Segregation in 2018

We have entered a new period of discrimination, or at least some level of social segregation.   The New Order, instead of being black versus white, is now liberal versus conservative.  The Liberals, having the loudest voice right now, as well as having the full support and encouragement of mainstream media, are finding it “in vogue” to discriminate against conservatives. Wherever you look, be it business, social media, higher education, Hollywood, or the media, you find the conservative voice being shut out and shouted down.  The amount of hatred that's out there is astounding.  Threats of violence to conservatives and their families are commonplace. You have only to look in the daily news to hear the latest against President Trump and his family.

Take for instance, as only the latest of such discrimination incidents, when Sarah Sanders had the audacity to enter a restaurant for dinner.  This was not for anything political. It was simply to be an evening to enjoy a good meal with family or friends.  She was asked to leave simply because of her politics.  Whatever your leanings, that is NOT OK!  What happened to HER freedom?

Think back to the pictures of the water fountains or restrooms where you had white on one side and colored on the other. Are we going to now have liberal businesses and conservative businesses?  If the Hobby Lobby’s or Chik-Fillet restaurants get a bad reputation simply because of what they stand for, then apply that same standard here.  We may need signs that say “conservatives NOT welcome here” to make sure conservatives “know their place” in this New Order. It's an interesting concept to think about because if we are a free country, then shouldn't we be free to go to restaurants or other businesses that we choose to patronize rather than being kept from those to which we are restricted.

A common battlecry right now against the current administration is about “profiling”, and how that practice should be considered against what this country stands for.  If we are not to use profiling for such things as securing our borders, or choosing a particular group for “random” searches at airports, shouldn't we take that same position for society in general?  Yet, here we find ourselves.

It may be time for a movement like the marches in Selma, AL, and Washington DC.  Only this would be centered in the “flyover states” rather than the south.  I guess it's time for the deplorable community to speak out!

"Mosquito" Politics

Read this in the context of the current political environment.

They buzz all around, but you rarely see the one that gets you.

The swamp is a perfect place for them to live, and grow, and reproduce.

Individually, they are mostly benign, but there are those that carry something that will really get you.

They get “into your head”, and, even if they are not biting this very minute, you stay fully aware they are still there.

They are out for blood.

Just one more reason to drain the swamp!

Espionage and treason are such a strong words

I have been listening to multiple reports today (Feb 17, 2017)  from various news sources about the “plan to deploy 100K National Guard troops to round up illegals for deportation…”, which is, of course, intended to show how anti immigrant President Trump is. Whether he is or is not anti immigration isn’t at issue here.  That’s a subject for another time. (If your comments are about that issue, I will have to assume you did not read any further than the first paragraph.)

I ask that each of you look past the sensational headlines and consider what is more likely the real story.

Everyone is focusing on the wrong question. Yes, there probably is a memo that outlines something like this.  It is likely meant as a working document for discussion rather than for implementation. It has probably been in the files since before Pres. Trump took office. Whatever the case, this memo should not be the issue.  

The real question should involve espionage and intentional disclosure of national information.  Who provided this memo to the Associated Press? Someone made the decision to violate their security clearance, and take advantage of their position, and turn this over to the media. That same someone obviously puts a political motivation above National security.

Throughout my military career, I held a security clearance.  I have been called upon many times to participate in working groups, to look at multiple scenarios of a potential situation, and contribute ideas on how to counter problems which MAY arise.  To say the least, we worked on some very interesting issues. Be that as it may, my experience is that these draft plans are merely ideas on how to approach a situation; to, as a group, think through all contingencies.  The “plans” are a result of working group discussions, and many times they are studied and simply put on the shelf.  They are NOT “READY FOR PRIME TIME!”  They have done their job.

At the very least, these scenarios are classified For Official Use Only (FOUO), but more likely are in a category of Secret or higher. The classification is there to protect means and methods of approaching situations to defeat an adversary.  I am speaking from a military position on this point.  (AND NO, I AM NOT CONSIDERING IMMIGRANTS AS ADVERSARIES!!!) As such, passing information like this to a news service like the AP is a treasonous act.  It is done consciously to reveal things which should not be made public.  Someone has determined that doing so will either get them something or do political damage to an opponent.  

Proper handling of classified information is known by every level - from the rawest recruit to the highest ranking General, and for cleared civilians, from the lowest clerk to the top of the Senior Executive Service.  Anyone in possession of such information should, and really does, know their responsibility for protecting it.  This was a deliberate act.

The popularity of things like Wikileaks and Eric Snowden tend to glorify the wrong side of disclosure of information.  It is the difference between “the public has a right to know” and “the public has the right to be protected, and revealing certain information is counter to that goal.”  The current, commonly-held attitudes toward keeping something private (classified…) would be disastrous in a serious war time situation.  I hope we never have to put it to the test.

Again, look past the sensational headlines and consider what is more likely the real story.

We Have No Bounds Anymore

What has our society come to? It seems that we simply accept, without question, that there are no societal bounds. Anyone can say or do just about whatever they want, excluding outright lawlessness,  apparently without consequences.

As an example, I cite a Periscope broadcast of the Inauguration prayer service for our new President.  I was interested, so I started watching a portion of it. If you are familiar with Periscope, it gives anyone a platform to live stream video, and then allows viewers to make comments. I guess I would have expected the people who were watching to be, like me, interested in the service rather than someone whose purpose was to ridicule or denigrate.

But that was not the case here. The whole intent of many of the viewers, apparently, was to make their opinion on the matter overshadow the event itself. Many of the comments were downright abusive and hateful, both toward the President and also religion in general. I would estimate that I saw four or more abusive comments for each neutral or complimentary one. It must make people somehow feel important or powerful to spout off in such a manner. (Yes, I realize I could have turned the comments off!)

I guess that the old adage of “if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all” no longer applies.  I guess it has changed to “I have an opinion on the matter, you are entitled to hear it,  and I will shout it out until you get so tired of me that you let me have the last word!”

Lord help us!

Guess what-i'm tired

Fair warning:  This is likely to make you mad.  If I offend you with this, I'm sorry!  I guess I've been offended enough times lately that I was driven to write this.

I love each of you. Family, friends, coworkers, church members.  I keep in contact with you because I want to know what is happening in your world.  I am interested in you.

I want to hear about your kids being in sports.  I want to see videos of their marching band performance or a hockey, soccer, or football goal.  Tell me why you enjoyed your vacation, punctuated with interesting pictures of that trip.  Post pictures of the wedding or family gathering.  Let me know about your holiday plans.  Keep me informed about those important things going on in your life that I may not know about because you happen to be in another part of the country.  Let me in on the GOOD stuff!  In short, I want to know how YOU are doing.

That being said, here's what I am really NOT interested in hearing about.  ...Why the world is ganging up against you.  ...How ticked off you are that your candidate lost.  ...Squabbles within your family or your workplace, and why I should take your side of the issue.  ...Those cute cat videos you found.  (yeah, I can search for them, too, if I ever possibly wanted them)  All of these, I'm sure, have their place, but I don't need to know about every one of them, thank you very much.  I only mention these because I've see ALL of them.

I acknowledge, as you probably will also,  that there are at least two, and often multiple, positions on any given issue, whether that issue is religious, financial, family, or political.  I will happily grant each of you the freedom to hold your opinion on anything. That is the freedom of thought and speech granted to us by our constitution.  Please have the courtesy of granting that I may hold an opinion, whether or not it is the same as yours.

However, vitriolic posts stating any opinion (of which I have seen many recently) are really disturbing to me.  Many of those are framed and stated in such a way that I am embarrassed to even have them in my email or in my Facebook feed. Several of them use atrocious language or reference sites that use foul language or espouse extreme positions, whose sole purpose is to either put down or raise the ire of those who don't hold that opinion!  Even if I might hold such a position, my Christian upbringing certainly would not allow me to state it in such a way as to lower myself to this so-called "sailor-speech." (No offense intended to my Navy friends!)   Everyone should keep it clean.  We still have polite, moral standards, even though they are swiftly going by the wayside in our society.

I'll tell you what.  I will try not to post any inflammatory opinions on my position, (I guess this post may have to be considered an exception to that...) and I ask that you just consider doing the same.   You know what they are, and you know it when you post them!  None of those extreme posts will likely change my stand on any of those issues, so, unless posting them is somehow therapeutic for you, I don't really need them.   In fact, many are so far-fetched that they are more likely to strengthen my views on whatever the issue is!

I won't drop any of you from my email list or Facebook friends list over this.  If this is too extreme, and you choose to drop me, I guess that's your choice.

Remember, I love you...

Protesting reality

The protest mentality playing out right now

I admit I have not given much of my time paying attention to the anti-Trump protests.  But in those few pictures I've happened across, it looks like the age group is mostly 40 or younger.

That would speak volumes to me as a Boomer.  This is the age of the 'everyone gets an award' and 'make everyone a winner' mentality.  I can cite many personal examples of  those who, despite their training in these matters, do in fact 'get it'.   Others have, instead, become programmed to believe that there are no losers! This group is the ones I'm speaking about.

Then they enter real life, and it comes on them like a speeding train.  Guess what.  The real world has winners and losers!  When this group is forced to actually face this reality, many have been given no training to cope with the situation. So all they can think of to do is get mad at something.  Become the victim.  Create havoc.  Destroy something.  Lash out at society.  Do everything possible to show that you are a upset.  Don't accept what has happened.  And, sadly enough, many of them are not really sure of just what it is that they even want!

There are, unfortunately, enough people whose philosophical goal is to destabilize this fine country, and who see this as an opportunity to capitalize on this mentality.  They 'feed the flame' so that they get the media attention to this 'injustice'. (I think the media is as much to blame as anyone, but that's for another day) They pay people to disrupt businesses and neighborhoods so that the 'normal' citizen is inconvenienced or even injured in the process.

How sad that this is going on in our country.  Oh, that everyone would see that there is room for more than one opinion, more than one voice to be heard.  And, yes, someone loses!

PS:  I think the Bible has a description of these people, too.
“So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭19:32‬ ‭NASB‬‬
http://bible.com/100/act.19.32.nasb

Alan L. Buhler,
LtCol, USAF, Retired

the pot calling the kettle black

The pot calling the kettle black...

This is day one after the election.  The electorate has spoken.  Now, I am hearing a tremendous amount of people referring to President-elect Trump as a bigot.  Here's the Merriam-Webster definition.

bigot

noun  big·ot  \ˈbi-gət\

Simple Definition of bigot
* : a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

Because he has not performed any executive duties yet, no one knows how his administration will conduct itself.  I've not yet seen a politician conform too closely to campaign rhetoric, and don't really expect that now.  An awful lot of what is posted against him is a strong (dare I say vehement?) and unfair dislike for what people attribute to him as being his ideas, and it is coming from people who refuse to accept or acknowledge anyone who may have or do now support him.  Many of these can only see Trump supporters as being part of some sub-intelligent group.

Be careful who you are calling a bigot.  It might just reveal YOUR bigotry.