Falling in love with my hometown

August 21, 2021

I am not a habitual listener to country music, but recently on a road trip I decided to leave my normal genre of music and expand my musical horizons. As I spun the radio dial, it landed on a country station. I listened to the words, and they reminded me just how deeply this music is rooted in the simplistically beautiful American way of life. It celebrates God, country, family, love, loss, nature, bonfires, backroads — oh, and pickup trucks. I was especially moved by the story told through a collaboration featuring Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney, entitled “Half of My ...

Freedom in the time of COVID-19

August 20, 2021

“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) As the world watches the disastrous ending of America’s nearly 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, we cannot lose sight of what is happening here, just below the media radar. I hope I am wrong, yet I see a time of great suffering coming soon for those of us who cherish, articulate and defend personal liberty in a free society. I hear it coming in the media drumbeat over the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 and the demonization ...

Huge debacle in Afghanistan symptom of confusion at home

August 19, 2021

President Joe Biden was right in his speech to the nation about our withdrawal from Afghanistan, that a long legacy of American involvement there preceded him. But across the board, in domestic as well as foreign policy, any new president inherits realities that precede him. The issue confronting every president is what principles and policies will he put in place to deal with these existing realities that will define his administration. Most clear now is that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is surrounded by a perception of confusion, weakness and humiliation. For anyone ...

To better serve and protect, cops need help

August 18, 2021

Calls for the blanket defunding of police are ill-conceived and self-destructive. The proof is in the spike of violent crime in cities that cut their police budgets during the last year. That said, it doesn’t mean that programs can’t be implemented to shift police priorities and share duties with other specialists, like mental health professionals, when responding to carefully screened 911 calls. Now, wait before you react. I’m not talking about sending out a lone social worker on a potentially dangerous call or cutting the number of officers on the street. This is about ...

Who lost America’s longest war?

August 17, 2021

In April, President Joe Biden told the nation he would have all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever on the continental United States. Given the turn of events of the past week, that 20th anniversary may be celebrated by a triumphant Taliban, now on the cusp of victory over the Americans and their Afghan allies, with gruesome public executions of their surrendered and captured enemies. Sept. 11, 2021, could see U.S. Marines and diplomats fleeing Kabul to escape the retribution of the Taliban whom we ousted in 2001. ...

The anti-white infrastructure bill

August 14, 2021

The infrastructure bill the Senate passed on Tuesday discriminates against whites at every turn. Americans are enthusiastic about spending money on infrastructure —bridges, roads, broadband and green technologies. But this racist bill locates and hands out jobs and contracts projects based on race, not merit. Minority businesses and neighborhoods hold the inside track. If you’re white, you’re low priority. The bill includes grants to install solar or wind technologies and generate jobs in areas decimated by closing coal mines or coal-fired electric plans. Here’s the catch: ...