Over the weekend I saw a man object to wearing a
mask. "I'm not going to wear a mask," he said on a network newscast, "to
make some one else comfortable."
Comfortable?
How about alive?
And maybe even keeping you alive?
What
is this nonsense about wearing a mask violates my Constitutional
rights? Where in the Constitution? How? (and sending federal troops to
keep down protesters doesn't?) And I mean
NON-violent protesters! How in hell setting fire to a courthouse door in
Portland aids Black Lives Matter and respects the memory of George Floyd
escapes me!
As a journalist I have been
worried about this for some time, and as an old college activist, I
have worried over the so called "Hong Kong pro-democracy movement." We
need a better, more accurate phrase in the media to describe them. Yes
they were fighting the good cause, but their tactics were deplorable.
Violence, arson, looting, all in a Good Cause. Meadow Muffins!
And,
at times, these bad acts have infected Louisville, Lexington, and other
cities. Breonna Taylor's family has deplored the violence on her
behalf, that should be enough.
And all this while John Lewis was being memorialized in Selma and Washington and Atlanta as "a peaceful warrior for Justice."
Let
the NON violent protests continue until America lives up to her lofty
origins for all, and respect the unbroken line that stretches from John Lewis to Dr. King to Ghandi and so many in history---to
Jesus.
I'm just sayin'...
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Monday, July 20, 2020
In Memorium: John Lewis
EDMUND PETTUS.....YOU MEMBER HIM SURELY
Well, maybe. It takes a true Civil War scholar to be sure, but he was "a senior Confederate officer," a slavery advocate, an Alabama US senator for ten years, and the Grand Dragon of the KKK. So Alabama honored him by naming a bridge for him at Selma.
Fast forward to March 7, 1965. A totally non-violent protest march for black voting rights, is peacefully heading to Montgomery for a rally. All went well until they reached Selma. There, on the Edmund Pettus bridge, state and local police violently broke up the march, and in the process clubbed one of its leaders, John Lewis, so badly that he nearly died of a fractured skull. The true horror of this uncalled for event can be seen in the old black and white TV newsreels which have been playing the last few days.
Fast forward again. John Lewis is now a nationally recognized civil rights leader, a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, and for 30 years a US Congressman from Georgia until he died from cancer last week. Dubbed "the conscience of the House," his role was to move America toward fulfilling the promise of our democracy for ALL its citizens. If Alabama has a shred of decency left, it will rename that bridge the John Lewis bridge.
And it won't have to pull any statues down.
I'm just sayin'...
Well, maybe. It takes a true Civil War scholar to be sure, but he was "a senior Confederate officer," a slavery advocate, an Alabama US senator for ten years, and the Grand Dragon of the KKK. So Alabama honored him by naming a bridge for him at Selma.
Fast forward to March 7, 1965. A totally non-violent protest march for black voting rights, is peacefully heading to Montgomery for a rally. All went well until they reached Selma. There, on the Edmund Pettus bridge, state and local police violently broke up the march, and in the process clubbed one of its leaders, John Lewis, so badly that he nearly died of a fractured skull. The true horror of this uncalled for event can be seen in the old black and white TV newsreels which have been playing the last few days.
Fast forward again. John Lewis is now a nationally recognized civil rights leader, a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, and for 30 years a US Congressman from Georgia until he died from cancer last week. Dubbed "the conscience of the House," his role was to move America toward fulfilling the promise of our democracy for ALL its citizens. If Alabama has a shred of decency left, it will rename that bridge the John Lewis bridge.
And it won't have to pull any statues down.
I'm just sayin'...
Sunday, July 12, 2020
NO EXCUSES
It's 20 words long: the Constitutional provision
giving the President the power to pardon, but oh how many conflicts it
has caused.
Mr. Trump's is but the latest - his rule of law threatening clemency for his old, convicted buddy Roger Stone.
His is only the latest--and most likely not the last--in a series of presidential nose-thumbing at the Rule of Law.
Obama did it.
Bush did it
Clinton did it.
Nixon did it.
And yet, in two houses full of lawyers, not one serious move to rein in this most serious challenge to what all the lawyers there (and there are much too many of them) say is one of the foundations of our democracy, the aforementioned Rule of Law. They make speeches on the House & Senate floor, but nothing has changed. No Constitutional amendment passed; if that is what it takes, no law or regulations proposed that might restrict the pardon power use, not even a Joint Resolution expressing our displeasure.
Zip. Zilch.Nada.
I believe Mr. Trump at one time proposed pardoning an old buddy who had been charged, but not even gone to trial; what an absolute mockery that would have made of our Rule of Law, this when the Supreme Court has just ruled no President is above the law in the case of Mr. Trump's taxes.
Truly this is a NON-partisan matter, and ought to be considered as such by the leadership of both houses. Here in Kentucky we can start with our Senate leader. He needs to be on record about possible changes in Presidential pardoning powers, and how to achieve them. So does our local Congressman-lawyer, Andy Barr.........NOW.
I'm just sayin'...
Mr. Trump's is but the latest - his rule of law threatening clemency for his old, convicted buddy Roger Stone.
His is only the latest--and most likely not the last--in a series of presidential nose-thumbing at the Rule of Law.
Obama did it.
Bush did it
Clinton did it.
Nixon did it.
And yet, in two houses full of lawyers, not one serious move to rein in this most serious challenge to what all the lawyers there (and there are much too many of them) say is one of the foundations of our democracy, the aforementioned Rule of Law. They make speeches on the House & Senate floor, but nothing has changed. No Constitutional amendment passed; if that is what it takes, no law or regulations proposed that might restrict the pardon power use, not even a Joint Resolution expressing our displeasure.
Zip. Zilch.Nada.
I believe Mr. Trump at one time proposed pardoning an old buddy who had been charged, but not even gone to trial; what an absolute mockery that would have made of our Rule of Law, this when the Supreme Court has just ruled no President is above the law in the case of Mr. Trump's taxes.
Truly this is a NON-partisan matter, and ought to be considered as such by the leadership of both houses. Here in Kentucky we can start with our Senate leader. He needs to be on record about possible changes in Presidential pardoning powers, and how to achieve them. So does our local Congressman-lawyer, Andy Barr.........NOW.
I'm just sayin'...
Monday, July 6, 2020
On This The President Is Correct
Mr. Trump several times recently has called for an
end to midnight toppling of various public statues, and an end to spray
painting them, and other unilateral acts by various groups of
"protesters."
I agree for several reasons.
One is: someone's going to get hurt, if they already haven't, by these nighttime acts. I saw several news stories in which giant statues barely missed hitting the toppling crew; someone easily could have been killed. Does that advance the cause? But the main reason is that there is a way, legal (but quite time consuming) to do this, and it allows for people of opposing views to have their say in a public assembly, not after midnight with grappling hooks and ropes. Lexington did it, and yes it toook a while (viz America's 'instant gratification" desires,) but it was done. Same in Frankfort where Old Jeff Davis wasn't hung to a sour apple tree, but at a cost to you and me of $225.000 (in a cash strapped state)the monuments law was followed, as in Lexington, and the offending statues were gone.
It can be, and should be, that way elsewhere. Mr. Trump has every right to call for law & order to be followed, whether in Richmond, Va. or Columbus, Ohio, or Washington, D.C. And, BTW, calls are starting to be heard for the removal of statues of George Washington (a slave owner) Father of our Country, as well as Adolf Rupp, Father of the BBN. They would join calls and midnight action against Lincoln, Jefferson, Grant, Columbus, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Matthew Maury, yes, even old Matthew Maury. But people are of two (or likely many more) minds here. In some cases I am convinced it is the sculpture's presentation, not the lifetime of He Who Has Been Sculpted that has produced the protests (especially in the cases of TR and Old Abe) but still the views of the "protesters" (I am trying not to use the word "mob") have every right to be heard and so do the views of those opposed, so long as previously established procedures, rules, laws are followed, or, in some cases, new rules need to be drawn up allowing all sides to be heard before we rewrite history a la 1964 forever.
Lexington & Frankfort did it right, whatever my views, because various sides got to be heard before the final decision. Mr. Trump has called for the same, and said that those who don't follow the laws should be prosecuted.
The President is correct.
He is also right.
I'm just sayin'...
I agree for several reasons.
One is: someone's going to get hurt, if they already haven't, by these nighttime acts. I saw several news stories in which giant statues barely missed hitting the toppling crew; someone easily could have been killed. Does that advance the cause? But the main reason is that there is a way, legal (but quite time consuming) to do this, and it allows for people of opposing views to have their say in a public assembly, not after midnight with grappling hooks and ropes. Lexington did it, and yes it toook a while (viz America's 'instant gratification" desires,) but it was done. Same in Frankfort where Old Jeff Davis wasn't hung to a sour apple tree, but at a cost to you and me of $225.000 (in a cash strapped state)the monuments law was followed, as in Lexington, and the offending statues were gone.
It can be, and should be, that way elsewhere. Mr. Trump has every right to call for law & order to be followed, whether in Richmond, Va. or Columbus, Ohio, or Washington, D.C. And, BTW, calls are starting to be heard for the removal of statues of George Washington (a slave owner) Father of our Country, as well as Adolf Rupp, Father of the BBN. They would join calls and midnight action against Lincoln, Jefferson, Grant, Columbus, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Matthew Maury, yes, even old Matthew Maury. But people are of two (or likely many more) minds here. In some cases I am convinced it is the sculpture's presentation, not the lifetime of He Who Has Been Sculpted that has produced the protests (especially in the cases of TR and Old Abe) but still the views of the "protesters" (I am trying not to use the word "mob") have every right to be heard and so do the views of those opposed, so long as previously established procedures, rules, laws are followed, or, in some cases, new rules need to be drawn up allowing all sides to be heard before we rewrite history a la 1964 forever.
Lexington & Frankfort did it right, whatever my views, because various sides got to be heard before the final decision. Mr. Trump has called for the same, and said that those who don't follow the laws should be prosecuted.
The President is correct.
He is also right.
I'm just sayin'...
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