I will no longer be updating this blog

I have been writing this blog for a year now and I don't seem to be passionate about political writing anymore. It's not that I don't believe in what I wrote, I do, but I was passionate about my former blog. My former blog was about my faith in Jesus Christ, which is important to me and part of me, and I was passionate about that blog. Without passion writing is useless. I am a writer and I enjoy writing greatly, therefore, I will follow my passion.

I will no longer be updating this blog. I will continue to write, just not here. I am glad that I tried this route, so I can say that I tried and didn't like it after a year.

Thank you for all the support everyone, it means a lot. This isn't a goodbye, it's a hello: I'm asking that you continue your support of me on my other blog: Keep Calm and Roll On, which I am bringing back. I hope you do continue to read my writing.

Hurricane Harvey

I would like to give some attention to the devastation in Texas in this post and take a break from politics in this particular situation. Politics becomes irrelevant when so many people are in distress after catastrophes such as hurricanes. I started the process of writing this on August 31, which was on the tail end of the flooding.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Hurricane Harvey is expected to be one of the costliest storms in U.S. history, affecting 100,000 homes and sending more than 30,000 people to emergency shelters around the state. At least 42 deaths have been attributed to the storm by local officials, a tally that is likely to climb." As folks return home to assess the damage to their homes and search for missing loved ones, they are, sadly, likely to discover more deaths.

The flood waters contain many things dangerous to health, such as germs, "toxins, solvents, chemicals, and pesticides." There is also much concern over infectious diseases, like West Nile and Zika. According to CBS, "West Nile Virus and Zika Virus are likely to be big players in the area as mosquito larvae hatch, and mosquitoes breed and bite as we get into September. In fact, after Katrina, cases of West Nile more than doubled within one month’s time." Other medical threats include mold, PTSD, and people going without daily medications. People didn't even have a chance to take medicines with them while escaping from the flood waters. The flooding isn't as bad now as it was days ago, however, it will still take ten to fifteen days for all the water to recede.

As far as rescue efforts go, the US Navy, the Texas Army National Guard, "a search-and-rescue team with 10 agents, 10 trucks and 10 boats from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries", the Charlotte Fire Department, and the Cajun Navy have contributed to saving the lives of Texans. For a little background, the Cajun Navy is a group of citizens (not affiliated with the US Navy) from Louisiana who are using their own boats on their own time to rescue people from the flooding. They originally formed during Hurricane Katrina for the same purpose.

Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner, said, "The city of Houston is open for business. Anyone who was planning on a conference or a convention or a sporting event or a concert coming to this city, you can still come," He also stated that "95% of the city [Houston] is dry."

According to ABC News, "Sunday was declared a day of prayer in Texas by Abbott and across the nation by President Donald Trump. He and the first lady attended services at St. John's, an Episcopal church in Washington a day after visiting Harvey evacuees in Houston and Louisiana." I encourage my readers to participate in this day of prayer and to continue to pray for Texas, because they genuinely need prayer. I'm going to suggest that my readers to donate to any particular charity. All that I suggest on that topic is do research into donating before you do as there is some fraud going on.

Chaos in Charlottesville

All right, I didn't really want to get into this, but here we go. Let's talk about this business in Charlottesville, VA. First I will explain what transpired in Charlottesville. And then I will give my opinion on the events.

The Protest and Counter-protest

According to nbcnews.com, "Supporters gathered in Emancipation Park Saturday morning in anticipation of a noon rally held by "Unite the Right." The aim of the rally was to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The park was formerly known as Lee Park." The group was made up of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK members, and the like. I did read somewhere that the protesters did have a permit to assemble.

Some of the protesters were "wearing bicycle and motorcycle helmets and carrying clubs, sticks and makeshift shields." Some were also in combat armor.

The rally was organized by a white nationalist blogger, Jason Kessler. Fox News reported, "Kessler reportedly blamed the violence that unfolded on local government and law enforcement officials, claiming they did not separate the protesters and counter-protesters." It is, obviously, difficult to prove Kessler's  statements.

The Washington Post did report, "In an emergency meeting Saturday evening, the Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously to give police the power to enact a curfew or otherwise restrict assembly to protect public safety."

Earlier in the week, the city ordered the rally to be moved to a larger location for safety reasons. Daily Mail reported, "On Friday, US District Judge Glen Conrad granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed against Charlottesville by the right-wing blogger which allowed the rally of white nationalists and other extremists to take place at its originally planned location downtown." The city obeyed the decision.

The rally began, as planned, at noon at Emancipation Park and the violence erupted soon thereafter. However, hundreds of protesters had already arrived by 11 AM.

The counter-protesters were made up of members of Anti-Fa, Black Lives Matter, Anti-Racist Action, Showing Up for Racial Justice. The counter-protesters arrived around the time the rally began. Again from Daily Mail, "Mimi Arbeit, an organizer of the planned counter-protests, rejected Kessler's argument that the rally was about freedom of speech. 'Fascism functions by using the institutions of a democracy towards its own ends,' she said by telephone."

It's not clear who, metaphorically, threw the first punch to start the violence, but both sides sprayed "chemical irritants", "hurled water bottles", and clashed. The Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe (D), declared a state of emergency and the Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously to allow Police Chief Al Thomas to declare a curfew. No action on the curfew was taken until midnight.

During the protest, "A large contingent of Charlottesville police officers and Virginia State Police troopers in riot gear were stationed on side streets and at nearby barricades but did nothing to break up the melee until about 11:40 a.m. Using megaphones, police then declared an unlawful assembly and gave a five-minute warning to leave Emancipation Park."

Counter-protesters chanted things like "We're here, we're gay, we fight the KKK!" and "No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!”

Anyway, the fighting continued for a couple hours leaving around 35 people injured.

The Idiot in the Car

Approximately two hours into the violence, the car driven by James Alex Fields Jr. plowed into a group of 20 people. The crash killed at least one person, Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old Virginia paralegal. I'm not sure which group Heyer was a part of. Fox News reported, "Police charged Fields Jr., of Ohio, with second-degree murder and other counts after the silver Dodge Challenger they say he was driving barreled through the crowd."

The New York Post reported, "Also Saturday night, the US States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia and the Richmond Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a joint statement calling their probe a “civil rights investigation.”"

My take

This situation is an example of our political climate these days. The media will criticize the KKK lunatics and the neo-Nazi skinheads, because they're an easy target, however, the media won't call out the AntiFa nuts too. Both sides were in the wrong here folks. They both came to fight in the streets and instill terror in their adversaries.

The two groups involved in the street war in Charlottesville represent a small portion of America. David Duke doesn't represent me, nor does the KKK, nor do neo-Nazis. On the other hand AntiFa and Black Lives Matter don't represent everybody on the left.  

I've never respected the ideologies of the KKK, the Nazis, or any white supremacy group, because I don't believe my skin makes me any better than people with different skin tones.

Let me clarify something else, I don't respect groups of any kind that use terror and fear as their weapons. And don't fool yourself AntiFa (language warning on the linked article) uses terror and fear to try to control people. The neo-Nazis they revile are the very people they act like. Neo-Nazis act violently toward people who do not share their beliefs and AntiFa acts violently towards people who do not share their beliefs. These people weren't out there fighting hate, they were using hate as much as the skinheads. Let's not forget that the acronym, Nazi, translates to National Socialist German Workers Party in English. Nazism was Socialism.

When two groups comprised of various militant like folks meet, we get Charlottesville. Neither group should be allowed to control people by using terrorism. The media also did a fine job of stirring the pot by only pointing out half of the problem.

The protest by the white supremacy groups was supposed to be against the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee, which is the only part of this whole situation I agree with. I don't think Charlottesville should remove the statue, because General Lee was an important figure in the Civil War, not due to his white skin. The Civil War was one of the most important wars in our country's history and it shouldn't be forgotten. You can remove every Confederate flag and every statue of a Confederate, but it will not erase history. When they do remove the statue I hope they at least put it in a museum.

My biggest problem with this junk is that the these white supremacists are being labeled as "right-wing" and "far right". These people aren't right-wing, they're nuts. I'm right-wing and I can guarantee that I don't think like that. I believe in the Constitution and the Holy Bible; and neither document gives me the right to claim that I'm any better than anyone.

My take home message for this post has three points: 

1. Violence has no place in our streets or in our politics;
2. Be careful not to let the media's gross generalizations change the way you think;
3. And, don't pick a fight with people who have an opinion different from yours.

Update: I read an article on The Daily Signal titled "I Went to Charlottesville During the Protests. Here’s What I Saw." that  supports my view.
Here's the link: http://dailysignal.com/2017/08/14/went-charlottesville-protests-heres-saw/

Have Gun ㅡ Won't Travel

There are a lot of dumb crooks these days and there are also a lot of dumb laws. I don't have an example of a dumb crook, but I do have an example of a dumb law. This example takes place in New York City, the home of gun control fanatics; NYC is like our version of London. Anyway, two licensed gun owners from Georgia were arrested and jailed for owning guns.

The facts

Both Patricia Jordan and Avi Wolf, the gun owners, followed the TSA guidelines for transporting firearms. You can read the guidelines at the TSA website, if you would like.  Patricia Jordan stored her unloaded firearm in a TSA approved case and declared that her checked bag contained just that, which was fine with the TSA. Avi Wolf declared his empty gun magazine, which was fine with the TSA.

So, everything was going fine for each person, until they tried to fly out of NYC. According to Reason.com, "Patricia had tried to declare her gun, which was unloaded and in a TSA-approved case. Avi was trying to declare an empty gun magazine–essentially a piece of metal with a spring in it." After which they were arrested by NYC authorities and thrown in jail for a day. Both of these "offenses" apparently broke New York law.

Also from Reason.com, "They were threatened with three years and six months in jail–the mandatory minimum for having a gun in New York. They spent months worrying about how to beat the charge. Each spent more than $15,000 in legal bills."

Jordan and Wolf were eventually let off with a violation of "public disorder".

The District Attorney on this matter and his response was, “We are not going to apologize for enforcing our gun laws. We do enforce them fairly and humanely and as compassionately as we can. … You can discuss that with the legislature. They didn’t make it a crime only if there’s bullets in it.”

Let me remind the reader that neither Wolf or Jordan had a loaded firearm with them. Jordan's gun and magazine were separated and Wolf only had an empty magazine. 

The funny part of the story is that in an interview with Wolf he said of his cellmates, "One guy beat up his wife, this other guy was busted for a whole bunch of drugs. So they’re like, what did you do? Why are you here? It’s like I got caught at security with an empty magazine. … [They] just laughed at me; like it was a joke.”

This isn't a first time occurrence as other people have been arrested for possessing a firearm with an out-of-state permit. The state of New York doesn't recognize out-of-state gun permits.

My take

First of all, New York City's law violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads: "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." I know this amendment is now a point of debate, even though it's clearly stated and a part of our own legal system. New York City's passion for controlling gun laws has caused them to lock up legal gun owners who are not even moving to the city.

Secondly, even though the citizens of New York City are having their Constitutional rights violated by their legislature, why should citizens of other states be arrested and prosecuted for possessing a firearms legally licensed to them? It makes no sense for the city to do such a thing unless it's for the purpose of making a political statement against gun ownership. Maybe New York isn't making a political statement, but it seems like it's not about enforcing laws, since out-of-state citizens are being arrested.

I'm a supporter of States' rights and all, but this is an overreach on New York's part. They shouldn't arrest someone for having a firearm when they are registered in another state and follow TSA guidelines for transporting their firearm. If Jordan and/or Wolf were moving to New York, then it would be a little different. However, they were simply passing through the airport to go somewhere else.

New York has a pretty good racket going on here and it should be stopped by the New York legislature, because they are in violation of the Constitution.

Wisdom from our Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers of America were some of the smartest and wisest men in the world; they also understood, firsthand, tyranny and the need for limited government. You can tell this if you've read the Constitution; these men came up with the Separation of Powers, the Electoral College, the Bill of Rights, and numerous other important concepts. So, I am sharing some of their quotes about government and various other things.

• “The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”  – Thomas Jefferson 

• “The greatest [calamity] which could befall [us would be] submission to a government of unlimited powers.” –Thomas Jefferson, Draft Declaration and Protest of Virginia 1825 

• “I am a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power. I am naturally very jealous for the rights and liberties of my country, and the least encroachment of those invaluable privileges is apt to make my blood boil.” –Benjamin Franklin 

• “You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; right derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.”  –John Adams 

•  "In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. Where there is an excess of liberty, the effect is the same, tho’ from an opposite cause." –James Madison, National Gazette, 27 March 1792 

• “He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” –Thomas Paine  

• “To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” –George Washington, First Annual Message, January 8, 1790 

• “The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.” –Alexander Hamilton

• "The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." –James Madison, Letter to George Thomson, June 30, 1825 

• "It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."  –Patrick Henry 

• "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." –Thomas Jefferson  

• "I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery." –George Washington, Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786 

• "It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." –James Madison, Federalist No. 48

• "Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." –Noah Webster 

• "Education is useless without the Bible." –Noah Webster

As a side bar, Noah Webster is considered, by some, to be a founding father of our country due to his dedication to preserving the values of the signers and framers of the Constitution. By starting his dictionary, Webster helped to create the American version of the English language, which was, and still is, important to our identity as Americans. Webster has been called “Schoolmaster to America”.

The Bagpiper

My blog needs some jokes every once in a while, because I like jokes and everybody needs laughter these days. So, here ya go (I can't take credit for this one, I didn't write it):

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.

I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played "Amazing Grace," the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen anything like that before, and I've been putting in these septic tanks for twenty years."

Apparently, I'm still lost... it's a man thing.

Happy Birthday America!

Tuesday, as you know, is the Fourth of July; the 241st birthday of America. In my opinion, America's birthday is the second best birthday on the calendar, the first being Jesus' birthday. Anyway, I'm going to honor the best country on the face of the planet in my own way, with facts about the Fourth of July. Here's the list:

• On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the final version of the Declaration of Independence. This is what we, as Americans, celebrate every year. Our fight for independence from Britain didn't end, however, until 1783 with the Treaty of Paris on the third of September.

• "On July 6 [1776], The Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to print the extraordinary document." (This quote is from an article: The History of America’s Independence Day on pbs.org)

• The Continental Congress actually voted for independence on July 2 of 1776. John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America."

• Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, two of the signers from Virginia, were brothers from the historically significant Lee family. Some of the descendants of the Lee family include Robert E. Lee, Zachary Taylor, and Charles Lee (3rd Attorney General of the U.S.).

• Thomas Jefferson authored the first draft of the Declaration, which was edited by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The final version was written by Jefferson with the edits of Adams and Franklin incorporated into the document.

• Three of the first five presidents died on the Fourth of July: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Adams (2nd pres.) and Jefferson (3rd pres.) both died in 1826, while Monroe (5th pres.) died in 1831.

• Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, the only U.S. president to be born on Independence Day. 

• The story goes that John Hancock signed his name so large that King George could read it without his glasses. This story, however, is untrue. It is believed that Hancock signed the way he did because, as the president of the Continental Congress, he was the first to sign the Declaration. 

I could continue add more facts to this list, but I think that's enough. I will leave you with the link to the Declaration of Independence (if you haven't read this document I suggest that you do) and a quote from Thomas Jefferson about the Fourth of July: 

“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ...For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Remember in your prayers and thoughts the many men and women who won our independence two-hundred and forty years ago and those who continue to protect our independence today. God bless America.

Bon débarras Accord de Paris

Basketball is a team sport. A team consists of five positions: point guard, shooting guard, power forward, small forward, and center. I'm going to focus on the point guard (PG); the point guard's job is, essentially, to generate scoring by passing the ball to the teammate in the best scoring position or score himself if possible. 

My favorite PG is Stephen Curry, so I'll use him as an example. Curry averages 25.3 points a game. This is a respectable number, however, Curry can't win the game all by himself, which is why his job entails getting the ball to other scorers. Let's say Curry plays his heart out one night: he scores 40 points and distributes the ball, but none of his teammates put any effort in. The result would be a loss due to lack of teamwork. If this happens night after night for a season or two, then Curry would probably be looking for another team.

The Paris Climate Agreement was intended to be a collective effort to stop climate change, which is unrealistic anyway. The US is like my example above. We payed "$1 billion to the global Green Climate Fund, but the world's top polluters contributed nothing". The US is doing all the work while other countries aren't doing anything. 

I'm relieved that Trump pulled us out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This Agreement was another example of the U.S. being taken advantage of by countries who don't want to do their part, as mentioned above. China is one of the nations that hasn't put any money into the fun, have you seen the smog over there? If climate change were real, then China would be the biggest threat to the climate. 

I also have a personal dislike of the Paris Agreement, because I don't believe climate change is real. I agree with Trump that climate change is a hoax. I know I may sound ignorant about my doubt of climate change, however, I do research on climate change frequently. I'm still not convinced. Here's a link to the best article refuting global warming I've read: http://www.justfacts.com/globalwarming.asp#pageTitle 

I would rather our country spend money on real problems like, defense against terrorism and radical countries (N. Korea), the education system, the national debt, illegal immigration, and crime rates. And there's plenty of other problems in addition to those few examples.

Manchester

What kind of terrorism?

Following the terror attack at the concert in Manchester, England, British officials such as, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and British Prime Minister Theresa May have been careful not to admit that the attack was in fact Islamic terrorism and not just terrorism. May went out of her way to avoid talking about motivations. Khan released a statement saying, 

“London stands united with the great city of Manchester today after this barbaric and sickening attack. This was a cowardly act of terrorism that targeted a concert attended by thousands of children and young people.”

Khan's does address the barbarism of the bombing, but it still avoids stating the whole truth. Even "Her Majesty the Queen" (I read this title to myself in a cocky British accent) didn't address the matter of Islamic terrorism, or terrorism in general. You can her full statement here.

To illustrate how out of touch politicians are: Morrissey, the lead singer of The Smiths, a punk band, is really the only celebrity criticizing the Queen, May, Khan, and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. I mean a singer from a punk band can see the real problem, but the British officials can't, correction: won't, see the problem. American politicians have the same problem, so I'm not just criticizing Britain.

ISIS took credit for the bombing, you know: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ISIS taking credit for the attack makes it Islamic terrorism. Now, am I saying all Muslims are terrorists? No. I'm saying that the terrorist that attacked the concert was Muslim. It's important to address the specific problem instead of worrying about what is politically correct.

ISIS has a new low

Many of the victims killed or injured in this bombing were kids. Many were my age, 22, or younger. Kids were targeted. Kids who haven't done anything to deserve this.There was even an eight year-old girl killed in the bombing, her name was Saffe Rose Roussos; remember her family and the families of all the victims in your prayers. This is a low, low act. I can't understand, nor do I want to, how killing kids accomplishes anything. It doesn't accomplish anything. 

From Fox News:

"Shortly after the attack ISIS supporters took to the internet to revel in the fact that innocent Western children were killed. On Tuesday an article was circulated on pro-ISIS channels, on the messaging app Telegram, under the hashtags #Manchester and #Britain, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute. 

The author, calling herself Umm Omar Al-Iraqiyyah, wrote that the attack was a reprisal for the killing of innocent Muslims and that it was justified under the Quranic principle of reciprocity.

"If you kill our women and children – we will kill your women and children,” reads a line from Al-Iraqiyyah’s posting."" 

This type of rhetoric is what we're fighting, folks.

"We all just need to co-exist."

This quote comes from Katy Perry. I think she meant well, but we all can't just get along and co-exist. Islamic terrorists seek to destroy the West and kill westerners, us. Whether you condemn them or defend them you are still a target. 

I would love for America to be able to lay down our arms and bring every soldier home, but it doesn't work like that. Reality comes in and ends the ability to co-exist. You simply can't co-exist with people who want to destroy everything our country stands for. Freedom, liberty, justice: these are things hated by ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups. They hate the very principles that America was built on.

So, the take home message is this: politicians need to admit that Islamic terrorism exists, it's a threat to all people, and we can't co-exist. 

Firing Comey

I will start by saying this: Director Comey needed to be removed from office. That is my opinion and the opinion of many Republicans, but also of many Democrats as well. The Democrats wanted him gone and the president delivered. Schumer and Pelosi both indicated that Comey should be gone. Even ABC News admitted that "Democrats cry foul over Comey firing after previously calling for him to resign." 

The Democrats despised Comey because he investigated Hillary Clinton, even though he let her off the hook on the emails. That is a well known fact that the mainstream media is now completely ignoring. They simply cannot agree with a thing that the president has and will do. The media is bitter that their crony lost the election. And I wish I could say that the media has moved on to reporting actual news.

The president did what needed to be done by firing Comey. I will say that the White House could have handled the publicity surrounding this event by being more concise. For example: Trump said that he fired Comey based on Rod Rosenstein's  memo; then Rosenstein came out later and said that he didn't recommend firing Comey. 

I don't know how much the media is warping the story, but regardless the White House needs to make sure everyone is on the same page before addressing the public.

To wrap this up, Trump made the right decision and I don't think the timing is troubling. Comey messed up the whole Hillary Clinton investigation by saying she made a mistake without recommending charges on something she clearly did. And the Trump-Russia investigation is a waste of time, because I don't think there's actually anything to it.

"Stay at 17 Inches" by Chris Sperry

I'm going to share an article that a friend of mine emailed me. It has a great message that I could not present any better. To give proper credit for this article: it was written by Chris Sperry on www.sperrybaseballlife.com (To clarify, I don't know the writer personally.) Here it is:

In Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA convention. Nineteen times since, many of the same professional, college, high school, youth, and a slew of international coaches from passionate and developing baseball nations have gathered at various convention hotels across the country for two-and-half days of clinic presentations and industry exhibits. Sure, many members of the American Baseball Coaches Association have come and gone in those years; the leadership has been passed, nepotistically, from Dave Keilitz to his son, Craig; and the association — and baseball, in general — has lost some of its greatest coaches, including Rod Dedeaux, Gordie Gillespie, and Chuck “Bobo” Brayton.

I have attended all but three conventions in those nineteen years, and I have enjoyed and benefited from each of them. But ’96 was special — not just because it was held in the home of country music, a town I’d always wanted to visit. And not because I was attending my very first convention. Nashville in ’96 was special because it was there and then that I learned that baseball — the thing that had brought 4,000 of us together — was merely a metaphor for my own life and those of the players I hoped to impact.

While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name, in particular, kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh man, worth every penny of my airfare.”

Who the hell is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter, I was just happy to be there.

Having sensed the size of the group during check-in, I woke early the next morning in order to ensure myself a good seat near the stage — first chair on the right side of the center isle, third row back — where I sat, alone, for an hour until the audio-visual techs arrived to fine-tune their equipment. The proverbial bee bee in a boxcar, I was surrounded by empty chairs in a room as large as a football field. Eventually, I was joined by other, slightly less eager, coaches until the room was filled to capacity. By the time Augie Garrido was introduced to deliver the traditional first presentation from the previous season’s College World Series winner, there wasn’t an empty chair in the room.

ABCA conventions have a certain party-like quality to them. They provide a wonderful opportunity to re-connect with old friends from a fraternal game that often spreads its coaches all over the country. As such, it is common for coaches to bail out of afternoon clinic sessions in favor of old friends and the bar. As a result, I discovered, the crowd is comparatively sparse after lunch, and I had no trouble getting my seat back, even after grabbing a plastic-wrapped sandwich off the shelf at the Opryland gift shop.

I woke early the next morning and once again found myself alone in the massive convention hall, reviewing my notes from the day before: pitching mechanics, hitting philosophy, team practice drills. All technical and typical — important stuff for a young coach, and I was in Heaven. At the end of the morning session, certain that I had accurately scouted the group dynamic and that my seat would again be waiting for me after lunch, I allowed myself a few extra minutes to sit down and enjoy an overpriced sandwich in one of the hotel restaurants. But when I returned to the convention hall thirty minutes before the lunch break ended, not only was my seat not available, barely any seats were available! I managed to find one between two high school coaches, both proudly adorned in their respective team caps and jackets. Disappointed in myself for losing my seat up front, I wondered what had pried all these coaches from their barstools. I found the clinic schedule in my bag: “1 PM John Scolinos, Cal Poly Pomona.” It was the man whose name I had heard buzzing around the lobby two days earlier. Could he be the reason that all 4,000 coaches had returned, early, to the convention hall? Wow, I thought, this guy must really be good.

I had no idea.

In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.

Seriously, I wondered, who in the hell is this guy?

After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage.

Then, finally …

“You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck. Or maybe you think I escaped from Camarillo State Hospital,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “No,” he continued, “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”

Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches,” more question than answer.

“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?”

Another long pause.

“Seventeen inches?”came a guess from another reluctant coach.

“That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”

“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident.

“You’re right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?”

“Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison.

“Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”

“Seventeen inches!”

“RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues?”

“Seventeen inches!”

“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello!” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter.

“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. You can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches, or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'”

Pause.

“Coaches …”

Pause.

” … what do we do when our best player shows up late to practice? When our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him, do we widen home plate?

The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We widen the plate!”

Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag.

“This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?”

Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross.

“And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate!”

I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curveballs and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: if we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools and churches and our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”

With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside.

“… dark days ahead.”

Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach.

His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players — no matter how good they are — your own children, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches.”

He was, indeed, worth the airfare.

© Chris Sperry, Baseball/Life, LLC

Syria, Iran, and North Korea

Syria

Over the past few weeks I have been kicking around different views on Syria and where the United States should stand. I've taken into consideration opinions from a few friends, so my opinion has changed, well more like it formed. So, here we go.

The missile strike on Syria was the correct decision. Assad continues to drop Sarin on his own countrymen and he's propped up by Putin and Russia. The strike lets the world know where we stand on leaders killing their own citizens and on nations supporting these leaders. Obama made that red line in Syria, but he didn't do anything about it; he didn't take a firm stance at all. 

Assad, like other leaders, saw Obama make his apology tours to apologize for things that happened in the past. Apologizing for things that happened in history shows weakness not strength. Strength is exactly the thing we need to show to every nation. Trump showed strength by striking Syria right in front of Assad and his puppeteer, Putin. 

I originally thought that the U.S. stay out of the Middle East, but that was too idealistic of a view. Once we became embroiled in world affairs, which happened decades ago, it was too late to pull back out of world affairs (this includes the Middle East). We, like every other nation, now have to protect our own interests, because no one else will. We need to put America first. It might selfish to some folks, however, we elect people to lead our country and put it first.

Now, we should move forward surgically when dealing with Syria, but maybe regime change isn't a terrible idea. We should make the best strategy possible and then commit to the strategy, unlike some previous administrations (I'm not just talking about Obama, let me just get ahead of it now). 

Iran

The Iran nuclear deal needs to be investigated and I'm glad it is being investigated. That deal should have never been signed in the first place. As the saying goes, I don't trust Iran as far as I can throw them. Any nation that supports terrorism as much as they do should not be trusted with nuclear weaponry. They also hate Israel and Israel is really our only true ally in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Tillerson said it best, "An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea — and to take the world along with it."

Let's not forget how this nuclear deal was born. The Obama administration created an "echo chamber" of experts who all agreed on the nuclear deal. There were no dissenting opinions on the matter. I don't really need to say this, but that's not how you make a decision. You need people of different viewpoints involved in a discussion to make an informed decision. 

The Iran deal was something the administration promised on the campaign trail, so they pushed it on through to say that they signed a nuclear deal with Iran. Did it matter that Iran supports Hamas? No. Did it matter that they hate Israel? No. The deal was political more than anything.

North Korea

North Korea, oh, North Korea... Where do I begin? Maybe I should start with the most recent American citizen to be arrested in North Korea. The following is from The Christian Post:

Korean-American Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk and is in his 50s, was leaving after having spent a month teaching an accounting course at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.....

Kim is the third known American being held in North Korea. Last year, Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in prison in North Korea after he "confessed" to trying to steal a propaganda banner. South Korean-born Kim Dong Chul, who is believed to have U.S. citizenship, is serving a sentence of 10 years for "espionage."

We are all well aware of the ICBM tests and the missile truck parades, those communists sure love their parades. 

North Korea also supplies Assad with Sarin and Iran with arms. They profit from the slaughter of innocent people. Kim Jong-Un doesn't care of course, because he's a dictator who does whatever he wants regardless of morality. Dictators are all the same, no matter if they're North Korean or Syrian.

I hope we don't have to come to blows, but if they launch an ICBM with the ability to hit America, then it's go time. China may even put Kim Jong-Un on a shorter leash, who knows. My only point is that the world has had to put up with three generations of Kim's and I think this Kim's time may be coming. He's a threat to global security and he's getting ready for war.

In summary, Syria, Iran, and North Korea are all threats that need to be dealt with in some manner. We shouldn't rush to war, but doing nothing is what our foreign policy has been for the past few years. The world has shaken their heads at us for too long. We need to flex our muscles and show the world that America is a force to be reckoned with.

Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." We've been speaking softly, now it's time for the stick.

Legging it

This past Sunday two teenage girls were not allowed to board a United Airlines flight at Denver International Airport headed for Minneapolis because they were wearing leggings.

That sentence is all it took for social media to go crazy. People too lazy to read the whole article were going off half-cocked hurling insults at United for being unruly. It doesn't take much to set off Twitter and Facebook, even something as trivial as this did it.

Here's the part people missed: the teenagers were "pass riders." Per United: "One of the benefits of working for an airline is that our employees are able to travel the world. Even better, they can extend this privilege to a select number of what we call "pass riders." These are relatives or friends who also receive the benefit of free or heavily discounted air travel... When taking advantage of this benefit, all employees and pass riders are considered representatives of United. And like most companies, we have a dress code that we ask employees and pass riders to follow."

The New York Times aptly named one of their articles on this matter: What Can You Wear on a Plane? It Depends Who’s Paying. Another New York Times article, After Barring Girls for Leggings, United Airlines Defends Decision, explains that this was started by a passenger who waiting to board a flight at the same airport. She took it upon herself to tweet about what was happening during the incident while saying that United was "policing the clothing of women and girls."

The leggings weren't really the issue. The only issue was that the teens didn't follow the dress code for pass riders. United wasn't doing anything crazy.

The only reason I brought this up is to paint a picture of the social climate today. Many people hear a fragment of a news story or a conversation and go straight to social media for blood. 

As I said, even something trivial like a dress code violation can be turned into a social media firestorm. People have mostly been this way forever, but social media made it easy for people to rant and rave while being completely ignorant. There were twits before Twitter.

As the young folks say today: check yo self before you wreck yo self. As in think before you do something. It's a crazy idea, isn't it?

A Day Without Women (edited)

I would like to take a moment to thank the women who not participating in "A Day Without Women". These women, the ones not participating, are doing the right thing by going to work, taking care of their children, or doing whatever else they have to do. The women participating in this demonstration are doing themselves, their families, and society more harm than good. Women are important to our country and I don't deny that, but marching and laying out of work are not proving anything. 

There's a lot of supposed problems with being a woman in America, according to the news. I'm here to say that America is the best country on the planet for women. Women in America can vote, they can go outside without a man, they can drive, beating women is a crime, they can have a career in practically any field, they don't have to wear hijabs, and they can do pretty much anything they want to. In other nations around the world women aren't allowed to do anything I listed and their husbands can legally beat them. Many women in Africa have to walk miles through deserts and war torn towns just to get water for themselves and their children.

So, to the women laying out of work and marching, please don't let the media and the radicals get you riled up about how bad America is. Compared to the Middle East and Africa, America is paradise. Don't forget that when you're complaining about oppression. My hat goes off to the women in the Middle East and Africa who have to live in those conditions. These women are the ones who truly need help in this world. Why don't you march to that? 

There's just no sense in this mess. I'm not trying to be "that" guy, but I'm tired of people who live here complaining about America. I know America is not perfect, however, no other country is as good as America. We have it good here. 

Edit: I removed the original ending, because I wrote it in haste and it got off of the message I was trying to get across. All I meant to say was that I don't see the problems these women talk about. I do, however, appreciate all that women contribute to our country. 

Pres. Trump's Address to Congress

President Trump's first address to Congress on Tuesday was very presidential and much different than his campaign speeches. Trump didn't use his normal language, but he spoke calmly and collected. That's not to say that I doubted he had the ability to speak this well, because he knows how to give speeches. I'm glad he did change his tone from his campaign speeches; I didn't particularly like those speeches, but that's in the past and not the present. As many pundits have put it: Trump became the president in that address.

Another thing that this address displayed was the pettiness of the Democratic Party. I read a study the other day (I can't find link to it) that said about 64% of Americans agree that if the Democrats don't work with Trump then their standing among citizens will be harmed. If this study is a good representation of Americans, the Democrats should reconsider their course of resistance and persistence, as Hillary Clinton encouraged in her little video. Most Americans hate political gridlock and that's what Clinton is suggesting. 

The Democrats certainly showed themselves at the address Tuesday by refusing to stand and clap at almost everything. They seem to have forgotten that they are our representatives, We the People put them there. 

Trump pointed out some serious problems that need to be fixed and promised to fix them, which he hopefully will. The problems that I'm personally glad he brought up are ISIS, Iran, the attacks on Jewish people, the infrastructure of our country, school vouchers, and immigration. All of these problems should have received bipartisan applause and should receive bipartisan attention in Congress. 

I'm going to keep this post short, because I'm working on a longer post on another topic. Nonetheless, I wanted to at least commend Pres. Trump on a well put together address. I'm trying to be a little more supportive of the President, even though he wasn't my first choice. I was a part of this election, which is something I'm proud of. I only hope politicians and regular citizens will be less angry about Trump.

I know everyone doesn't agree with Pres. Trump's policies and I get that. I have empathy for them after the last eight years. I'm not going to trash Obama, but I didn't agree with most of his policies. Regardless of my personal feelings, Obama was the president. The office of the president should be respected no matter your personal feelings.