If You Can't Say Something Nice....

Gonna rant for a moment...

"Comedian" DL Hughley took to Twitter yesterday to make fun of Debbie Reynolds death.

"Debbie Reynolds died a day after her daughter did! Black Mama's don't die cuz they kids do!They cry and say God don't make no mistakes!" Hughley said.

It's obvious that Hughley has no idea about the devastating pain of losing a child. If he did he wouldn't trivialize Debbie Reynolds' statement about wanting to be with Carrie. I wonder how he'd feel if he lost one of his three children and someone made fun of it?

Most of us who have lost a child didn't/don't want to die ourselves because of it. But we certainly understand the feelings. There is no pain like that of losing your child.

I have lived through many painful things in my life. I have lost beloved family and friends to death. I have watched people die while I did everything I could to keep them alive and I have watched people die with an empty feeling of knowing there was nothing I could do.

Even seasoned professionals - paramedics, doctors, nurses, firefighters, law enforcement officials - who deal with death on a regular basis, are affected by it in some way. Sure, they'll joke about it sometimes - but that's a coping mechanism rather than an attempt at humor. It keeps them from being consumed by the tragedies they see on a regular basis.

Hughley doesn't really have that excuse for what he said.

Of all of the things I've dealt with in this life the loss of my son was by far the most devastating. I cannot imagine anything else that could hurt that badly.

Mr. Hughley thinks he's funny. Perhaps sometimes he is. But this was not one of those times. Imagine if the celebrity mom and daughter had been black and a white comedian made such a comment. It would be main stream media news for a week. The only reports about it so far is that there is a "backlash against him in social media."

I actually feel sorry for Mr. Hughley. It takes a cold heart to trivialize and mock the deaths of two people the way he did.

Carrie Fisher left behind a daughter. That young lady has lost both her mother and grandmother in the last three days.

I wonder how Mr. Hughley would feel if that happened to him? My guess is he wouldn't think it was funny.

Olbermann: "Trump Is A Puppet Of Vladimir Putin"

Keith Olbermann, the loud mouthed liberal who went from sportscaster for ESPN to political pundit for MSNBC, said yesterday that the Russians had not only hacked into the Democrat National Committee computers and made information public to hurt Hillary Clinton in the election but that they had also hacked into the Republican National Committee computers. He said they are withholding the information discovered in the RNC computers so they can use it to control the Trump administration once Trump is inaugurated.

Typical for a liberal nut job - Olbermann didn't present any evidence to support his claims. Like Harry Reid, he put the information out there as fact and leaves it up to the listener to determine whether or not his statements are true. He bases his knowledge of the subject on news articles from the likes of the New York Times and the Washington Post, both far-left supporters of Hillary.

The CIA and the FBI disagree about whether or not both the DNC and RNC were hacked. The CIA says both, the FBI says it was only the DNC. So who is to be believed? John McCain and Lindsay Graham both want an investigation to see if the RNC was hacked and to see if Trump benefited from Russian hacking. That tends to make me say “Forget it.” McCain and Graham are the dufus duo of Washington.

Olbermann, in his 1200 plus word rant, says that the Electoral College must vote for Hillary Clinton to “save the country” and that anyone who doesn't believe his “existential facts” is a traitor to the country and “will immediately, and forever after, be held accountable.”

Held accountable by whom, Keith? You? That's laughable at best.

Go back to sports broadcasting. Your liberal views are pushing you toward fanaticism. You're losing it. And you're annoying.

Liberals Going Crazy Over Trump's EPA Appointment. It's Entertaining!

Donald Trump has appointed Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The left is going absolutely crazy over this pick. Personally, I think it's brilliant.

Pruitt is a critic of climate change science. That's good. We need someone heading that agency that isn't fueled by left-wing panic over climate change which, as Pruitt himself has stated, and despite what liberals like to claim, is not an absolute fact. Climate change statistics are generated by computers based on information fed into them by people. And while the left likes to believe that those people feeding the information are infallible, there is mega money to be made in the climate change arena.

The Obama administration, in collusion with the EPA, has taxed corporations and caused huge, expensive changes to be mandatory for them to survive. They're killing the coal industry (intentionally) in the name of clean air and they've squandered countless billions of dollars on green energy companies that got your tax dollars then went belly up - taking the money with them. The list is long.

Like it or not, fossil fuels will be our main sources of energy for at least a couple more decades. Understanding that and managing them wisely is prudent to the future of the nation. I have no doubt Scott Pruitt will do just that.

Of course - there will be some who will start shouting "Republicans want dirty air and dirty water!!" In fact, that's already happening. It's the same as them saying "Donald Trump is going to end medicare outlaw abortion and end same sex marriage." Simply untrue.

What they fail to understand is that the laws already in place keep the air and water clean. A new, conservative head of the EPA will keep things in the realm of logical instead of emotional.

If climate change and global warming are so real why is it that the polar ice caps are still here when "experts" (including Al Gore) predicted they would be gone by September 2016? While the Arctic ice cap shrinks and grows, the Antarctic ice cap is growing at nearly a record pace. Imagine...

Why is it that two of America's most outspoken climate change celebrities, those being Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio, travel all around the world in their private jets while telling the public that reducing their carbon footprint is vital? Why is it that Al Gore said the ice caps would melt and sea levels would be rising then bought a home on the beach in California? And why is it that Mr. Gore's global warming movie, which garnered him a Nobel Prize, was proved later to be full of falsehoods and outright lies yet he was never called on it?

Why is that that Al Gore has made millions upon millions of dollars pushing "green" products and solutions that really haven't worked except on his bank account?

Perhaps the most important question of all... why is that the left simply doesn't care about the answers to those questions? But then - they don't care what Hillary Clinton does either so it's no big surprise.

Like Trump's other appointments, Pruitt will be a great choice. He will be able to reign in the overzealous, emotional agency and keep it focused on real issues and find real solutions. And the other plus about his appointment? Far left zealots who currently work for the EPA might just resign if he is confirmed by the Senate - thus reducing the size of government. How bad could that be?

Missouri House Bill Would Make Gun-Free Business Owners Liable

This may stir up controversy. If so - that's OK. At least it will get people thinking...

Do you own a gun? Do you have a license to legally carry it? Have you been prevented from carrying it by certain businesses owners who have declared their business property to be “gun-free?” Or have you carried into the business anyway – which is some states is a crime?

One state representative-elect in Missouri has decided that business owners who refuse to allow legally armed citizens to carry their firearms onto/into their businesses can be sued by any citizen who is on or in their business property, unarmed against their will, and is injured by another person or animal.

Newly elected Representative Nick Shroer will be introducing House Bill 96, which would allow gun carriers to file suit against businesses that enforce gun-free zones on their property.

Business owners who declare their property to be gun-free would be liable for any injuries sustained that could have been prevented had the injured party been allowed to carry their firearm on their person while on the property.

In some ways a business owner's decision to forbid firearms on their business property is discrimination on the level of the same-sex marriage vs businesses controversy. Stay with me here.

Businesses are not allowed to refuse service to a same-sex couple up to and including forced participation in their wedding if one is a photographer or a baker.

Yet states allow business owners to discriminate against gun license holders by refusing service to them if they're carrying their legally registered, licensed firearm. In Texas the law says if the business owner(s) post an official 30.06 and/or 30.07 sign (concealed and non-concealed) in their business window or in a prominent place near the entrance, licensed gun owners may not enter the business carrying a firearm.

There are no criteria for the business owners to meet when deciding their businesses are legally gun-free. At least here in Texas, business owners merely have to post the sign to instantly make it illegal for a licensed gun owner to carry on the business premises.

Why is that not discrimination against a protected class of people? If the law says I'm legally licensed to carry a firearm in public am I not protected by that law? And if the law allows business owners to say “Not in my business,” how is that not discrimination against those with a legal right to carry?

Of course, gun owners will never be placed in a protected class. That wouldn't be politically correct. Yet the principle is the same. If business owners are not allowed to discriminate against people for their lifestyle choices (which is a Supreme Court decision not an actual, written law) why should they be able to discriminate against someone for legally exercising their guaranteed Second Amendment right?

Representative Shroer says his bill wouldn't have affected any cases in Missouri but instead refers to the mass shooting inside the gun-free theater in Aurora in 2012. The theater was designated by the corporation as a gun-free zone. Yet, if one or more theatergoers had been armed that evening they very well could have stopped the killings before the numbers began to add up.

Shroer says business owners who declare their businesses gun-free put targets on every one of their customers. And that's true. Gun-free zones often draw crazed murderers because they know they will meet little to no resistance.

It's about time to hold business owners accountable as accomplices to the murders of innocent people.

School System Bans Classic Books For Political Correctness

It's a sad day for school children in Accomack County Public Schools in Virginia. Accomack County, a peninsula between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is probably best known for Chincoteague Island, a small island famous for wild ponies and the annual “Pony Penning” event.

Accomack County Public School system can now be known for setting back time and forcing censorship in the name of political correctness.

It seems a parent of one of their students (just one) complained to the school system because two classic books - “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” - have racial slurs in them. The school system has “temporarily” pulled them from all county school libraries.

Apparently, rather than deal with the truth that both classic books were written with the authentic language of the period about which they were written and, therefore, were not meant to be racist but merely accurate, is more than the school wants to deal with.

Harper Lee and Mark Twain gave us outstanding stories depicting real life in the South. The language in each book was accurate. Neither author meant to offend anyone but instead to tell a story that was believable. How sad that in 2016 we have become so “enlightened” that school officials ban them because someone is offended by words. Perhaps the school system will next set up safe spaces.

It would appear that Huck Finn's friendship with Jim and the development of Jim's character in the story are simply dismissed because the N word is part of the story. Likewise, and for the same reason, the actions of Atticus Finch in defending Tom Robinson, falsely accused of rape, to the best of his ability despite anger and negative pressure from the townsfolk, are also dismissed. And those dismissals are because of non-politically correct language that is accurate and fitting for the story itself.

Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize for her book. And today it's banned?

Political correctness is turning this country into a land of whiners and crybabies. People believe they now have the right not to be offended by anyone or anything – and our school systems are reinforcing those beliefs by doing their best to prevent anyone from being offended.

The coddling of college students following the election shows that our young people today cannot deal with real life and adulthood. And now it seems secondary schools are preparing the younger children to grow up to be college crybabies.

I wonder if the child of the parent who complained about the two books listens to rap music....?

To the parents of young people who will be reading classic books in the near future... talk to your kids. Explain to them that life isn't perfect, that words won't harm them and that a book doesn't have to be banned simply because there are words in it that in today's society have been deemed unacceptable in Politically Correctville. 

These two classic stories are bigger and more important than the N word. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the best novels I have read. To deny students the chance to read such a poignant book is to deny them the chance to learn about values and integrity. Atticus Finch should be considered a hero in every sense of the word and in both the white and black communities. His personal convictions are something which each of us should try to emulate.

To say the school system overreacted to the complaint of one parent is an understatement. And that's part of the problem with today's society. One complaint draws an immediate reaction rather than time and consideration of the larger picture. Where will it end?

Calling The Appliance Repair Help Desk....

Woke up this morning to our microwave not heating. Everything else works - just doesn't heat anything. It's under warranty so I had to call Samsung. The conversation went like this:

She: Thank you for calling Samsung. How can I help you?

Me: My microwave quit working this morning. It's under warranty.

She: I'm sorry that happened, Sir. Let's see if we can figure it out. I want to ask you a few questions. Is that alright?

Me: Sure.

She: OK. First, I'd like you to unplug the microwave.

Me: OK. Done.

She: Can you please check the power cord for any damage or frayed wires?

Me: The power cord is fine.

She: OK, Sir. Thank you. Can you please check the power cord for damage or frayed wires?

Me: The power cord doesn't have any damage.

She: OK, Sir. Thank you. Now, let's see if it's in demo mode. Can you please set the clock?

Me: OK, I set the clock.

She: OK. Now, push the Options button to option number 6.

Me: OK. I'm at option 6.

She: Can you please push the number 2?

Me: OK, done.

She: What does it say?

Me: It says "OFF"

She: OK. Please press start.

Me: OK. Done.

She: Can you please put a cup of water in the microwave and run it for 60 seconds?

Me: OK.

Sixty second interval.....

She: Did the water heat up?

Me: No. Still cold.

She: OK. It's not in the Demo mode.

Me: (Silently) Duh....

She: OK, Sir. Did you maybe use the kitchen timer by accident?

Me: (Getting a little irritated...) No, I didn't use the timer. I'm very familiar with this microwave and use the timer on a regular basis.

She: OK, Sir. I have to ask. Some people use the timer by mistake.

Me: I'm fairly intelligent. I know the difference between the two.

She: Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir. I have to ask these questions to try to solve the problem.

Me: OK.

She: Now, Sir... we need to determine if the power source is the right voltage.

Me: It's been working fine for the last year.

She: OK, Sir. Is it plugged into a dedicated 120v outlet?

Me: Yes.

She: Can you plug another appliance into the outlet to make sure the outlet is working properly?

Me: I'm looking at the clock and the interior light - both working fine. I'm pretty sure the outlet is working.

She: Yes, Sir. Do you have another appliance you can plug into it to be sure?

Me: You just had me set the clock and try to heat water in the microwave. I couldn't do either if the power source wasn't working.

She: Yes, Sir. I have to ask. Do you have another appliance you can plug into the outlet to make sure it's working?

Me: I'm not going to do that. You're just going to have to take my word for it.

She: I'm sorry, Sir. We have people who call us sometimes and say their microwave isn't working and when the technician gets there he finds the outlet not working properly. In that case you would be responsible for the call and have to pay.

Me: I'm willing to take that chance.

She: OK, Sir.

Me: (A bit irritated) Why would you not ask me that first, before I set the clock and attempt to heat water? Obviously, if the clock is on and the microwave ran for 60 seconds the outlet works.

She: I sense that you're not liking the questions I'm asking but I do have to ask them.

Me: I understand that. What I don't understand is why you don't ask that one first. Asking me now if the power is working, after I've already demonstrated more than once that it is, is nonsensical.

She: I'm sorry you feel that way, Sir. This call is being recorded and they're listening to it.

Me: Good. They need to reword their script to keep people from feeling like they're being demeaned and not smart enough to know whether or not the power is on.

She: Again, I'm sorry you feel that way. But there are some people...

Me: I understand that. But I'm not one of them. I also understand that it's not you and that you have to ask the questions. But the questions should be subjective so that if I answer the question indirectly it can be omitted.

She: Yes, Sir. I understand. But I have to ask them.

Eventually the woman understood that I had done everything that could be done to correct the problem and that I needed a service technician to come out and look at it. She gave me a ticket number and said someone would contact me in 1-2 business days. In the meantime we have no microwave. But I've got fodder for a blog....!

Happy Thanksgiving To All

A little reminder of why we celebrate Thanksgiving....

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. 

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. 

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Dear Trump Protesters....

America has been observing your actions for the last week. We have noted your anger. We have noted your hatred of the new President-elect. We understand you're not happy with the election results. You've made it quite clear.

We have also noted that you, in your trumped up (pun very much intended) emotional overload, are destroying the property of others, blocking people from getting where they need to go, attacking law enforcement officers, overturning and setting fire to their vehicles and carrying signs that not only call for the assassination of the new President-elect but also for the rape of his wife. At least one of your members vowed that there will be “casualties on both sides.”

And you do this while saying all you want is peace, justice and fairness.

Here are a few things to think about...

Remember those businesses you burned down? Each of them was owned by someone and each of them employed people. How many of those owners voted for Hillary or Bernie instead of Trump? You don't know, do you? How many of their now unemployed workers voted against Trump? Again, you have no idea. You didn't think of that before you destroyed their livelihood, did you?

You know those people you're holding up by shutting down freeways? How many of them are Hillary supporters? In blue states it would be a very large number. Yet there you are, preventing them from getting where they need to go. Do you think your fellow liberal voters are pleased that you are disrupting their daily lives with your foolishness?

Those police officers you're assaulting? They're out there to protect you just as much as the others. They're there to keep people safe, to protect property and to encourage and promote the smooth flow of traffic as well as the smooth flow of your protest. When you injure one of them or set his vehicle on fire you may very well be preventing him from responding to a situation where he is truly needed. That person needing the police may also be a Hillary supporter. Yet you chose to ignore his/her needs for your own selfish and stupid reasons.

You vilified Donald Trump for his attacks on others, his harsh, late-night tweets, and particularly his disgusting comment made about women when you were 10 years old. Yet some of you are calling for his wife, who has done absolutely nothing to you, to be sexually assaulted. Gee – how is it bad for one person to even say he did it and yet call for the assault of a woman who had nothing to do with it? Do you understand how twisted that thinking is?

Of course you don't. You've been taught since day one that you are entitled to have everything you want and that losing is not part of the equation. You've gone to schools that provide you with safe spaces where you can retreat when you think your precious little feelings might be hurt by something or someone. You've gone to schools that prevent right-leaning individuals from speaking because of your precious little feelings. And you've gone to schools that cancel classes and tests when something happens just because they know you're too fragile to deal with testing and real world events at the same time.

How are you ever going to survive in the real world? The real world doesn't have safe spaces. The real world doesn't cancel your responsibilities just because something happens. That's real life. And you're going to suck at it.

While you're out there screaming your anger and destroying property the real world goes on. It's still going to go on when you're finally finished with this nonsense. And you won't know how to deal with disappointment like an adult.

Donald Trump is going to be the next President. That's just a fact. All your protests, your screaming, your destruction and even your petition to have the Electoral College shirk their duties, are not going to change that fact. The sooner you realize that the sooner you can get back to whatever it is you do when you're not protesting.

Time to grow up, children. The only casualties are your precious, fragile egos after you discovered that life sometimes just isn't going to be fair to you. The election was fair even if you didn't get what you wanted. Deal with it like adults. You'll be happier in the long run if you do.

Proudly Illiterate? Hardly. Uneducated White Man? Guilty As Charged

I read an article the other day written by Garrison Keillor entitled “Trump Voters Will Not Like What Happens Next.” For those unfamiliar with the name, Garrison Keillor is an author, humorist, radio performer and the creator of the NPR show “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Mr. Keillor explained how Donald Trump voters were all “proudly illiterate.” Apparently he conforms to the liberal media opinion, misguided as it is, that Trump was elected by “uneducated white men.”

To say that President-elect Trump was elected by mostly blue collar workers would be accurate. To call those blue collar workers illiterate and uneducated is a gross and offensive mis-generalization of the American people in general. I know that because I'm included in that group.

To Garrison Keillor I am illiterate. Since I'm writing this article in fairly legible and hopefully intelligent English, I think I'm proving him wrong.

To the left-wing media I'm uneducated. And by their academia standards they are correct. I did not complete any more than a partial year in college. But in my lifetime I've been a paramedic, certified in emergency medicine and advanced cardiac life support. If the left-wing media believes that doesn't take education I invite them to try it.

I spent my career working in federal prisons, starting as a correctional officer and working my way up to the rank of Captain. As a Captain I was the head of the entire security department. No small feat for an uneducated illiterate. For two years I was even a management training instructor. Imagine such an uneducated illiterate teaching management training to other managers.

It seems many on the left feel that if one is not an academic he or she just doesn't live up to proper standards. But just for a moment imagine a world without blue collar workers.

In a world full of academics only, who would build your homes? The architect (the academic) would design it but who would put it together?

Who would fix the problem when the electricity went out, or when you had a broken water main?

Who would make your vehicle run properly again after it breaks down, or even tow your car to a mechanic?

Oh wait. In an all academic world there would be no mechanics to which it could be towed.

Who would grow the food that you buy in the grocery stores? Who would transport it from the farms to the processing plants and to the stores? Who would stock the shelves and run the cash registers? You can bet it wouldn't be academics with impressive degrees.

Are all of these blue collar workers I've mentioned “proudly illiterate?”

In case anyone forgot – the definition of illiterate is “someone who cannot read or write.” To say Mr. Keillor is exaggerating is an understatement. What's worse is he's blatantly insulting half of the population of the United States because he's unhappy with the election results.

For the record, college educated Americans voted 59% to 41% for Hillary Clinton. Do you understand that, Mr. Keillor? Forty-one percent of the academia voted for Trump. So rather than uneducated are they simply ignorant?

You, Mr. Keillor, would appear to be the ignorant one. You have no clue who elected Donald Trump (it wasn't just uneducated white men) nor will you, in your “holier than thou” world, ever understand why it happened.

Some Thoughts On The President Elect

Yesterday, across the nation, ignorance once again reared its ugly head. People protesting against the legal, constitutional election of Donald Trump to the Presidency staged violent protests in at least 19 cities, setting fires and vandalizing businesses. At least one police vehicle was burned and several officers were injured.

The left screams that Trump is so bad, that he encourages violence and racism. So they protest him by destroying other people's property.

Trump has been called a misogynist, a xenophobe, a homophobe and a racist – none of which are true.

Misogyny is defined as “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.” Because Trump has made derogatory comments about women in the past, including the comment he made in a supposed private conversation that was recorded without his knowledge, he is labeled a misogynist. Yet thousands of women who know him and/or work for him say that is simply untrue. And who would know better – those women who know him or the media?

Unlike Hillary, Trump actually pays women equally to their male counterparts. In some cases he pays women more. Does that show dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women?

Xenophobe is defined as “one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin. Trump has been labeled that because he wants to stop illegal immigration and wants to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country without proper vetting. That's not xenophobia – it's intelligent management of our borders.

Why would American citizens want foreign nationals in the country illegally? We have to obey our laws and the laws of other countries we visit. Why don't they? Have you paid any attention to the protests against Trump in the last year? You see Mexican flags being waved throughout the crowds – people in our country waving a foreign flag. If they love that other country so much why are they here?

Trump doesn't want Muslim refugees brought into the country until they're properly vetted – if that's even possible. Some think that's xenophobia. Have you taken a good look at Europe? Europe is currently in turmoil because they opened their borders to Muslim refugees. People, women in particular, are being assaulted in record numbers by Muslim men. Why would we want that here? Do you really believe it will be different just because they come to the USA?

One person told me recently that Trump is going to outlaw same-sex marriage. I'm not sure where that idea came from (like the main stream, left-wing media) but Trump's stance on same-sex marriage has always been to leave it up to the individual states. He has said that over and over. But some don't seem to understand.

And no, he's not going to overturn the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. He does not have the authority, as President, to overrule the Supreme Court. That can only be done two ways – a Constitutional Amendment or a new Supreme Court ruling. And neither of those are going to happen despite what the media says.

Finally – Trump is being called a racist for comments he made about the Southern border and Muslim refugees. Trump said rapists and murderers are crossing our Southern border from Mexico. That is absolutely a fact. Not everyone who enters the country illegally is a rapist or murderer, nor did Trump say they were. But how many are OK? Ask the parents of Kate Steinle, who was murdered in California last year by an illegal who had been deported five times yet was living in the sanctuary city of San Francisco. Or ask the family of Marilyn Pharis, the 64 year old woman who was murdered by an illegal alien after she was raped.

I could undoubtedly make a long list on this page but I shouldn't have to. As I asked above – how many are OK?

It's probably not worth pointing out that Islam is not a race therefore, wanting to prevent Muslims from entering the country is not racist. But why would anyone want to prevent terrorists from entering the country? Do you enjoy the bombings and mass shootings that are being perpetrated by Muslims? Would you like more of them? I don't get it.

The desire to secure borders is not racist. We are the only country in the world who doesn't enforce our immigration laws. It's not only ridiculous it's pathetic. We allow foreign nationals to flood over our border unimpeded and unvetted to our own peril. And spare me any statement that “Obama has deported more illegals than any President in history.” I know Border Patrol agents who verify that's simply untrue. Why do you think it is that the Border Patrol union endorsed Trump?

Trump is far from perfect. He wasn't even my choice for President initially. He's crude, rude and often obnoxious – although when he speaks from a prepared speech he does pretty well. Gee – so does the current President...

Trump will surround himself with people who get things done, just as he does in his business. Sure – he's filed a few bankruptcies. Big deal. Chevrolet and Chrysler took government bailouts to prevent them from doing that very thing. Are they bad? Business is business and Trump's successes far outweigh his few failures. He didn't become a billionaire by failing.

Trump hasn't been given a chance to do anything yet. His plan for his first 100 days in office is quite sound and worth reading if you haven't. He wants term limits for Washington politicians. What could be bad about that? He wants to renegotiate trade deals so that the United States actually benefits from them instead of losing. Gee, that would suck. And he wants to repeal Obamacare and create health care savings accounts that Americans can participate in without being forced to buy something they don't want or being fined... er, uh.... taxed if they don't. And he wants to eliminate the state borders that currently prevent insurance purchases outside one's state. Heartless.

Donald Trump has been elected legally and constitutionally. Those who are violently protesting are proving how ignorant they truly are. Typical, unwashed, liberal tolerance at its best. Perhaps, once they get finished destroying things they can retreat to their safe spaces and just stay there. Quietly.

Americans Fleeing To Canada...

I didn't write this nor do I know who did. I got it in an email. And unlike Hillary, I didn't delete it.

Like Hillary, I'm going to share it. But there are no classified, top secret, secret, confidential, or "eyes only" markings on it. Enjoy.

The flood of Trump-fearing American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week. The Republican presidential campaign is prompting an exodus among left-leaning Americans who fear they’ll soon be required to hunt, pray, pay taxes, and live according to the Constitution.

Canadian border residents say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, liberal arts majors, global-warming activists, and “green” energy proponents crossing their fields at night.

“I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,” said southern Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. “He was cold, exhausted and hungry, and begged me for a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn’t have any, he left before I even got a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?”

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. He then installed loudspeakers that blared Rush Limbaugh across the fields, but they just stuck their fingers in their ears and kept coming. Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals just south of the border, pack them into electric cars, and drive them across the border, where they are simply left to fend for themselves after the battery dies.

“A lot of these people are not prepared for our rugged conditions,” an Alberta border patrolman said. “I found one carload without a single bottle of Perrier water, or any gemelli with shrimp and arugula. All they had was a nice little Napa Valley cabernet and some kale chips. When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often wailing that they fear persecution from Trump high-hairers.

Rumors are circulating about plans being made to build re-education camps where liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer, study the Constitution, and find jobs that actually contribute to the economy.

In recent days, liberals have turned to ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have been disguised as senior citizens taking a bus trip to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans in blue-hair wig disguises, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior citizens about Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney to prove that they were alive in the ’50s.

“If they can’t identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we become very suspicious about their age,” an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage, are buying up all the Barbara Streisand CD’s, and are overloading the internet while downloading jazzercise apps to their cell phones.

“I really feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can’t support them,” an Ottawa resident said. “After all, how many art-history majors does one country need?

My Answer To College "Safe Spaces"

College students demanding safe spaces has now become a norm in this country. These students want to have areas on campuses (besides their dorm rooms, apparently) where they can be free from any ideas or free speech with which which they disagree and free from anything or anyone that might challenge or offend them.

Some of these students demand counseling if a political candidate they oppose is scheduled to appear on campus or even if fliers for that candidate are put in public places. Yes, it's that bad.

College used to be a place where high school graduates went to learn, to shape their futures and grow into productive citizens. Today, because colleges and universities are granting students their safe spaces, these schools of "higher learning" are instead turning out a bunch of crybabies and wimps. (I used to say pansies but pansies are a hearty plant that bloom in the harsh conditions of winter. Pansies are tougher than many college students.)

In my humble opinion, college and university administrators should answer students' demands for safe spaces with the four words in the photo above and printed directions for getting there. If they believe college life is so hard because they run the risk of getting their precious feelings hurt just by words or an announced visit by a political candidate which they oppose, send them to basic training and teach them not only how to live with adversity but how to respond to that adversity as adults instead of seeking shelter from ever becoming adults.

These kids are never going to grow up and be productive citizens. After for years of coddling by school administrators, new graduates will have to go out into the world where, much to their surprise, there are no safe spaces and they'll likely be offended by something or someone on a daily basis.

What do I see for their futures? They'll end up living in the only safe spaces still available to them... Mommy's and Daddy's houses. And if their parents helped to mold these kids into cowardly, unproductive wimps – those parents deserve to have them back home. You reap what you sew.

But in the words of Dennis Miller.... “That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.”

Hillary For Prison 2016? Absolutely!

I didn't write the lyrics below, sung to the tune of Johnny Cash's “Folsom Prison Blues,' and I don't know who did. But when I saw them I posted them on social media just for laughs.

One of my liberal friends, a bonafide Trump hater, took offense to it. Apparently he has lost his sense of humor. I think it's hilarious and creative.

I hear that train a comin'. It’s rollin’ round the bend.
Gonna pick up Mrs. Clinton and take her to the pen.
They’ll have her coronation - make her cell block queen...
Hillary for prison - Two thousand and sixteen

They’ve got an orange pants suit. It's hangin’ on the wall
And a cell for Bubba Willie just a little down the hall.
We’ll put ‘em in the big house - lock them up inside...
Unless a whole lot of witnesses commit suicide.

Remember James McDougal? And 20 or 30 more?
About to testify, they found ‘em dead upon the floor.
Now they’re pilin’ up the bodies like they did back then...
They want back in the White House...
Here we go again.

Glue the china to the table. Nail the table to the floor.
Lock up all the silver ‘fore they haul it out the door.
White trash in the White House beats all I’ve ever seen...
Yes, Hillary for prison - Two thousand and sixteen!

My friend couldn't believe I'd post something so negative about Hillary Clinton. And he must believe people shouldn't talk about Hillary going to prison. But that's exactly where she belongs.

According to FBI Director James Comey, Hillary Clinton not only risked national security through blatant mishandling of classified documents on her personal (secret) email server but she lied about it to the FBI and to Congress.

Mrs. Clinton also attempted to destroy evidence by erasing tens of thousands of emails and having her server wiped clean and bleached after it had been subpoenaed by Congress.

Her efforts failed and the FBI, according to Comey, discovered numerous classified documents on the server when the finally got it. On national television Comey stated that Mrs. Clinton not only had the documents on her server but lied about it.

We now know that Mrs. Clinton's staff also destroyed electronic devices, computers and Blackberries, associated with the server. And the latest reports say the FBI allowed cooperating Clinton staff to destroy their own devices as part of the deal for their testimonies.

Comey sold out his office, his agents and the American people. He told us all she was guilty on all counts then said he was not going to recommend prosecution. How does an honest, reputable, moral person do that?

My guess is that several days before Comey's announcement Bill Clinton gave Loretta Lynch her marching orders in that private meeting on the Phoenix airport tarmac. Lynch passed on those orders to Comey and Comey, protecting himself, didn't pass the baton to Lynch, as he should have done.

Hillary Clinton should be arrested, charged and prosecuted for mishandling of classified materials, lying to Congress, lying to the FBI during an investigation, tampering with evidence, destruction of government property (the electronic devices used to conduct government business) and gross obstruction of justice.

She should go to prison for a long, long time. Hopefully, Donald Trump will be elected President and he really will have his Attorney General assign a special prosecutor to look into Hillary Clinton's actions. What a great announcement that would be!

I Agree With Louis Farrakhan. Wait... What???

I never thought there would come a day when I agreed with Louis Farrakhan. But that day has come.

Farrakhan recently blasted President Obama because, as he put it, Obama "failed your own people."

From www.theguardian.com:

"Farrakhan blasted Obama and his "legacy" in recent remarks saying he "failed to do what should have been done" as his "people are suffering and dying in the streets!" Farrakhan also questioned why Democrats have been so loyal to a party that has given them nothing in return.

“So you Democrats, you been in their party a long time. Answer me, what did you get? You got a president. He is worried about his legacy. You want Hillary to get in to protect your legacy because Trump said the minute he gets in, he is going to reverse the Affordable Care Act. Because that is your signature achievement.

"In the epic rant, Farrakhan also seemed to mock Obama for insisting that his "legacy" is "bound up in an Affordable Care Act that only affects a few million people."

"If your legacy is bound up in an Affordable Care Act that only affects a few million people and they are trying to make it really difficult for those of us who signed up, that’s not your legacy."

Farrakhan also blasts Obama for fighting for the rights of "gay people" while his "people are suffering and dying in the streets!"

“But I just want to tell you, Mr. President, you’re from Chicago, and so am I. I go out in the streets with the people. I visited the worst neighborhoods. I talked to the gangs. And while I was out there talking to them, they said ‘You know, Farrakhan, the president ain’t never come. Could you get him to come and look after us?’ There’s your legacy, Mr. President. It’s in the streets with your suffering people, Mr. President. And If you can’t go and see about them, then don’t worry about your legacy ’cause the white people that you served so well, they’ll preserve your legacy. The hell they will. But you didn’t earn your legacy with us. We put you there. You fought for the rights of gay people. You fought for the rights of this people and that people. You fight for Israel. Your people are suffering and dying in the streets! That’s where your legacy is. Now you failed to do what should have been done.”

Meanwhile, on Saturday night, President Obama told the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation that it will be an insult to him if they don't vote for Hillary Clinton.

“I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good send-off, go vote.”

And while one could argue he didn't mention Clinton by name, it was evident from his next statement he wasn't talking about voting for Trump. He referenced Trump's recent appeals to black voters and talked about Trump's lack of knowledge of history.

“I mean, he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow, but we’ve got a museum for him to visit. We will educate him.”

Perhaps, Mr. President, someone should refresh your memory of history. Jim Crow laws were created and passed by Democrats and slave owners in the South were Democrats. Have you checked your party affiliation recently? And Trump is the problem?

Obama certainly has failed the black community. All one need do is look toward Chicago, Charlotte, Detroit, etc., to see that. Black unemployment, particularly among young people, is still exceptionally high. And Obama has yet to address the violence in the streets of the inner cities. He worries about black inmates in prisons but not about the unbelievable numbers of black on black murders on the streets.

It's shameful, really. And Farrakhan is right to address it.

What Are The Charlotte Protests Really About?

I've been watching the events in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the last few days and I'm scratching my head in wonder at the stupidity of some people.

The night of the shooting, police and witnesses stated that Keith Lamont Scott, an African-American man matching the description of a suspect police were looking for, exited a car with a gun in his hand and, after repeated commands to drop the weapon, was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson, who is also African-American. Scott died from his wound(s).

Scott's family, none of whom were present at the time, said that Scott didn't have a gun but a book when he exited the vehicle and that the shooting was simple murder. According to police, no book was found at the scene but a gun was found next to Scott when he fell.

Two days later opposition to the police version of what actually happened has turned ridiculous. The brother of Mr. Scott yesterday condemned white cops and white people in general for what happened to his brother.

“I just know that all white people are f***ing devils.” Then he adds, “All white cops are f***ing devils, and white people.”

So the protests aren't about the shooting or right and wrong anymore but about white people in general. It makes perfect sense... since the man was shot by another black man. Right?

Some protesters are now chanting “black lives matter” and “hands up, don't shoot.” I find it frighteningly fascinating that an incident can transform from a seemingly justified (from police and witness accounts) shooting by a black police officer into “Hands up, don't shoot” and “All white cops and white people are devils.”

Why not add “And just for good measure, let's go steal stuff from Walmart.”

Have people lost all connection to common sense?

Police have shown great restraint in this situation considering over a dozen of them have been injured by protesters. That could be just conservative policing or it could be political, as was the case in Baltimore last summer.

"The events that we saw last night are not the Charlotte I know and love," Democrat Mayor Jennifer Roberts said. "They are not reflective of our community, of the deep seated traditions we have of collaboration and peace."

But is she allowing the police to act accordingly? That's not public knowledge at this time. At least, if she is tying the hands of the police, she's smart enough not to make it public knowledge.

Police in shooting situations today, regardless of how necessary or justified, are in a no-win situation. The disturbances in Charlotte and fabricated reasons for them are proof. These people don't care about the truth. They care only about destruction, their hatred of white Americans and their hatred for the police in general.

Sadly, they are their own worst enemies. Sadder still is that they don't understand that.

A Letter To The Editor That Should Have Been Published

I didn't write this (although I wish I had) and I can't even verify that it's a real letter. But if it's not it should be. The writer makes outstanding points about immigration as it should be. Our government is failing us when it comes to the borders and letting people into the country.

And for those Obama supporters who say "Obama has deported more people than any other President" I'll say this. Check your facts and his numbers and you'll find that just like his unemployment numbers, the deportation numbers are fabricated. Turning someone around at the border is not deportation - except in the Obama administration.

And before you mention the Japanese internment camps - yes, it was done and it was wrong. It was an overreaction by the government to the attack on Pearl Harbor. We can't change that.

The letter is long but worth reading.

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which do not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but it wasn't.

From: "David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.

They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good-bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from.

They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German-American or the Irish-American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country.

Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.

These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one Red, White and Blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country.

I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life.

I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.


(signed)

Rosemary LaBonte

DHS To Take Control Of November Election. What Could Possibly Be Wrong With That?

The Obama administration, through the Department of Homeland Security, is about to make an all out effort to control the upcoming Presidential election and its outcome.

A recent post on the DHS webpage reads: “There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”

According to the Washington Examiner, the DHS is now talking about declaring the November election a “critical infrastructure,” thereby taking control of the entire election for “security purposes.”

From the Washington Examiner:

Even before the FBI identified new cyber attacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a “critical infrastructure,” giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and and the electric power grid.

The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials.

“We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.

“There’s a vital national interest in our election process, so I do think we need to consider whether it should be considered by my department and others critical infrastructure,” he said at media conference earlier this month hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

The Obama administration also has an directive that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is no doubt using as his guideline:

“The federal government also has a responsibility to strengthen the security and resilience of its own critical infrastructure, for the continuity of national essential functions, and to organize itself to partner effectively with and add value to the security and resilience efforts of critical infrastructure owners and operators.”

Voting and the election process is a state to state affair, controlled by state governments. There are 9,000 voting jurisdictions in this country. None are under federal control... yet.

Left-wing billionaire George Soros has stated publicly that while Donald Trump will win the popular vote in the November election, Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States. Know who owns the company that counts the votes for the November election? George Soros.

But why would we worry about that?

Have no fear. We all know that a Presidential administration taking control of the national election system would have no effect(s) on the outcome of the election, right? After all, why would Obama's - “the most transparent administration in history” - do anything dishonest or crooked?

Colin Kaepernick: Hero Or Schmuck?

Colin Kaepernick, the currently under-performing quarterback of the San Francisco Forty-Niners football team, made a huge statement last week by not standing for the National Anthem before a pre-season game Friday evening.

When asked about it, Kaepernick gave the following explanation.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick said. "To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Kaepernick was called out as unpatriotic by many and called a hero by others. So which is he?

Kaepernick, the son of a biracial couple who never knew his African-American father, and whose white mother didn't have the means or ability to raise him, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was adopted and raised by a white couple with two children of their own. They moved to California when he was a small child.

From all accounts they raised him to be proud of his African-American heritage and encouraged him to explore that aspect of his life. And apparently he did just that.

That's all well and good. However, one cannot help but wonder if Kaepernick had an unfair advantage toward his future and sports career by being raised in a white family in a predominantly white (70%) California town rather than by a single, underprivileged mother in the inner city of Milwaukee.

Is Kaepernick a victim of “white privilege” or a beneficiary? It seems to me that he's the latter, even as a black man.

As for his refusal to stand for the National Anthem, that is his right as an American. Many believe he should be fired from the team because of his exercise of his First Amendment right to freedom of expression. I think that's ridiculous.

I certainly understand their anger. I'm an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the flag and the national anthem are two things I very much respect. It irritates me to no end to see someone disrespect either – from burning or stepping on the flag to sitting through our National Anthem.

But my military service also included protecting the rights of my fellow Americans – whether or not I like the way they exercise those rights.

Kaepernick has doubled down on his protest stance, saying he'll continue to sit until something changes.

"Yes, I'll continue to sit,” he said Sunday. “I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there's significant change, and I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand."

The are two real problems with Kaepernick's protest as I see it. First, Kaepernick's statements are too broad. Who is being oppressed – all black people? Does he include himself in that group? And who is doing the oppressing? All white people? Cops? Both? Does he include his adoptive family in that group? Is the government part of it?

Second, he doesn't seem to understand that the only reason he has the right to voice his displeasure with certain things in the country is because he lives in the United States of America. And that flag is the symbol of the reason he is allowed to do it in the first place. There are other countries that oppress people wherein, if he voiced his displeasure with it, he would simply disappear. 

Kaepernick's statement that “there are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder” leads one to think that he believes cops are murdering black people in the street on a regular basis. This has been disproved many times, including a study by a black Harvard professor, but you cannot change one's belief if that belief is the only thing they will accept as truth, regardless of fact.

Kaepernick said his refusal to stand for the anthem was not disrespect for our men and women in uniform.

"I have great respect for men and women that have fought for this country," Kaepernick said. "I have family; I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. They fight for freedom. They fight for the people. They fight for liberty and justice for everyone. And that's not happening. People are dying in vain because this country isn't holding their end of the bargain up as far as, you know, giving freedom and justice and liberty to everybody."

Again I would ask who is it specifically that's being denied freedom, justice and liberty? Are there some cases in this country where there is injustice? Certainly. The system isn't perfect and never will be. But that is not the norm nor is it happening to large groups of people. If I'm wrong – someone point out the truth with facts, please?

I must give Kaepernick credit for at least one thing – his convictions in what he believes.

"I think there's a lot of consequences that come along with this," Kaepernick said. "There's a lot of people that don't want to have this conversation. You know they're scared they might lose their job or they might not get their endorsements. They might not be treated the same way. And those are things I'm prepared to handle."

Kaepernick is willing to lose what he has (or at least part of it) to stand up for his beliefs. However misguided his thinking may be, at least he's willing to accept the consequences for his actions. That's commendable. Of course, when you're a multimillionaire it's often easier to accept consequences than when you live paycheck to paycheck.

It is now being reported that Kaepernick is engaged to a militant, Muslim woman who is heavily involved in the Black Lives Matter movement. That could explain his recent actions as well as his generalized, uninformed statements concerning the issue. After all -the BLM movement is mostly based on a lie.

So...is Colin Kaepernick a hero or a schmuck? I guess that's a decision each of us has to make on our own. What he's doing is legal, protected speech, whether we like it or not. What matters is how we respond individually. I, for one, won't watch a Forty-Niners game as long as Kaepernick continues to sit through the National Anthem. I encourage all who feel the way I do to do the same.

Perhaps a decline in viewership will send a stronger message to the NFL than expressing simple outrage. After all, for the NFL it's all about money.