Richmond could learn from the Taliban

By Don Frost

            The city of Richmond, Va., recently pulled down a statue of Confederate Civil War general Robert E. Lee and put it into storage. This was done because a large number of very vocal people didn’t like the statue. Exactly where the statue will languish for – allegedly – all eternity has not been publicized.

            In time, no doubt, the city fathers will look at the books and notice that over the last who-knows-how many years storage has cost the city a great deal of money that might have been spent in any number of more beneficial ways.

            When that happens some bright newcomer to the halls of city government will suggest that they just quietly destroy the thing. He will reason that people don’t like it anyhow and since most folks have already forgotten it even exists, it’s a no-brainer. And so the statue will be quietly removed and destroyed – melted down, crushed, or by whatever means is most appropriate.

            Richmond could save itself a bundle if the city were to just follow the example of the Taliban. When they come across a statue, plaque, or marker of any kind that they don’t like, they simply blow it up. They don’t waste time and money putting it in storage. A couple of pounds of explosive and boom! Offensive statue gone; problem solved.

            Of course, the Lee statue and the statues destroyed by the Taliban are different. Statues destroyed by the Taliban were historical reminders of Afghanistan history that the Taliban didn’t approve of; that they were offended by. They really hated those reminders. They made them feel bad and even angry every time they saw them.

            The Lee statue in Richmond was a historical reminder of American history that some people didn’t approve of; that they were offended by. They really hated that reminder. It made them feel bad and even angry every time they saw it.

            In George Orwell’s “1984” Winston Smith’s job was to destroy evidence of history that Big Brother didn’t approve of; that offended him. Big Brother really hated such reminders. It made him feel bad and even angry everytime he read about them.

            The Taliban and Big Brother were, of course, motivated by evil, mean, bad, and nasty thoughts while the city of Richmond was motivated by good, pure, noble, and enlightened thoughts.

U.S.A. is no longer world’s ‘melting pot’

By Don Frost

            E pluribus unum. That’s Latin for “Out of many, one.” It’s the traditional motto of the United States. It’s on all the money, coins as well as folding currency. It’s also part of the Great Seal of the United States.

            It means that here, in America, of the many peoples from all over the world who come here, they emerge as one: Americans.

            That’s fine fodder for 4^th of July speeches, but it’s absolute nonsense today; a sad remnant of days gone by, as outdated as the Hula-Hoop. America is no longer a “melting pot” where different peoples merge to form one people. Now, thanks to the National Football League, it can no longer be denied: America is a mish-mash of discordant voices clamoring for supremacy.

            All NFL games used to begin with the playing of only our national anthem, the American national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” a symbolic acknowledgement that we’re all Americans. Now, kneeling before the onslaught of unspoken – but nonetheless real – racist threats, the league has decreed that all games must begin with the playing of the black national anthem, an unconscionable, deliberate affront to all other races. If any player were foolish enough to kneel during the playing of that anthem, he would be judged a racist and his career would be in jeopardy.

            This is done in the name of “diversity,” the holy grail of social/political dogma. “Out of many, one”? No! Absolutely not! Never! America’s new motto: “Out of many . . . well, many more.” We’re no longer Americans. Now we’re Polish-Americans, Irish-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, native-Americans, and on and on. Diversity equals divisive.

            You Poles, fly your own flag, celebrate Poland’s holidays. You Irish, organize your own parades. You Hispanics, speak your own language, live where only that language is spoken, insist English-speaking Americans accommodate your tongue. Be proud of how you differ from everybody else; flaunt your differences; nurture your differences; dare outsiders to make you want to be American first, and another nationality second. Reject assimilation.

            Abraham Lincoln saw the danger in 1838 when he said in the Lyceum Address, “. . . All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined . . . could not by force [destroy America] . . . It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”

            Damn diversity and all it stands for.

Just sayin’

By Don Frost

            “Just sayin’” has become something of an annoying verbal and literary crutch. But at the same time there are instances when it is singularly appropriate. It’s a reference to a thought or idea that stands alone and is self-evident; that doesn’t invite further comment, though some would feel compelled to do so anyhow.

            FOR EXAMPLE, right now thousands of Afghans are stuck in their hell hole of a country and they desperately want out, preferably to live in America. Many of these people worked with the American military as translators or in other capacities during the 20 years we fought there. They and their families have been marked for death by the Taliban.

            Obviously the Taliban isn’t going to simply let these people board a flight to the U.S.A. But possibly, though devious means, they could book a flight to Mexico. From there, as thousands of Latin Americans continue to demonstrate, they need only present themselves to American authorities at the border and tell them they seek political asylum. Then they’ll be given a court date up to three years hence when their case will be heard, and they’ll be turned loose to go wherever they like in America. Mission accomplished.

            Just sayin’.

            PRESIDENT BIDEN has a serious problem at that border. Thousands of citizens of Latin American countries are swarming there, eager to get into America. They don’t necessarily want to become Americans; they just want to live here. Biden’s policy is to simply turn them loose, pending a court ruling on their petition for political asylum. Many, if not most, find refuge in “sanctuary cities” where they simply disappear in Spanish-speaking enclaves, their court dates ignored and, ultimately, forgotten. This is so because it has been decreed that it is “racist” to hold them to their obligation to appear in court on the appointed date.

            The solution to Biden’s problem just might be Colin Kaepernick. He’s the ex-football player who infamously knelt before games during the playing of our national anthem. He did this, he said,  “as a protest against racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic oppression of black people.”

            Biden should send him on a tour of Latin America where he could inform the people there just how awful it would be for them if they lived in America. Surely his expertise on life here could discourage would-be immigrants from clogging our immigration system as well as spare them the horrors of living under “systemic oppression.”

            When their playing days are over ex-NFL players find some other line of work. Some go into broadcasting football games, others get into coaching or join the front office of a professional team. Still others parlay their gridiron fame into more public venues by opening, say, a restaurant. Kaepernick has built a lucrative post-football career by condemning his country; in pontificating about what a lousy country this is.

            “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said. “. . . There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” he added in a reference to American police.

            With such oppression and murderous cops patrolling the streets of America, what Latino in his right mind would want to come here?

            Of course, if he toured South of the Border, he’d have to skip the details of how “racist America” has kept him downtrodden. After football he became a spokesman for Nike which put out an ad featuring him and the ludicrous tag lines, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” What Nike paid him more than compensated for whatever he “sacrificed” by bad-mouthing his country.

            In fact, he became something of a dictator at Nike. When the company spent untold thousands of dollars to develop a sneaker that featured the Betsy Ross Flag, Colin refused to endorse it because that early American flag, he said, “represented slavery.” Nike scuttled plans to market the shoe.

            When not lecturing the rest of us on how the country should be run he started Kaepernick Publishing which will publish his memoir. Next month Netflix will premiere “Colin in Black & White,” a six-episode series about his teen age years.

            All together “racist America” has rewarded him to the point where his net worth is estimated at $20 million. Lots of white people would cheerfully welcome being similarly oppressed.

            Just sayin’.

            IN THE ’50s all weather anomalies were attributed to “The Bomb,” a reference to ongoing testing of nuclear weapons by America and Russia. If a summer was unusually hot or a winter unusually cold; if there were especially severe or numerous tornados or hurricanes; if there was flooding; if there were earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, some pundit would intone, “It’s The Bomb!”

            This theme grew to be a popular inspiration for dozens of horror movies of the period. “Them” was about giant mutant ants created by nuclear testing in the American desert. Godzilla, too, was spawned by “The Bomb.” And there was any number of monsters given birth by nuclear-generated heat that melted sections of the North and South Poles.

            Things have changed. Now we know the truth. In 2021 we now know that weather anomalies are caused by climate change, aka global warming. Even now some anonymous Hollywood writer might be working on a script in which a giant ice berg breaks loose from one of the poles and, as it drifts slowly toward the equator, a new hideous beast is hatched to wreck havoc on Tokyo – or some other city. “It’s Climate Change!” some pundit will be sure to intone.

            Just sayin’.

            THANKS TO TEXAS, the abortion controversy has been revived. No one likes abortions, not even those who champion Roe vs. Wade. It’s taking a human life at its most formative and vulnerable stage. Only women without compassion seek it out as a means of birth control. Those who do undergo the procedure do so with the greatest reluctance, and it’s a decision that haunts them for the rest of their days. Still they do it for the most compelling and deeply personal reasons.

            The Texas measure bans abortion for virtually any reason. One woman, a fan of the measure, said on network news, out loud and without embarrassment, “Thousands of babies’ lives have been saved.”

            What nonsense. How naive. The image of an ostrich with its head in the sand springs to mind. All Texas did was arrange things so people could pretend – so they could tell themselves and each other – that abortions no longer were taking place. Abortions have been a fact of life for thousands of years and will continue to be so for thousands more. Legislation couldn’t stop them before Roe and no new legislation is going to stop them now.

            The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization dedicated to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, estimates that in 1967, before Roe, 829,000 illegal abortions were performed. In 2014, after Roe, 652,000 were performed. If you wanted to make a dubious comparison, Roe “saved” 177,000 babies.

            The only question that faced Texas – and the rest of the country now – is will those abortions be performed legally or illegally; with safety in a sanitary, professional setting or fraught with danger in a back alley? It’s a hard truth that when a woman determines to have an abortion – for whatever reason – that abortion will happen and that baby/fetus is doomed. If the abortion is legal, the mother survives. If the abortion is illegal, perhaps the mother dies, too.

Just sayin’.