Failure of Leadership

Anyone who could not anticipate that urban protests would spiral into looting was willfully blind. The dereliction of duty of Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper should astound. Why was the National Guard not deployed preemptively in Tennessee's capital city? These politicians who failed to protect businesses and even government buildings are nearly as responsible as the rioters for the damage that was incurred as any leader with a grain of sense would have deployed sufficient force that lawbreakers dare not act up and that show of force would have staved off most, if not all, of the damage.

Protests Must Cease

Martial law must be imposed in a number of American cities. Legitimate protests with plenty of good cause started in Minneapolis and Louisville, but were quickly subsumed by outside agitators, largely white and mainly constituted of ANTIFA members and Black Flag anarchists in riots across the country. A handful of Communist Party USA members have joined in the violence as well. This outbreak of urban violence may be spontaneous in some cases, but in others may have been planned in advance. In almost all cases, very few members of local African-American communities have breached the peace, though they have, as would ordinarily be their right, gathered to protest police abuses. Because of the outsiders who have infiltrated the peaceful demonstrations to spark violence, burn, and loot, the forces of government must temporarily suspend the ordinarily protected right of assembly in those areas where riots have or are expected to take place. I do not take lightly suspending any aspect of the US Constitution, but in this exigency, the normally unthinkable must be done. If any event in my lifetime has risen to a national emergency, this one is it.

Law and Order

We can not tolerate chaos and anarchy on the streets of America. Order must be restored to the streets of Minneapolis and anywhere else copycat disruption is taking place. Justice should be swift and certain for the victims of police abuses, but the nation must not be allowed to descend into disorder.

Some Amazing Abilities

The wonderful dog I described in yesterday's post had some unusual talents. Soon after we collected Casey, our state's heavyweight college football program, the Tennessee Volunteers, started their run toward their last national championship. We would sing Rocky Top at home with the fans in the stands and Casey would "sing" right along with us. Casey was also fastidiously clean for a dog fellow, wanting to wash his "hands" in his water bowl every time he returned from a walk. (Sometimes, he would wash his back paws too). He was also a bodyguard to our family. He would stay between us and any visitor and would growl if anyone outside the family and my girlfriend made a move toward any of us. Casey was a grand dog and none of the others are quite like him.

Most Remarkable Dog

My first Keeshond was a foundling. My long-term ex picked him up wandering on a Nashville street. We sponsored him at the Nashville Humane Society in our attempt to reconnect him with his rightful owner. Without our sponsorship, the Humane Association had wanted to put him down right away, saying he was an Akita with a growth hormone problem. In fact, he was just a huge (for the breed) male Keeshond, who had been shaved down. We took him at the end of the two weeks when no one came forward to collect him. My ex named him "Max". He never seemed to answer to that name. We could not keep him at my ex's condo, so he ended up at my parent's home. One day early on there, Mom and I were trying out names to see if non-"Max" heard a familiar one. In the list, I said "Casey". I wasn't paying close attention, and Mom insisted I say the name again, saying the dog had evinced recognition. I didn't know which sobriquet she wanted me to repeat, but when I figured she saw the dog respond to that name, I repeated "Casey". The now former "Max" excitedly ran to me in joyful spinning circles, telling us we had discovered his original name. Casey was my unforgettable boy, who certainly left us too soon.

Not the Virus

COVID-19 certainly has killed some Americans, but it is the politicians who have killed America. The United States could survive a very transmissible disease, but we can not endure having the job-creating engine of small business eradicated in this country by government edicts.

So Very Fragile

Who would have thought a virus could destroy America? Who would have guessed that government would have forced the permanent closure of a third of the nation's small businesses by "locking down" "non-essential" businesses for a couple of months? Who would have surmised that we would go from almost full employment to forty-seven million unemployed and well over one hundred million able adults out of the workforce in the span of two months? We have a country that could very well fail and will certainly do so if Joe Biden is elected.