotly debated parts of our Constitution, the Second Amendment, is a single sentence that leaves much to interpretation, or does it? Passed in 1789, along with the other amendments you mentioned in your column today, known as the Bill of Rights, I found it odd you left out the 2nd amendment in your list of amendments. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">In my research of historical grammar, we find that at the time of our founding fathers, our founding fathers used run-on sentences or the use of commas to separate ideas. It is one of the reasons people today find the Constitution so hard to read and understand. When we use today's English grammar to look at the 2nd as a list using commas, we associate the list with a well-regulated militia that has the right to bear arms and shall not be infringed as meaning a state military right to bear arms and shall not be infringed, but that is wrong. Each is a separate idea; we have the right to a militia, and we have a right to bear arms, and those rights shall not be infringed. If we look at this from the founding fathers' use of commas in 1789 and other aspects of the Constitution, we see our founding fathers' use of run-on sentences. I proposed this idea to the James City County Police </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">Constitutional </span><span face="arial, sans-serif"> Officer during my time in the citizens' police academy. He has been trained to help other officers as a Constitutional resource when dealing with our laws. He agreed. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Yet, your liberal friends want to take from the individual the right to bear arms, and we are seeing this today in the general assembly in Richmond as I write this. The same liberals are ignoring sound legislation to deter the use of inanimate objects for harm by imposing minimum sentencing guidelines when a gun is used to commit a crime. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Democrats want control of all of us, and that is clear to this writer. The conservative Democrat of my youth is gone. We are fortunate enough that the Supreme Court released opinions on the topic in 2008, and they found the Second Amendment does, in fact, protect an individual right to bear arms, a "right" left-wing haters of America want to take from me. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">January 6th: The people's power has diminished over time, proven by the expanding federal government in our lives. Where the federal government picks and chooses which federal laws they want to enforce, or do we need to talk about drugs and the border? The Civil War settled the idea of state rights and mandated federal law over state rights. This is why the federal government sued Texas after Texas decided to enforce federal laws on our border. January 6th was nothing more than a peaceful protest when compared to other peaceful demonstrations defined by Democrats across our nation in 2020. Where the federal government and some state governments looked the other way as cities burned and people died. Yet the Democrats are now throwing people in jail for long periods of time for protesting peacefully, mind you, after a protest came to Washington and their front door steps. </span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-78820183282346615852024-02-04T08:47:00.003-05:002024-02-04T08:47:45.774-05:00Nitrogen Tax, Carbon Tax offsets should be reconsidered<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skip Stiles wrote an article in the Daily Press Sunday, 2-4-2024; Skip advocates a carbon tax, much like our nitrogen tax in Virginia, to help "in theory" offset carbon emissions. I offered my experience with nitrogen credits to offset nitrogen loads to our waterways and how this tax, and that is what this is, has actually adversely affected our rural communities in Virginia, and he should reconsider.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skip, </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read your article in the Sunday paper today. <br /><div><br /></div><div>I have to disagree with your approach to carbon reduction. I would point to the nitrogen offset credits program that came to us in the Obama era, designed for wastewater treatment plants, both centralized and decentralized, and the protection of the environment. In reality, these same types of credits have caused more harm to the environment than have helped. Offset nitrogen credits are expensive because only some large treatment plants will sell credits when new wastewater treatment is needed. Overall, the nitrogen offset credit program adversely affects our state's rural population but not so much the urban centers. Urban centers produce the most nitrogen and phosphorus discharge in stormwater runoff. However, local leaders are looking for the state to do something like you are. Local communities are reluctant to raise taxes on their urban communities to deal with these issues you are concerned with. Why? Leaders are leaders because they want power and fear being voted out. You blame the governor when you should point the finger at local leaders. </div><div><br /></div><div>The nitrogen offset credit program needs to be dismantled to address aging communities built before 1960 with decentralized wastewater treatment. We can now set the end-of-pipe limits of 10 bods, 10 tss, and a TN in the neighborhood of 15-20mgl. But then these same communities have to buy credits to get to zero and a recurring charge for credits. Rural communities with newer technology will not happen because large urban WWTPs are unwilling to sell credits as they want to keep them for themselves, and when they do sell credits, most cannot afford them. So, in the end, VDH's and DEP's hands are tied, as local community leaders look the other way, and we continue to pollute. Trust me, I know. This past October, I presented a paper on this subject at the 2024 NOWRA conference in Hampton, VA. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our issues in the world are significant, but America has generously reduced its carbon footprint while China and India continue to build coal-fired plants at a record pace. If America went carbon neutral tomorrow, our impact on the planet would be near zero. To help you understand the actual cost of a carbon tax, you are regulating our average consumer to a life of costly taxes the state government will no doubt have to implement to pay for the credits, and one has to ask from where these credits will come from. Solar farms? Wind farms? Even solar farms and wind farms hurt the environment, as some believe shore wind farms could be killing Right Whales as the structures attract food Right Whales eat, and the traffic of boats to and from these offshore wind farms is hitting and killing whales. Solar farms destroy the environment by reducing vegetation and trees. Whose job is it to what?</div><div><br /></div><div>Come on, you know this one! Remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. Where the left misses the boat altogether is found in Earth wobble. Removing groundwater from certain parts of our Earth has shifted our polar axes. Nasa confirms this. The tilt of the Earth is moving partly due to groundwater withdrawal, and when this happens, I speculate, as a keen observer of life on this planet, that we produce climate changes. It comes down to the Earth's tilt, whereas some parts of Earth now tilt more towards the sun today than in decades past, thus warming and climate change. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to get a cup of coffee, I can share my expertise and help you develop solutions where my expertise fits the ongoing saga of climate change. I do care, but our approach is based on greed for money in the form of carbon and nitrogen credit exchanges. </div></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-12477558835075508752024-01-28T15:35:00.005-05:002024-02-04T07:27:42.375-05:00A Poem: Rock Rider<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I was working on my next book today. I had been posting Facebook pictures of deep space from our orbiting telescopes. This poem came to me after months of rolling around in my head it just came to me. I wrote the poem in its basic form and then used AI and Grammarly Pro to enhance the poem. I made changes where changes seem to fit with a few literary changes. So enjoy. Copyrighted 1-28-2024. Reed Johnson. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Upon a rock, we ride through cosmic streams,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Earth, our vessel, in vast galactic dreams.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In Milky Way's embrace, a speck so small,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Life's tale unfolds, a fleeting, cosmic call.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Aboard this orb, where oceans gently sway,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Mere riders on a journey, night and day.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In insignificance, our stories unfold,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A dance of time, a cosmic threshold.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Beneath the stars, our home takes flight,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A ball of wonder in the endless night.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Yet, humbled we stand, 'midst galaxies grand,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A mere breath in the cosmos, grains of sand.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Through eons passing, whispers of our lore,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">On this celestial ride, forevermore.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Rock rider, we journey, our tales untold,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In the cosmic saga, our narrative unfolds.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtk6fKXNKIcLYtpxRsV3UknpIZKIyNIZptd85h8BSioNVG-UjlodOtWiZFXyMszZoXESGjH0UoMri1mLwgzqzshN2R_wzasbVGPMKG5B3dg3IK7zxshA6Wmwane_vKiPsHDcnqoynxfFGfJCE-t_b_MEfdbsTJQBXDUbtpZeUrCidXva1AmVqe5-1YIN3b" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="2000" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtk6fKXNKIcLYtpxRsV3UknpIZKIyNIZptd85h8BSioNVG-UjlodOtWiZFXyMszZoXESGjH0UoMri1mLwgzqzshN2R_wzasbVGPMKG5B3dg3IK7zxshA6Wmwane_vKiPsHDcnqoynxfFGfJCE-t_b_MEfdbsTJQBXDUbtpZeUrCidXva1AmVqe5-1YIN3b=w600-h288" width="600" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-10005864137223601242024-01-20T09:34:00.001-05:002024-01-23T15:29:16.901-05:00Dispelling false historical narratives portrayed by Democrats in an election cycle.<div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">My discourse on Ms. Laura Hill's commentary found in the Williamsburg Gazette, January 20 2024. Ms. Hill is the executive director of Virginia Racial Healing Institute, which manages the "Coming to the table-historic triangle." Ms. Hills' political attack on Nikki Haley was a most unfortunate decision in an election year. If Ms. Hill is intent on all of us, noting her own goal of being "inclusive," then her commentary failed that mission, and I suspect there are those of us who will never be included in her vision. Not based on skin color but on morals, ethics, political affiliation, and the ability to think. To see both sides of a social issue. In reality, Ms. Hill and I agree that skin color should never be a factor in an action or decision. To base a decision on skin color is immoral in my book of ethics. However, during the past week, in the commentary I read, Dr. Martin Luther King's commentary on judging others based on the content of their character was sorely missed in media coverage and commentary, and I have to wonder why?</span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">This idea of using American slave history to divide our nation every election cycle is worth pointing to the extremes Democrats will go to hold power and garner the black vote. For this nation to move forward and past historical slavery in America, we must stop blaming white people, and that is just what Ms. Hill did in her commentary so shallowly veiled in the darkness of describing Colonalist Europeans as slavers. She blamed white people. Ms. Hill used skin color. Ms. Hill goes on to attack a presidential candidate, and of course, this was surrounded by a false narrative of "the cause of the civil war." A catch-22 question that, no matter how Nikki Haley answered, would draw ire. A typical Democrat ploy to divide a nation for votes. It seems to me the Democrats cannot stand on their economic record, border security record, inflation record, green policy record, and war record. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">No, all the Democrats have left is historical slavery to garner votes.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Addressing Laura Hills' attack on Nikki Haley, using simplistic history idealisms, and spewing her false narratives do no one any good when trying to heal a community. Inclusion and equity are what Ms Hill is aiming for, leaving out diversity or DIE, a left-wing calling card. Inclusion means everyone, including Ms. Haley, but no, Ms. Hill attacks. Ms. Hill only seems to want a just community that fits her narrative and disallows all others with whom she disagrees, a Democrat and media calling card. I could write a book, and as luck would have it, many have already been written; slavery was "a" reason for the Civil War, but not the only reason. This is the correct answer you are looking for. If you hate those "English Colonists" who happen to be white people, who you say brought slavery upon your people, then you only need to look in the mirror as to who sold your ancestors into slavery; you will find, in some cases, they look a lot like you. Your simplistic approach to slavery is an uneducated narrative, and the people should be warned. Laying your argument at the feet of the "main reason" for the civil war is a simplistic, uneducated approach to political theater.</span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">"Defending Dixie's Land: What Every American Should Know About The South and the Civil War." Anyone can find this book on Amazon if you want to know why the Confederates fought, as history is rarely told truthfully by the victors. I am not saying this book is right or wrong, but to say there are always two sides to every story. Thinking is hard, and inclusion is more problematic when only one voice is in your head. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">To be able to think, one must have two voices of reason in your head to judge the pros and cons of any topic. This is where Ms Hill needs to improve. It's where most of us fail and thus conflict. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Slavery is an awful social construct, yet there is even more slavery today in this world than in the 1600s-1800s; we don't see Ms. Hill addressing today's world slavery issues in her ancestral land; no, Ms. Hill chooses to address history. History is, of course, something no one can change. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif">Dr. Walter Williams would be turning over in his grave after comments from Laura Hill, who has now entered political commentary. If you were to be inclusive of Dr. Thomas Sowell, he would tell you the same: For good or bad, Ms. Hill seeks power to force change, which is Marxism or equality for all. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"> </span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-26855521882906939222023-11-04T08:57:00.003-04:002023-11-06T08:14:27.695-05:00To live in peace is a false narritive<p><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif">The Daily Press editors wrote an opinion on Saturday, Nov. 4th, 2023. This opinion concerns an interpretation of peace. Basically, it is calling for a cease-fire in Gaza for the sake of civilians. We are now seeing the Democrat Party's alliance with Hamas and Palestinians who chant death to Israel and America. These Democrats are calling for a cease-fire, an opportunity to allow vicious killers to run and hide with American hostages in tow. Now is not the time to slump your shoulders and look defeated; now is the time to throw your shoulders back, hold your head high, and fight the demons who attacked Israel. Who will, in time, garner an attack on American soil again. </span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif">To live in peace is a false narrative.</span></p><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Humans are tribal by nature. If you don't get anything else out of this letter, humans are naturally tribal. If you don't get anything else out of this letter, Arabs, for the most part, have not and, like other tribes, assimilated well into the White American dream. We only need to look to Minnesota and New York City to see the anti-American protest; these weekend warriors hate not only Israel but also America, the land in which these Arabs live, Arabs we gave a home to. Ultimately, humans are tribal no matter where they live or how well they prosper. Even today, serving as an observation, Blacks and Whites who came from tribes to America, some forced and some voluntarily, are still tribal by nature after over 400 years of being transplanted into the new world, where native Americans themselves lived in tribes, a people with common ancestry, a native people, lived in tribes and still do in a country where tribes still define five boroughs of New York City. "New York has five boroughs: The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan. These five New York boroughs all have a different vibe and interesting culture. Each borough is different, " says their tourism website. Hampton is tribal based on economic outcomes, where different parts of the city offer different vibes and cultures. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">These cultures, tribes, and people live in peace in America. It is one of the few places in the world where we live in relative peace. A peace, until a black man is shot by a police officer, noting a white man shot by a police officer garners no media attention, no destruction of cities, no protest, no attacks on white people in the streets, no assassinations of police officers. A peace, until deep hatred embedded in Arabs for the hatred of Jews rears its ugly head in protest and shouts for the destruction of America and Isreal and on our soil.</span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">The truth that the Daily Press does not understand is that in the case of Arabs vs. Israelis and America, you need to pick a side. Brian and Kris cannot ride the fence of Democrats in this case. There comes a time in war when you must choose a side. If the Arabs win, Jews will be slaughtered by the millions. Americans like yourselves sitting on the fence will still be Americans, and Arabs will target you meant for destruction, or do you not remember Charlie Hebdo? I advise you, do not ride the fence, Daily Press; some but not all Arabs will not care where you sit; they only see the destruction of America and Israel. The fact is Palestinians choose their leaders, and those leaders are Hamas. Hamas and other terror organizations have lasted long enough with their threats and hate. Civilian deaths are just a causality of war. As bad as that is in a time of war, it's better there than here. Pick a side, Kris and Brian. Will it be America or the terror group Hamas? </span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-58658343049063347732023-10-08T08:22:00.002-04:002023-10-10T07:58:22.862-04:00A brief history of Israel, Judea and Palestine. Who is the real enemy? <p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: medium;">History will not be told, so here you go. The media will not tell the truth. Our politicians will lie to you. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 (also known as the Partition Resolution), which would divide Great Britain's former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in May 1948, when the British mandate was scheduled to end. In May 1946, Truman announced his approval of a recommendation to admit 100,000 displaced persons into Palestine, and in October, he publicly declared his support for creating a Jewish state. This is the end of World War II, and the spoils go to the victors. Remember, six million Jews were slaughtered by Nazi Germany, and at the time, it was thought that the Jewish community needed its own state, providence, country, or whatever you want to call it. What better place than the Jewish people's traditional homeland since the Iron Age?</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Throughout 1947, the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine examined the Palestinian question and recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as it was during the Iron Age. The Iron Age lasted from roughly 1200 to 500 B.C.E. This was to be a great reset from a historical perspective of who was there first. The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate. The League of Nations, you may recall, was the precursor to the United Nations. This provided a mandate following WWI for the British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. </span></span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Lord knows we don't teach this anymore in our schools.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br />This territory was put under British administration following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This was an attempt to keep the peace and local warring factions under control who were feared to turn on each other. This area of the world has been under foreign Empire control since 539 BCE. <b>During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. </b>The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century B.C.E., then the Babylonians in c. 601 BCE, followed by the Persians who conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. We have yet to get to the Roman and Greek Empires! I point out that this region has been under control and in constant occupation for a long time. I point to the Iron Age of control, which was initially Israel and Judah, not Palestinians. </span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">The mandate was assigned to Britain by the San Remo conference in April 1920, after France's concession in the 1918 Clemenceau–Lloyd George Agreement of the previously-agreed "international administration" of Palestine under the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Transjordan was added to the mandate after the Arab Kingdom in Damascus was toppled by the French in the Franco-Syrian War. Civil administration began in Palestine and Transjordan in July 1920 and April 1921, respectively, and the mandate was in force from September 29, 1923, to May 15, 1948, and May 25, 1946, respectively.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">If Iran and the Palestinians have an issue, take it to the United Nations, which created the great reset with resolution 181. Revenge, war, terrorism, and sore losers are not the way forward and will only result in more human lives lost. The truth is Iran, who chants for the death of Isreal, also chants for the deaths of Americans. Our true enemy is Iran and its proxy war through terrorist organizations like Hamas, not the Palestinians.</span></span></p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-18668129118499879242023-08-27T10:28:00.002-04:002023-09-03T08:03:58.234-04:00I'm just a white man. I'm just a black man. <p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"> I'm just a white man; I'm just a black man. </p><p style="text-align: center;">By Reed Johnson</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">On a whim, I wrote down some lyrics I was singing to myself on a cross-state bike ride. When I can only hear the engine roar and the wind in your helmet, I tend to just start singing. That night, while settling into another hotel in Roanoke, VA, I wrote to Oliver Anthony (Chris) a song/poem and posted it to his Facebook page. Now, the following is not direct or exactly what I wrote, and the truth is I did not write it down. I wrote to him my thoughts for a song in a matter of minutes. What I put down on paper here will not be exactly the same, but close. It's the catchline that is the most important. Like "Rich man north of Richmond," mine is as follows. I told him he could have the song if it inspired him; it is free to use. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, why do you take from me my history and bury it in the ground?</p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, why can't a man, a black, educated man, find a job oh, where can one be found?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, why do you kill in your urban cities for a thrill? </p><p style="text-align: center;">Have you no regard for life?</p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, why do I live in poverty? </p><p style="text-align: center;">Why do my schools fail me? </p><p style="text-align: center;">Why do leaders turn to apathy and stab my soul with a knife?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, black man, Sunday comes along, and where are you?</p><p style="text-align: center;">I sit here in church praying for you?</p><p style="text-align: center;">Oh, white man, Sunday comes along, and where are you?</p><p style="text-align: center;">I sit here in church praying for you.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">We are just men living in the rich man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">We allow our politicians to live high on the hog.</p><p style="text-align: center;">While we country folk live in a bog</p><p style="text-align: center;">Our lives are but tiny swirls and whirls.</p><p style="text-align: center;">We go round and round, knocking the rural man down.</p><p style="text-align: center;">The urban politicians care nothing for our small town.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Ross Perot was right.</p><p style="text-align: center;">When he said, they would take in the night.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Our jobs and factories.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Does the rich man know no boundaries?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Unions are no better.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Just dues for the rich few.</p><p style="text-align: center;">A socialist kind of debtor.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Drowning my sorrows in a mug of brew.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Oliver Anthony is right.</p><p style="text-align: center;">We have to take care of ourselves on the left and the right. </p><p style="text-align: center;">We find our sister and brotherhood in our churches at night.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Together we can have might.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">We can rule our lives.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Without greed and apathy.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Without covetness and agony.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Without hate and knives.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Stabbing each other in the back</p><p style="text-align: center;">As we allow the politician man to attack. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Envy is the world's original sin.</p><p style="text-align: center;">We can no longer let in.</p><p style="text-align: center;">We can no longer allow envy to be used</p><p style="text-align: center;">To separate us, we must be fused.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Together we win; divided, we fall</p><p style="text-align: center;">To the rich politicians who give it their all.</p><p style="text-align: center;">To divide us a black man from a white man. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-85841390006778694042023-08-05T08:45:00.008-04:002023-09-15T07:28:41.359-04:00America's core values and creeds are under cancel culture attack<p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">If you ever get to read Joseph Filco, a regular commentary writer with the Williamsburg Gazette. In that case, I challenge you to find his sensible opinion based on years of human experience and education worthy of a chance to read. Joseph's recent opinion was entitled "Culture change takes time" Williamsburg Gazette 8-5-2023. When I read Josph's commentary, I thought about "Environmental change takes time." A subject near and dear to my heart. Using Joseph's advice and analogies for the same progress would be easy. Today, I am exploring why the American divide to progress. Following is my discourse and letter to Joseph for his consideration. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">"America's core values and creeds are under cancel culture attack."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">If I may call you Joseph, I read your opinion today and couldn't agree more. A fine piece of critical thinking and explanation, at least from one point of view, and that is your own. I expect you will be attacked in the coming weeks, but then, like the Rhinouras, your skin is four inches deep. Welcome to the herd. Ad Hominem would be a good topic for consideration. To write about <span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;">(an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they maintain. For many today, like our politicians, and the media, personal attacks seem the norm. So would it be any wonder this behavior trickles down to the average citizen hiding behind a social media post? </span></span></p><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;">Alas, I think of apathy. Why do people use personal attacks? Why does the media use personal attacks? Why do politicians today use personal attacks? Why would the editors of the Daily Press not expect personal attacks? What makes them immune to citizens? </span></div><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;">I suggest apathy. For example, the editors of the Daily Press, Williamsburg Gazette (any media), politicians, and academia should respond better to criticism. They use cancel culture to stifle those they disagree with. The only method left to attempt conversation is personal attacks of which the average citizen learns the behavior from the media, academia, and politics., It is because of the lack of communication with readers, community citizens with different opinions, and taxpayers the average citizen lashes out at school board meetings or board of supervisor meetings. </span></div><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;">In other words, why is it okay for the editors of the Daily Press to attack our governor's opinion or action, yet these same editors lack the fortitude to take criticism themselves? Example: I can write to the president of William and Mary with a different view, asking questions and expecting answers. The response is typical, "We just have to agree to disagree." It's a pretty lame way to treat a fellow citizen. The same can be said for media who do not respond or, for whatever reason, decide to cancel a human being because they disagree with an opinion without reason. </span></div><div><span style="color: #202124; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;">You can't tell me today that the media is not biased or even bigoted (unwilling to change), spearheading liberal culture change in our society with cancel culture in mind if you do not fall in line. Your opinion bodes well for those who print your opinion; it is like, duh, look in the mirror, editor. Your article/view was well written; maybe those who need to listen to your call are the ones in charge, not citizens. The citizen follows in the footsteps of leaders who lead by example. When leaders, as mentioned, want a culture change, they use personal attacks to whip up the frenzy of cancel culture; that is just propaganda, not conversation. Liberals, the media, and academia use cancel culture to push culture change— Don't you think diversity, a range of different things, only applies to the left if you agree with them? If you disagree, you are canceled. Don't you think inclusion flies out the door every day that we disagree with the media leftist who use propaganda to push culture change and use personal attacks against our politicians? Don't you think equity is sunk like the Titanic in the Atlantic when cancel culture is used to push a narrative? </span><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;">Don't you think it is a sad day for America's creed and core values when leaders in our community use their power to squash communication or a difference of opinion?</span><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;"> </span></span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-51352673729382800672023-07-09T09:26:00.004-04:002023-09-03T08:07:33.062-04:00Virginia Governor Youngkin, Protecting America. <p><br /></p><p>Dated 7-9-2023: The Daily Press editors go on the offensive against our Virginia governor. The editors seem to have an issue with border security between Mexico and our Nation. The attacks stem from Youngkin's assistance in sending 100 national guardsmen to Texas to assist in securing our border. My discourse follows as to why we need to help and in the same tone as the editors reminding all Americans of our distrust in the current federal administration and its puppets. </p><p><br /></p><p>As if right on queue, the Daily Press editors attack the Virginia Republican Governor again with hate for American security and conservatives throughout our Nation. In another attack dated 7-9-2023, the opinion page cast a remarkably weak stance on border security. Our Border security should be the responsibility of the Federal Government. A federal government that is led by a senile puppet president Joe Biden. A president so vile he and the first lady do not even acknowledge a grandchild. I have often said, do not judge me by me; judge me by how I raised my children. In essence, how you raise your children reflects your moral values and ethics. The old saying goes, a bad apple does not fall far from the tree. This senile puppet leader, and let's be clear, this leader has no clue who we are fighting in Ukraine, as he called Russia - Iraq in a statement earlier this month. A president who continues to show us how confused he is, "God save the Queen," and has to be led around on a leash to not get lost. </p><div><br /></div><div>What the Daily Press does not consider in their opinion and will never opine as they are handled by the same handlers of Biden; yes, the Daily Press editors are nothing more than puppets of the Wizard of Oz. Federal law is being broken by the Democrats when they allow foreign adversaries and other illegal aliens to cross into America without following the letter of the law. That is what all of this comes down to. State governors are stepping up and trying to do something to help protect our country, and the editors of the daily press attack mercilessly as if they are told what to do. I guarantee this same message will be played across Virginia in lockstep as if the media is used to persuade public opinion. The Daily Press plants seeds in their opinion with no proof; that is poor editorial comments. Our Governor does not need to listen to the Texas Troops to know that if one Virignian National Guardsman can stop one crossing of illegal fentanyl, millions of Americans might live. Suppose one Virginia National Guardsman can stop one Chinese national or other possible sleeper cell infiltration unit into our country from adversarial enemies; then, job well done. Even the Daily Press admits, although I think they do not realize it, sending troops, the Daily Press reports, to Texas has moved smuggling operations to other states. That means what we are doing in Texas is working and not a failure. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is time for other border states to step up and do the same. At a time when our doddering, decrepit President ignores our safety, I, for one, am glad Governor Youngkin has stepped up and done what he can to help our country. At a time when our President associates himself with breast-baring, mentally deranged white house visiting people and in front of two-year-olds no less; when cocaine is found in the white house; when the press secretary lies as to who was in the white house at 6:38 pm on a Friday long after Daddy had left; when you have a president whose moral decision is to ignore a granddaughter; when a president wants to take from you your gas stove and heating appliances, and when the Daily Press seems to think criminal trespassing and whatever they believe are minor offenses are not important then we as Americans have a profound mistrust of the media and our federal puppet leader. </div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-31104202420298775812023-06-15T08:39:00.005-04:002023-06-15T10:11:36.505-04:00"The Follower" chapter three. "You first"<div style="text-align: center;">"You first" </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> A lazy summer afternoon somewhere in the late 1970s. We had finished milking cows. Ralph Lee Harris
(RL) and I had ten dollars between us, and as was the ordinary afternoon growing up in Appomattox, VA, near the James River, we were off to fish. In our day, wade fishing with purple worms on a Texas rig was all you needed to harvest smallmouths of good size. The river where we fished was about a 20-minute drive through our community's farm roads and countryside west of Stonewall off Rt. 623. A local farmer, whom we helped bail hay, allowed us to fish on his farm. Stopping at the country store along the way, we pop in for a cold beer at two dollars an eight-pack. Standing in the middle of the river, our eight packs resting comfortably on the closest rock, we would knock back those Old Milwaukee ponies, fishing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Wading the river is for something other than barefoot. We wore shorts, tees, and old tennis shoes. One had to carefully make his way into the river and up to the rapids, where casting your line above the rapids and allowing that 6-inch wiggle worm to float into the pools below was our standard fishing technique—a little secret to the big ones. Along the shore of the James, you will find creek-like waterways that are a part of the river but separated from the river by small patches of sand bar covered with trees and other vegetation. Not more than 4-6 feet wide, but deep was ideal. Here the big ones lurk in the lazy noncurrent push of the river waiting for dinner to arrive. I was always happy to oblige them with my offering. One had to be careful; the river could be 1 foot deep or 20 feet deep with every step. Although above the Richmond fall line, I remember a rise and fall to the river. Not sure if the paper plant was to blame at the time; we knew no better, but most of the time, the tall tell sign of an approaching storm. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>On this day, as we carefully approach the rapids in front of us, we are approaching from downriver, looking upriver. We get out of the river, working the banks to the top side of the rapids, and back in we go. You are better off in the river walking than on the shoreline as mother nature's poisonous creature's sunbath and nature's perfectly made ich scratching plants thrived.
RL and I noticed the river's rise, black clouds in the distance, and always from the north towards the south by southeast or down the river; the storms would always come. The old farmers knew the summer thunderstorms would follow the river for miles. RL and I are in the middle of the river, looking at each nonchalantly, casting our lines, catching fish, yet the storm is getting closer. We smile; the game is on. The game is called "you first." Now, before any of you reading this want to comment on how silly a game we played, nonetheless. The game was, who is getting out of the middle of the river first with a thunderstorm barreling down the river? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Like most afternoons, we could see the storm coming from miles away; about 20 minutes later, we could hear the thunder; about 5 minutes later, we could see the lightning. The wind is blowing briskly like the fan on a farm porch blowing the playing cards off the table on a Sunday morning. Living in the rural parts of Appomattox, the routine was all too common, and on Sundays, we visited RL's cousin, father, and Grandfather. After milking, we played "set back," a card game on Sunday mornings.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rain is starting to pelt us like a farmer's saltpeter blast of a shotgun against our backsides running with sweet corn; I look at RL; he looks at me, still fishing, smiling; who will blink first? Bellowing thunder is now on top of us. I look again and can barely make out RL's silhouette in the driving rain. The fish is on; I have put my mind to catching fish with every throw of my lure, reeling in another one. Lightning strikes the river about 300 yards down the river before the bend, another fish on, can't go now, got to catch fish. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When fishing the rapids, we throw into the current or what we call up the river, and then we turn with our lure to the down river, and a gentle pull of the bait indicates fish on. Now for smallmouth, you must be patient. You let the fish take the worm; you can follow the line in the water as the fish races out of the current to the nearest still water hole behind a rock where he intends to munch his lunch. It is then that you set the hook—a big one. I break my line on a sharp rock, and here I stand in the middle of the river, rain beating down, thunder and lightning all around now, wind hallowing without a lure on my line. I pull my farmer's hat off my head, unhooking a floating creek chub, and tie it on. I turn, and RL is nowhere in sight. Did he leave? Did he move downriver; did he take shelter? Did he get hit? No, I thought he was ok just worked his way down to the island in the middle of the river. We had fished together for so long that we knew each other's fishing patterns. </div><div><br /></div><div> The first cast of the floating creek chub, right to the tip of the upriver portion of the island, produces a fish jumping high into the air. I will never forget in all my life that one fish in the late 1970s, the tender age of 19, and today at 62, one fish on the line is etched into my mind forever. Suddenly as I was reeling this 3-pound smallmouth, lightning hits not 30 feet away from me; I looked at the spot where the lightning struck, knowing the light I saw was after the bolt had hit the water; the crack of the lightning was as loud as an F16 breaking the sound barrier, the light blinding, I can't see, the thunder comes on top of me in seconds, rain as thick as heavy fog. I looked at my line, and I looked back for RL; I looked forward. I don't remember being afraid for some reason; fish on, I thought, so fish on…
I am fishing in the rain through a mighty horrific thunderstorm, lightning everywhere, standing in the middle of the river without care. I will be damn if RL beats me today. </div><div><br /></div><div>The thunderstorm came and went in about thirty minutes; looking behind me, watching the storm roll up the river, I smiled at God's wondrous beauty. In these thirty minutes, with the barometric pressure falling rapidly, I had reeled in 15 smallmouth bass; I mean to say every cast was a fish in those thirty minutes. I had challenged God to keep me safe. I had stuck my middle finger in mother nature's eye, failing to yield to her power. The sun comes out behind the clouds now as if nothing had happened. I would be dry from the waist up again in about forty-five minutes. Helios is starting to sink and giving way to Selene's visit in the sky. I am looking around; RL comes out from under the trees of the main shoreline, walking out of an old, abandoned barn next to the river. RL wades into the river, he smiles, and I smile back; "you last," he says, throwing his purple six-inch wiggly Texas rigged lure up against the island's bank. </div><div><br /></div><div> Reed Johnson
Author: A horse named Ray Ray
</div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-43206647313543238012023-06-03T21:45:00.001-04:002023-06-08T09:53:12.500-04:00Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. <p><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Williamsburg Gazette, June 3rd, 2023. A last-word writer, for whatever reason, decided to take the stance that the Irish should not be counted as in need of reparations since they were never slaves but indentured servants. I thought it was time to research and write about Irish servitude and slavery. America needs to tell this story better. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Irish Indentured Servants and Slaves, a story not told well. A conversation around Indentured servants has found its way into the Williamsburg Gazette. In the last word, this historical past is attacked by people who should understand. Ignorance is all I can call it; as Joesph Filco wrote, in an opinion, "Education wars continue." "People who tend to take extreme views bring out the worse in themselves." Yet extreme views are still a part of our society, and who is to judge what is extreme? After all, George Washington was an extremist. The Sons of Liberty was an extremist group, and Abraham Lincoln was an extremist, each killing and murdering thousands for change. Extreme is limited groupthink, as people are, by nature, tribal. In other words, we tend to group ourselves based on like-kind thought and employ our will. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If we promote diversity, defined as a range of things, which is the definition, we exclude an excellent idea of seeking truth. When we exclude the extreme according to our dictates, we fail to achieve diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI). While DEI is meant to include, DEI is accomplishing exclusion; we see exclusion daily in our society through cancel culture and when mainstream media ignores prominent newsworthy events. In doing so, DEI is never really obtained; thus, the child's education must still be completed. The adult teachers' ideals are limited to groupthink for fear of exclusion. We see this in colleges, high schools, and grade schools; groupthink controls what our children learn. </span><div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Americans have not been dedicated to learning about world slavery. If they have, they don't seem to care to understand that slavery in the thirteen colonies was a tiny portion of slavery in the world during the 1600s. Historian James Horn, a past director of the Jamestown Settlement, wrote in his book 1619 that there is considerable debate as to whether the first Africans arriving in Virginia were indentured servants or enslaved people. We don't know the truth, according to Horn. We know many Africans were able to obtain their freedom, with some moving to the eastern shore. The truth is not enough was written down historically concerning the 20 and something. Here, diversity of thought is censored by historians, the mainstream media, internet search engines, or groups of people who want to push a narrative in our schools. This is the educational war Joseph Filco describes. <br /></span></div><div><div><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Irish indentured servants were a significant portion of the population throughout the period when white servants were used for plantation labor in Barbados, and a "steady stream" of Irish servants entered Barbados throughout the seventeenth century. Irish servants in Barbados were often treated poorly, and Barbadian planters gained a reputation for cruelty. The decreased appeal of an indentured servant in Barbados, combined with the enormous demand for labor caused by sugar cultivation, led to involuntary transportation to Barbados as a punishment for crimes, political prisoners, and the kidnapping of laborers who were sent to Barbados involuntarily. </span></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Author Robert West, in "England's Irish Slaves," writes, "The earliest written reference to the Irish is the establishment of an Irish colony on the Amazon river in 1612. Long before Africans arrived in America in 1619, another writer (Smith) reports in "Colonist in Bondage," "a proclamation of the year 1625 urged the banishing overseas of Irish political prisoners and the kidnapping of the Irish was common." </span></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">West goes on to write; If there is one thing historians can agree on, as to the 17th-century American colonies, most historians agree that the treatment of white servants or white enslaved people in English colonies was cruel to the extreme, worse than that of enslaved Black people; that inhuman treatment was the norm, that torture (and branding of fugitive traitors, upon the forehead was the punishment for attempted escape. West cites another historical writer (Dunn): "Servants were punished by being strung up by the hands and matched lighted between their fingers, beaten over the head until blood ran,"--all this for the slightest provocation." Another writer of the time period Ligon reports as an eyewitness in Barbados from 1647-1650; he said, "Truly, I have seen cruelty there be these servants as I did not think one Christian could have done to another. </span></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Unfortunately, this story is not told well. Diversity of thought is squashed in our schools, social search engines, historians, and the mainstream media contribute to history masking. Even today, we see history being erased with the removal of Confederate historical art. We see slave history being retold, yet not all truthful. The history of the enslaved Irish person and servant has been changed to serve another outcome. Books being banned by both sides of the debate bring out the worse in humanity. Of course, one only has to dig deep into the dungeons of your free library. Where books by time period authors concerning the diversity of thought of the enslaved Irish person and servant exists, Joseph Fillco is correct; the education wars continue, the whitewashing of our world's history manipulated by the unforeseen Wizard of OZ who dwells behind the curtain, locked doors, and tall walls; they hide from most of us, but not me; I may not know who you are, but I know you exist. Interestingly, DEI is the same as DIE. </span></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Reference: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/englands-irish-slaves-10927&source=gmail&ust=1685916672729000&usg=AOvVaw3XOjKGifcFFYQz4RDdzR7r" href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/englands-irish-slaves-10927" target="_blank">https://www.ewtn.com/<wbr></wbr>catholicism/library/englands-<wbr></wbr>irish-slaves-10927</a></span><br /></p><p style="color: #202122; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><br /></p></div><div><div><br /></div><div></div></div></div></div></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-12759989049257641052023-05-07T08:47:00.000-04:002023-05-07T08:47:14.608-04:00Book Banning, "A light in the Darkness"<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">I want to thank the Daily Press editors for giving me another valuable topic to write about. </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">A light in the
darkness</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Daily Press
Opinion dated 5-7-2023.</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The
Daily Press offers an opinion. "Book bans dimmish the scope of experiences
available to young readers." As one might guess, the Daily Press editors
consider book banning to be a "crusade" to narrow the scope of experience
available to young readers, and though it will not satiate their curiosity, The
Daily Press believes book banning coddles readers instead of challenging them." The Daily Press provides a list of books that may be banned, such as classics
like "To Kill a Mockingbird," the "Diary of Ann Frank," or perhaps "1984" by
George Orwell. Where some believe these books are identified as sexually
explicit. There are other books banned for sexual reasons that The Daily Press
refuses to consider. Books like the "Harry Potter" series. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The
Daily Press leaves out other banned books for consideration. An entirely
different topic as to race where book banning is still in place today. Such classics as "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry
Finn," "Gone with the Wind," "The Catcher in the Rye," and "Of Mice and Men."
We all know the authors as these well-known classics. According to CNN, Books
that touch on race are the most banned books in America today. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Another
topic of banning the Daily Press refuses to consider; The Daily Press and other
news outlets ban topics from their opinion page and cartoon section of the
newspaper. These bans are based on race, conservatism, and traditional American
values. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Another
topic The Daily Press editors refuse to consider is cancel culture. Whereby a
minority of the population bans and attempts to cancel culture for an opinion
concerning race, sex, or politics. A
small minority of zealots take upon themselves the idea of revenge by
posting poor reviews of restaurants, business shaming, doxing a writer's home
address, and in some cases calling a fellow American Citizens' place of work to
get them fired from their job and what for, an opinion? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">Another </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">topic
the Daily Press refuses to consider is</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> banning </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">religious books like the Bible or Quran in schools</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jonathan Friedman, the director of the Free
Expression and Education program for PEN America, a free speech organization
that tracks book challenges, </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1f1f1f;">wrote,</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> "To our knowledge,
objections to the Bible in the last year have occurred as a reaction to efforts
to ban so many books," Friedman said. "In each case where it was banned, it
seems to have been inadvertent, and the decision was, to our knowledge,
reversed."</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">But
in one Missouri district, the Bible was removed temporarily to check its
compliance with state law, amid more than 200 other books. That is not common,
Caldwell-Stone said but isn't surprising given the new trend in mass book bans
across the country.</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">"When
you choose censorship as your tool for controlling access to information and
controlling individuals' ability to learn more about various ideas," she said,
"inevitably it's going to sweep up ideas and materials that you actually agree
with."</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> </span>According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom director, the Bible
has faced sporadic book challenges for years<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1f1f1f;">. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1f1f1f;">"</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">If
students want to read the Bible, it should be available in school libraries,
Caldwell-Stone said. And so should books about atheism or pieces critiquing the
Bible, among other religion-related texts.</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">" Caldwell-Stone writes, "Part of education is critical thinking
skills, understanding all the arguments from all points of view and sorting
through them and deciding for oneself what one believes or </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">wants
to think about a particular topic," she said. "And </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">so,</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"> I think that should be
available to readers despite what one group or an individual thinks of those
books."</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 26.25pt 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom director,
the Bible has faced sporadic book challenges for years<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1f1f1f;">. "</span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">If students want to read the Bible, it
should be available in school libraries, Caldwell-Stone said. And so should
books about atheism or pieces critiquing the Bible, among other religion-related
texts." Caldwell-Stone writes, "Part of education is critical thinking skills,
understanding all the arguments from all points of view and sorting through
them and deciding for oneself what one believes or wants to think about a
particular topic," she said. "And so, I think that should be available to
readers despite what one group or an individual thinks of those books."</span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The Daily Press goes on to opine, "Put
differently, one is American — adhering to our national commitment to free
expression and free speech — and the other is not. Book banning may go by
different names but is antithetical to our intrinsic national values." This
statement by The Daily Press is hypocritical when the same newspaper bans free
expression and free speech from its opinion page. Opinions the paper does not
agree with. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The Daily Press concludes its opinion with
the following. "Some books are mirrors in which we see ourselves, others are
windows to other experiences, but each holds a light in the darkness that book
bans aspire to extinguish. We must protect that light at all costs, knowing
that keeping a wide variety of books available to young readers will illuminate
the path to a better, brighter future."</span></p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">I would submit that diversity, defined as "a
range of things," is lost on the Daily Press. Only The Daily Press (the media
in general) can answer for what appears to be the banning of opinion, supports
cancel culture, and what may appear to be some but not all books should be
banned based on race, sex, religion, and conservative American values. Here,
The Daily Press "limits critical thinking skills, understanding all arguments
from all points of view." </span></p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">I want to ask The Daily Press whether banning
books (all books or some books the media may disagree with based on sex, religion,
race, etc.) is the same as banning opinions and supporting cancel culture. As you are quoted as believing, "banning may
go by different names but is antithetical to our intrinsic national values." Cancel culture and opinion writing are the same types of censorship. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Reference: Education Week, Author of "Why the
Bible is getting pulled off school bookshelves." Eesha Pendhanker</span></p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-38666065045564321372023-04-24T11:55:00.015-04:002023-06-14T07:46:43.948-04:00What are diversity, equality and inclusion? <div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">I wrote this after an article in the Daily Press by NY Times, Stephenie Sauls. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">What are diversity, equality, and inclusion?</span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><p><span face="arial, sans-serif">Here is an idea to consider, a vision to unite people, and a view to stopping the hate in Virginia and America. Many articles are written today in the New York Times and other media outlets about diversity, inclusion, and equality without genuinely understanding the definitions thereof. I would submit the media writes for a citizenry they believe is ignorant of the facts. To find common ground, we must first manage our biases and define our goals honestly and without preconceptions. We need mass media that writes honestly and adhere to the definitions of adjectives and nouns used to inform. Would this not be a university professor standard? </span></p><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">The definition of <b>diversity</b>: "A range of things." "A more recent definition would be <span style="color: #202124;">the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds." </span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><b>A Dissident </b>is "<span style="color: #202124;">a person who </span><span class="gmail-AraNOb" style="color: #202124; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a class="gmail-rMNQNe" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=opposes&si=AMnBZoFHF1DJLZWpTBtQDK262RMpr9KQ2GGsaEIeOLKOR-dYD9tutPPxlnd7Lkt31C4n3BKOs7pMWGXxQ4qapx5vY8M_Dwnhpg%3D%3D&expnd=1" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0">opposes</a></span><span style="color: #202124;"> the official policy, especially that of an </span><span class="gmail-AraNOb" style="color: #202124; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a class="gmail-rMNQNe" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=authoritarian&si=AMnBZoEFBhyZNIanF2PLYT1JPeYepundr8ERN6GuE1v2MS4ljNzq-2vWwpDpBBR-CkIGahr6U8k0mUswaHAjPgkm4pj_3S7Qu47QRMuAU9ME2WfQzMAqzow%3D&expnd=1" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0">authoritarian</a></span><span style="color: #202124;"> state."</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><b><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><b>Equality</b> is derived from the word equal means: fairness; we as a collective society should ensure that individuals or groups of individuals are not treated less favorably because of their beliefs. Especially protected beliefs. When I think about equality, I think about the equality of opportunity as a worthy goal of any civil society. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;"><b>Equal</b> is defined as </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">a person or thing equal to another, as in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><b>Inclusion</b> is defined as an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued. We all have them; We learn to manage our biases. An inclusive environment can only be created once we are more aware of our unconscious biases.</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">If we can agree to these definitions, then we can communicate honestly with each other. We can write, managing our biases honestly. If you disagree, I can't help you, but my attempt to help you is lost to your own biases you have yet to manage. Each can decide if they will get up and walk out of the cave and into the light. </span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">An article written by New York Times Stephenie Saul, published in the Daily Press and other media outlets, seems to be full of bias not yet managed. Let me explain, and I quote Ms. Sauls: " a university of Virginia alumnus and trustee is part of a forceful movement fighting campus programs that promote diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI)." I want each of you to examine the adjectives used to describe; forceful - fighting and, of course, DEI. </span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">The school's diversity plan. After the death of George Flyod, a convict who, b</span></span><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">etween 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion. His death was attributed to fentanyl and meth use as George was a well-known drug addict, jobless again. Police approached him for trying to pass counterfeit money in a convenience store. It is reported that the police officer and George knew each other as they had worked at the same bar as bouncers. If we are to accept diversity in its most accurate form, we would think about the premise that George Floyd put himself in harm's way by continuing to break the law and almost all of his adult life. We all accept that George did not deserve to die; however, if one is to continue to put themselves in harm's way, sooner than later, harm finds them. This is a diversity of thought in its proper form. When a dissident group like the NY Times and some within UVA decide to ignore the truth, biases ignite, and diversity is lost. Diversity is "a range of different opinions." These opinions should not be used to attack others, yet we see this daily on college campuses. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Another example is media reports of the white supremacist groups' march in Charlottesville. As vile as the thought of supremacy over others based on skin color disgust me, I am reminding you counter-protestors were bussed in, and some on-campus students attended and committed violent protest that resulted in the death of a woman and contributed to two state police officers' deaths. Had this vile white supremacist group been allowed to protest under constitutional free speech protected rights, who had a legal permit to march, who should have been rescued from counter-protestors, lives would have been saved. Even foul, horrid, hateful white supremacists are part of a "range of different things." They are a group that comes from "socially different backgrounds." I am amazed that the UVA board of visitors, the city, and professors do not take responsibility, at least in part, for the events that faithful day. I am amazed academia today does not or refuse to acknowledge true diversity.</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;">Diversity "A range of different things." President Ryan worries "about academia freedom and ideology conformity." Yet, most UVA professors identify themselves as very liberal - slightly liberal, and 60.8% are politically left-leaning progressives; moderates</span></span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;">, on the other hand, comprise 18.9%, and conservatives account for 20.2%. </span><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;">UVA seems to promote the atrocities against academic freedom and conformity they pretend to fight. James A. Beacon writes, "</span><span style="color: #333333;">The Jefferson Council, an organization on whose board I serve, has compiled abundant testimony, some public and some off the record, that many conservatives at UVa are afraid to openly speak their minds — and are especially fearful of transgressing the official doctrine on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion or its leftist, social-justice underpinnings." If diversity is the true objective, would the university want more conservative professors to balance the poison fed to our children by left-wing progressives?</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;">In comparison, My analogy of Mr. Ellis is John Adams's representation of British soldiers in the aftermath of the Boston massacre. The Boston citizenry hated Adams for defending British soldiers. The professors of UVa and the media hate Mr. Ellis for defending Jefferson. Defending the British soldiers was noble in action. Limited freedom conjured up by left-wing progressives who attack when they disagree and attack with malice is not real DEI; it is an illusion. We see what appears to be a violent attitude coming from the NY Times article and left-wing counter-protest like what we saw in Charlottesville. We see student counter-protestor violence play out across our college campuses and defended by left-wing progressives. I am not saying Mr. Ellis would support white supremacists or bad policing. I am saying Mr. Ellis would support freedom of speech, true diversity, inclusion, and equality. </span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">According to Inside Higher Ed, academic freedom is not achieved when 1/3rd of all students do not trust professors and do not give their honest opinions. This is especially true in the relationships between liberal professors and conservatively raised students. After graduating from Hampden Sydney, I remember my son's remarks, "Dad, it is better just to tell the professor what he wants to hear." My white son is now a 24-year-old professional working for Boeing living in Charleston, Sc—a self-sufficient young man who was not good enough for UVA. Yet some attend UVA based on skin color and lower academic achievements. Where opportunities are competitive, like college acceptance, there are those who prefer equal outcomes or to have the opportunity at the expense of others. How do we judge who is accepted and who is not when there is an unequal numerical achievement outcome. We judge based on skin color, and that is not equity. </span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">My daughter is a speech-language pathologist, a graduate of Longwood, and a graduate student with a full scholarship attending the University of West Virginia. Still, she was not good enough for UVA. Now working for Fairfax County schools in speech, a self-sufficient professional who would call me at night to ask how to respond to left-wing liberal professors' ideology, an ideology my family disagreed with. Counseling my daughter when no one else would on campus, due in part to a lack of professors she trusted to confide in, I advised conservative, traditional values reminding her of Dr. Walter Williams (George Mason) and studying his work to defend her positions. So I ask again, where is the diversity? Where is the inclusion? Our Universities and Colleges fail to deploy true diversity for all, which is what Mr. Ellis is fighting forcibly. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><b>Equality:</b> Equality tries to obtain opportunities for each individual or group by giving them the same resources and opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Equal outcomes do not exist and will never exist in a social construct. When we try to obtain social "equal," we are governed by Marxist - communist - perhaps tyrannical government. Yet we are never equal; even then, there are hierarchies. The closest we can come to equality is a capitalist republic. Equal will never exist due to the abstract of human reality. Equal will only exist in math where 1=1. I submit that equality will never be obtained if cultural diversity hinders opportunities or outcomes. That means that each society's culture must have the exact wants. In other words, If I may explain, humans are still tribal and will always be tribal by nature. I have to wonder if I really have to explain this to anyone? Each tribe must want the same things within "the range of things" allowed. This range of things is based on society's moral and ethical expectations. For this to be true, then some freedom is lost; some tribes will lose more freedom than others based on democracy or even Marxism; hence equality can never be equal. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><b>Example:</b> We raise our families to produce the same outcome. Are our core family units built around the same culture? Do we all go to church? Do we all not go to church? Are all 1-12 grade schools the same, and if not, why? Who is to blame for the inequality of 1-12 grade schools, and can they ever be equal? Are marriage and traditional family objectives the best way to raise a child, and if so, why do some fight this? Please explain how a single mother is better at raising a child than a mother and father. </span></span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;">Do we all follow the six simple rules that can lead to a good life lived"? Is one culture better than the other, and if not, why the different outcomes? Dr. Walter Willams would have asked the same questions and </span>did being<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124;"> called a racist by the media and others whose minds are skewed by the progressive left-wing ideology. America was more in tune with each other in the 1950s despite the racial inequality than today, and children were much more likely to succeed then than now—reference: "Race and economics" by Dr. Walter Williams. </span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">In conclusion:</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Would George Floyd still be alive today if he had followed six simple rules of a life lived well? </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">Would America be better off if we just followed these simple rules? The answer is yes. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">1. Honor thy mother and father. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">2. don't kill</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">3. don't steal</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">4. don't lie</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">5. don't bear false witness</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">6. don't covet</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">You see, 99.3% of our society follows these simple rules while .7% do not. Yet we allow the .7% to dictate to the 99.3%, which is what Mr. Ellis is fighting forcibly.</span></span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-8117230837155214562023-04-22T11:55:00.002-04:002023-05-07T13:21:26.868-04:00Media using fear to divide America. <p><span face="arial, sans-serif">I read your article/opinion in the Daily Press and felt compelled to write. An Article written by Helen Hubrinas explored fear. The article is titled. What's the biggest fear in America? It's each other. Daily Press 4-22-2023. I offer discourse. </span></p><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Tennesse legislators: Your assumption is wrong. It's normal now for Democrats like yourself to ignore the truth, and I have given up on mainstream media ever to produce facts but rather narratives. The two Democrats took the legislative floor and invoked what looked to be a possible violent mob of people sitting in the balcony. They seemed to be inciting violence with a bullhorn during a legislative session. The two young legislators, one videoed jumping up and down on police cars in 2020 as a violent rioter, indicate what these two young men represent fearless violence. So if you think there is a fear, you are right; there is a fear of violence these two young men incited against the rest of the legislators. The fact is these two violated the session quorum and were rightly punished. Yet people like you want to bring race into this unruly behavior where race was never the issue. </span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif">Your article reeked of racial tones. "who is black" references a black kid being shot by a "who is white" man, and yet for the rest of the article, no mention of the color of skin; why is that? Why did the color of one's skin even matter? If your article had been written with a neutral tone, it might have looked like this. A kid was shot by a homeowner who is 84 years old, and I will bet you a jelly donut he will be found mentally incompetent, given his age. What an unfortunate situation, but you bring race into the painted picture; I have to ask why?</span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">What you wrote, or what I took from your article, is that breaking the law is okay to incite a crowd. If that is true, your next article, if you are a woman of true equality, will write about the January 6th protest like you have written about these two junior Democrats in Tennessee. You will write, "I don't think they were unafraid --- After all being courageous is the same as being unafraid. It means doing something even when you are afraid." </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif">I see, and I am sure you will agree, what we saw in Tennesse legislation, what we saw in the summer of 2020 when Philadelphia and other cities burned, and what we saw in Washington on January 6th was simple people being fearless. You may pick and choose who you think is fearless. You will agree each group mentioned was cheered on, and rightfully so, but no, you will pick and choose who to demonize based on your political biases. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;">When discussing fear, I suggest you look within and the fear the mainstream media incorporates into each paper, each CNN, FOX, or MSNBC show—the indoctrination of the masses. I blame you for the fear, and when I say you, I am pointing toward your industry and politicians who use fear to divide us as you did with this article. Propaganda seems to be what you sell, not news or the absolute truth. </span><span style="color: #202124;">I </span>fear the<span style="color: #202124;"> mainstream media's extreme left-wing fascist view of America. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #202124;"><span face="arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #202124;">Edward Bernays said it best. "</span><span style="color: #333333;">If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct, or in our ethical thinking, we are dominated by a relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the strings which control the public mind." Once our society becomes aware of this fact, aware of the few who pull our strings like puppets, we begin to lose fear; we pull the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz to find a feeble old man in the white house who seems to have lost his moral principle and mind. We are to see the mass media's intent to destroy America for an ideology not steeped in traditional American values. </span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">If you want the fear of gun violence to end, teach high moral virtues and raise the ethical values of our nation as we are plagued by a relatively small number of people which is .7% out of 332,000,000 Americans, who cannot and will not afford the time to learn six basic rules of civilized living. </span></span></div><div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;"><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline" />Honor thy mother and father</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">don't kill</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">don't steal</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">don't lie</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">don't bear false witness</span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">don't covet</span></span></div></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color: #333333;">Taking the God-given rights of self-defense from the 99.3% without our permission is a form of slavery. I choose not to be a slave to the Democrats. I will not fear you as I am cheered on by many to take a stand against left-wing progressives. I am fearless as well, so I am sure you understand my position and applaud my fearless stance less you become a hypocrite. </span></span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;">If we can't teach our children these basic ethical standards, the .7% will forever place fear in you. I fear not, for I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees at the feet of Democrats and the tyranny that would follow. I choose freedom over tyranny. I choose high morals; I choose high ethical values; I choose to fight you and your demonic values fearlessly. </span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-33249823753737395042023-04-13T08:27:00.001-04:002023-04-13T14:30:41.157-04:00Water an important terrorist threat. <p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Reference: The Daily Press, 4-13-2023, wrote an opinion concerning our power infrastructure. </p><p><br /></p><p>Dearest Daily Press, </p><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for giving me so much to write about for my blog for the last ten years. Today marks one of the few times we agree. Ukraine has shown us we can live without power, and while power is important to those who are not self-reliant, we cannot live without water. The American power grid is at risk. There are other more important risks as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Water: To be exact potable water. Every manhole is access to water. Every backflow preventer, every force main that runs through a secluded area of a region, is at risk of poisoning or sabotage. Thousands of miles of pipe and infrastructure are at risk. Not our intakes and treatment plants, as they are at least reasonably secure. I can guarantee you there are simple weapons of terrorism, if initiated, that could poison potable water in every urban center throughout America. With the proper education, terrorism is valid.</div><div><br /></div><div>"The potential for terrorism is not new. In 1941, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar
Hoover wrote, "It has long been recognized that among public utilities, water supply facilities
offer a particularly vulnerable point of attack to the foreign agent, due to the strategic position
they occupy in keeping the wheels of industry turning and in preserving the health and morale of
the American populace." Water infrastructure systems are also highly linked with other
infrastructure systems, especially electric power, transportation, and the chemical
industry, which supplies treatment chemicals, making the security of all of them an issue of concern.
These types of vulnerable interconnections were evident, for example, during the August 2003
electricity blackout in the Northeast United States: wastewater treatment plants in Cleveland,
Detroit, New York, and other locations that lacked backup generation systems lost power and
discharged millions of gallons of untreated sewage during the emergency, and power failures at
drinking water plants led to boil-water advisories in many communities. Likewise, natural
disasters such as the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes and the 2007 Mississippi River floods caused
extensive and costly damage to multiple infrastructure systems—transportation, water, electric
power, and telecommunications."</div><div><br /></div><div>There are solutions to terrorism, natural disasters, hurricanes, and flooding. Still, it is not reducing carbon emissions or mining rare minerals to make batteries, nor is it continuing to buy batteries from countries that use slave labor. It is a new way of conveyance from the home to the treatment plant. It is called effluent sewering. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Refernce: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/terror/RL32189.pdf </div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-81223428729331624182023-04-09T08:13:00.004-04:002023-04-09T08:13:37.503-04:00 "on condition of anonymity." How the mainstream media attacks the GOP<div>April 9th, 2023, New York Times reporters Johnathon Swan and Anni Karni authored a Sunday article printed by the Daily Press. "House GOP lacks unity." </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">On condition of anonymity</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"According to two people, who said Banks told them about the incident. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations."<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"According to a person briefed on one of the conversations who recounted it on condition of anonymity."</div><div><br /></div><div>This article is a prime example of lazy, narrative-driven speculation and little to no evidence reporting. The entire article's concept is based on private conversations the reporter was not a part of; no proof of as to the conversations even taking place, so they use "on condition of anonymity" to cover their hidden agenda. I have observed this behavior in mainstream reporting for many years now, and this lazy reporting is used to discredit the GOP and others they disagree with. </div><div><br /></div><div>This was a hit piece. This entire article is based on anonymity, hearsay, and rumors, where the reporters try to tie anonymity to facts. These reporters are not to be trusted; they offer no proof, just conjecture, which is why the mainstream media should not be trusted. There is no proof of a lack of unity within the GOP. </div><div><br /></div><div>When you read an article written by a mainstream media outlet, count the number of times the reporter uses anonymity to create a theme for your reading pleasure. Learn to decipher, break apart the article, and understand where the facts come from to form an opinion or narrative. Are the reporter's conclusions based on proof, facts, accurate quotes, or anonymity? If there are no quotation marks, there is no proof any of the information in the article is true; in other words, there are no printed or video references. You are trusting someone you do not know, who lives in New York and works for a paper that has lied in the past and proven to do so. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is why I do not trust the Daily Press Editors. The Daily Press is responsible for the content of the paper. The editors allow articles with what I believe and, based on experience, offer very weak conclusions and conjecture to create a narrative to benefit the Democrat Party. </div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-79884809687222862762023-04-02T08:49:00.003-04:002023-05-07T13:23:25.774-04:00Revelations of government, self-defense and social behaviors.<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Sometimes it is a simple answer. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Nearly one out of every 100 people in the United States is in prison or jail. The total population of America is 332,000,000, not counting illegal aliens who hide in plain sight and are sometimes labeled drug dealers and killers after their arrest. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">We hear from Democrats about incarceration. Many are set free with no bail or little jail time to lie, cheat, steal, or kill again. Simple math is revealing, and what you should ask is, what percent of the U.S. population is behind bars? The answer: About 0.7% of the United States is currently in a federal or state prison or local jail. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">I believe in the good of mankind despite evil. I believe the evil at large in America still hovers around .7% of our population who do evil things. In other words, people who go to jail, we hope, will reform and repent their wicked ways, get out, and others follow for whatever reason.</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">These statistics show 99.3% of Americans are good decent people, in other words, not in jail, at least. These people have not been convicted of lying, stealing, cheating, or killing. We should acknowledge that .7% are in need of help, yet some we should just call evil. The potential for mass shooters to live among us is .1% of our population, which is backed up by the links I am providing. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Now think about this. The 99.3% allow the .7% to take what is not rightfully theirs from us. Of the .7%, the .1% blame their school, workplace, etc., for making their lives miserable, and they have no way out, so they take revenge. See link. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">When you hear Democrats wanting to further regulate or take guns, nature's first right to self-defense, be cautious. There are ulterior motives, and I guarantee you that Democrats want power over you. The oligarchy thinks they know better than you, more intelligent than you. We know this when parents' right to know how their children are taught is kept a secret. Just ask the last Democrat who ran for governor in Virginia.</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Statistics still show a .00015% chance any of you will ever face a criminal with a gun. Remember, 99.3% of the population, I describe them as good people living good lives, are not the issue regarding gun rights or self-defense. The .6% who broke the law and committed a crime less than murder are not the issue. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">It is the.1%, the criminally potential person, who may not have a mental issue but due to bullying in school or workplace, harassment, no conflict resolutions, holding on to resentment, shoots up your school or workplace. Most of these shootings could have been prevented, but the 99.3% don't want to get involved for fear of being called a racist or some other harmful tag given by left-wing progressives, just staying away seems to be the best course of defense. Is saving children worth my job and lively hood? No, it is not; most will take their chances with the .00015%. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><span style="font-family: times;">In places where most mass murder-suicides occur, we, the 99.3%, underfund our schools. Schools lack the resources to stop the .1% because we are cheap or stupid; you choose the answer. </span><span style="font-family: times;">Remember, according to this article, 99% of these school shootings were done by people wanting to die by suicide or police suicide. Because they felt their lives were not worth living. </span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">I guess our children are not worth the funds to hire a sheepdog. The idea of teachers and school staff carrying nature's first right to self-defense is shunned by Democrats, and we all know that. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">I must ask teachers, do these children mean so little to you that you are unwilling to conceal carry to protect them? But are you willing to run into a hail of gunfire defenseless and be gunned down alongside the rest of the sheep? </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Oh, by the way, the simple answer is:</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">Be Kind; the kindness you show may save many lives. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">References:</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/mass-shootings"><span style="font-family: times;">https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/mass-shootings</span></a></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;">https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/01/16/percent-incarcerated/#:~:text=Nearly%20one%20out%20of%20every,in%20a%20prison%20or%20jail.&text=We're%20often%20asked%20what,state%20prison%20or%20local%20jail.</span></div><div style="text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-84462873037582028252023-03-28T13:08:00.001-04:002023-03-28T13:08:14.083-04:00How Americans need to respond to the Nashville shooter.<p><br /></p><p>Dear fellow humans,</p><p>From my perspective, Monday's Nashville Shooting unfolded over roughly 14 minutes. Police received the initial call about an active shooter at 10:13 a.m. Police killed the suspect at 10:27 a.m.<br /><br />14 minutes and the Democrats want to take from you what some of us, but not all, ever agreed to give. I am relieved the police in the case responded so fast and never failed to move forward, as we have seen in the past. That said, 14 minutes killed 6-7 unarmed people. 14 minutes without personal protection. Conceal carry by a teacher or on-sight security would have been the best-case scenario in reducing or stopping this awful act of vengeance against Christians. I believe the manifesto will reveal a hatred for Christians. <br /><br />Remember, this shooter is part of the 1% of the wackos out there when considering all humans. Transgender folks, in my view, are 99% good people, so please don't do anything stupid or settle a score for the sake of a score. If you do, you have lowered yourself to some but not all left-wing progressives' use of vengeance. <br /><br />The 99% has to arm itself against the 1%, and it is that simple. Arm your selves, understand nature's first right to self-defense, and then go out and steward high moral decisions and even higher ethical values. Only through Kronos and God's law can we obtain or retain our traditional family values that have been bludgeoned by the left for far too long. It is simple, folks, there are only 10 laws you need to follow, and here they are. <br /><br />Honestly, if you don't believe in God, okay, ignore the first 4 and keep the last 6. If you are too stubborn to follow these laws, you are the 1%. <br /><br />1. You shall have no other gods before Me.<br />2. You shall make no idols.<br />3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.<br />4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.<br /><br />5. Honor your father and your mother.<br />6. You shall not murder.<br />7. You shall not commit adultery.<br />8. You shall not steal.<br />9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.<br />10. You shall not covet.</p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-27278795129938029702023-03-28T09:15:00.000-04:002023-03-28T09:15:28.256-04:00Nashville shooter; what is our path forward now? <div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Shooter is a transgender woman pretending to be a man. This was reported in news outlets and should be deemed reasonably accurate. Typical for left-wing progressives to leave out names, pictures, sex, or skin color when the shooters are black or transgender. Truth be known, This does not matters. What matters is that you treat all high moral / ethically sound humans the same; the media and our politicians do not. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I understand there will be a slight majority of left-wing nuts who happen to be LGBTQ turn violent; like all other parts of our society, it is and will be a small group of haters (1%) for whom hate manifests itself into harm for Christians. Another example is a small group of haters for black people and a small group for white people. And so on. What we don't do is take freedom from the 99% because 1% is freaking crazy. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My guess is 99% of all who identify as LGBTQ are decent people who identify as non-binary and are good humans. There are traits one can be born with that will create these ideas. Example: A man born with a micro-penis grows up knowing he will never have sex with a woman. That is sad but true, so if there is confusion, we must realize this isn't very comfortable to deal with and a condition kept under the radar, yet the (them) goes on to live as good a life as they can. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Americans must know that. We need better communication, and the media does not help when writing divisive opinions. We, the people, can never deal in absolutes like the media and our politicians; we deal in "some but not all." We deal in the content of character. Mark my words, Joe Biden will use this event to attack guns and blame Christians for their perceived hate of the LGBTQ community. He will accuse the whole Christain community, not the 1% wackos. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Going out on a limb here, but due to the recent spread of Christen hate from the LGBTQ community. Note: We saw the hatred in Richmond's legislation as the LGBTQ speaker became unstable; we know this by reading media reporting. The media will blame Christians for being shot in Nashville. Somehow the press will blame Governor Youngkin. We will see after we get a copy of the manifesto as to what was in this person's mind. I foresee hatred for Christians in (their/they) writings. Will we take what this person writes as truth, or will it be fantasy? It depends on your point of view and how you can use this to create more divisiveness in America. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Once again. It is ok with the left to kill as long as it is for a cause progressives believe in. Example: the 2020 riots. The killing of police officers and bystanders by BLM, Antifa, and now the start of a holy war between Christians and humans who might be unstable as to what sex they are. Looking to blame others for their life requires better counseling. The truth is evening counseling will not help sometimes. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Democracy is a funny idea. Mainstream left-wing progressive media will defend the LGBTQ, as I will. Yet, no matter how many die or churches burn, the media and some in Washington will see this as a good evil, good trouble for a more significant cause, and the difference is, I will not tolerate good sin. The small minority will ignore Democracy and the vote whereby we should vote, and I suspect the majority will keep Christian values in the coming decades. This vote will satisfy most voters, but not all, and the result will be more death, hate, and mayhem created by some but not all in the media, our elected officials, and the 1%. </div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-19807068229837148982023-03-23T12:06:00.005-04:002023-05-07T13:24:01.544-04:00Chesapeake Education Association goes woke<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">Daily Press 3-23-2023. Author Amands Lambert, a member of the Chesapeake Education Association, wrote an opinion that was published recently. Here is my discourse to her comments. I wrote the board chairman with my concerns. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">Amanda Lamber does not speak for all teachers. I hope you will see fit to remind her when attacking the Governor of Virginia and pushing her left-wing ideology on other teachers. We will read what can be only a political tirade you approved in today's paper. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">I can speak for teachers in this case. My wife is a teacher. My daughter is a teacher. Both of my wife's parents are retired teachers. I taught the electrical trade as an adjunct professor at a community college for several years. I hear the daily stories of how we are exploiting our teachers in every county as to compensation. "We don't get into teaching for the money," my wife says. I'll share with you some other issues Amanda didn't acknowledge. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">1. Ask one of us if we support the current administration? The fact is Jeff, Amanda does not seem to understand. All pay raises come from the City or County. Funding does come from the state but at the expense of other equally needed programs. You'll need to remind your treasurer to go to the City or County Boards of Supervisors if she wants a raise next time. If you don't like the pay quit or move, and it is that simple. Many teachers have taken that stance, and honestly, who can blame them? Pay will increase as the demand for teachers increases due to the lack of teachers. We call this supply and demand a worthy capitalist theory on which our country is based. A class that is rarely taught in school today is finance; perhaps we pursue a worthy goal as to every student can balance a checkbook. I am astonished to see Amanda is your treasurer; she must think money grows on trees. Is an audit needed? </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">2. Ask one of us if a parent should participate in the learning process? This a tricky question when many parents of poor means can barely read at an 8th-grade level. Amanda can only blame the local school district and teachers who came before her for allowing students to be graduated from high school and can't do 8th-grade math or on a 12th-grade reading level. Parents who lack understanding of essential learning should be unable to make decisions for their children. Parents with at least a college education should be able to make decisions concerning their children's welfare.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"> It is as if parents should have to take a test to parent, and if they fail this test of parenting, the school system makes the best decisions for the child. Ask one of us how long it will take for left-wing progressives like Amanda to call this idea racist. People are of little means for many reasons, Jeff. Generally, it has nothing to do with education, although primary education is desired. It comes down to making good decisions in life, and if we don't teach "good decision making" children will suffer. We see this every day now, with guns in the hands of teenagers making bad decisions. We teach to blame everyone else, every inanimate object but we do not teach to blame ourselves, as Amanda blames our Governor as an example. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">3. Ask one of us if pronouns of choice should call a child. There are only two sexes, and your local biology teacher will provide you with that truth if they possess reasonable sound judgment. Are we to continue to allow school districts to move sex predators from one school to another, raping and pillaging until a parent figures it out and sues the left-wing progressive school district like Fairfax County? </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">4. Ask one of us if Amanda has made an assumption. Our Governor has never said he is seeking election to another office. Amanda has made a false statement and should clarify that statement; otherwise, your organization comes off as political in nature and deserves to be ignored. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">5. Ask one of us why we judge Amanda in the same nature as she judges Julian Balow. If you want to judge others and pretend we are all perfect by all means, and when I say, "Lord, it is hard to be perfect, but I keep getting better at it every day." Throw those rocks, those of you who live in glass houses thinking you know better. Amanda failed again to acknowledge Ms. Barlow understood some mistakes were made and that the history curriculum was under review. Amanda wants to talk about whitewashing history yet obviously does not remember the removal of historical art in many towns and cities of our country. Yes, Amanda, your progressive liberals thinking will tear down confederate monuments ()historical art), and that is ok, yet that is the very whitewashing of history you so detest. The rock you throw has now entered your glass house. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">6. Ask one of us if teaching CRT and gender identity to students is a good idea? Jeff, some teachers are destroying the minds of children. Are you one of them? I suspect Amanda may have been indoctrinated, her mind destroyed, by some left-wing progressive college professor hiding behind locked doors and tall walls of a college or university. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica;">Amanda makes valid points in her recent left-wing political tirade published in the Daily Press. I acknowledge each as an issue, albeit one might think there could be solutions. Making this political will certainly not get you a seat at the decision-making table. I take exception to making this political and attacking our Governor. The voters voted, and the majority spoke. You can continue to criticize or get on board. Lord knows I had to suffer through 4 years of Ralph (black face - baby killer) Northam. </div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-41481253872438548212023-03-12T14:16:00.004-04:002023-03-20T08:29:30.819-04:00Urban Virgina, and the hypocrisy of our Politicians and Media<p>Looking back at several articles and reports written and published in the Daily Press the week of March 6th - 12th, 2023. I offer the following discourse. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The hypocrisy of our Politicians and the Daily Press. </p><p><br /></p><p>On Wednesday, March 8th, around 5:45 pm, security personnel confronted officers protecting the illegal sale of guns and drugs in a pop-up market. This market was, of course, found in Portsmouth, Va., where many illicit shops have been found before, according to police. While the Daily Press did not show the people involved, we know all forty people in the pop-up store at the time were most likely black. This is not a racist comment Ms. Worrell; this is an educated statical observation and a review of regional statistics. As much as you want to label good, law-abiding citizens as racist, this is not the time for your backward thinking and biased comments. </p><p><br /></p><p>We can state the obvious with the observation of several apparent realities associated with the region of the state and other news sources. A WAVY news video showed a picture of patrons and security guards; all were black. This is downtown Portsmouth, and over 50% of the residents are black. Louis Luca is a drug dealer, dealing drugs that can fall into the hands of children and young adults. We suspect, and based on her recent Twitter feed, this granny will not care who she kills. I might suppose you will look the other way when drugs fall into children's hands, but a gun, oh, a gun, well then, we have to take them all away. A fentanyl overdose killed a child; residues, mind you left behind by previous Airbnb renters in Florida recently, and not one word from a liberal leftist like you. </p><p><br /></p><p>The local media and police blame the lack of understanding of the law on the sale and distribution of drugs in Virginia. In my opinion, it is a cop-out, and of course, some people, but not all, are always looking for ways to skirt the law, as reported by the police. Do you believe these people also did not think you couldn't sell guns without a license? The most concerning part is that according to Wavy News, multiple previous busts of illegal pop-up stores have sold the same illicit goods. According to the local news, drugs have been sold laced with fentanyl. Are you saying you don't care about people dying from fentanyl? Has the local press or politicians expressed any concern or opinion to help close our borders to drug dealers? So let me get this straight, the police have shut down many of these pop-up stores across Portsmouth, according to police. However, some blacks in this community still have not realized that selling drugs and guns in Virginia is illegal without proper licensing. Are you insane? No, you are hypocrites. Of course, no one took responsibility for the drugs and guns. It is, in fact, reasonable to assume, and I dare you not to justify my reasoning, that there were 40+ people in this illegal pop-up store, defended by security thugs, mind you, and not one of them came forward to tell the police who were the drug dealers and gun dealers. The police say the people who ran this illegal pop-up store did not understand the law. That is a lie, a poor excuse for community policing; these thugs knew what they did was unlawful. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let's move to Friday's paper and the alleged Legacy shooter who appeared in court and was released. The shooter was released on a lack of evidence. According to your reporting, witnesses all black, mind you, failed to testify, so a shooter walks free. Grey, reportedly beaten, left and returned with a gun, shooting randomly from a distance. Nothing but excuses made by a lawyer. We all know Legacy is a restaurant and lounge patronized by blacks and owned by blacks. Do you not see the issue yet? Low moral decisions and low ethical values seem to pop up everywhere; there is murder and mayhem in our cities. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let's move on to the Sierra Jenkins murder: March 11th, 2023, Sunday opinion Daily Press. According to your reporting and opinion, charges were dismissed against Legrande after witnesses failed to show up. Noting the witnesses do not feel safe to testify. In an email, I warned Ms. Jenkins to be careful in downtown Norfolk at night; now, she is dead. </p><p><br /></p><p>Do you still not see the pattern of low moral decisions and low ethical values found in some but not all of our black community? Do you see the pattern of snitch mentality associated with this part of our society? Do you still not understand why Scott Adams is right; it is best to stay away from those who are a danger to our society since the Democrats are unwilling to crack down on violence in our community, where Democrats tie police officers' hands behind their back only to be shot and killed by evildoers in our communities? Do you not see that most of the issues our society deals with today come from the black urban community? Do I have to ask why you want to take guns from law-abiding citizens? Do you think another gun law will stop low-moral decision-making animals from breaking the law? Do I have to point out that we do have a cultural problem in some, but not all, black communities in America, and most, if not all, reside in urban communities run by Democrats? The fact is, pointing out these known truths will make no difference. </p><p><br /></p><p>"It's not laws that keep us safe; it is the behavior of people that keep us safe." These are the wise words of our governor, whom you choose to castrate occasionally with your liberal ideology nonsense. If the people were to follow a higher moral value, laws would not be needed at all. This is precisely what I have been writing about for years, and you ignore the truth. I don't need your gun laws because I safely conduct myself within my own moral conduct and ethical reasoning of a Mason. Yet you want to take from me what is not rightfully yours? Tommy Norment seems to think the same after voting to suppress my 2nd amendment rights recently. Now retiring, this closet Democrat has made his stripes known with higher taxes and gun restrictions for the lawfully righteous. </p><p><br /></p><p>Ms. Worrell, you are all too ready to criticize others, but when you are criticized, you do not respond; when you disagree with others, you ban their ideas from being printed, and you shut down free expression within a public avenue where ideas should be shared for us to move forward. The editor of this paper uses false accusations to make reasons to ban speakers of higher morals and ethical values than her own. As long as you ban ideas you disagree with, we will always hold you in contempt. </p><p><br /></p><p>Be it known, I am not a racist, and I dare anyone to say otherwise. I do not judge others based on their skin color; I judge (when I have to) the content of character. Yes, the clothes you wear matter not because of skin color but because clothes are an observation of good and evil. If you wear your pants down around your knees, if you wear gang colors, you may be a good person, but I don't know that, therefore siding with safety, I cross the street. This is not racism, this is threat assessment. I am not one to want to judge truthfully, but when you want to take freedom or life, one has to stand up and be counted; to point out your fallacies and lies. I judge for self-preservation of life and carry lawfully for the same reason. There is not one damn thing wrong with that. "It is better to judge wrong and live than to not judge and die." This motto of my critical thinking process and based on life experiences will keep you alive when danger presents itself.</p>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-81528635145423228272023-02-18T09:31:00.001-05:002023-02-19T16:58:02.430-05:00History and truth rarely coincide. <p><br /></p><p>Mr. Filco wrote an opinion for the Willamsburg Gazette on February 18th, 2023. "History can be taught fairly and objectively." This opinion is right on target, and his analysis is truthful. However, I am offering an opinion as to why history is not taught fairly and objectively. In other words, why did Mr. Filco write his opinion unless he saw an issue with how history is taught to begin with. I am thankful for Mr. Filco's opinion, but we need to look at the cause of why. </p><p><br /></p><p>Mr. Filco, I read your opinion today. "History and the truth rarely coincide," You can attribute that quote to me if you wish.</p><div><br /></div><div>We are the sum of our experiences, and we have to consider human reality based on experiences as to how history is told. All humans have biases, even if some will not admit them. Some but not all historians, college professors, and now high school teachers taught by radical college professors indoctrinate students. The idea of critical thinking, the teaching of "critical thinking," is all but a dinosaur of the past. I blame the Democrats. I have to ask. How the hell did some college professors become so radical? </div><div><br /></div><div>Did this whole liberal mess start with a war in the 1960s where cowards were unwilling to fight? Did they not fight because their fathers and grandfathers were killed in the 1940s - 1950s American wars? Is it because hippies of the 1960s, unable to get a real job, became teachers? Is liberalism really just a self-preservation reaction where cowards prefer to be protected by big government or force the poor to fight wars, but not me because I am educated? Does the beginning of American liberalism come down to the fear of dying and expand from there? Huh, well, I don't think you will answer that question, so I have to assume that no answer means my critical-thinking mind is right. <div><br /></div><div>Having had two children attend college 2017-2021 and my wife (2015) a graduate of the College of W&M, I have had the privilege to listen to lectures and speeches given by those who wear long cloaks, hide behind locked doors and tall walls, those who sit at the head of the table expressing their blinder views of our history. The truth is, Historians are not what I call the highest IQ, and you know that. To be a historian, you only need a public library and a mind that can think critically. I suggest not letting a historian come at you from a position of power. <div><br /></div><div>The fact is history has been weaponized far longer. Example: Hitler used a book written by Luther 1500s-1600s to give a reason for the mass murder of Jews in the 1930-1940s. Hitler used a historical reference to kill millions. Today, civil war history is weaponized by liberals, even W&M college grads like Ms. Coleman, the civil war museum curator who now runs Pasbehaugh Island (Jamestown). </div><div><br /></div><div>So I say, while we would like history to be taught fairly and objectively would be a high ethical goal, that will never happen as long as liberals live and breathe. </div></div></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-6816927385495904712023-02-01T09:11:00.004-05:002023-02-05T11:34:35.218-05:00New York times opinion writer shows us, he has no clue as to rural America. <p> </p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">This discourse is in response to Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Paul wrote an opinion piece found in the Williamsburg Gazette 2-1-2023 opinion page. </span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Mr. Krugman,</span></p><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">I read your article today an opinion entitled, "Is there anything that can be done to assuage rage in rural America? Let me help you, oh, Northern VA urbanite, understand why rural Virginia hates you. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">1. The vote: In any popular voting process in Virginia, three counties and a handful of large urban cities dictate who our representatives are in Washington, DC. It is so bad that when Mark Warner writes an Op-ed in his quest to ban guns, the Op-ed is not even posted or submitted to a Virginia paper for its residents to read. No, he chooses the Washington Post. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner never visit rural Virginia except it be during voting season. These two urbanites don't give a rats ass about southwest Virginia. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">2. Guns: Rural America owns guns, and we are responsible gun owners for the most part. It is urbanites who shoot each other and not rural America. Yet Northern Va will vote to take from rural Virginia our rights without our permission. Notice how all gun bills in the 2023 Virginia legislation came from urban centers where moral decisions to kill each other do not meet the expectations of rural America's ethical standard. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">3. Most important: The article starts with the New deal and jumps to today's society handouts. Roosevelt 1932 ( in between???) - 1980s. Having grown up milking cows in the 1970s, we had federal subsidies to produce milk on our family farm. That subsidy, along with tobacco subsidies, is all gone. The Government took our milk and took our cash crop. You most likely don't know this, but the family farm is dead in due part to the Federal Government, the lack of subsidies, and in due part to milk processors' cheap payment for raw milk. A living wage was certainly not on the minds of Democrat urban politicians to keep family farms afloat. Now, that is coming back to bite America in the ass, as milk production is done on large milk-producing farms owned by corporations. The Federal Government killed us - to say, the family farm in the 1980s. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">4, Richard Nixon: Ross Perot warned us all, "there will be a great and giant sucking sound if NAFTA is approved." He was right. Not only did we send jobs to Mexico, but we gave communist China favorable trade status in exchange for cheap and, in some cases, slave labor. Textile jobs left Virginians for good. The small town factories making little girls' dresses like in Appomattox and Amelia Va are long gone. Furniture plants like the one in Appomattox and Thomasville, NC, have been shuttered since the 1990s, and Danville Textiles is gone. Do I really have to spell it out for you, or do you understand the term rust belt? The difference between rural America and urban America is the idea of self-sufficiency. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">5. You write about how these perceptions are largely wrong from a point of authority, it seems, and that does not make you right. Yet my guess is you have never lived a day in your life in my shoes; you think you know better, but alas, you seem to believe your friends Thomas Edsall and Katherine Cramer and have yet to experience rural Virginia yourself. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">1. Ignored by Politicians </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">2. Don't get their fair share of resources</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">3. Disrespected by city folk. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">1. Yes, Federally speaking, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner ignore rural Va. The fact is they never leave northern Va, and why should they? All they need is the votes of three counties, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William, along with Roanoke, Richmond, and Portsmouth, to stay in power. That is where they spend their money. State-wise and as well as federally, an example would be gridlock on our roads from the 1990s- 2020. While suburban DC gets a large swath of money to build roads, Tidewater suffered with a lack of US 64 widening until recently. We suffered and still do with tunnel crossing. Rural roads go unrepaired, and I81 is now a nightmare to drive. While it was once rural is now congested beyond relief, and yet no monies to expand I81. Oh, but I95, well, they get all the money, don't they?</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;">2. As a country boy, I can tell you firsthand that, yes, city folks are leaving their urban centers and, in many cases, retiring to communities like Williamsburg, Va. Once a small community of 30k 15 years ago, now boasts, mind you, 80k. Florida is in the same boat. These urbanites leave high taxes and crime in New York City and bring their brand of politics to rural America. We resent that loudly. These buffoons move to rural America, and the first thing they want is a Walmart. Taxes rise because of the urbanite's intent not to be self-sufficient. These "come here" begin to destroy our way of life, and we resent that. We are a proud people who want local jobs; we don't have to be rich to be happy. Yet the federal Government took our jobs starting in the 1970s and sent them overseas or south of the border. We don't want your damn handouts, Paul; we want to live our lives pulling our cart ourselves, and we take pride in that. We are not a bunch of self-serving; shoot each other hypocrites looking for a handout. Generally speaking, we are church-going god-fearing people, who live a life serving Jesus, and we follow his lessons for living a good life. There is a big difference between following Jesus and worshiping Jesus one day a week. Urbanites tend to worship money, greed, and envy the other six days. That is my life experience with Urbanites. That is something Urbanites don't get and never will. The Urbanite has lost its way, destroyed its cities, and moved to rural America and did the same. No thanks, you have done enough already. </span>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-38331965459628108682023-01-14T09:58:00.003-05:002023-02-02T20:05:30.028-05:00Richneck School shooting: The police and school division are not explaining or the right questions asked. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Concerning the local opinions in the Williamsburg / Newport News area concerning the Richneck School Shooting. This is a school shooting where a 6-year-old shot a teacher. The real issue is the right questions need to be asked. Perhaps this is an ongoing investigation? Makes sense to me, but here is what we need to ask as parents, teachers, and citizens. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Guns Saves Lives</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> A last-word writer asked about a "Guns saves lives" bumper sticker. The writer ponders as to someone talking to the Zwerner family. I would be glad to speak to the family if it helps heal and understand the actual issues of a teacher put in harm's way by liberals. I could talk about the federal government statistics that clearly show guns used in self-defense correctly save lives and thousands every year. I don't think that is what they want to hear. I could talk to Abigail, and being the head of a household with two teachers, one who teaches here in James City County and another who teaches in Fairfax County, could relate to the issues that are simply not being discussed. According to scuttlebutt, that is, teachers talking to teachers, the student told people he had a gun; they searched his backpack but did not search the person. The weapon is rumored to have been in the student's hoodie. If this gun, which has not been identified, was a micro-pistol like a Ruger max 9 as an example, then yes, this gun can hide easily as it is intended to be carried hidden. Gun enthusiasts know a strip search would have been required to effectively find this type of weapon on a person. Here is where our legislators and liberal student rights have failed us. This is where people like representative Mike Mullin fail us. That, though, is another discourse worth writing. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Abigail will know if the student was searched; let's ask the family for input; that is my first question when I meet with them. In James City County, you must be certified to restrain a student. If a teacher has an unruly student, the teacher cannot restrain or even touch the student for fear of lawsuits. The truth is there are a lot of students today that are out of control in our schools, who lack the ability to listen to instructions or behave themselves, and that goes back to the parents, in my opinion. Now we have representative Boysko wanting to add further gun control where legislation already exists. The question is, why has the parent not been reported as charged by the police? We need to understand if, in Virginia, "loco parentis" allows a teacher to even search the body of a 6-year-old? There are personal rights, and then there are rights afforded teachers to act as the parent in the parent's absence, but this is a cloudy doctrine at best. At the end of the day, this horrible event was preventable.
</span></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1303156725583394267.post-18836961695602712462023-01-01T11:43:00.004-05:002023-01-01T11:44:38.546-05:00New Years opinion of peace as seen through the media's lense. <div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Peace is a word thrown around the sandboxes while heads are buried.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Once again, the Daily Press editors miss an opportunity
to explore all possible solutions. Let's break down the editorial and provide
discourse. Sunday, Jan. 1st, 2023. "Our Views"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Here is what Kris and Brian wrote or, shall I say, agreed to
print. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"But at a time when division and discord are
ubiquitous."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">1. When violence is commonplace</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">2. When neighbors and family are at each other's
throats</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">3. What greater hope can there be other than to see more
people choose peaceful means of conflict resolution?"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Discourse:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Population Reference Bureau, known as PBR, a leading think tank on violence in our communities, found some
not-so-astonishing facts, and yet the media does not report them. (April 2005) Why do black youth in the United
States commit violent acts almost twice as often as white or Latino youth? Researchers at Harvard University have found that the reasons have little to do
with individual poverty or inherent racial differences, according to a study
published in the February 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Instead, four factors— (1) the marital status
of a young person's parents, (2) the
prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, (3)
whether he or she is a first- or second-generation immigrant, (4) and the
proportion of other people in the neighborhood who are immigrants—account for
most of the differences in violent crime rates for youth, according to Robert
J. Sampson, the study's lead author.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">"The data suggest that it's more than just a
family's financial resources," says Sampson, a professor of sociology at
Harvard University. "The study shows that the disparity is largely social in
nature and therefore amenable to intervention in the community rather than
individual settings."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Our biggest issue is, of course, Democrats. If
we, as a morally straight, ethical society, intervene in a black community, we stand
a good chance of being labeled racist by the media and black politicians. Whence
we do not worry ourselves with the black community for fear of losing our jobs,
being labeled, being doxed, or our employers being called to complain, thereby
losing our means to provide for our own families. The politicians the black community
votes into office give away money for a vote whose followers know no better. Keep them poor and keep them uneducated; that is the Democrat way. Let them kill
each other, let there be violence; as long as I have the power, nothing will
change. One only must look at Portsmouth or Richmond to see this, yet blinders
are the fashion. Blacks are not first, or second-generation immigrants, so (3
and 4) do not apply; therefore, we only have to look to two issues to resolve the
violence in black neighborhoods. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>(1) the marital status of a young </b>person's<b>
parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her
neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this
is not set in stone.</b> <b>A high school graduate can make a great professional in
some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor. The marital status of a young </b>person's<b>
parents. Fix this Daily Press, and we fix the black community. </b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">4. Hampton Roads Residents cannot make a difference
when we say, "We can't mediate a peaceful settlement as to the war in
Ukraine." </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Discourse: Yes, we can make a difference depending on who we
vote for to represent us in Washington, DC. Stop voting for free giveaways and
start voting for morally straight, ethically sound candidates. Just write my
name in the box, that is all you must do! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">5. "Our region lost far too many promising young lives
in senseless shootings and should have to live with the threat of mass
shootings haunting every trip to the grocery store, every visit to a theater,
and every day at school."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Daily Press goes on to offer solutions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">1. "Virginia needs to restrict access to
firearms so those with ill intent cannot purchase them." </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">2. "dramatically bolster behavior health
services."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> The desired result: If successful, it (meaning behavior
health help) should help more Virginians find happiness and peace in their own
lives. So, what the Daily press is saying is the government is going to help
you find happiness and peace!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Discourse: Yes, we have lost far too many promising young
lives, and I refer you back to my first discourse. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>(1) the marital status of a young person's
parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her
neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this
is not set in stone.</b> <b>A high school graduate can make a great professional in
some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor and then one not considered. The
marital status of a young </b>person's<b> parents and a movement back to God and God's
law, you know, the ten commandments. Fix this Dai</b>l<b>y Press, and we fix the black
community. </b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Steps to take:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">1. Too many distractions, so turn off your cell phone, turn
off your TV, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">2. Find moments for quiet and reflection. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The editors blame:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">1. Past few years. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">2. People struggling with a world that continues to change
and dramatically. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We can find some stability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We can find some comfort.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Maybe we will find joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">if </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We are contemplative.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We are quiet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We are empathetic. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We are peaceful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">if</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Discourse: Reflection is a mighty power to right a life, as
Socrates says, "the unexamined life is a life not worth living. We can find
stability, comfort, and joy in our churches. Our public school teachers are not
able to furnish these attributes to a good life, but our Sunday school teachers
can. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">If we reexamine what we teach in schools and make time for financials
before the 11<sup>th</sup> grade, make time for ethics, philosophy, and conflict
resolution outside of just once a month or eight times in a school year, we may
change some lives. Yet, people make decisions that are not productive or counterintuitive
to the health, both physical and mental, of young people. So, what do the
Democrats legislate, they make drugs lawful, the very drugs that destroy the
child who has no father or living skill set to begin with. I firmly believe politicians
do this for power, and the media is all too happy to promote an ideology that
kills thousands. The truth is you do not know what to do except it be more power over
others. The media be damned if, for once, the media and Democrats thought for a moment,
I might be right. That is to be your undoing, Brian and Kris, you think you are
always right, and you damn those who do not think like you. Our governor is
that example. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We can learn to be contemplative, quiet, empathic, and peaceful
in our churches and masonic lodges. Yet until the black community wants to stand
up and change, there will be no to little change, and whites are not in the mood
for being called racist when they try to help our brothers in due part to
cancel culture and hate. I read an article recently that blamed the lack of exercise
on racism. This was a Time magazine article/opinion. A blame game to excite
the masses of poor blacks to rail against whites. I am reminded of "principles
before personalities" It means we practice honesty, humility, compassion, tolerance,
and patience with everyone, whether we like them or not. Putting principles
before personalities teaches us to treat everyone equally. In our Masonic
teachings, we practice this ideal every time we gather. We are all equals in the
lodge. I think some of you would do well to learn what that means. That means, though, that if a fellow brother trips up and does something wrong, it is my obligation
to point that out. It is not your obligation to call me a racist for doing so
but to accept my council. If my council does not resolve the issue, then others
within the lodge may get involved, just as we see in the bible. Paul's instruction
in 1 Corinthians 5: Paul instructs people to hold others inside the church
accountable, but not those who are outside the church (nonbelievers). A fitting
good bit of advice given the mass hysteria we find in social media today whereby one can lose their job or worse when we try to help others by preaching what we
believe as truth to nonbelievers like yourselves. </span></p></div>River travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754691929421015968noreply@blogger.com0