Riots, Riots Everywhere

First it was Minneapolis-St. Paul, then NYC, LA, Phoenix, Denver, Louisville, Memphis, Atlanta, Columbus, Portland... Seattle.  Riots, riots everywhere and all that was right was no more. Riots, riots everywhere nor a business left intact.  All were looted, trashed, and burned everything for the want of leadership and subversion from outside sources.

Which brings one to question leadership’s role and its competency in dealing with the true miscreants involved in the actual violent public disturbances. Who oversees those cities and states? Who oversees the police in those cities? Democrats. Democrat Mayors, Democrat bureaucrats and Democrat Governors. Why do these things keep happening in primarily Democrat controlled municipalities and states? Is it encouraged by local, state governing guidance? Is it a result of sound strategy? Or, could it be the lack thereof?

Progressives have long been the party to claim racial inequality, but this inequality seems to happen, most often on their watch. It's like a rinse and repeat strategy. Employ policies that citizens view as biased, unjust, and oppressive then watch the riotous demonstrations morph into chaotic calamity. Sadly, Democrat leaders typically benefit from these riots, politically, as they tend to run back to their protestation of racial disparity. These types of remonstrations are starting to look like the firefighters who start a fire to be praised for putting it out. One thing they all have in common is weak leadership. The second thing is, well, you probably know by now. 

Gone, Extinct, No More, Compliments of "Cancel Culture"

First, it was the Jihad Culture’s contention that Gone With The Wind was a reminder of institutional slavery and has to go. And so it is now Gone. Just like yesterday’s wind, it is no more. The classic film has met the same fate as the Dodo bird and the Tasmanian Devil. Both are now extinct, gone the route of the Pony Express. Now it is Aunt Jemima. SJW’s joined by academia gurus and a myriad of radical activists claim it is “an image that harkens back to the antebellum plantation... is that kind of stereotype is premised on this idea of Black inferiority and otherness.” Did Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of PepsiCo suddenly become “WOKE”? Or, are they acquiescing to a minority of a subgroup within a subculture who has awakened from a societally induced slumber, thus “were self-aware,” and now are “WOKE.” Judging by the social upheaval we currently daily witness, they indeed are “WOKE.” As one who is somewhat skeptical of Corporate and Social Activist Group agendas, Progressive Politics, and revisionists of history, I find it hard to swallow those product representative icons, statues, Memorials, trademark images will now cause others to presently question the dominant paradigm and strive for something better. In no way do I believe Quaker Oats, or any large business enterprise who are threatened with the possibility of being “Canceled” by those identifying with the “Cancel culture” or “Call-out culture,” would acquiesce to the demands of SJW’s, and so on and so forth Truth is, “Cancelling” them out, would result in a sharp decline in relevance and the bottom line... profit$. It’s not the cause resulting in change. It the power of the bottom line.

Tides of Tyranny: There is Hope Amidst America's Climate of Chaos

Tides of Tyranny: There is Hope Amidst America's Climate of Chaos: Are you as aghast as I am watching chaos reign in much of America? In your lifetime did you ever imagine catching glimpses of glass obscure...

There is Hope Amidst America's Climate of Chaos

Are you as aghast as I am watching chaos reign in much of America? In your lifetime did you ever imagine catching glimpses of glass obscured sidewalks and streets as shop proprietors scrambled to affix plywood substitutions for their smashed windows. Bottles of liquor, intentionally smashed on side streets and alleyways when emptied, made it clear that the looters embraced the opportunity for mayhem. The anarchist revolution may not be televised, but apparently it will be commemorated with Smirnoff, Crown Royal...

Many, like me were angered, outraged, and saddened by the images of rioters pillaging and setting ablaze business after business, as if it were a game. To say the results were an embarrassment for many of this nation’s Governors and Mayors would be a blatant minimization. As a concerned American citizen watching communities suffer at the hands of criminal miscreants orchestrated by domestic terrorists, I cannot help but view some of these riot plagued states and city leaders as being wooden-heads, and in a rational world, would jump ship for the betterment of their city/state’s citizenry.

Are the riots done? Will they return with even greater viciousness or spread elsewhere? Nobody but the outside agitators, instigators and riotous reprobates can answer these questions. There are still demonstrations, purportedly about combatting racism. It is these protests, which begin as an exercise of free speech, that often devolve into what much of mainstream and social media portrays as mostly peaceful affairs... in which a constituent of a whole breaks off to raise havoc, widespread devastation and dismantling of societal norms.

We've been through the grind of months long, avoidable, and recklessly extravagant or wasteful use of resources in community lockdowns. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs. And the federal government has spent trillions of dollars in emergency funds. We are just now beginning to reopen many of cities and get our lives back to something closer to normal... and then we have violent riots that threaten to further weaken our already wounded nation.

If nothing else, this has been a wake-up call for many residents of both small and large municipalities across America. Left-wing elected officials cannot protect you, don't care about you or your property, and are more concerned with using the police to make sure you are "socially distancing" out on a park bench, on a beach, in church pews, than deploying the full weight of law enforcement against looters and rioters who want to undermine our entire society. Think about it. The run on gun buying has already started. Will there also be a run on people leaving our urban centers. American cities have been able to endure a pandemic in 2020, but the risks of incompetence at the hands of select appointed administrators and elected politicians may be just too much to bear.

The saving grace for America is not found in a Progressive, Conservative, Marxist, Black Lives Matter activist, White Supremist, Antifa miscreant nor any person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office. America's saving grace is found in our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through His mercy and grace that give us hope - for me, you, the nation and for our world. Grace and mercy are never deserved. All that may be known of God for our salvation, especially his wisdom, love, goodness, grace and mercy on which the life of our souls, our nation, the world depends, are represented to us in all their splendor in and through Jesus the Christ. 

The Most Potent of Weapons is Not What You Think

We come across people during our lives who aim to purposely cause chaos, disrespect our laws and hurt others at every turn. These kinds of toughs are in every walk of life, not just on the streets of our inner-city neighborhoods. They are white, black, brown, young, old, male, female, educated and uneducated. They are in corporate boardrooms, on assembly lines, on the public dole, even in public and government office. Like many other areas around the world, they roam the streets looking for trouble. These broken individuals are filled with ire and expect nothing less back from the world in which they live. However, time and time again, we’ve seen how even the most hostile of hearts have been conquered by the most potent weapon known to humankind.

That weapon is not a bat, a brick, a knife or gun. It is the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus shining from one man’s heart to another. “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16). Granted, forgiveness is not always easy. On the other hand, what does perpetual or lasting anger achieve? Enduring anger achieves nothing. Let us remember “to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in us.” C.S. Lewis.

The Only Real Freedom is Freedom From Fear.

I would be lying if I said I surreptitiously scrutinize every person in the grocery aisles and checkout lines to see if they have COVID-19 symptoms. I don’t even care if they wear masks or come within the medically defined 38^th parallel line or coronavirus demarcation line. The absurdity of government mandated quarantine exceeding 3-4 weeks is questionable as is the CDC and alleged epidemiologist experts that daily disagree on the incidence, distribution, and possible control of the current Coronavirus. Do we live in a pandemic world? Only if one believes what the media and the progressive left is constantly shoving down our throats. We are told by officials, “You must stay away from anyone with a pulse until further notice!” Luckily, Myrtle Beach is just south of where I live. I shop there without being “mask shamed”; I dine at restaurants without fear of an evil eye; I pump my own gas with a naked hand without being chastised. 

Friends, how we respond to the epidemic today, boils down to individual choice. What each citizen chooses are his/her right. Sometimes our leaders forget our individual rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

What we see in some geographic areas of the country is a tyrannical type doctrine of governance that supports the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The historicity to those people who dwell under such rule is not good. Better stated, the residents inevitably are repressed by those who purportedly represent them. The problem with today’s Democrats and the Left is that they’re driving this failed agenda. For America to get back to its bolstered economy that existed before the coronavirus pandemic, it’s up to the individuals to make it happen. Like self-quarantine, ruining an economy is a cognitive choice. Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we’re proud of. Some will haunt us forever. The message: we are what we chose to be. Everything that is great, and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. In summation, the only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

 

What has Become of America

Nothing says America like the First Amendment, mom, apple pie and baseball. Under the guise of a pandemic, today’s secular progressives are fundamentally transforming our nation into an ugly and dare I say despotic place. They have shut down our business and closed our churches. They have punished shop keepers and moms who let their kids play outside. You can’t lay in the sun on the beach or plant a crop. And many of our fellow countrymen must wear face coverings. So, let’s take stock of where we are in this post-pandemic America: you are forbidden to physically attend church services,... you can’t hug your mom,... you can’t eat a slice of apple pie in a local eatery... and you can’t play baseball,.. This is not my America. It doesn’t sound like America. If not your America, then who’s America is it? What has become of America? Is America becoming Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World?

In the world of 1984, Big Brother is always watching, whether it’s his face on huge posters plastered on walls or the omnipresent telescreens or what Kenneth Burke labels terministic screens that force you to not only act, but also think, in compliance with the powers to be. One could argue that Orwell’s telescreens are alive and well in 2020, taking the form of our smartphones/smart devices. There are very few places one can go where there isn’t a voice and data communication zone nearby, and often, that device is our very own. Our communication devices control us. Social media enslaves us. Through the endless blitz of images that promote slogans like “Our best day’s lie ahead”... “A fresh start for America”...  “We rise,” social media and the devices we use to access them become the ever-monitoring eye, a gaze so omnipresent and omnipotent that we end up feeling like we must govern ourselves. The only difference between the panopticon-like governance of 2020 and 1984 is that the telescreens exist to govern because of an authoritarian government, whereas our smart devices exist to govern us today only because we allow them to.

The rhetoric of fear and hate and the medium mode that today’s socialist leaning progressive party leadership peddles is undeniable. If the progressive left were to gain total control of America’s direction, there is no end in sight to the destruction they would perpetuate on her citizenry’s rights as delineated the United States Constitution. For our sake, let us pray and hope George Orwell was right, and a civilization founded on fear and hate never sees the light of day. That being said, lets go back to hugging mom, eating apple pie, playing baseball with fans in the stands, earning a living and lastly, opening Houses of Worship to those who choose to sit in church pews