Those of you who have clung bitterly to this blog, reading when I write (less and less often these days – social media seems so much more … immediate … doesn’t it?) and even better – those who interact through comments, know where I have been. I am a Marine Veteran (Cold War Era), my younger brother is a Marine Veteran (Gulf War I), my older brother is an Army Veteran (Cold War), our Dad was a Marine (Korean Era), we have nieces and nephews currently serving, we have a family history of service to this nation going back before there was a nation. We had ancestors on both sides of the Revolutionary War and the War Between The States/War of Northern Aggression/Civil War. In short, my family has stepped up and said “This is our Constitution; this we will defend.”

I believe the Second Amendment to the constitution is very important, as regulars here can attest. Without the Second, the rest would fall like a row of dominoes. The First Amendment is a close second in my mind; you must have the unfettered ability to address what you consider to be a wrong in order to make it right.

That being said, ALL citizens of this nation have the right to freely express their closely held beliefs. They also have the right to consider other points of view without being forced to agree with them, and they have the right to change their closely held belief if they are properly convinced. Yes, this includes actors, comedians, professional athletes, and the people who shill for them announce their actions, introduce their appearance, or award them for their performance.

I will never take a knee while the National Anthem is being played. I will not willfully avoid showing respect for this nation while the anthem is played. I will do my best to model what I believe is correct behavior for citizens of the United States: come to attention, hand salute (as a veteran, I m permitted this action; civilians would place their hand over their heart), and standing quietly until the end of the anthem. If another country’s anthem is played, I will stand at attention, arms to my sides, and stand quietly until the anthem is complete. My loyalty is to this country, I will not salute another country’s anthem or national ensign.

I served in order to preserve the right of people to freely express themselves. You, me, everyone. Including the jerks who don’t know how good they have it for being so well paid to play sports or to act or to entertain (although they are all the same – entertainers, at heart). Yes, I called them jerks – because that is my opinion. I’m allowed to have one. So are you. I empathize with what they are trying to say, but they are using the wrong ways to get their point across. Yes, it’s tragic that there are a few (out of the hundreds of thousands of daily non-violent interactions) police episodes where a person is the victim of bad circumstances and terrible choices. Yes, it’s awful that the perception is that blacks are the major recipients of these interactions.

(Numbers say otherwise – and there are plenty of search engines out there to prove that. Point of fact – number one killer of black males between 16 and 35 is – other black males. Point of fact – allowing citizens the right to defend themselves, instead of removing or restricting the most effective equalizer (hand gun), would reduce murder and other crime rates. The more weapons are in the hands of citizens, the fewer crimes there are. Criminals may not be the smartest cookies, but the do figure odds, and the more armed citizens there are the fewer helpless victims there are. Please see Chicago for the latest proof of this statement.)

While they are free to express their opinions, I feel it is not appropriate to do so on the stage. By allowing the performers to continue to make these personal statements from a professionally supplied pulpit, the owners/managers/agents of those performers are giving their implicit permission to continue. They are free to express their opinions, I am free to not buy their wares. I am not required to spend money to watch or listen while someone tells me I am wrong. Just as they are not forced to listen to me, I am not forced to listen to them. When the revenue dries up the message will be plain enough to them. With great freedoms come great responsibilities, and great consequences.

To allow the continued disrespecting of our nation is to allow the further eroding of our nation. Once all the statues have been removed, and history has been revised, and no one hears the Star Spangled Banner on a regular basis anymore, what will have been solved? People are still the ones who’s hearts have not changed. If anything, every time a statue is removed; every time an historical event is glossed over , rewritten, or removed; or every time a professional entertainer is allowed to disrespect the National Anthem without repercussions, this nation is moved another step away from a Representative Republic, and closer to a Socialist Enclave.

For this reason, We the People must protest right back. We must also be heard – our voices must be included in the “National Dialogue” that those who are pushing for the enslavement of all by the removal of our rights keep insisting on. I find it odd they insist on a National Dialogue and then don’t allow any one to speak who disagrees with them. If We, the People (and we are a majority, I refer you to the 2016 Presidential Election results) will not continue to make ourselves heard, then We, the People will be people without our nation.

I stood up to defend our Constitution. I stood up so jerks can prove how ignorant, willfully or otherwise, they are. I stood up so every one could continue to voice their opinion, including those who don’t agree with the rest. This doesn’t mean that I have to stand quietly by and let those opinions go unanswered, it means that those with dissenting opinions – from BOTH sides – must be allowed to present their case, their beliefs, and their reasons. Common Sense should prevail, but that’s a post for another day.

One thing I am sure of – no matter who is in the White House, God is on His Throne. I already know how this story ends. What I don’t know is how it plays out along the way. As a God-fearing Christian, I place my trust in the Lord. As a citizen of this nation, I will defend my Constitution, using the First and Second Amendments as needed. Yes, peace in our time – but not at the cost of our freedoms and responsibilities as citizens of this great nation.

Chat ya later…

P.S. – All these protesters are free to take their complaints on the road. There are literally hundreds of countries in the world; they should do their research and find one that more closely aligns with their belief system – and move there.

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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I know, it’s been a while. So sue me.

Wait, I was just kidding.

Let’s look at today’s serving of “It’s The Law Except When It’s Not”, shall we? First, take a read over at Chicks On The Right.

The weepy left wants the laws to be not applied when someone is complying with said law. Michigan’s laws are such that a person who is licensed to carry concealed is allowed to carry a weapon on school campuses, even if the campus is posted as “Gun Free”. The dad successfully got the court to rule that he didn’t have to carry concealed, just as long as he is licensed to do so. The left doesn’t like this, and wants to send the school into a paroxysm of fear and lock down anytime a weapon is sighted. The left doesn’t want to follow the judge’s decision.

Unless, of course, it benefits them. Then you have to follow the judge’s decision.

Second entry today comes from the Washington Post.

Here we have a County Clerk in Kentucky who, instead of being forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses, stopped issuing licenses completely, straight or gay. A gay couple, instead of getting a state license from a different county, insists (read: made their feet go stompy and held their breath) they should be able to get a license form the county where they reside. The judge who heard the case decided that, indeed, you have to do what judges say, no matter what you personally feel. This is in violation of the Clerk’s First Amendment right.

To recap: You MUST do what judges rule to be correct, regardless of your personal feelings, unless the judge ruled against a closely held belief of the Left.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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“There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.” –George Washington (1793)

Washington was saying that if a nation shows weakness, then other nations will not respect it. If a nation shows the slightest hesitation to assert it’s place in the pecking order, then those perceived as below it in the pecking order will attempt to move up by showing the weak nation that they are stronger. And that can mean war, or at least a one-sided attack if the nation showing weakness further erodes it’s position by not responding to the show of force.

“[L]iberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.” –Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 78, 1788

Hamilton knew that the three branches must operate individually, within their own constraints. By allowing the Judiciary branch of government to combine with either of the other two branches, then Judges will begin legislating from the bench – in other words, start declaring which rules will and will not be enforced, which rules will and will not be codified. With the cooperation of the executive branch, for example, certain laws which were passed to protect the welfare of the citizens by controlling who was allowed to enter the country, what conditions they must meet before entering the country, and what they must do to remain in the country could be ignored – allowing anyone to enter, for any reason, with no regard to their intentions or the state of their health. (you certainly have not forgotten that administrations have been turning a blind eye towards those coming into this country undocumented? do you know that the documents referred to are supposed to include vaccination records? did you know that in the United States, the decision to NOT vaccinate your children was not an issue, since most diseases the vaccinations were for were no longer an issue and did not become an issue until people from an area where control of diseases was not a medical necessity? when people from an area where no control over these same diseases is exerted go into an area where those diseases had been nearly eradicated, then those diseases will find a fertile area to bloom and grow – in the form of children who, until the interlopers arrived, had no reason to be vaccinated …)

Once any two branches of the government model we live under are combined, then God-given rights will be the first casualty. The first God-given right to be taken away will be the right to defend yourself. Imagine how WWII would have unfolded if the National Socialist Party of Germany had not, in fact, disarmed the citizenry before attempting Krystal Nacht, or the roundup of the Jews? Why do you think that the current administration continues to attempt to remove or restrict the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms? If you can’t defend your right to speak freely, then someone will take that right away. If you cannot defend your property from shock troops coming in and taking it away from you, then someone will take your property away from you.

You appear to be fairly bright. I’ll let you think about these items and connect your own dots.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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