Just don’t go …

There’s no law that says you have to listen to entertainers you don’t like, go to movies you don’t want to see, watch sports you don’t enjoy, or go to lectures and speeches you don’t want to hear.

You have the right to blow off any or all of these. 

That’s your God-given right as an American citizen. If there’s something on TV you don’t like, change channels. If there’s a book that offends you, don’t buy it.  If you don’t believe in God, fine; you don’t have to.  If you are offended by pro athletes kneeling during the national anthem, you don’t have to watch or go to their games. 

In short, you have the freedom to choose what you want to see, hear or buy.  But your freedom, as they say, begins and ends at the tip of your nose.   

I exercise my right to blow off things I don’t like all the time.  

You could give me free front-row seats to a Rolling Stones concert and I wouldn’t go.  I don’t like the Stones or their music and never have. Not one single song.  At the same time, I wouldn’t bother to talk anyone else out of going, much less prevent them from going. 

Just because I don’t like the Stones doesn’t give me the right to stop other people from going to their shows or buying their music. I don’t have that right. So, if you’re a big Stones fan I may not understand why, but hey, it’s your time and money.  Go for it. 

I’m constantly surprised so many people ignore their right to ignore something they don’t want to see, or avoid listening to something they don’t want to hear. More puzzling is why so many of them feel that just because something offends them, they have the right to decide that others shouldn’t be allowed to see or hear whatever that is.    

If you don’t want to see or hear something, don’t.  It’s that simple. You cross a line when you prevent others from even having that choice. 

What brought this up again was that recently some white supremacist booked a venue at the University of Florida to spew his nonsense.  Over 500 protesters showed up to heckle him, with some even getting tickets to his event so they could shout him down inside the hall.

For the life of me I don’t understand that.  

Sure, he’s got a First Amendment right to speak. He also paid to rent the venue.  That means he not only had the right to speak but also the right as a paying customer to use that facility. As a public university, the school had an obligation to let him do both.   

But nobody had an obligation to attend. So why did they?

What did the protesters hope to accomplish? To diminish him and his followers by showing how many people refuse to accept his racist rhetoric?     

Honestly, if nobody had showed up except for his handful of looney-tune followers wouldn’t that have accomplished exactly the same thing? 

By mounting massive protests and threatening violence, protestors elevated the media coverage of this loser. The university also piled on by spending more than $500,000 for enhanced security just in case things turned violent.  The governor of Florida even declared a state of emergency over this event.  That all made it the lead on nightly news broadcasts and online.   

If nobody had paid any attention to this loon in the first place, he’d be just another right-wing nutjob baying at the moon. Kind of like the jerks in a bar who’ve had too much to drink and want to hold court on their pet peeve. Sooner or later everybody just starts ignoring them. 

That’s what we all should be doing.  Instead of turning our backs on the purveyors of this crap, we give them more attention.  That only encourages the jackasses.  

That seems to be lost on the protesters. 

The tragedy in Charlottesville might never have happened if the counter protesters hadn’t come out in such numbers intent on causing a commotion.  The small number of far-right extremists would probably have just marched around a bit, spouted stupid drivel, and when nobody paid any attention would have skulked away back under the rock from which they came. 

But no.  By aggressively engaging and taunting the right-wing extremists, the counter protestors got what they apparently wanted – a full-fledged riot. It also unexpectedly culminated in the death of one of their own.  What the protesters didn’t realize is that they gave the handful of neo-Nazis and Klan wannabes there exactly what they wanted, too: widespread media coverage. 

The same thing happened at the University of Florida the other night. Hundreds of protesters gathered to challenge a couple dozen white supremacists, catapulting what would otherwise have been a silly evening of crackpot theories into the national spotlight. 

Okay, in their defense some talking heads will quote Edmund Burke, who said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Yet I suspect most of the protesters at UF or Charlottesville weren’t as high minded.  They were there for their own selfish reasons.  They wanted to act up under the pretense of opposing “evil” – which they believe gave them the freedom to break laws, violate the rights of others, and cause chaos.  It had little to do with stopping the “triumph of evil,” and more to do with smug, self-centered, self-righteous overreaction to inconsequential threats just to prove their own virtue.

And to become part of the news.  And part of a “movement.” Kind of a latter-day Woodstock for people to talk about with their like-minded friends for years. How brave they were to stand up to white supremacists and neo-Nazis.  How they risked life and limb to “do the right thing.”  

There was nothing brave in what they did either in Charlottesville or at UF.  It takes no guts to be part of a mob. It takes real courage not to join in. 

Whether it’s BLM, Antifa, far-left liberals, or middle-aged Madge and Tom reliving their glory days protesting the 60s draft, they are the new witch hunters who do more damage than the evil they are supposed to be preventing.

They are always on the lookout for new transgressors, or potential threats. It makes little difference if their targets have no more than a dozen lame-brained followers or the cause is completely nebulous, such as protesting racial injustice or income inequality, they are always ready with hand-painted signs, pepper spray and an excess of attitude to jump into the fray.   

They don’t realize what they are doing, and usually not what they want, either. It’s all about showing a “united front” against whatever.  Being part of the crowd.  And getting on the news.   

The world has changed since Burke. Now the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil and stupidity is excessive media coverage of those who should otherwise be ignored.

There’s plenty of real evil in the world that should command our attention.  ISIS, Al Qaeda, a nuclear North Korea, a nuclear Iran, human trafficking, and genocide come to mind. 

Some jerk who thinks we should kick out anyone who isn’t white isn’t up there.  Nor are monuments to Confederate soldiers, or the people who don’t want them removed.  

Get a life.  If you don’t want to hear someone or see something, don’t go. 

But leave everyone else alone to make their own choices. 

It really is that simple.  

My comfort duck …

I was pretty sure I could find someone somewhere to certify my duck as a “service animal.” In fact, after a little research, I found I can even do it online. 

I’ll just tell them I feel anxiety without my duck; I need to take my duck to comfort me and assuage my fears wherever I go. My duck will be an “emotional support animal.”  That’s actually an official government designation: an ESA.   

Then I could get an official “service animal” vest for my duck. Maybe a little leash, too. I could take my duck anywhere – on planes, trains, out shopping, to restaurants, wherever.    

It can’t be all that tough. I see people all the time in airports or out shopping with ancient bug-eyed little rat dogs in service animal wraps. If it’s not chihuahuas, or teeny-tiny Dobermans, it’s miniature poodles or cockapoos with that red-brown gunk under their eyes.

And they are all tagged as service animals. In what capacity?   

I understand real service animals, like guide dogs for the visually impaired.   

I don’t understand that designation for yappy little pets people get certified just so they don’t have to leave Muffy or Sparky at home when they travel or go out shopping. 

I suspect these are the same folks who continue to use handicap hang tags for better parking spots years after they once had some ingrown toenail surgery. Or the ones in handicap spots with twin bike racks on their cars.  It kind of makes you wonder what’s going on.     

I feel the same about so many animals tagged with the service animal designation for no apparent reason. I’ve yet to see a teacup cockapoo, poodle, chihuahua, or other miniature animal with a harness on to guide their owner. So they must be “comfort animals”: that strange, relatively new category seemingly created to indulge the whims of self-absorbed owners.

It’s actually pretty easy to do this.  In fact, here’s a link to get started:

www.usserviceanimals.org

They also sell the cute little vests, and will provide a doctor’s note for travel. Now, there are real rules for service animals to qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act – those animals actually have to be trained to perform some specific function. But the standard is much, much lower for an emotional support animal.

Go ahead. Go up to that site.  You’ll see that an ESA can be a cat, a dog, a pig, a ferret, a miniature horse, or something else, which, I suspect, would also cover a duck. 

I am not making this up.  

At a time when some colleges are providing puppy encounters and kitten cuddling for students distressed by the possibility of hurtful speech, or even by exams, the idea of ESAs for everyone only seems logical.  Why can’t the parents of these emotionally fragile students have access to the same therapeutic benefits of an ESA?  Aren’t they just as special?  And needy? 

It took these latest generations to teach us how special everyone can be, and the benefits of being special.  And a lot of people have now taken that lesson to heart, in everything. 

Since there are now so many special people in this country, with so many special needs, particularly emotional needs, I’m feeling somewhat left out.  That’s why I think a comfort duck might be a way to join their ranks. 

Of course, I’d go through all the proper paperwork to get my duck certified as a service animal under the “emotional support” category. I might even buy the doctor’s note so my duck could travel on planes with me. (It would be faster than trying to fly wherever I’m going on his own.)

Who is to say my duck doesn’t reduce my anxiety? That’s the beauty of it: I’ll claim I need my comfort duck to keep me calm. Try to disprove that.   

There are so many other benefits to having a comfort duck.  People don’t instinctively hate ducks; most people think ducks are pretty neat.  Everybody loves the Aflac duck, don’t they? Then there’s Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, and the Peabody Ducks. 

I think the biggest problem will be people who want to pet my duck. At which point I’ll have to tell them please don’t because my duck is actually working.   

I just imagine how many people would look at my duck and think of me: “why, he must be some kind of special to have that comfort duck.” Some might be brave enough to ask me if my duck knows any tricks. “He eats, poops and quacks,” I’ll respond, “that’s pretty much his day.”

My comfort duck may look like any other duck but he’ll make me special.   

And in this day and age, doesn’t everybody have a right to be special?   

The myth of the “honest conversation …”

That’s usually followed by “about (fill in the blank) in this country.”

The topic can be any number of things: racial injustice, income inequality, immigration, gun violence, or whatever.

The implication is that we’ve never actually discussed any of these things. At least not had an “honest” discussion. But we need to. Right now.

Anytime someone says this I already know they aren’t interested at all in an “honest” conversation. They don’t want a “conversation.” They want something quite different. They want yet another opportunity to “discuss” something they’ve been yammering about for years.

Nine times out of ten whatever that is has no realistic solution because it’s not intended to ever be “solved.”  Often it’s a purely manufactured “problem,” invented simply to be a wedge issue. Their proposed “honest conversation” will just rehash the same pointless crap once again. 

Let’s take “racial injustice” for a moment.  It seems to be the issue of the day that’s brought pro athletes to their knees during the national anthem. 

What exactly is racial injustice? Seriously, what is it?

It implies that people aren’t getting impartial treatment under the law solely because of their race.  The only “evidence” anyone can present for “racial injustice” is based entirely on outcomes, where blacks are disproportionately more likely to end up in prison than whites. And black offenders are disproportionately more likely to be shot by police than whites.

Here’s my problem with that “proof” of racial injustice – those claims typically and conveniently ignore prior arrests and convictions, and the specific circumstances of the incident. That usually explains any difference in outcomes.

Let’s take perp A and perp B, for example, who are both arrested for selling the same amount of the same drugs. If A has no prior arrests or convictions and B has a record stretching back to when he was 15 with multiple arrests and convictions for selling drugs, the one with more priors is most likely to get a harsher sentence. Race has nothing to do with that outcome; prior bad behavior does. 

Step it up a notch.  Perp C is accused of shooting someone in commission of a robbery, so is perp D.  Both serious crimes. But C has done this several times before, and has also served time in prison for attempted murder. D has one prior conviction for robbery when he was 16, served time in juvenile hall, and hasn’t been arrested again until now.  

Guess who gets a stiffer sentence.  

Okay, it’s time to take on police shootings.  Perp E is found in a stolen car with unregistered guns and a large amount of cocaine during a routine traffic stop. So is perp F. When officers try to arrest E, he races off leading police on a high-speed chase through a residential area before he is finally stopped and gives up.  F does exactly the same thing, but when he’s stopped he refuses to remain in the car as instructed and instead walks toward the officers while reaching into his waistband for something as he screams profanities at the arresting officers. 

Who is more likely to be shot? 

Race has little if anything to do with these outcomes. Except for one thing: black males are significantly more likely to have prior arrest records than white or Hispanic males.   

At any time up to 25% of all adult black males are in the justice system – they’ve either done time, are on parole, or are awaiting trial. Blacks are only 13% of the U.S. population, yet they account for 40% of our prison population. That’s way too high to blame solely on racial injustice.

Consider this: one report speculates that if this trend continues one in three black males will go to prison in their lifetimes. The number for white males is one in 17, and one in six for Hispanics. That’s not about racial injustice; that’s about paying the price for committing crimes.  And that’s also why blacks are far more likely to have prior arrest and convictions than whites or Hispanics charged with the same crimes, and consequently, why they often get harsher sentences.

Proponents of the claim of widespread racial injustice against blacks think that shouldn’t matter. Just because someone commits the same type of crime, or worse, repeatedly, that shouldn’t matter in how they are treated by the justice system. 

Of course it matters.  If a reasonable person on a jury discovers that a defendant has a history of violent crime and is now being charged with yet another violent crime, it’s certain to affect their opinion. Nobody sane wants a repeat offender like that back on the streets. If someone has a history of convictions for armed robbery, and is convicted of yet another armed robbery, you can bet they are going to get more than a slap on the wrist this time, regardless of skin color.  

That’s an “honest conversation” about “racial injustice.” I doubt many on the other side care to have that one, ever.     

As if to prove my point, last night I saw an interview with a Chicago alderman. He was asked about the possible link between so many kids in the black community without fathers and the murder rate in Chicago, especially among black males. He conceded that there was likely a link.

However he blamed the lack of black fathers on the incarceration rate of black males. His solution was to stop incarcerating so many black males for so long. 

Not stop the crimes. Not stop so many black kids being born to single mothers. Not stop a culture that equates manhood with how many different baby mamas some male can impregnate. 

Nope. Just give black males lighter sentences, regardless of any crimes they’ve committed or their prior criminal history.    

In effect, he was asking for a break solely based on the race of the criminal.   

Yeah, that's fair. That's textbook racial injustice if you don't happen to be black.   

So much for an “honest conversation.”    

Or what …

I’m tired of being told I have to kiss everybody’s butt.

Regardless of what they do. Regardless of how they act up. Regardless of how clearly irresponsible they are.  Regardless of how often they try to make a mountain out of a molehill.   

I’m apparently supposed to have sympathy and understanding for those who offer neither in return.  I guess I should be ashamed of stuff I haven’t done, or had no responsibility for.

I have a moral obligation to care about whatever they care about, in other words.

That’s what a lot of people want. Well, you know what, that’s not going to happen.

I’ve hit my limit. I’m fed up with people and the media trying to intimidate me, either with their madness or their misinformation. 

I can’t discuss anything at all with Democrats or anybody on the left. They are insane. They are incapable of listening to any other opinion other than their own. Don’t bother with facts; it’s a complete waste of time because they simply ignore them. When you do bring out facts, they respond with specious bullshit from some left-leaning think tank, or unfounded urban myths.

A common refrain from them is: “a group of experts has determined …” Or “everybody knows,” when, in fact, nobody can prove a damn thing they’re saying. 

It makes me crazy to even endure such childish logic. 

For example, there are the BS claims that Trump’s a racist. That Trump hates gay people. That Trump’s anti-Semitic. That Trump supports white supremacists. That Trump colluded with the Russians to win the last election. Or that Trump fired Comey just to stop an investigation.

He’s got a lot of faults, no doubt.  But not one of those has been proven to be true.

Trump’s been in the public eye for decades and the subject of intense media scrutiny during that time. If he were a racist, a homophobe, anti-Semitic, or a supporter of white supremacists, it would have been substantiated long ago. And as for the claims that he colluded with the Russians, or fired Comey to stop that investigation, that’s just another pile of unproven crap.

Don’t take my word for it. Go ahead, try to find a single substantive thing that actually “proves” any one of these. You won’t be able to, because there’s no there, there.

There’s just speculation about what Trump “really” believes, and his motives, which is about as valid as determining either by reading the bumps on his head. 

It’s all just complete and utter nonsense.  

Democrats, the left, and the left-leaning media know they don’t have any proof. Yet they keep spinning yarns about Trump’s “hidden” motives all the time to make it appear they have the goods on him.  The tinfoil-hat crowd eats it up and begs for more. And they deliver. 

You’ll get more “real” news these days from the supermarket tabloids. There’s just as much truth in tabloid stories about Elvis returning from the dead aboard a UFO with a miracle diet that cures cancer, and that survivors of Atlantis have been found in the Amazon jungle.  

This stupidity and duplicity continue well past Trump.

Professional athletes are taking a knee when the national anthem is played. I couldn’t care less if they kneel, do the Macarena, or the hand jive during the anthem.  Sure, their actions are disrespectful and offensive to a lot of folks, but they are kneeling to raise awareness for something that isn’t true; that black males are systematically being targeted by white police.    

Nobody’s denying that black males are being shot by police at a disproportionate rate to whites or Hispanics. That's absolutely true.  

Want to know why they’re being shot more often?

The simple – but true – answer is that they are disproportionately committing more crimes that draw armed police response than whites or Hispanics, especially in high-crime areas. 

You can argue why they are committing more crimes that get them shot. But blacks getting shot by police has little to do with racism.  The stats show blacks are no more likely to be shot by a white officer than a black officer, either – that rate follows pretty much the makeup of a specific police force and the crime rate in the area where they were shot.   

Go ahead.  Look it up. These are equal-opportunity shootings.

If pro athletes want to protest something, maybe they should focus on the fact that the number one cause of death among young black males is murder, typically by another black male.  The number one cause of death among young white males is car accidents.

Now that’s something valid to protest. 

Given the rampant stupidity on the left and among Democrats, I’m surprised someone hasn’t suggested giving cars to young black males so their deaths in car accidents can equal those of young white males. Clearly there’s a racist death inequality that must be addressed. 

Nope. They are blaming guns. And systemic racial injustice.

I’m also weary of the bald-faced lies about illegal immigrants that have been here for years. If they’ve been here that long, and want to be citizens, why didn’t they ever apply for citizenship? 

Next, there’s the BS that they are a net positive to our economy and give back more than they ever take.  Nobody with the good sense God gave a sweet potato believes – despite what Democrats and activists claim – that these illegals haven’t been fraudulently collecting public assistance, receiving subsidized healthcare, getting a driver’s license, and even sometimes voting, all along.

Of course they have. That’s why they are still here.  

They’ve been getting all the benefits of being a citizen without the bother of doing the paperwork. And as to the amount of taxes they pay, get real; they’ve gotten a lot more out of our system than they’ve ever paid in. That’s if they pay taxes at all. 

They also send more untraceable money out of this country than they ever spend here. Remittances from illegals are a major source of income for Mexico. Doubt that? Just wait in line some afternoon at any grocery store that does money orders.  See who is buying and sending money orders.

These illegals aren’t cowering in the shadows, fearful of being found and deported, either. We know who and where they are – we could easily round them up any time if we wanted.

But our politicians from both parties don’t want to. 

The only reason they haven’t been tossed out by now has nothing to do with compassion.

It has to do with political power and economics.

Democrat mayors in major cities don’t want them out because they fill the population void left by middle class families fleeing urban crime and corruption.  Overall population – not just legal citizens – is a big part of the Federal funding formula. Federal money covers a lot of sins and keeps Democrats in power. It subsidizes projects that reward their friends in the unions, who return the favor by supporting Democrats at election time. 

Big business also doesn’t want illegals out. Illegals work cheaper than citizens. It’s not just big business, either: the agriculture industry here – whether that’s mushroom farmers, poultry processors, or even small family farms – all depend on cheap labor from illegals, too.  Finally, the Catholic Church, which has seen declining numbers of worshippers over the years, sees more illegal immigrants, especially Hispanics, as a way to reverse that trend.        

Then there’s the nonsense about the “dreamers.” True, they didn’t ask to come into this country, but they are still here illegally. What part of “illegally” don’t people get?  

There’s a case to be made that they should be offered a path to citizenship – after all, they’ve been here almost all of their lives already.  Yet that’s not what they want – they want immediate citizenship; total amnesty, with no strings attached. In fact, that’s what they are demanding. 

To which I say, or what? If we don’t give that to them, what can they do? 

Leave?

That’s the problem I keep having. There are so many groups demanding something. They always threaten – something   Pro athletes, social activists, BLM, Antifa, immigration advocates, whomever. But exactly what are they threatening? And should anyone care?  

Nobody in power is willing to call their bluff. Somebody should.   

This nation is enduring what now seems like an endless series of tantrums. Against Trump. Against alleged racist attitudes. Against police shootings. Against deporting illegals. Against building a wall on our southern border.  Against reducing our spending on stupid social programs that don’t accomplish anything. Against eliminating ObamaCare and reining in Medicaid. Against closing failing public schools and allowing parents more choice.  Against restoring Constitutional rights on college campuses. Against draining the swamp that’s DC. 

I have to keep asking this question: If we don’t accede to these tantrums, what happens? 

What is the “or what,” quite simply?

Suppose we simply ignore them. What’s their recourse?       

Not a Hell of a lot. They can protest peacefully all they want. But if they break the law – any law – while protesting just arrest them. Forget about the optics. Forget about their skin color, where they’re from, or where their parents are from. And if the media interfere with the arrests, arrest them, too. 

We need to get back to being a nation of laws, instead of a nation of constant complainers. 

I’m not endorsing a police state, by any means. 

But I am saying it’s time we stop letting the whiners run the show.  If they have a legitimate complaint, and a realistic solution, fine.  Let’s discuss it, rationally, without the implied threats. 

Otherwise, I say call their bluff.  Make them put up or shut up. 

Or just ignore them. That’s what I’m planning on doing. 

Everybody needs to understand that you should never deliver an ultimatum without a clear understanding of the consequences. 

And sometimes people will call you out.