President Trump's Greatest Asset


A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
United States Constitution, Amendment II
The founders quite obviously felt very strongly about this subject. The only amendment given higher stance was our individual right to free speech. They felt that our right to bear arms is more important than a right to a speedy trial, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, double jeopardy and self-incrimination.
More importantly,
When we retired, my wife and I moved to Sedona, Arizona last November. Sixty-one years ago, I was born in Baytown, Texas, about 30 miles east of downtown Houston. My two daughters and their families still live in Houston. Both have been displaced from their flooded homes. The home I sold last November has 7 feet of water in it right now. Thankfully, my daughters, their families and all my former neighbors are safe.
Since Saturday I’ve been glued to the TV watching the news coverage of Hurricane Harvey and doing my best to lend moral support to my daughters who have lost virtually all their material belongings. I try to remind them that everything truly important is safe and that anything that can be built can be re-built. I’m not sure my words help as they watch their homes fill with multiple feet of water.
Watching the news coverage does give me reason for hope. Unlike with hurricane Katrina, I’m not seeing a lot of victims standing around waiting for the government to help. I’m seeing every Texan with a boat or tall vehicle rescuing and helping their neighbors and other fellow Texans. Private citizens taking it upon themselves to give their time and resources to do everything they can to keep loss of life in Houston to a minimum. There is no talk of race or political affiliation. Just Texans, black, white and brown all doing everything they can to mitigate the suffering caused by Harvey.
Take a look, America. This is who we Texans truly are. When the chips are down, we don’t waste time and energy pointing fingers and blaming others for our plight. Our first instinct is to ask ourselves what we can do to help, then doing it. As always, my fellow Texans are making me proud to count myself among them. The rest of this country would do well to watch…
…and LEARN!
Were you required to read George Orwell’s 1984 in high school or college like I was? How about Animal Farm? I’m getting the feeling that many (if not all) of the “Antifa” protesters gathering to counter the numerous free speech and Trump rallies across the country never experienced these two works by Orwell. In fact, I’ve seen newscasts featuring on-the-scene reporters interviewing these Antifa troops and I came away questioning whether some of these protesters could read, period. If they do grasp the concepts behind these Orwellian works, then they would realize that by suppressing anyone’s ideals, they have become what they profess to have beheld. Like in 1984, the term “free speech” has been twisted to mean “you are free to say anything as long as you adhere to the accepted verbiage of the left”. In other words, the pigs have become the farmers. Antifa, which is supposedly a condensation of “anti-fascism”, consists mostly of left-wing anarchists who (for the most part) can’t even define “fascism”. If they could, they would know just how far-removed the Trump administration is from anything remotely resembling fascism. In fact, when these lefties protest, shout down, physically assault or otherwise attempt to prohibit the free expression of ideas at these legal rallies, they appear to embrace fascism. A bit ironic, don’t you think? Hitler, fascism’s poster-boy and the person Antifa regularly equates to president Trump, employed the same tactics when dealing with those who expressed anti-Nazi ideals. When then newly-appointed Chancellor Hitler began his rise to power, his “brown shirts” routinely used violence and intimidation to squelch opposition voices. More irony. Today, Antifa protesters routinely gather en masse to bully, intimidate and even physically assault legally assembled rally-goers attempting to freely express opposing views. I submit, Antifa groups are the brownshirts of the left.
White supremacists are sickening, deplorable human beings. Flag-burners embody everything I detest. Both have equal protection to express themselves freely, guaranteed by our Constitution. As much as these people sicken me, I will aggressively defend their right to speak their piece. You see, I believe our Constitution is the best framework for governing ever written and there is a reason our right to free speech is codified in the first amendment. Not the second. Not the third or fourth, the FIRST. The founding fathers obviously understood the importance of assuring every citizen’s right to speak their mind without fear of reprimand or reprisal. They knew our republic could not function if the free flow of ideas and opinions was restricted or otherwise repressed in any way.
So, to all you flag-burners out there: Even though I find your method of protesting reprehensible, I believe with all my heart that you have every right to do so. If it doesn’t bother you to spit in the eye of every person who cherishes our flag as a lasting symbol of freedom and national pride, then you go right ahead and behave that way. Just know that hundreds of thousands of Americans have shed their blood to keep our flag flying so that you can perform your imbecilic, childish temper-tantrum of defiance. You have every right to burn our flag in protest. The Supreme Court has upheld that right. But, I have the right to tell you that you make me want to vomit and that whatever your cause, I will forever be against it because of your sick, moronic methods.
As I witness these Antifa “protesters” at event after event, one of their common practices has me curious. I thought it was illegal to demonstrate in public while masked in anonymity. I may be wrong, but didn’t the courts rule that KKK members could not march with their faces covered? If so, I think it a very wise decision. If a person wants to demonstrate for a cause, that person should show their face, not hide behind a mask like a coward. The Antifa “protests” are increasingly manned by persons dressed in all black with black ski masks. They look almost exactly like the murdering ISIS fanatics parading through the middle-east. Does the law only apply to southern racist cowards dressed in white? Just wondering.
From what I’ve observed, the non-descript black clothing and ski masks do serve a practical purpose. The anonymity these get-ups provide helps these anarchists avoid arrest and/or prosecution when they are caught on camera vandalizing property or physically assaulting free speech rally attendees. If a KKK member shows up at a rally wearing a “spook hat” that covers his face, he gets arrested immediately. I think the same should apply to Antifa thugs who show up in ski masks. They are equally low-life scum.
What Antifa does by staging organized, violent “protests” at free speech and Trump rallies fits the definition of repression. They go even further by staging violent events on college campuses whenever a conservative speaker is scheduled. A good example happened at Berkeley when Milo Yiannopolous was invited to speak a few months back. Antifa radicals showed up and proceeded to smash barricades and windows, set fires and physically assault students attempting to attend the event. Make no mistake, this was no “protest”. It was a riot! For the few of you who don’t know about Milo, he is a very popular Breitbart editor whose campus lecture tour is wildly popular among the new populist right. Milo rails against militant feminism, identity politics and the radically politically correct “thought police” of the left. For his views, Milo has been labelled (among other things) a “Nazi”, “bigot”, “misogynist” and “racist”. This is particularly ironic since Milo is gay with a stated preference for black men! Ironic, but not surprising. The left and their Antifa brownshirts have proven again and again that facts are irrelevant when it comes to identity politics. When they disagree with a person politically, then they feel completely justified labeling them falsely, maliciously, hurtfully. Case in point: James Damore was recently fired from Google for simply citing scientific gender studies that drew conclusions contrary to Google’s politically correct diversity policy. Certainly, Google has every right to fire any employee they choose, but this vividly illustrates the left’s willingness to damage someone’s life for the sake of political correctness. All James Damore did was state his opinion on the faults of his company’s gender policies and cite the science behind what formed that opinion. For that, Google labeled him a “sexist” and crucified him.
The same thing is happening to some extent to all of us who have the unmitigated gall to support President Trump. The leftist mainstream media routinely label us racist, homophobic, misogynist, bigot…the list goes on and on. Then, the idiots act surprised when half the country is offended and tunes them out. Consequently, their ratings have gone into the crapper and the imbeciles are too blinded by their bias to see the cause and effect. They continue to ostracize people like Milo and James Damore for simply stating an opinion that differs from their left-wing mindset of identity politics when they should give these people an equal platform. That is what would happen were they a truly objective news organization.
The left in this country, including the complicit mainstream media used to be champions of differing opinions and free expression. Now, their radical political correctness, name-calling and vilification of the right has established a political tone that has given rise to anarchists like Antifa. The free speech movement began at Berkely in the ‘60s, but alas, it seems once again that the pigs have become the farmers.
So, a few days ago we found out Syria’s President Assad killed a few thousand of his own people with nerve gas. Yep, he crossed President Obama’s “red line” for the umpteenth time and decided the expedient way to deal with his opposition was to short-circuit the central nervous systems of everyone in proximity of fighters resisting his dictatorship. With the Russian’s help, he dropped a couple of tons of sarin gas in the middle of the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun Tuesday.
Thursday, after much careful deliberation with his national security team and a phone call informing the Russians of our plans, President Trump instructs two US Navy destroyers to loose 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles toward the Syrian air base where the nerve gas attack originated. 58 missiles precisely find their targets, carefully avoiding areas suspected of housing any remaining chemical weapons. One errant Tomahawk falls harmlessly into the Mediterranean. From all reports, the air base was pretty devastated.
President Trump gave the go-ahead while attending a dinner with the Premier of China, Xi Jinping and his wife who the President and First Lady were hosting at their Mar-a-Lago estate. Talk about multi-tasking! I would have given anything to see the look on the Chinese Premier’s face when he learned of the attack. The poor man had to recalculate his entire strategy of dealing with President Trump between dinner courses. For the past eight years, Premiere Xi (and all world leaders) have dealt with an America lead by a President whose eloquent prose and calm demeanor often projected quiet resolve but was rarely backed by action. Consequently, almost everyone we struck deals with ignored terms and treated America like their doormat. Who could blame them? Why would a country go to the trouble and expense of adhering to treaties, trade or defense deals when there are no consequences for breaking agreements? Indeed, China is a prime example. Despite agreements to the contrary, they continue to make military advances in the South China Sea and monetarily support North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. So now, going against long-held treaties, China claims sovereignty over islands they’ve built in international waters and North Korea continually tests nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. What does the United States do about it? Dick. Well, so far.
World leaders must be starting to realize there’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Donald. If they aren’t, they’re dopes. Speaking of dopes, what about the afore-mentioned Kim Jung-un? Sheriff Donald just directed over one hundred thousand tons of diplomacy in the form of a U.S. Navy carrier group toward North Korea. What do you imagine is going through the dictator’s crazy little brain right now? I think he’s having nightmares about a Tomahawk cruise missile finding its way through his bedroom window.
This is something Donald Trump brings to the table that the Presidency hasn’t seen since Reagan. Balls and unpredictability. President Trump understands the best way to get what you want from an adversary is to give them no clue about the consequences of their actions. That’s why this Syrian strike is so important. President Trump had to establish his willingness to bitch-slap a leader if that leader misbehaves. His predecessor did the exact opposite. His unwillingness to enforce his own “red line” turned him into a sniveling coward in the eyes of our adversaries. We’re all living with the results. ISIS is flourishing. North Korea is testing nukes and shooting off ballistic missiles like bottle rockets. China is laying claim to the South China Sea and funding Kim Jung-un’s antics. Russia is propping up Assad in Syria and assisting his genocidal attacks on his political enemies. Not to mention their aggressive military actions in the Ukraine. Iran is arguably the most blatant aggressor during Obama’s tenure. The “deal” Obama and Kerry struck was one-sided to begin with, giving Iran billions of dollars, some of it as pallets of cash. Since then, Iran’s nuclear program proceeds unchecked, they threaten our navy vessels in the Persian Gulf and even kidnap our sailors and humiliate them on camera. All the while the executive branch of our government shrugs. No more.
President Trump’s detractors point to his campaign criticism of previous administrations’ spending trillions of dollars on foreign adventures with nothing to show for it. They view this Tomahawk attack in Syria as some sort of about face. They seem to forget his promise to “bomb the hell out of ISIS”. Not that this was an attack on ISIS, but I just want to point out that candidate Trump never portrayed himself as an isolationist. I think this just happened to be the first event of his presidency that gave him the opportunity to send a message to the world that the feckless sniveling of the previous eight years was over…
…with an exclamation point!