We Need a Leader to Unite Us, Not Divide

We have come to a terrible impasse in our country. Some would say it's been simmering for 150 years and some might look at all this as a new evolution of the protests and violence of the 1960s which has just now reached a new boiling point.  I don't know about that.  I'm neither a sociologist nor an historian, but it's clear even to me that tensions in this country have reached a new level of ugly since 2008.

If you go back to 2009 when Barack Obama called out law enforcement in Cambridge, Massachusetts who "acted stupidly," he said, in arresting Henry Gates for disorderly conduct, you can find the beginning of the current President of the United States involving himself in state matters and commenting on issues about which he should have just been quiet.  That was a local matter and he had no cause to comment on it.  The charges against Gates were dropped and the whole thing would have sorted out without Obama's injection of race into the conversation. But he commented, thus lighting the fuse of racial tension.

Then we get  to Trayvon Martin in 2012 where Obama famously said "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."  That created controversy that went on for weeks.

In 2014, on the death of Michael Brown, who you may recall robbed a store, accosted the clerk, and tried to take a police officer's gun while leaning into his patrol car, Obama said, "Too many young men of color feel targeted by law enforcement -- guilty of walking while black or driving while black, judged by stereotypes that fuel fear and resentment and hopelessness." Nothing about the fact that Brown robbed a business and then hit a police officer who was trying to question him.

And then we have the Eric Garner case, where Obama again weighs in and says the mistrust between law enforcement and the black community "is an issue that we've been dealing with for too long and it's time for us to make more progress than we've made. And I'm not interested in talk; I'm interested in action."  What kind of action?  Obama said he wanted more "accountability" between communities and law enforcement because he's seen too many people that don't believe they are being treated fairly.

By now, you see, we are so accustomed to the president weighing in on local law enforcement issues that we almost expect it.  People are clamoring for him to comment on the rash of law enforcement murders that have erupted in recent weeks.  Here in Louisiana we have lost three law enforcement officers in as many weeks. Next door, in Texas, we lost one this weekend.  What does Obama have to say about all of this action?

Why hasn't he said anything to tamper down the #blacklivesmatter group who has called for the killing of white people and police officers?  Why is this not hate speech?

Some would say that the national rhetoric has contributed to the impetus of all this lawlessness.

It's true that if we can't blame the gun for killing someone but instead must blame the crazy person pulling the trigger, we also can't blame Obama for the epidemic of dead police officers. We can't blame Obama for the murder of two white reporters by a hate-filled black man who wanted  a race war. He didn't pull the trigger.

But did he light the fuse?

What we have unfolding in our country right now is terrifying. What we need is a sober, God-fearing, honest leader to come forward, instill calm, and call for an end to the hate speech -- to bring us together rather than to divide.  We need a leader who would suggest that we work together to solve our problems rather than point out perceived injustice.  We need someone who places value on human life.  All life.  White life, black life, unborn life, life regardless of your occupation, race, or income.  It all matters.

Obama had no business wading into the Gates controversy in 2009, but he did.  And now that he's all in, up to his neck, he needs to put the fires out. If we have to wait for a more competent leader to do it in 2016, how many more lives will be lost?

It's Time to Take Responsibility: #AllLivesMatter

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Several hundred people, including activists and religious leaders, gathered on Canfield Drive and observed four and a half minutes of silence before marching to a local church.

Since the Michael Brown incident, there have been other incidents of what activists are calling a war on black lives by white police officers. From Eric Garner to Sandra Bland to Christian Taylor, it seems this is all we are talking about.  Social media is exploding with rants, hashtags, and protests that #blacklivesmatter.

And then Cecil the Lion gets killed, and #lionslivesmatter.

Don't #alllivesmatter?  That's what they taught me in Sunday school when I was a little kid. Every Sunday at the Episcopal church we sat at little tables and colored pictures of Jesus with lambs, his outstretched hand beckoning the flock. "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight..." we sang in unison, happy smiles on our faces.

When in the world did we become so fractured, again?   Never in my life have I been so aware of racial tensions throughout the country, and I lived through the '60s.

In 2009, we had the President of the United States standing up on television asserting his personal view that "there's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

Now, we can get into statistics and studies and evaluate the bias, or lack of bias, of whomever conducted said studies, and we can argue about that all day long. But it seems to me that if you're breaking a law, any law, then you may have to answer to that at some point.  Bottom line.

Just stick to Michael Brown for a moment. If he hadn't walked into the store, assaulted the owner, and stolen some cigarillos, Darren Wilson would never have confronted him.

Did Brown deserve to die for stealing cigarillos?

No, of course not.

Did he deserve to die for leaning into Wilson's car and assaulting him?  Well, no, but you up the danger-stakes somewhat when you assault an officer.  Brown made some pretty bad choices there.

The New Yorker has a long profile of Darren Wilson and the incident in Ferguson that day. Both Wilson and his wife have left the police force and can no longer work in law enforcement because they are considered a liability -- too dangerous. They live in hiding behind sunglasses and security cameras. Wilson has been cleared of any wrongdoing but now is facing a civil suit by Brown's parents. All of these people feel all this "resentment" and anger toward Wilson who, to be honest, was just doing his job. When we look at the actual facts and put aside the emotion of the case, it's not hard to see that. Yes, it was tragic, of course.

But, my point isn't to retry Darren Wilson or what happened that day; let's look at the Sandra Bland case. Why are the police being blamed for her death? She refused to comply with a reasonable order, was confrontational and uncooperative every step of the way, and then took her own life.  But we're going to demonize the police for that all over social media.

My family was on the receiving end last fall of police error, as you may remember if you've been around a while. A neighbor heard kids screaming, thought some woman was being abused, called the cops, and they stormed through my front door with weapons drawn and demanded to know where the screaming was coming from. It was terrifying. And yes, it made us furious. But it was all a mistake. We still have some bitterness about it because the department covered their guy and admitted to no wrongdoing whatsoever, but it's all in the past and as a retired police officer himself, my husband realizes that things happen. It's a very stressful job and certainly a thankless one.

As I reflect back over the past year, and the explosion on social media demonizing police, I personally feel the need to step back from that.

Just this week, here in Shreveport, we lost a bright, young police officer who was shot in the head and killed by a cold-hearted criminal who was already wanted for attempted murder. Officer Thomas LeValley answered a domestic call and was killed for it. They are burying him today.

And yet the drum-beat of anti-police rhetoric continues. Even here in Shreveport, some don't even have the decency to hush until after this boy is buried.

As a nation, we have to stop this. We have to pull together and we have to, absolutely have to, stop letting the Louis Farrakans, the Jesse Jacksons, and the other race whores drive division between us. Do I blame Obama for all this?  No, not directly, but do I think he has set race relations back fifty years?  You bet I do.  Social media hasn't helped, but Obama has been far, far from a peacemaker on this.

It's time for us all to take responsibility for our own actions, put morals and integrity back on the table, teach our children respect for authority and laws, and quit giving a pass to criminals because they've had a hard life.

All. Lives. Matter.

Debate Night Distractions

There is much to blog about in the political realm this week; I hardly know where to begin.

I'm stunned by this report from The Hill:

Had the Navy SEALs captured Osama bin Laden, the United States would have tried him in federal court, President Obama said in an interview published by Vanity Fair.

“We worked through the legal and political issues that would have been involved, and Congress and the desire to send him to Guantánamo, and to not try him, and Article III,” Obama said, referring to the federal courts.

“I mean, we had worked through a whole bunch of those scenarios. But, frankly, my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al-Qaeda, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr,” he said.

Holy crap, Batman!  I'm just speechless by that.  Federal court?  Seriously? 

Allahpundit isn't buying it for one second:

 Self-serving nonsense, presumably being pushed by O as a bit of election-season candy for the Gitmo critics in his base. See, he still believes in due process, the drone strikes and “kill list” and indefinite detentions notwithstanding.

And on a related note, congressional approval be damned, Obama has ordered the Justice Dept. to move ahead with the acquisition of Thomson son prison in Illinois.  We've been through this.  Andrew McCarthy:

The move is drawing irate responses from key members of Congress, such as Representatives Frank Wolf and Hal Rogers of the House Appropriations Committee, and Pete King, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee. But the question, of course, is whether they will do anything about it. Congress is not without remedies here; it can start slashing money from the Justice Department’s budget and other areas where the administration will feel it. To this point, though, despite serial provocations, they’ve shown no indication of a willingness to do that.

More on that at Memeorandum.

And then, of course, there is the now infamous "race video" which is just disgusting.  Has there ever been a more divisive, race-baiting, class-warfare mongering, pandering president EVER?  Can't think of one.

Oh, and let's not forget about the stonewalling this administration is doing on the Libya investigation.

That's a lot of bad mojo coming out of this administration.  As I said, much to blog about. 

But wait!  There's a debate tonight. 

Yes, I'll be blogging, as will Legal Insurrection (and probably countless others).  I'm not sure why I'm going to subject myself to it, but I intend to try.  Time to dust off my political blogging hat.

Grind That Rock Into Pea Gravel, Rick!

People like Al Sharpton and media outlets like The Washington Post who continue to perpetuate and manufacture charges of racism disgust me.

So Rick Perry's father painted over a racial slur on a "slablike rock" and turned the rock over.  All of a sudden, WaPo is perpetuating the Perry is a Racist meme because the rock exists and because some idiotic locals named the area long before Perry ever became associated with it.

Never mind that Perry's family never owned the property.

Never mind that Perry found it offensive.

Never mind that Perry had it painted over.

It was THERE!  Guilty!  RAAAAACIST!

Good lord.  This crack, investigative media outlet who couldn't find Obama's birth certificate, evidence of his alliance with Bill Ayers, Obama's college thesis or transcripts, or one single member of Jeremiah Wright's church who saw Obama sitting in the congregation listening to anti-white-America propraganda.

And Al Sharpton, who continues to beclown himself, says:

“At worst he either thought it was something he could identify with and even have some bit of irony,” Sharpton said. “At best, he’s insensitive. How can someone who would seek the highest office in the land be so insensitive to the implications of that name?”

Sharpton predicted the issue will harm Perry among Republicans.

“Even though he’s running in a party whose primary do not have a substantial African-American vote, the average American does not want to be identified to such racial insensitivity,” Sharpton said. “People say, ‘I don’t want to be identified with something this blatant.’”

Seriously?!  When did Al Sharpton gain the ability to know what Rick Perry is thinking?  How does HE know what Rick Perry thought about that rock?  Perry had it painted over, Sharpton, or did you miss that?  Should he have had it ground into gravel?  Would you be happy then?  I doubt it.

And dear all republican African-Americans:  You are now insubstantial, according to Sharpton.  

What a disgrace Al Sharpton is.  He's set race relations back sixty years all by himself.  

Now he's getting help from The Washington Post.