Hurricane Irma And The Power Of Prayer

There are those who say that prayer is a waste of time and energy. I personally know that not to be true but believers today have evidence of it from events over the weekend.

Hurricane Irma was the “strongest storm ever recorded” when it was a category 5 hurricane in the mid to Western Atlantic. Maximum sustained wind speeds were up to 185 miles per hour. That's the same as an EF-4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and is fully capable of wiping out entire communities. It was a full 10 miles per hour stronger than Andrew, and we know what Andrew did to South Florida.

Irma was initially predicted to go through the Straight of Florida, bypassing Cuba and Florida both, and head into the Gulf of Mexico, where it would have feasted and grown on the warm water. If that had happened it could have hit New Orleans or Houston, or both considering its size, and wreaked havoc in already suffering areas.

Then the track changed and it was supposed to hit Miami head on as at least a category 4 storm. According to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale the damage from a category 4 hurricane can be can severe damage to well-built framed homes with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

After the scare in Miami and surrounding areas, Irma's track changed again and bypassed Puerto Rico and skirted the edge of Cuba just enough to slow it down. It came across the Straight of Florida and hit Marco Island as a category 3 storm, still powerful but with much less punch than if it had been a 4 or 5. Rather than stay mostly over the Gulf, as was originally predicted, it spun itself out over the mainland, minimizing further damage to mostly downed trees and flooding.

Why did I mention prayer? Our church prayed by the hundreds for God to turn the storm (we asked for it to go back to the mid Atlantic) and to spare the people in its path from harm. God didn't do exactly as we asked. He answers prayers in His own way. But the two worst case scenarios – Houston or a direct hit on Miami as a category 4 storm, failed to materialize. Did God have a hand in this? While we can never say for sure, those of us who believe in the power of prayer and who believe in the Almighty God certainly think so. So many lives could have been lost. So few were, considering what could have happened.

Irma had the potential to devastate entire cities. With the exception of a few Caribbean Islands, Irma didn't really do a lot of serious damage.

I, for one, thank God for sparing so many people from devastation. Could He have calmed the storm and spared everyone from harm, wind damage, flood damage, and the aftermath? Certainly He could have. But as I've said before, God rarely intervenes in the affairs of men. Sometimes, however, He intervenes in the ways of nature. After all... He controls the heavens and the Earth.

Removing History Before Our Eyes

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (no relation to Stephanie "Give Them Room to Destroy" Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore) was reluctant to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from Lee Park in uptown Dallas. He decided to form a task force to see what the people wanted and the impact that it would have.

But the City Council complained, telling Rawlings the statue needed to come down immediately. Rawlings conceded to the pressure and ordered it removed, citizen opinion irrelevant.

Today a crew went out to remove the statue. They did not measure it, apparently, because they arrived on site with a crane that was too small to do the job. In the meantime, the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed an injunction to delay the removal so they can present a case for leaving the statue in place, citing First Amendment rights. (Personally, I think that's a poor argument.) That injunction was granted. The statue must remain until a court hearing on the issue has convened.

The statue is now under police supervision until the hearing. Sadly, that's probably necessary.

The mayor defended the removal before the task force got to do what they needed to do. “Removing the statue was my first inclination after Charlottesville,” Rawlings said. “It wasn’t my first instinct before. My point of view changed.”

The mayor also said “This is the beginning of the dismantling of the white supremacy that has plagued this city for years.” That's an interesting statement considering there are no real problems with white supremacy in Dallas, unless you call a white majority supremacy. There have been no white protests about the statue and no Neo-Nazis marching in the streets. There was, however, a Black Lives Matter and Antifa rally a couple of weeks ago during which they threatened the police and said they would kill anyone who disagreed with them. But that was allowed by the Mayor.

And it was just over a year ago when Black Lives Matter held a march in Dallas and one of their members murdered five police officers. What did you think of that, Mayor Rawlings? Were you on the BLM side...?

The interesting part of all this is the statue itself. There are two riders on the statue - Robert E. Lee, the defeated Confederate General who rejoined the union army, and a freed slave (according to the artist himself) who is riding with General Lee into the new United States that is once again whole and in which slavery has been abolished.

Should not a statue like that remain? If they remove General Lee, one of the North and South's best generals, then the statue of the freed slave is riding into the new United States of America alone. Would it not have more impact if he was riding side by side with a defeated Confederate general? It's common sense to anyone who is not viewing this entire problem with emotion.

The statue of General Lee should remain in place. It makes sense. I have stated before that removal of these statues should be left up to the people in the communities where they are. Hold a special vote and allow the people to decide. If the majority says remove the statues I'm good with that. If the majority says the statues should stay then the minority should not overrule the majority. But at least give the people their voice in the matter. That's what our Constitutional Republic is about... the people.

Newest Problem: Less Visas Mean Better Pay For American Workers

The irony is deep.

According to Politico.com, President Trump's strict cap on work visas forced American companies to hire American workers for seasonal jobs rather than foreign workers. This caused companies such as landscapers, the hospitality industry and seafood processing, among others, to pay higher wages than they would have paid foreign workers. That's a good thing, right? Democrats and the left in general have been screaming for an increased minimum wage.

This seems to be a win win situation. Except the left is upset that the visa cap is in place and there are less foreign workers employed by American companies. It doesn't seem to matter that Americans are making more money in this case. Their concern is for non-citizens.

Verifying what Republicans and conservatives have been saying all along about raising the minimum wage substantially, the businesses are complaining that paying higher wages is going to eventually cost jobs and reduce company profits. What a concept that is, huh?

And now the left is upset that businesses are having to make cuts and lose money. Can you say hypocrite?

The President has condemned some U.S. programs that allow foreign workers to take American jobs. “Widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pay,” he has told American workers. He has not specifically targeted seasonal workers, the H-2B program. His own companies use H-2B workers, particularly at Mar a Lago. But his Executive Order signed in April let everyone know his intent to tighten restrictions on the number of foreign workers entering the country.

There were a total of 81,000 work visas granted this year. The number was at 66,000 initially but the Department of Homeland Security added 15,000 in July. Unfortunately for some businesses, the summer season was half over by then. Not all of those 15,000 have been used.

Some businesses recruited college students, both American and foreign, to work for them and set up part-time schedules to keep costs down. Others have had to lower production and/or cut hours to make ends meet.

What's the moral of the story? There will never be a time when everyone is happy. You can't demand higher wages for Americans then turn around and complain when someone is actually doing that but in a way you don't particularly like. Putting Americans to work should be the priority of all American companies. And it should be the priority of all American politicians.

Comparing Antifa To World War II Veterans....

I hope people take the time to read this and don't simply respond to the title.

There has been a meme floating around the internet for the last few days of several World War II veterans with the caption that says something about how they fought against Nazis just like Antifa is fighting against Nazis.

The meme, created to be clever, was offensive to myself and many of my fellow veterans because the comparison was not even in the realm of reality. Without criticizing anyone who shared it or found it believable, I'd like to shed a little light on the real Nazis versus the wannabe Nazis in this country.

Hitler's Nazi Party began in 1919 following the end of World War I. Hitler was a member from the beginning and due to his charismatic speaking abilities he became the leader in 1921. Throughout the 1920s Hitler grew the party and in 1929, when Germany's economy tanked once again, he and his party began winning elections. By 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.

He immediately began building his military and opened Dachau, the first of many concentration camps in which were placed Jews, artists, intellectuals, Gypsies, the physically and mentally handicapped and homosexuals. Ethnic cleansing had begun.

The Nazis began rounding up Jews, killing many, confining others to ghettos where many died of disease and starvation, and putting others in concentration camps – using some for abhorrent medical experimentation.

From 1936 to 1939, Hitler retook the German Rhineland (taken by the treaty), and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia (by force.)

Ignoring warnings from Great Britain and France, Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. This event began World War II.

Hitler continued to kill and imprison Jews in every country he invaded. When he invaded the Soviet Union, Nazi death squads machine gunned tens of thousands of Jews to death. All told the Nazis would exterminate over six million Jews during World War II.

By contrast, the American Nazi Party is a very small minority of racists. Their numbers nationwide might be in the thousands but in a nation with a population of 320 million they don't carry much weight. American Nazis pretty much hate anyone who is not white (although their website says they will gladly accept monetary donations from “non-Aryans” who want to contribute. What good guys, huh?)

They march in various places and try to spread their hatred in an effort to get more white people interested in their cause. Unfortunately for them, the overwhelming majority of Americans aren't interested in their brand of hatred so they are mostly ignored except on parade day.

And Antifa is fighting against them. Big deal.

World War II veterans voluntarily put on the uniform of the United States' armed services and went to Europe to defend freedom and to fight against an evil force that was systematically taking over Europe and exterminating Jews. They also went to the Pacific to fight against the Japanese emperor and his military that had launched a surprise attack on Hawaii and killed thousands of Americans.

Antifa, who likes to pretend they are boldly facing down Nazis and fascists in these United States, also wears a uniform of sorts. They dress in black for their demonstrations. They also cover their faces so they can't be identified and they carry weapons such as baseball bats, sticks, boards with nails driven into one end, rocks, bottles, tear gas and anything else they can assault people with. I've seen one carrying an ax and another making an improvised flame thrower with a spray paint can.

Antifa's stated goal of fighting against Nazis, neoNazis, racism, homophobes, Islamophobes, etc., sounds noble but their methods are more fascist than anyone they oppose. They say they “want to make America ungovernable" and their method is violence. Really? Do they have any idea what that would actually do to the nation and her people?

World War II veterans fought against an evil empire that was taking over Europe and murdering millions of people.

Antifa is fighting against their fellow American citizens in an effort to oppress the First Amendment rights of anyone with whom they disagree. They want to destroy the government of the United States. They are a terrorist group if ever there was one.

To pretend that the two groups are one in the same is not only ridiculous but an insult to the brave men who fought in World War II. And by being so it is an insult to all veterans.

I can't help but wonder how many Antifa members and followers are veterans. I would bet not many.

More Statues To Be Removed? Where Does It End?

John Breckinridge Castleman is an unfamiliar name to most. I certainly didn't know the name when it was brought to my attention this morning.

John Castleman was a soldier from Lexington, Kentucky. He studied law at Transylvania University in Lexington before joining the Army of the Confederacy when the Civil War broke out. He achieved the rank of Major during the war. Castleman was arrested in Missouri for attempting to destroy supply boats and was sentenced to death. He was pardoned by Abraham Lincoln.

Following the war Castleman was exiled from the United States and spent time in France studying medicine. He was pardoned by then President Andrew Johnson and returned to Kentucky in 1866 where he revived his old army unit and commanded the new First Kentucky Volunteers unit, fighting for the United States of America in the Spanish-American war. He was promoted to Colonel during that time.

Castleman was part of the invasion of Puerto Rico and after the war ended he was promoted to Brigadier General. He served as one of the military governors in Puerto Rico before returning to Kentucky, where he became the Adjutant General of Kentucky and served 25 years as the Commissioner of the Board of Parks.

John Breckenridge Castleman is becoming more well known in Kentucky these days, particularly in the citiy of Louisville. Activists in Louisville want a statue of Castleman on public to be removed because he fought for the South.

Apparently returning to the United States after exile and serving these great United States in the Spanish-American war isn't enough to forgive Castleman's transgression of being a Confederate for a few years. In my book his service to the United States should outweigh his service to the Confederacy. He put himself in harm's way for the United States.

Some Americans in 2017 can't find it in their hearts to care about his service to the United States. The Castleman statue in Louisville was vandalized over the weekend and activists are demanding it be removed.

In Lexington, Kentucky, there is a statue of John Castleman's distant cousin, John Cabell Breckenridge, who was the 14^th and youngest Vice President of the United States from 1857 to 1861, when the Civil War began. He encouraged his fellow Southern politicians to maintain the union but when that failed to happen he went home to Kentucky to fight for the Confederacy.

Following the war Breckenridge had to flee the country. He returned to Kentucky after President Andrew Johnson granted amnesty to all Confederate soldiers. Yes, he was a Confederate. But removing his statue from it's current resting place is not going to change history.

The assault on historic monuments continues. In Durham, North Carolina yesterday citizens pulled down a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier and destroyed it. The bronze statue became misshapen on impact with the ground and the protesters began kicking it. (Watching them kick it was actually rather humorous. I would bet more than a couple of them are limping today.)

The statue was entitled “Remembering The Boys Who Wore Gray.” It wasn't an officer. It was a foot soldier put there in memory of all of America's Southern sons who were lost in the war. Now it's trash and I hope the people responsible for destroying it face criminal charges. It wasn't their place to destroy it.

Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally change America.” And in many ways he kept his promise. The entitlement generation who believe they have an absolute right not to be offended by anyone or anything is mostly a product of the last 8 years.

Safe spaces, hot chocolate, coloring books and puppies for college kids heartbroken over the election might comfort them today but it's not going to teach them how to survive in the real world. Ripping down statues because you don't like them is stupid. And I would bet very few of them know anything about the Civil War. I doubt they teach the truth about it anymore.

I'm curious and a little frightened to see where all of this ends. Who knows how far people are willing to go to correct their perceived wrong...?

Confederate Statues... Let The People Decide

Here is my idea for a solution to the removal of Confederate statues from public view in these United States. This will be short.

Rather than a mayor, a governor, a city council or whoever making the decision to remove a statue, why not put it to the people of the community for a vote? Remove or not remove; let the majority rule. Ensure all voters are legal residents of the community (I know, I know.... that's racist and hateful) so outsiders do not get a voice. We saw in Charlottesville what happens when outsiders crash the party.

A simple vote. If the majority of the citizens say leave the statues alone then leave the statues alone. If the majority says they want the statues gone - so be it. I'd be fine with that because it's fair to all.

Richmond, Virginia, was the capitol of the Confederate States of America. Accordingly, there are four statues of famous Confederate leaders on what is called Monument Avenue. The statues include Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee, commanding General of the Confederate Army, General Andrew "Stonewall" Jackson, and General J.E.B. Stuart. These men were a huge part of the Confederacy and having their statues in Richmond is fitting and proper in my book. They were an integral part of the history of Richmond and the South.

There are people talking now who want to remove these statues. Where does it end?

History should not be removed from public view simply because some people don't like that history. The saying "Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it" doesn't quite apply in this case. I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about the slavery of black Americans returning to the United States. (Sex slavery seems to be alive and well, however.) But let the people decide the issue.

We live in a Constitutional Republic rather than a Democracy. That means that our rights are protected by the Constitution and cannot be taken away by a majority, as is the case in a Democracy. But this issue could be settled by a majority vote. Let common sense prevail rather than emotion. Decisions made on emotion don't always work out well. Let the people decide.

White Nationalist vs BLM... Are They The Same?

I have been thinking about what I was going to say about white nationalist rally today in Charlottesville, Virginia. They wanted to call their final event "Unite the Right" but I can tell you that their version of the right is a far cry from mine. My version of the right doesn't hate people for their political views, their lifestyle, their race or skin color, their religion, or any of the other things that cause people to hate each other. We may disagree with you on things but hatred is not involved, regardless of what some may say.

Those marching in the white nationalist parade (if that's what it was) were showing their ignorance and hatred of people of color. That's just a fact. They're the first to decry the Black Lives Matter movement yet their marches are no different, except BLM often spews hatred of police as well as disdain for whites in general.

Now one person is dead and a couple dozen more are injured and we don't know which side caused it. Was it the white nationalists - many of whom showed up in camouflage carrying their AR-15s, as if that somehow made them impressive? Or was it a member of Antifa - the far left radical group that shows up to attack people in packs then runs away?

It's amazing to me that in 2017, civil discourse is worse than it was in the 60s. Hatred abounds in these United States and at least part of it began with the prior administration's failure to properly address hatred, racism and the consequences of each. Being the first African-American President, Barack Obama was the perfect person in the perfect position to address these issues and bring people together. I believe that's one of the reasons so many white Americans voted for him. They believed he could do what no other President could do for race relations. He failed miserably.

Instead of being the Great Uniter, President Obama began his first term by dividing Americans over an incident involving someone he knew, saying that even though he didn't have all the facts of the Professor Gates incident, "the police acted stupidly." It was absolutely the wrong thing to say.

He tried to make up for it with the infamous "beer summit" at the White House but the first blow had been struck. The Trayvon Martin incident didn't help him much after he said "If I had a son he would look like Trayvon." Once again he didn't have all the facts but waded into the controversy anyway. George Zimmerman, stupid as he was, was found not guilty of murder because he was defending himself - even after Attorney General Eric Holder opened a hot line for people to call and give him any information that might incriminate Zimmerman.

Fast forward to Ferguson, Missouri, where President Obama sent Holder with a group of FBI agents to find a reason to prosecute Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown. As it turned out, Brown more than earned his fate after physically assaulting Officer Wilson and trying to take his gun, then charging him in a last ditch effort to subdue him. Brown died because he assaulted a police officer. President Obama not only sent Holder but sent a three person delegation to his funeral - even though Brown was proved to be the aggressor and responsible for his own demise.

Things like this divided the country along racial lines. President Obama, the one who could have changed everything for the better, changed them for the worse because of his statements and actions. He even met with the Black Lives Matter organizers and encouraged them. And take a look at where we are today.

As much as I dislike the white nationalist movement, or the "Alt Right," as it has been tagged, is it any different than the Black Lives Matter movement? Both are extremist groups that breed hatred. And thanks to our Constitution, both have the same right to march publicly in support of their cause. So why is there a group of angry, masked and armed people opposing the white nationalists but noticeably absent from the BLM marches?

With all of the BLM activity in the last couple of years is it surprising that a white nationalist group would want to march publicly? They have done it in the past and they always get resistance but this time the resistance went a bit overboard.

I'm reading this morning that the people injured by the driver yesterday were left-wing counter protesters. So the guy behind the wheel was apparently one of the white nationalists, or at least empathised with them. This is speculation only at this point; nothing official has been publicized.

Hate filled protests solve nothing. They don't encourage positive dialogue but instead promote more hatred and division - regardless of which side you're on.

The purpose of the march yesterday is said to have been a protest of the proposed removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee from a park in Charlottesville. And while I disagree with the racist hatred demonstrated by most white nationalist groups, I do agree that removing historic monuments from public view is not only wrong but ridiculous. Regardless of what some may say - statues do not hurt anyone. Removing them from public view is pandering to the minority. But that's what we do in the United States. We make sure the various minorities are appeased instead of telling them to suck it up and act like educated adults.

I hope that the end of the Obama administration will bring healing to this nation - that we can move beyond the division and unite again as Americans. Unfortunately, I don't believe that's going to happen because of the rabid hatred that the left (and many on the right) has for the new President. Donald Trump may not be the best person to lead this nation right now. Or perhaps he is. Either way, he is the President right now and he is getting things done despite opposition from the left and right. Time will tell.

One thing is certain... we still live in historic times. Barack Obama was a historic first - the first African-American President. Donald Trump is a first as well - the first outsider elected President. Being an outsider draws worse resistance than being black. But that's because it's the left that is resisting. Progressives are more prone to violent protests than those on the right. Don't believe me? Take a good look at the protests of Obama's Presidency vs the protests of Trump's Presidency. It's not hard to figure out.