Monthly Archives: April 2018

The Pitts

Leonard Pitts is a black, syndicated columnist whose work appears in newspapers across the country.  Mr. Pitts sees nothing but racism around every corner.  He is constantly making excuses and in large measure I ignore his rants, but several days ago, he went off on why white people are responsible for everything evil.  I sent him a copy of my Starbucks article, along with this letter which I share here:

Mr. Pitts:

Attached is my take on the Philadelphia Starbucks incident.  We surely see the world from differing perspectives.

I’m wondering, from your writings, do you ever see a moment in time, or any situation, where the black man has or takes any responsibility for his actions?  If you do, you never articulate that point, but more often find others to blame for what actually is in large measure a failed society in many ways.

Irresponsible fathers, families never formed yet children born into situations where no good role models are present is the norm in a large part of the black community.  Ironically, when those in the black community do attain success, they are mocked and ridiculed as Uncle Tom’s, especially when their success is attained traditionally and not through sports, entertainment or the thug lifestyle.  When your community celebrates the likes of Marion Berry, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, JayZ and the thug lifestyle in general while shunning Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, Walter Williams, Colin Powell and Thomas Soule, obviously there is a problem.

Facts are stubborn things Mr. Pitts.  How do you explain 1st generation Vietnamese, Laotians, Chinese, Cambodians, et. al. coming here from foreign lands without knowing the language or culture and finding success?  The black community in the US is in large measure a failed society in spite of the opportunities laid out before them.

It’s about time the rest of society was strong enough to resist the PC pushback and simply state the obvious.  The black community’s failings are a result of their own lack of effort and their refusal to assimilate.  Quit blaming others for your own shortcomings.

 

 

Standard

An Open Letter to Starbucks

Regarding the recent situation in Philadelphia, I offer you the following facts, followed by perspective.

Starbucks locations are on private property.  Starbucks exists to be profitable.  Starbucks can set store policy, including refusing seating to non-paying loiterers.  Starbucks can prohibit the use of bathrooms to non-paying loiterers.  When non-paying loiterers are asked to leave a Starbucks and refuse, they become criminal trespassers.  When the police arrive, responding to a complaint about said trespassing, and the trespassers refuse police commands to leave, they can be rightfully arrested for trespassing.

No one disputes the allegations that these men cursed at the store manager.  No one disputes the allegation that the men yelled at and berated the police officers that were dispatched.

The loitering trespassers in this story seem to be confused about what they perceive as their “rights.”  All rights as defined in our governing documents and codified in our laws are equally applied to all in the US.  There is no “right” to unlawfully loiter on private property.  There is no “right” to use a private bathroom.  Entry to that private Starbucks is conditioned on making a purchase.  Because the loitering trespassers refused to make a purchase, they created a situation in which the management of that Starbucks asked them to leave.  The loitering trespassers created the situation for which they now claim is evidence of a racial bias.

In a civilized society, we follow basic rules of common courtesy.  When these loitering trespassers were confronted by the Starbucks manager and heard her explanation about the store policy, the civilized, normal response would have been to simply purchase a cup of coffee, or leave the premises.  Cursing at her is our first clue about the level of civility these loitering trespassers possessed.  Secondly, once the police arrived, these loitering trespassers berated them as well.  How many civilized citizens berate police and refuse their commands to the point of arrest?

This level of behavior borders on the thuggish.

Instead, in this new world we find ourselves in, turned upside down, we see the loitering trespassers having all charges dropped and their actions applauded.  We hear the police commissioner apologize for enforcing the law.  We see the Starbucks manager fired and vilified, when she should be promoted.  We see Starbucks ceremoniously closing all of their stores for half a day, in order to teach their employees how to understand their “unconscious biases.”  And finally, we hear Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder, apologizing to America.

The loitering trespassers were wrong, their arrests were valid and they should have been prosecuted.  The manager was right, the franchise was right, the policy is just.

“Unconscious bias” is the newest PC ploy used to censor.

It’s crap.

PC

Standard

Anarchy

The poet Robert Frost was right 100 years ago and it is applicable today, “Good fences make for good neighbors.”  Fences and borders define things; property lines, farm plots, ranches, malls, cities, counties, states and even whole countries.  We have fences in our yards and around our homes.  We survey our property and we define the borders of those properties with pinpoint precision.  It puzzles me why defining and defending our country’s border is so controversial when defining any other border is commonplace.

Without borders, we have no countries.  Without countries, we have no vote.  Without voting, we have no rights.  Without rights, we have no laws.  Without laws, we have no protections.  Without protections, we have no freedoms.  And without freedom, we are left with anarchy.

Open border advocates are accordingly anarchists, even if unwittingly through their own ignorance.  We claim to be a nation of laws and accordingly, laws define and provide sanctions for all of the above issues.  For those who take issue with any of this, work at changing the laws, not openly advocating for anarchy.

 

 

 

Standard

Understanding Freedom

Because we live in the greatest nation on earth, we have no idea how much of the world lives. Our citizenry has been completely shielded from the ravages of war, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or being forced to leave ones home and country behind with only the cloths on their backs.  We read about such things, or see video from our cozy homes, but we have not a clue what that feels like.

We sense no threat and many believe such atrocities could never happen here. Many are complacent, naive, lack any understanding of history and worse, have no clue about civics.

Here is a quick lesson using the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution as an example.

Many believe that the 2nd Amendment guarantees ones rights to firearms. It does no such thing.  If you read the amendment carefully, what is actually says is that the “right” itself shall not be infringed.  What the founders meant by that was actually based in their understanding of the God given right of self-defense.  18th century philosopher Emanuel Kant called such understanding a priori knowledge, or translated by American founders as without exception, absolute, no argument, a given granted by God.  With this understanding, it is a God given right that we have to self-defense.  The founders simply codified and recognized it as such and put words in place that restricted the government from interfering with that right.

God given rights are unassailable by men or governments and their words. So even though it is pleasing to me that our Constitution codifies and recognizes the enormous importance of God’s rights granted to men, I don’t need a 2nd amendment to grant to me what God has already made clear.

Our brave forefathers fought and died for our liberty and our country. Many alive today have no such memory, have known no such sorrow and pain that goes along with the efforts in defending liberty and accordingly, they believe that our tranquility, prosperity and abundance are the natural state of things.  They are not and those of us that preserve that memory and understand history share no such illusions.

Even if you removed the 2nd Amendment, the US Constitution is a completely unique document whose writers were inspired by the hand of God in its creation. Nothing like the 2nd Amendment appears in any other constitution in the world and that is because no other government in the world has been brought into existence by the very citizens it governs, with their own consent, but under constant vigilance by way of our right to control all matters of governance, up to and including abolishing the old ways for new ways as we see fit.

Thomas Jefferson reminds us that, “The tree of liberty needs to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” God provides us that right and the US Constitution enshrines this by recognition within the greatest document ever written by men.

Standard