Oh boy. I have debated writing this entry all day. But as things have progressed, I decided I should go ahead and do it. I have a confession to make, and I want to explain something.

I have wanted to make the corresponding YouTube channel for this page for a very long time, but I hesitated a lot doing it. I am not a very outgoing person and I am very non-confrontational. Truth be told, I am painfully shy, to the point where people who meet me in person just think I'm a jerk. I am also a self proclaimed political misfit, and I knew that making my YouTube channel would place me firmly on the outskirts of any political group. I assumed I'd get attacked from all sides, because while I lean right and mostly "identify" as right, I am very much a centrist libertarian (who doesn't get along with libertarians... see what I'm saying here?!). I have a bad case of the "don't cares," which puts me at odds with people who are really passionate about things I just don't care about... like a good portion of the social issues.

So when I finally decided that I wanted to verbally speak out, I created my YouTube channel (as well as the channel on Vimeo and Minds) with the idea that this was going to be an absolute sh!t storm. However, I need to get myself out of my shell, and I need to remove myself from my comfort zone. Doing this page for several years prepared me, because it and the corresponding social media opened me up to a written barrage of hate I had never experienced in my life. For years, I have been inundated with emails and comments from people that I would probably be friends with if we met in real life! I don't normally share a lot of the hate I receive here, because I know you all get it, too. You don't need to read what I get on top of it.

The YouTube channel is young. I haven't yet gotten tons of views or subscribers, but the channel is growing a little faster than I expected it to. My other personal channels are very slow growing, and I expected the same here. That hasn't been the case. The numbers aren't mind blowing, but in comparison to my other channels, they are impressive. To date, the comments have been as expected. I get emails, YT direct messages, and comments on the videos, with the expected amount of hate. I am also getting a lot of positive feedback, which for some reason I didn't expect. 

Today, however, ushered in a set of comments I also didn't expect, and I realized this was the line. I knew it was coming. I knew I would be tested to an extreme level at some point in time, but I also didn't expect that to come as fast as it did. Today was the day my willingness to accept freedom of speech would be tested. 

A few days ago I posted a video (that can be found here on the videos link) about the 10 demands from BLM to white people. I posted the demands and then I responded. It was my usual laid back tone and feel. I expected the video to get rushed by BLM members calling me a racist even though I used no racist terms or portrayed anything racist, and I steeled myself for the onslaught. After all, it wouldn't be the first time I knocked heads with BLM. That has become a regular issue for me, and it is usually via Instagram and email. It never came. That's not to say it won't. There is still a good chance that it may come. But as of right now, it hasn't. 

What I did get are the white nationalists. I wasn't expecting them. I guess it makes sense. They see a video calling out the stupidity of BLM and they just assume I must agree with them. I don't. I whole heartedly do not. 

The first comment on the video was actually by a black person (unsure of gender, they have no content on their channel), and it was agreeing with what I said in the video and took a shot at BLM. The next comment... pretty much called this person an ape. He, too, was anti-BLM. But he also decided that a commenter who agreed with the video was beneath him in species. He left a general comment for the video, as well, stating the same thing. 

I sat for just seconds thinking this comment over. I have the channel set so that comments have to be approved by me before getting posted, this way I can block out spam comments and "doxxing" comments. This was my defining moment. My channel - and my blog and social media - have a strong free speech message. And here I sit... with the ability to delete this comment without anyone knowing any different. 

The friendly person deep down inside me said to delete the comment to spare the commenter that got called an ape, and to prevent further agreeing comment responses that could blow the comment section on this video down a rabbit hole of racism. 

The flag waving, Constitution loving, PC culture hating bitch that sits a little higher up inside there said to screw it and let the comment through. After all, it's free speech and this person has the right to say whatever the hell they want. Have I not said repeatedly that I support free speech, even the kind I don't like? Haven't I said I'd defend your right to say it to the death, even if it makes me puke in my own mouth?

So now my internal thoughts were doing mortal combat, because one side of me wanted to defend my commenter who was nice, but the other side wanted to defend free speech. This could build a reputation for my channel if I let them stay. It could also deter this nice commenter from coming back. It could draw in more white nationalists. This could also cement me as a hypocrite if I delete the comments I don't agree with. 

In the end, I approved the comments, spent some time pacing up and down in the hallway to blow off the energy this had suddenly filled me with, and hypothetically beat my head against the wall because I hated the comments so much, but I am ideologically opposed to deleting them. Eventually, I came to peace with myself because I had done the right thing. I had done the American thing. True to my own word, I allowed this person to say their piece even though I detest what they said. 

Then an hour ago I logged back in to see the rabbit hole had been opened up. I was, again, faced with approving messages full of racial slurs and small minded comments about black people. A cool half of the comments on this video are not agreeable to me. And while I wish they weren't there and I wish these people wouldn't hover around my videos, I am going to approve the comments because they have the right to say these things. I'll puke in my mouth while approving them, but I'll approve them none the less. 

Why am I posting all of this? Because I wanted to share the message behind it. Your ideologies will be tested. They are being tested every single day, but some days they get tested more than others. This was actually really trying for me. It may sound silly to some of you, but these comments hit me in the soul. I've been torn apart by people who didn't agree with me or didn't like something about my physical appearance. Being of German decent, believe it or not, I was regularly accosted by classmates while in grade school, and was usually drawn on. It was not unusual for me back then to go home with swastikas drawn on me in permanent marker by classmates who would do it again the next day after I managed to scrub them all off. Twice they were physically carved into my skin with a blade. I wasn't a first generation American. I wasn't even second generation. My great grandparents were the ones who came over from Germany, and they were not Nazis (according to my DNA results, I'm heavily more British than German anyway). Even still, this was something I had to deal with. I grew up like this. It ended, thankfully, in high school, when no one seemed to care about my ethnic background. 

But my ideology was tested. I spend a lot of time yelling for freedom of speech and your right to say whatever you want and that everyone else around you has that right too, like it or not. And here I was faced with a chance to delete racist comments without anyone knowing, or standing behind my convictions and unleashing them to the public. I am glad to say I stood behind my convictions even though it pained me. I hope you can, too. We need to. No matter what, we need to stand behind our convictions. It won't always be easy. But you need to find the strength to do it, otherwise our kind will die off and the USA will no longer exist as it was intended. Killing freedom of speech is a big deal to the alt-left right now. They have the support of politicians and the media. We can't allow that to stand. This is how we fight. It's a small fight, and many of them will be. But it is still a worthy fight. You can't tackle the big fights if you aren't willing to tackle the small ones. 

One of the main issues the left has right now with accepting Trump as president is that he did not win the popular vote, only the electoral college. The electoral college was put in place to ensure that one state did not rule over the entire nation. Even in current days, this is a huge threat, with the ruling states being California (55) and Texas (38). 

A lot of comments have been made about the "group think" in specific areas, mainly coastal areas and especially large cities. States with more large cities tend to have more liberal leaning people and laws, and usually vote for liberal candidates. More rural and less densely populated areas tend to go to the right. Why is that?

Well, I have a theory. When you go to a city like, say, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you tend to find yourself in an absolute liberal haven. There are tons and tons of people in those cities. My theory is that the mix of ideologies isn't there because your ideas and thoughts are always being validated and not challenged. 

Let's face it, a lot of people suffer from a herd mentality, and will go along with the group. So when a stronger personality comes through and says something, a lot of heads will nod, because they must be right since they are so assertive about it. When someone steps up and says something different, they are chastised, mocked, and suffer much more dire consequences. But when you say something that sounds like it would appeal to the stronger personality, everyone rewards you and rallies around you, making you feel like a stronger personality as well. This forces people to come up with ideas that may, in the long run, effect no good change or make much sense in how they would actually work, but their ideas are being validated and rewarded instead of chastised. 

We are seeing this right now in mostly large cities, where anyone with a conservative view is verbally and physically attacked by groups like Antifa, because their views don't conform. The threat of verbal or physical confrontation is enough for some people to conform and keep their real feelings to themselves, to not speak out at all, just to keep themselves safe and avoid any type of confrontation that is unfavorable. 

Now, if you live in "fly over country," you don't have as many people around patting you on the back. You probably don't have time to discuss politics or anything like that. And you are living with the consequences of what the large cities are dropping down on you. You may live in a state with a decent balance of ideas, and if you do, you have the unique opportunity to have your ideas challenged and to challenge others. If there aren't many folks around or no one talks about it, you get your challenge online and in other ways. But your ideas aren't being formed to conform with the herd. So whether your ideas are liberal or conservative, odds are you came to those conclusions through some actual work - research, listening, debate, etc. And you most likely aren't being confronted violently by groups like Antifa that demand your conformity and scare you into silence. 

I'm not sure if larger cities are a group think lost cause at this point. Remember, a very strong personality could be enough to at least force a balance. But right now, you have groups like Antifa that have taken the place of a strong personality and replaced it with a physical threat. That physical threat alone is enough to force herd mentality because very few people want to be caught up in a violent confrontation for speaking out. 

But people also like to congregate in areas where people think like themselves. If you are a conservative, you may feel very out of place and very lonely in a liberal city. However, if you moved to a smaller city in a place like Texas, you wouldn't feel as out of place. 

If we could break up the herd mentality, people would most likely spread out better through the nation. There would be a challenge to your ideas all the time, the chance for learning, the chance to expand and debate your ideas and the ideas of others. Our elections would be more complete and fair. But with the growth of hate groups in our nation like the white nationalists, Antifa, KKK, and BLM, people are going to move more and more towards places where people are like minded. This will move people away from centrist ideas and more towards extremes, simply because their ideas are no longer being challenged so they can feel safe. The strong personalities and the violent groups will rule the think in those areas and people will change themselves to conform or simply not participate at all. This will spill over to the other avenues of ideas and research, like the internet, where you will be constantly attacked for speaking out on various platforms. 

Whether you are liberal or conservative, you need to not be afraid to speak out. Take the chance today to get out of your comfort zone. Say something you believe publicly. Stand up for it - without violence. Be the first step. 

I... had to look this up. So here are multiple articles about this before I start running my mouth.

1. ESPN pulls Asian-American announcer from Virginia football game because he has a Confederate general's name - Tucker Carlson, Fox News
2. ESPN blasted for political correctness after pulling announcer Robert Lee from UVa football game - Washington Times​

​That statement is infuriating. Why? Because the only one making an issue out of an Asian man who happens to be named Robert Lee announcing a game... is ESPN!

The political correctness in the USA has officially gone beyond the point of way too far. This is insanity in it's purist form. If Mr. Lee didn't stand up for himself - and I don't know if he did or did not - he should be ashamed of himself. And if he did and ESPN still pulled this garbage, they should issue a public apology to him. 

I cannot believe we've finally gotten here. These violent crazies are taking it upon themselves to destroy monuments instead of having them moved. They are beating people in the street because of they literally don't like their haircut. They're attacking minorities they claim to love who don't fall into lockstep and think the way they are told to. 

And now an Asian man is being told to take a seat because his name is apparently offensive. 

Are you kidding me right now?! This is where we are?! This is where we have allowed these window licking basement dwellers to deliver our beloved country?! And we're sitting here cowering because the media has decided there is a race war, and anyone who isn't extreme left is a Nazi?! We're sitting here while the media tells us any violence from the extreme left is not only alright and justifiable but encouraged?!

No. This is enough. We have over shot "too far" by miles. Enough is enough. You can call me whatever the hell you want to. I know exactly who I am. And even better, I know exactly who you are. No more bowing and scraping, and no more trying to explain how not racist you are or how not violent you are. None of that matters to anyone, you are what they want you to be in their own eyes and you aren't going to change it, because they have decided you are the enemy and they have to lie about you to make you the bad guy they so desperately want. So know who you are - a non-violent, non-racist person - and stop explaining yourself. Start talking. Stop cowering. You have a right to say your piece. This has become pure insanity, and PC culture is literally destroying our country. Enough. 

I have had this article sent to me several times today, and I wanted to say something about it. 

Chelsea Handler is no friend to Trump or anyone else without a D after their name, and like many others similar to her, she has decided anything but that D means Nazi. In a strange twist, she found out - and was told on TV - that her grandfather was an actual Nazi. 

This is, apparently, whipping the masses into a frenzy because - *gasp* - this woman who thinks everyone is a Nazi is related to an actual Nazi! That makes her... evil?

Well, no. As none of us are responsible for the actions of our ancestors, neither is she. And doing the same thing back to these people gets us nowhere. This is reactionary revenge measures, and what good is that doing? Do you think it is going to make her change her ways? Is she going to look at people with no D after their name and see them differently? It isn't. She may refrain from using Nazi - mostly likely not, because it is the catch term from the left right now - but she isn't going to think differently about non-D folks. 

In the last two years or so, I began trying to trace my family history. I found a lot of strange things that I never knew about my family. The biggest find? I come from a very long line of Virginians. This was a life changing moment for me since my grandmother hated southerners with the fire of a thousand suns, and my mother and I believed our family had strong ties to Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Turns out, my grandmother was born there, but she was the first of our family line to be born outside of Virginia since the late 1600s. Our family spent generations living in Bedford, Virginia, with the occasional straggler who ended up in Lynchburg. 

This interested me to no end and I began to dig a lot deeper. I discovered my family has taken part in every single war that involved the USA aside from the most recent ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our last family member in the military was my cousin who served with the US Army in Desert Shield. We had the most - a father and all five of his sons - serving in the War of 1812. And I admit, I got excited to see three family members fought in the Revolution. Then I found my three ancestors who served in the Civil War. 

For the Confederacy. 

Image my mom's shock when I told her our family had no Union soldiers at all. On my dad's side, the family wasn't here until well after the Civil War. So this was it. As I dug even deeper, I found it. 

One of my ancestors owned slaves. This was news to me and my mom. I couldn't find much information about the slaves since they weren't written down like real people at that point, so I don't know their names or anything like that. But it appeared from the paperwork that it was actually a family - a husband, wife, and child. I was able to trace the family somewhat, and it appears my ancestor kept them together and they stayed with him until the slaves were freed. But when I realized I had a slave owner in my bloodline, I became almost obsessed with learning something about these slaves, anything. I got my anything in the realization that he didn't separate the family and they were freed together. But again, I never did find out their names. 

My ancestor owned slaves. I didn't. I hold no guilt over the fact that I had a slave owner in my family. I didn't know him. No one in my family still living did. And either way... I am not responsible for the sins of my ancestors. I will not feel guilt over it nor will I make "amends" to folks who were also not slaves. I didn't own them, you weren't one. That time is over. Do I wish he hadn't? Of course! But I can't change history. He's long dead, and so are those slaves. 

But in light of that, can we really hold a Nazi grandfather against Chelsea Handler? No! She's a garbage person. I don't like her even slightly. But I am not going to expect guilt or hold it against her that her grandfather was a Nazi. She wasn't a Nazi, her grandfather was. She has no control over that, nor can she change it. And she owes no one an explanation or reparations. Her grandfather may, if he's still alive, which I doubt, since she's pretty old herself now. 

So let's stop. This reactionary turn around revenge is a useless waste of time. Don't do to them what they do to us... be better than them. That isn't hard to do. 

Unless you live under a rock near the core of the Earth, you are most likely well aware of all the issues going on since Saturday. Charlottesville. Durham. Trump's speeches which, as usual, are never enough. Trump's tweets. White nationalists. Nazis. Antifa. Confederate monuments. 

​Everyone has an opinion. Yeah, me too. So let's have a chat about some of the things.
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They applied for a permit. They had it revoked. The ACLU stepped in to have it put back in place. All hell broke loose. 

There's a mix of what people say was there. Nazis. White nationalists. The KKK. Members from all those groups were, mostly likely, there. There were also probably plenty of gawkers, because taking part or not, something like that is something to see. 

These groups are repugnant throw backs to a time in our history that should remain in history. This is 2017. The fact that we have people who desire the USA to be a one race nation still here... that amazes me, in a bad way. The USA was not designed to be a one group nation, whether that was race, religion, or anything else. And the USA would not thrive in that capacity. Plus, it would be boring as hell. 

The fact is, though, that it is a small minority of people. Regardless of there being "a lot" of them at this riot, the nation as a whole actually holds very few of these people. They aren't really "a thing" anymore. As I've always stated, of course they exist. But to say "all white people" or "all Trump supporters" is wrong and reckless. It doesn't push them back into the shadows, it empowers them. And it encourages more to join. We don't need that. 

All that said. Those saying the 1st amendment doesn't protect hate speech are dead wrong. It most certainly does. As vile as these people are, they have the right to speak, to assemble, and to protest. They don't have the right to vandalize, burn things, hurt people, kill people, or destroy the town. But they do have the right to speak. They were in their rights to be there. Like it or not. 
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I honestly believe the people who are members of Antifa and BLM really do believe they are doing the right thing. But they aren't. What did you think was going to happen when you showed up with guns, clubs, bats, and balloons full of human waste? Did you think a group like the above was going to shrink away in terror? Because no one else did. 

The bottom line is this: you also have the right to speak, assemble, and protest. You do not have the right to vandalize, burn things, hurt people, kill people, or destroy the town. But more and more often, what starts out as taunting during a counter protest turns into people swinging clubs and hitting people with bike locks. 

Pres. Trump was dead right to call out the violence on both sides. Yes, he should have named them for what they were, white nationalist. And should have disavowed them immediately, even though he has done so repeatedly in the past. 

But he was right. Both sides were wrong in Charlottesville. You can be as offended about that as you want. It doesn't make it any less true. Once you start throwing things and hitting people with clubs, you are just as wrong. 

Right now, folks are trying to doxx the white nationalists to force them to "stand behind their beliefs." The same could be done to Antifa. Those folks go out with rags over their faces to hide themselves. If you - white nationalists and Antifa alike - think your cause is so righteous, you all need to uncover your faces and stand behind your actions. Take your consequences. 
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According to the left and the MSM, Trump is supporting the alt-right because he didn't name only them. Instead, he chose to point out that the violence was from both sides, a statement that is actually true. But to the left and the MSM, violence from the left is heroic. 

Trump also came under fire when he asked a reporter to define "alt-right" for him. Again, this is not a statement I would take as support for them. Why? Because what in the actual hell is the alt-right?! We have seen it explained and defined, but like so much out there, it has lost it's meaning due to over use.

Anyone not on the extreme left is alt-right. 

Don't believe me? YouTuber Philip DeFranco is called alt-right on a regular basis, Despite being left leaning himself, Philip DeFranco seems to be "left of center" and tends to tell people things they don't want to hear. Because he isn't towing the party line on an extreme angle, he's alt-right now. Even people like Dave Rubin of the Rubin Report - a married gay man who also tends to be left of center - is called alt-right on a regular basis because he has chosen to interview people on the right wing and extreme right wing. His purpose for doing this is to bring forth both sides of the story and to encourage people to educate themselves and to have a civil discussion, something his show is known for with even the loudest of guests. Laci Green, a feminist YouTuber, has recently come under fire for being alt-right due to a change in heart where she has decided that it isn't a bad thing to sit down and listen to and debate people she typically doesn't agree with. A self proclaimed left wing feminist, Laci Green has been attacked by people who once followed her every word because how dare she give voice to people she doesn't agree with. She, too, is now being accused of being alt-right, and her boyfriend - who no one seems to know much about - is also alt-right. 

So in the same way as saying things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are racist has blurred the definition of racism, and air conditioning is sexist has blurred the definition of feminism, so too has the loose use of "alt-right" blurred the definition. 

To the left, everyone not with them 100% is alt-right. We're all Nazis, white nationalists, and members of the KKK who are oppressing them. Even left wingers are alt-right if they aren't left enough. If you didn't vote for Hillary, you are alt-right. If you didn't vote for Bernie, you are seriously alt-right.
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Not completely. Again, his use of Twitter is getting him into a lot of trouble. But without Twitter, most of us who aren't completely out of our minds understand what he's doing. 

Nothing Trump says will ever be enough. 

Let's be real. We criticized Obama for talking about things too soon. Now we're criticizing Trump for talking about things too late. The left wants him to say "white nationalists" because he wanted Obama to say "Islamic Extremists." And they want to be vindicated as the heroes they think they are. There is no "both sides" to extreme leftists. They think they are right, and they think they have a right to harm people who don't agree with them. 

The left wants Trump gone, and they'll do anything to accomplish that. And they are escalating. 

By the way, on Trump being racist... no one ever accused him of racism until he ran against the democrats. And he has done nothing racist yet. When you have a loose definition of racism, everything is racist. As I always say, just give us a list of what isn't racist, because it will be a much shorter list.
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I'm hearing a lot of people trying to make excuses for this guy. Look, we'll eventually find out what actually happened. But personally, I'm erring on the side of saying he was a murderous terrorist who was trying to kill people. I'm sorry. I've heard all the theories about how he was being attacked and gunned the engine and this was all a mistake. Maybe that will prove to be true. Maybe it won't. But I'm having a tough time swallowing that it wasn't intentional. 
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As someone who recently discovered she had several ancestors who fought with the Confederacy, I have to say... I can understand wanting them removed.

I don't want to see them destroyed. Moved, sure. I can understand it. But destroyed? No. I won't support that at all. Covering history doesn't make it go away. Teaching the hell out of it ensures it never happens again. Teaching the hell out of it teaches our children to appreciate where we are now, to appreciate each other, to treat each other like the human beings they are. Teach it, don't hide it. 

When I moved to NC from NJ, one of the biggest shocks of my life was driving into Raleigh and seeing the huge memorial "To Our Confederate Dead." I was shocked, and I laughed. After continuing my own studying and befriending some southern folk, I developed an appreciation for their history and understood why it was there. The Confederates are still US soldiers. Most of them were not slave owners. Hell, some of them were slaves. 

But after watching those vandals take down that statue in Durham, I found myself thinking of this memorial. I already see them online calling for it's destruction. It's going to happen. I'm sad to say, but it is. Our governor has already called for the removal of all Confederate memorials. 

I have a problem with that. Because it won't stop. It is never enough. Once those are down, what else are we going to destroy because it offends someone? Did you know someone vandalized the Lincoln Memorial today? And my initial thought was, "Why Lincoln?!" 

​Did you know Google has redefined Lincoln?

Go ahead, Google it (make sure to actually use Google). The National Union Party was a real party, it was a temporary party during the Civil War. Lincoln ran and was elected as a Republican, not National Union Party. 

So we're not just destroying history, we're rewriting it. And that's not OK. 

My solutions:

1. Remove the statues from parks and place them in museums. Replace them with nothing. Why nothing? Because we can't predict what will offend people in the future and we should not waste tax payer dollars replacing memorials with things people will demand be removed in the future. Or...
2. Close the parks. Period. Just close them. Or...
3. Privatize the parks. The new owners can decide what to replace the monuments with and they can foot the bill to replace the new monuments or statues when people become offended by them. Or they can fill the park with ugly "art" pieces that will deter people from spending time there, or will encourage people to pretend they are more "cultured" than they really are.
   

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Both sides are wrong. The white hate groups are disgusting and shouldn't exist. However, groups like Antifa and BLM are also peppered with people who want supremacy and hate based on the color of your skin. It is racism. It is hate. And their violence is no more justified than anyone else's and should not be tolerated.

Until we can accept and admit that both sides are violent, abhorrent, racist, and hate filled, we will not see an end to this. The MSM is encouraging this, the police are encouraging it, the governments are encouraging it, and towns will keep getting burned down, people will keep getting beat with bike locks, cops will keep getting killed, and free speech will be curbed. 

What Antifa and BLM are missing is that their tactics are not new. These things have happened before. Their parents did it, too. Now, they are telling us that things are no better and doing the same things... how about changing tactics? You've already admitted it didn't work the first time. So how about trying something else? You can't scream "Love trumps hate" after screaming "pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon" and smashing people over the head for the offense of wearing a MAGA hat. You aren't going to beat people into submission. You're going to beat them until they join one of these abhorrent groups. Very few people join the side of the people that tried to beat them into submission. They tend to stand up and go the opposite extreme. We don't need that. We don't need hate groups, and yes, BLM and Antifa are hate groups using violence and intimidation to get their way and to silence people, the same as the alt-right and white nationalists. Trump was right. The violence is from both sides. (I agree, it isn't "all" members of BLM. Some of those folks do want equality and aren't violent. But the time has come to weed out the violent racists and stop making excuses for them)

If we don't squash the violence and hate from both sides, it will only escalate. And I don't want to see anyone get killed. I want to debate you, not kill you. I don't want your parents to bury their child. And I don't want to see you as my enemy. Difference of opinion or not, you are my fellow countrymen, not my enemy. I say this often, here and to people directly. It falls on deaf ears. It shouldn't. I will, however, fight to the death for your right to protest (peacefully) and to speak freely (even if you spew hate). Because this is America. 

A young lady spoke today in Durham and claimed that we are currently fighting a war. Those are strong words. It didn't need to escalate to this point, but you made it, both sides. It isn't a war yet, but we're getting there. Be careful what you wish for. A civil war would be devastating. And when you use terms like "war" you encourage more of what you saw in Charlottesville from the white supremacists and Antifa. No one wants that to become an actual war. War isn't empowering. There is no glory there. You will watch your fellow countrymen - friend and foe - die. You'll watch the economy tank like you've never seen before. The things you will see in a civil war are things you should wish to never see. It isn't going to be sign holding and safe spaces and pulling down statues. It's going to be violence, destruction, and death. You won't just walk in, scream a lot, and get your way. Once you claim "war," people fight back. Let's not use the word "war." We're not there yet. Let's actually fight to keep us from getting there. How about we start acting like grown ups?

More on this:

OK, get the popcorn, because I'm bringing you some Instagram drama! Here's the graphic that was posted, and this is the response to the situation in Charlottesville, VA. 

The response was swift. I have decided that I have said my piece and will not continue to "discuss" this issue further with this young man, should he decide to reply to my last comment (it has been about 45 minutes with no response). Now, as Instagram goes, someone else did step in and replied to the young man as well, and he may choose to reply to him, too. But I won't continue. Arguing with people online only goes so far before it just becomes boring. I have a short threshold. 

I have blacked out his information for his protection and right to privacy. His account is, of course, private. 

An Internet troll I ain't. Look, if you've not had experience with me to date, you will come to learn that I am very laid back. I have a lot of reasons for this. Over the last year, my blood pressure shot up so high my doctor wanted to put me on medication to bring it down. I'm not going to allow current events, politics, or other people to kill me. That's not going to happen. I've also aged and matured. I believe technically I am considered a millennial, but there is some debate as to whether or not I aged out because I may be one or two years too old to be considered a millennial. However, five years ago, if this interaction had gone down, my response would have been a lot different and it would have been all out war. For no reason. 

I can only hope that people like the young man above eventually reach a time in their lives where they hit that threshold like I did. 

Now, there is actually a reason why I decided I needed to share this particular interaction with you, because normally I leave the hate where it should be... somewhere else. 

1. Donald Trump was never accused of racism until he ran against the democrats. So maybe you need to sit down and think about that for a minute. 
2. If you want people to stop judging you as a part of a whole, stop doing it to others. Are there racists on the right? Sure there are. Same as there are Muslim terrorists. Same as there are racists on the left. Same as there are black criminals. That doesn't mean all are the same. Not all the folks on the right or left are racist. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all blacks are criminals. 
3. What the heck does "ctfu" mean? I don't speak Tumblr.
4. Now, let's address this "Amerikkka that all black people have had to live with their entire lives." Do black people experience racism? Yes, they do. I'm sure a good deal of them have, at some point, experienced real racism in some form. But you've got a choice. You can allow that to consume you and become a hate filled thug, or you can show them up and become a success. A lot of your African-American brothers and sisters are doing very well for themselves. Families. Nice homes and cars. Running successful businesses, or have a successful career. They are living their lives. However they choose, where ever they choose, with whoever they choose. They may still take part in protests. But they don't allow the problems of their parents to consume them, and they don't go out actively seeking enemies. Choose wisely. 
5. Don't come out and tell people on the right to condemn the actions of the white nationalists in Charlottesville only to chastise them and call them liars when they do. What you want is for them to agree with you 100% on everything or else. That's not going to happen. 
6. Do I blame Obama for this? No. I don't think he has that kind of power. Do I think he had the same twisted mindset that you do? Yes. Do I think you believe he hates as hard as you do? Yes. Do I agree that Obama does, in fact, hate as hard as you do? No, I don't. Obama can do and say whatever the hell he wants to. At the end of the day, your thoughts, actions, and hate are on you and you alone. I don't blame Obama. I blame you. Even if Obama had stood at a podium at some point and openly said to revolt and kill white people, the choice would be yours to make to do it or not. The blame is on you.
7. I didn't seek you out. Not that I could, since you aren't brave enough to make your profile public and stand behind your hate. You sought me out. You actively looked for people who were right or right leaning so you could chastise them even if they said they didn't agree with the white nationalists, because you convinced yourself that every single person on the right - every single person you don't agree with 100% - every single white person - hates you, no matter what they say or do. You were looking for an enemy. Period. And you are not my enemy. You never will be. I won't allow you to be my enemy. Because no matter what you believe or how much you hate me, you are my fellow countrymen and I will never consider you the enemy. I'm sorry you have created your own persona for who I am and what I believe and have decided that I am your enemy. But you are not my enemy. And until we can stop making each other our enemy, there will be no solution. There will always be an -ist and a -phobe, because you will always create one where none stand. This is what happens when you refuse to take people as individuals and judge them by their character. You box people and create enemies out of what could be a friend. 

To the groups doing battle in Charlottesville, VA today... you disgust me. All of you. The white nationalists. Antifa. Black Lives Matter. You all disgust me. You are fighting against and hating your own countrymen. You are judging people based on created boxes instead of as individuals. You are creating your own enemies. You are demanding freedoms be done away with. You are acting as the thought police. You are curbing free speech. You are making violence against each other. You are pitting countrymen against countrymen. And you are sickening. You are fixing nothing. You are creating enemies and creating problems where there were none. You are tearing us further apart. All of you. None of you are better than the other. You are all the absolute dredges of society. You are the poster children for what our children should strive to be most unlike. 

​Saying "all black people..." is wrong. But saying "all white people..." is just as wrong. 

​This needs to end. And the end of it needs to start with you. 

Please note that the University of Georgia did get wind of this and put a stop to it. So this policy above is no longer active in the classroom, but there was an archived syllabus of the original policy available, which you can see at the source link.

If this doesn't scare you, it should. While I'm glad the prof. did away with the policy, you know damn well it will probably still be enacted carefully, just not written down for the students. 

This is a bad policy on so many levels. College is a place for prepping for the real world, which is going to come screeching in to these students a lot sooner than they may realize. None of this stuff can be active in a job, and in all honesty, things like this are why so many employers are getting scared to hire this generation of graduates. If they get in college, they're going to expect it in life. And businesses can't function like this. No, not even the ones with extreme leftist CEOs. 

When I was in college - and please note, it wasn't that long ago, I graduated in 2003 - I had a teacher that was considered to be "fluffy." He was the equivalent of this teacher in harder times. I loved this teacher, because I knew what he was doing... and I took 14 classes with him. He was, thankfully, the head of the department I majored in. 

He was considered "fluffy" because he gave no homework and didn't do exams. At all. In any class. And a lot of students signed up for his classes thinking it was going to be a breeze.

Most of those students dropped the class after the first week. 

We didn't need exams and homework. The work load in this class was amazingly difficult. He had us working constantly. There was a lot of roll playing, props, sending us out into the campus to talk to strangers, etc. We worked hard in that class. So hard. We learned a lot. Literature. Deductive reasoning. Problem solving. Social skills. History. Creative writing. Journalistic writing. We learned the world was not always a friendly place. 

I got sent out into the world to interview someone who was unfriendly. I found a guy who... well, let's just say this was the first time I met someone who openly hated white people. It wasn't as cool on college campuses then as it is now. But this guy was my age, African American. And he was known to very much dislike white people. I got extra credit because I managed to get him to sit down with me, alone, and talk to me about what he believed. For a solid hour. And made him a friend. Not a good friend, but we said hello to each other, and once in a while he sat with me while he ate lunch, much to the shock of everyone around us. 

But this teacher was under constant fire from the school for being "fluffy." No exams and no homework amounted to us doing nothing and getting easy grades. 

Boy, how things have changed! This guy would be a downright tyrant now. 

I'll never forget my "fluffy" teacher, though. I learned more from him in a few years than I learned in my entire education. Yeah, I learned a lot about my chosen major, but I also learned a lot about life, overcame personal hurdles, etc. from this teacher. And that's what you are supposed to get from college, preparation for the real world. He loved his students and wanted us all to succeed, but he made us pass or fail on our own. Whatever grade you got, you earned it. And when you left the class you knew you deserved whatever grade you got. 

I hated school. I skipped class often. But I took 14 classes with this guy... and I missed one day. He called me that day, too - as did most of my classmates - because it was assumed I was dead if I missed one of his classes. 

If you are a teacher, be this guy. Don't be Prof. Safe Space up there. Be the teacher that students walk out of the class loving you or hating you with no middle ground, but they all learned something about life and know it. Make them earn their grade, because they will either improve or feel really good about themselves and strive to keep that feeling alive through their education. Have your students leave college ready for reality. 

Ahem. Have you seen the chicken?

Now, I'll be honest. I saw one of the memes before I saw the article. If you follow our Facebook page, you probably realized that. But when I saw the meme, I wasn't sure if this was for real or not.

Shortly after, I confirmed the existence of the chicken. That glorious, glorious chicken.

I would be lying if I said my first thought wasn't that I wanted it on my front lawn immediately! My first action was, in fact, to call my mother - after I posted about it, of course - to tell her we were taking a road trip to D.C. to collect the chicken, because it had to be mine! Right now! 

Yes, it is safe to say, we can all agree on one thing in this country right now... that chicken is amazing.

In light of recent events, though, I don't see what was trying to be said. Trump was just all "fire and fury" the other day, and the liberals heads are currently still exploding over his "dangerous" and "frightening" rhetoric. I have never seen a dangerous or frightening chicken, even with amazing golden hair. 

Myself, I just laugh it off. Have you been to D.C.? If you haven't, let me explain to you the beauty that is the front sidewalk of the White House. I haven't been recently, but I was there in August of 2010. I do not recommend D.C. in August, by the way. And that's coming from someone who had to drive north to get there. I went during Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally and skipped the rally (I went because Marcus Luttrell was doing a meet and greet and I had a feeling that would be my only shot to meet him. He's a wonderful guy, by the way). I spent a solid day running around D.C., and spent time in front of the White House. I saw: 

• A guy holding an anti-Iraq war sign and singing. Badly.
• A group of hippies in a small tent city with more signs hung all over the tents than most liberals have bumper stickers on their cars.
• Two guys shooting a heavy metal video.
• A guy arguing with Obama... who wasn't in D.C. at the time, let alone standing there listening to him. 
• A woman "riding" a stuffed donkey.

And so much more! It was more entertaining than anything else I've ever seen, and I spent my youth hanging out in NYC! 

So a giant chicken really is just another day at the White House. 

Click here for a chicken surprise like no other. Be warned, it's addictive. 

Oh, there are so many directions I can go with this one, let's have some fun! 

According to this, a gym in Atlanta, Georgia posted up a handwritten sign banning cops and veterans from using their facility. The message posted looks very disjointed and was apparently written with someone's foot. 

First off... a question. Since they are using their right as a business owner to refuse to do business with certain groups of individuals based on a personal moral code, are they going to be heavily fined and run out of business for it?

Now. Obviously, this is their business. They have the right to do business with whoever they please, and turn away whoever they please. That doesn't seem to work out so well for a lot of folks, but this is how it is supposed to work. You have the right to go elsewhere. As was stated in the cases with the bakers who refused service for a gay wedding, why would you want to go to a gym where the guy who owns the joint hates you based on your profession? 

In this case, response time might be a little delayed if something goes down that requires law enforcement assistance, as well. Those are the gambles you take. 

As a citizen who is neither a cop nor a veteran, I might be a little hesitant to use the gym as well. Since the owner hates the cops so much, if someone steals something from my locker or kicks the crap out of me in the shower, are they going to call 911 to assist me, or am I on my own because the owner just can't stand having cops around? If I fling myself off of a piece of equipment and slam into a wall like a rag doll, will he call 911 to get me an ambulance, or am I on my own again because he doesn't want to risk the EMTs being veterans? So yeah, I might consider going elsewhere as well. 

Look, I'm going to defend this gym the same way I defended those bakers who turned away the gay wedding. It's their business. They should have the right to turn away whoever they want, and the people can decide for themselves after that decision is made if they want to do business with this place themselves even if they don't fit into the refused categories. You can't legislate morality. Period. It doesn't work. But you can make a choice to stand up for the refused groups by going somewhere else as well if you don't agree with the decision. If you are part of the refused groups, why would you want to do business with someone who doesn't want you around? Go elsewhere, the experience will be better. And let the market bear the brunt of their decision. 

According to this, the sign has been removed, but will be replaced with another sign that removes the vulgarity. He claims the ban is because he caters to minorities who are uncomfortable with cops. No word on whether or not he actually asked those minorities if cops make them uncomfortable or if he just assumed they did. 

This is rhetoric that we've been hearing for some time, and I have to tell you... I find it disturbing. 

The office of president - really, any political post in any country - is not just for making history. Our president is the leader of the free world. What we should be judging our choices for this position on are their character and ability to do the job. That far out ways the "firsts" the left is wanting to push into the office. 

Is having a female president a good idea? Yes! I'd love to see a female president. But I'm not going to throw my own principals or my country under the bus to get it. Hillary was not a good choice. I don't care how in love some on the left were with her. The woman has been getting groomed for the office her entire life, and she was willing to do literally anything to get the position. And when she lost, she blamed everything and everyone but herself. This is a woman who obstructed justice, destroyed evidence, outright lied to cover her own butt, and destroyed the lives of people who got in her way. 

When the right female comes along, I'd be willing to cast my vote, and I don't doubt many others would follow suit. I'm not a straight line voter, so party doesn't play a huge roll for me. I don't vote for a lot of democrats, but it isn't unheard of for me to do it. I look for the best choice.

And at the end of the day... if you are looking for true equality, the fact that she lost is proof it is there. She didn't get the vote of people based completely on her being a woman and people wanting to make history. People looked at her and said, "Nah." That is equality. If Hillary had even a shred of humanity and could have at least pretended with some conviction to be a decent person, she might have taken the electoral votes. But Hillary doesn't elicit confidence and comfort. She's a creepy woman. Period. 

Give us a woman to vote for. Give us a woman who isn't an extremist that has been groomed her entire life for one roll. Give us a woman with character and morals. A woman is actually strong, not just says she is. Someone we can look to as being a decent representative of our gender and most importantly our country. And we'll vote for her.

But so far, you haven't shown me anything. Your female picks for 2020 aren't looking good, either.