ESPN, long the MSNBC of sports, made a bizarre executive decision to remove Asian-American football announcer Robert Lee from the William and Mary vs. Virginia game.

It looked like a headline from "The Onion." But no, ESPN continues to make a left-wing joke of itself. Northern liberal elites' hatred of the South has finally spilled over to South Korea.

ESPN’s premise: racists would make fun of poor Robert Lee and perhaps riot.

No one cared.

ESPN’s move mirrors the goal of fellow Traveler(s) on the left, which is to paint the right and the South as racist.

Since drifting to the left, the struggling sports quasi-monopoly has lost 10 million viewers. Yet its owner, Disney, continues to let it make stupid PC decisions. ESPN spun this decision as a courageous move and said that it was protecting poor Robert Lee. I smell the bestowing of an Arthur Ashe Award of Courage on themselves at the ESPYs.

And ESPN covering William and Mary? It’s our oldest college, so you know either William or Mary was up to no good. Find something racist to feign selective outrage; don’t be lazy journalists!

ESPN locks us up like slaves in those oppressive cable contracts so we don’t get no uppity ideas about escaping. So, in the spirit of the real Robert E. Lee, let’s organize a militia, flank the network from the South, break the cable cords to ESPN, and declare our sovereignty from its lobbyist-driven pricing oppression.

Let’s run the Statue of Libertarian play on ESPN: Get a TV antenna at Wal-Mart for $20 and you can get crystal-clear HD of the major broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and FOX) for free. Then try to unbundle and get Fox News on cable.

Cut the cable cord and save $1,000 after-tax dollars a year. Just go to a sports bar or a friend’s house to watch the occasional game you must see live on ESPN.

You know ESPN is way left if Keith Olbermann flourished there. He has been fired from other stations like MSNBC, NBC, Current TV and local KCBS. Had Confederate Civil War cannons been fired as much as Olbermann, our nation's capital would be Richmond, Va.

Let’s be clear on history. As mayor of Baltimore, Nancy Pelosi’s dad dedicated statues of Confederate soldiers. Almost all statues of Confederate generals were erected by Democrats. And more Republicans died from recent gunshot wounds in Chicago than fought for the South in the Civil War.

As a Southerner, I can tell you we have moved on. The only reason some want to display a Confederate flag anymore is because pious [people] in the northern media tell us we can’t. Houston, Texas, citizen rednecks in their bass boats, some with rebel flags, rescued blacks, whites and Hispanics — equally — from the flooding. We did not whine about government being the answer.

You Northerners in cities like Boston need to look at yourselves and ask, who are really more racist? Stop projecting on us.

One lesson we can learn from ESPN that our generals learned in the Civil War: If you find yourself sitting atop a dead horse, dismount as soon as you can.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Stop projecting racism — Southerners have moved on

Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast are devastated. Never has an area been so blasted by so much rainfall in such a short amount of time.

Houston has received more rainfall than any other city across the United States receives in one entire year. So far over 51 inches of rain has fallen, with more rainfall to come. Everyone in America and much of the world with a television or computer knows about the suffering of Houston. Our prayers go out to them as well as our financial support, our manpower and anything we can do to help the millions of people who are homeless and suffering.

Experts are predicting Hurricane Harvey will cost the economy $25-30 billion because of the rain. Most of Houston is closed down due to the storm. The oil and gas industry and thousands of jobs tied to other manufacturing such as the food service giant Sysco are closed. The Port of Houston, several hospitals and both major airports are closed.

Essentially the fifth largest economy in the United States is at a dead stop.

The infrastructure damage to Houston will be in the billions. Reports have come from all the national media outlets on the significant number of people in Houston who do not have flood insurance. Thousands of homes will either be impossible to salvage or will cost upward of $12-15 billion to repair, according to reports.

Oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico make up nearly half of the nation's refining capacity. If these refineries are flooded they will be difficult to repair and there will be extensive gasoline shortages in our country. We are already seeing prices go up at the pump and thus our entire economy will be impacted.

Most of us will know of someone directly impacted by Hurricane Harvey. At this moment my wife's aunt and husband are still in their house in Houston and they are not flooded, which is a miracle I think. Several times a day we have text messaged or called to see how they are doing. Once her aunt Facetimed their neighborhood to prove to us that water had not gotten to them yet.

Most likely the number of dead bodies will not be really known until days and maybe even weeks after Houstonians are into their cleanup.

While the devastation of Houston is like a very scary movie, it's nothing like what we would face if one nuclear bomb fell on an American city similar to Houston. The loss of life, housing, industry and infrastructure would be far greater. Houston will be repaired and houses will be rebuilt. Rebuilding after a nuclear bomb would be a different story. Such a horrific act would create suffering across our nation like we have never felt before.

Houston is hurting and Americans are pulling together from non-profits, churches and helping hands from across America.

Once again it will be proven that the heart of America is helping each other. Americans do care about each other and want the best for our towns and our country.

Media lately has been highlighting all the tension between a few groups of people and hatred displayed by these groups. The vast majority of Americans may disagree and argue quite a bit. However, while Hurricane Harvey hurts our country, it will demonstrate once again that the majority of Americans want the very best for each other.

We will pull together for Houston and the other neighboring towns. This is one reason why we are still the United States of America — and the greatest country of all. 

Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author.

What's your view? Write a letter to the editor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: We will pull together for Houston, neighboring towns

October will mark the 16th year since President George W. Bush announced the first strikes against Afghanistan. In June 2010 we surpassed Vietnam as the longest conflict in U.S. history.

President Obama ended the combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014. But the U.S. and Afghanistan governments reached an agreement to keep some American troops in the country even after the combat mission ended. Coalition troops remain in the country as well.

Three presidents now have their hands tied to Afghanistan. President George W. Bush addressed the nation from the White House to announce the first airstrikes in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001. Obama made major prime-time addresses to announce both troop build-ups and withdrawals, and President Donald Trump used his first prime-time address from the White House to speak about the war.

The number of troops serving in Afghanistan has been approximately 8,400.  We are going to extend that number past 12,000.

We have lost 2,403 soldiers in Afghanistan. 2010 was the deadliest year losing 499 U.S. soldiers and 711 total coalition forces killed. By comparison 4,523 U.S. troops have been killed since the Iraq war began in 2003.

The citizens of Afghanistan have paid a heavy price. Tens of thousands are thought to have died since 2001.  The United Nations recently reported that 3,498 Afghan civilians were killed in 2016 alone and 7,920 were injured, making it the deadliest year for civilian casualties since he U.N. began counting in 2009. At the half year mark of 2017 in July 1,662 there had been 1,662 deaths and 3,581 injured.

Brown University has a Cost of War Project. The group estimates the total cost of the war to be $783 billion through fiscal year 2016.  That number swells to $1.8 trillion when factoring in long-term spending like veterans' care interest on debt, researchers found. One Congressional Research Service Report estimated the operational cost of the war in Afghanistan was $686 billion through 2014.

When will it end? President Trump said he does not want to nation-build but only stay long enough to eliminate the terrorists. If this is the plan, then I don't think we will ever leave Afghanistan. There are always new terrorists being raised up. ISIS and the Taliban are teaching Children to hate America as well as Christian nations and countries where women and people are treated equally. We may kill more and have more control in the nation of Afghanistan but there seems to be a root of evil that will never be eliminated.

Sadly, people in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern nations have fought among themselves for centuries. While we don't want Afghanistan to be wide open for terror cells to once again topple and control towns, just how long will we stay to fight this enemy? While I like President Trump's vision to eliminate all the bad guys and then get out of the country, I personally don't see it happening. Because, as soon as we leave, the terrorists who have been hiding somewhere else will return and we will back in Afghanistan again. This means for the rest of our lives we will work in America to pay taxes to maintain military bases in Afghanistan so we can keep several thousand troops present and ship more soldiers there quickly as the tide of violence returns.

By the way, just a medium-size military base costs about $1.553 billion to operate a year. A small base costs about $828 million, more or less, to operate each year. One spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force says there are nearly 400 U.S. and coalition bases in Afghanistan including camps, forward operating bases, and combat outposts. In addition, there are at least 300 Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police bases, most of them built, maintained or supported by the United States.  So do the math and you can see why somebody in America has to work just to keep these mega money drainers operating.

Now you know why you can't have your full Social Security retirement check at 65. Your money is going elsewhere and will be for a long time – probably forever.

Will our war in Afghanistan ever end? The end is not in sight.

Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author.

What's your view? Write a letter to the editor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Afghanistan – The End Is Not In Sight

"And then one day, for no particular reason, people were mad at statues." — Forrest Gump if he were alive today

In the divisive issue of what to do with Confederate statues around the country, one reason we should take a breath here and not engage in the politics of history is to understand the past. Totalitarian regimes like the Nazis, Bolsheviks, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, North Korea’s Kim family, the Taliban, etc. all tore down statues relating to any history they did not like and rewrote all narratives to make themselves the heroes.

Yet the dream of the Saul Alinsky-left is to cause turmoil, rewrite history in their favor, and divide a country to gain power in the tumult they create. Every totalitarian movement manufactures an enemy; Hitler made the Jews his (and Germany's) scapegoat. It never ends well.

The small number of 200 “white nationalists” in Charlottesville were able to get the attention of a nation of 330 million people by espousing idiotic views. What are white nationalists? They should just be called Klan Lite.

All this conjured-up hyperventilating about Trump's response to Charlottesville is just more of the condescending indignation of a press that wants to delegitimize his presidency any way it can. Parsing the phrasing of a response is just a silly word game. No one could rationally believe Trump is a white supremacist any more than he or she could reason that he is a Russian pawn.

The tired article of faith among the media and the left is that anyone who disagrees with them politically is a racist. This is particularly acute for us Southerners. They think we all watch "Gone with the Wind" backward so that it will have a happy ending.

We are a nation that likes to fight. Sending more troops to Afghanistan and doubling down on a $2 trillion mistake is the latest. War is just another unfunded government program. We are so eager to fight we are about to fight another civil war — over our last Civil War.

Almost all countries on earth were involved in slavery at some point in their history. America hasn’t had slaves for 150 years, unless you count Wal-Mart employees and interns at CNN.

The slicing and dicing of purportedly wronged voters into buckets of victims, known as identity politics, was accelerated under Obama. That is why we cannot be totally surprised when small groups of disaffected whites start to coalesce around their own “identity” concerns.

Racial issues are intensifying, yet racial double standards remain. Whites can listen to rap music, but we certainly cannot sing along.

Polls tell us that race relations, long on the mend, got worse under Obama, a man uniquely positioned to make them better. To call a nation that twice elected an African-American president "racist" seems at odds with reality.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden's theme was that we need to have uncomfortable talks about race with each other. In my view, that dialogue between whites and blacks is difficult in cities like New York and Los Angeles because neither side speaks Spanish.

Biden has done his part in the race wars. No one did more to dispel the myth of white supremacy than Joe Biden.

Signs of “No Free Speech for Fascists!” appeared at the Charlottesville counter-protests, yet free speech is the best way our society has to identify the idiots who live among us.

When does this path to totalitarianism end? Trump is right: Robert E. Lee now, but will Jefferson and Washington be next? I told my Washington and Lee University grad buddies that, at this rate, they will have to repeat college.

It’s easier for opponents to call Trump racist now, rather than resorting to their narrative of the last six months calling him a communist, because that only increases his support among Democrats.

It might again surprise the media, which condescendingly manufactured this faux indignation over Trump’s initial response to Charlottesville, that it actually might help Trump.

He remains the Road Runner to their Wile E. Coyote.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: In the path of totalitarianism

Putin, Castro, et al are all multi-billionaires. North Korea’s "Dear Leader," Kim Jong-Un, and his family are billionaires too, while his people starve in obsequious servitude. Communism always works well for the ones in charge of it.

Communism and socialism tout their great achievements “for the people” — free health care, free education and equality. But their failures remain breakfast, lunch and supper.

President Trump tried diplomacy with North Korea early, agreeing to meet with leader Kim Jong-Un "under the right circumstances." A Nobel Peace Prize- winning overture if you’re a Democrat, but an “uninformed diplomatic blunder” if you’re a Republican.

To sum up, years of policy failures, looking the other way, and diplomatic back-door payoffs to North Korean regimes when they threaten us have kicked the can down the road and gotten us to this point. I like what Sen. Lindsey Graham said: “President Trump inherited a mess. All those 'smart people' who are criticizing his rhetoric and his policy, how well did you do?”

The result? North Korea is on the verge of getting a nuke that could hit California, and some say it could eventually reach some of our good states, the ones in the South.

The Washington Post reported recently that a long-range ICB missile fired by Kim Jong-Un could make it to New York City in 37 minutes (assuming it doesn’t have to go through TSA). That scared the East Coast liberal elites. A missile that can make it to New York City? New Yorkers know better than most: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. 

But here is the good news: North Korea sucks at this. If you pay attention to news reports of Kim Jong-Un’s ICB missile program, the safest spot you can be is where North Korea is aiming its rockets.

All this began on the Fourth of July, when Kim oversaw the shooting of a rocket into the sea. Someone should tell him that he needs to be careful; that's a great way to lose a finger.

Under my doctrine, I would let him continue to experiment with explosives. With dolts like those who pin medals on each others’ chests for feats less than a Cub Scout merit badge, we should let them continue to monkey with nuclear rockets, setting them off in a country the size of New Jersey. This crisis just might take care of itself.

Communist regimes can’t figure out nuke-tipped jet propulsion rockets. They can’t even figure out how to get toilet paper to their citizens. And the only cities they talk about attacking are L.A. and New York. Chicago is never mentioned. I don’t think they would shoot a missile at Chicago for fear of all the return fire they’d incur.

So we find ourselves with two leaders, both men with questionable haircuts, in a war of words with international implications over issues which could probably be solved by them sharing a 2-for-1 haircut coupon at Great Clips.

Democrats believe only diplomacy remains our primary line of defense against North Korea. Their second line of defense is locking their doors and acting like they are not at home when the bad guys come by. Sadly, liberals' go-to defense, calling opponents "racist," will not work here.

Trump decided to dial up the rhetoric. He said he’s “locked and loaded,” which is twice as much as other presidents did. President Johnson was just loaded when he talked to North Korea.

I don’t believe Lil' Kim will attack us. He has a sweet gig going. He’s rich, snorts coke, has lots of adoring young women at his beck and call, and is a porn enthusiast.  He loves cognac, NBA basketball and Viagra. The truth is he won’t attack Los Angeles out of professional courtesy. He probably still thinks Dennis Rodman was Barack Obama. No doubt, Rodman left a diplomatic legacy on his trips to North Korea. That, and hepatitis.

At the end of the day, Kim Jung-Un reasons that his only chance to beat Trump is probably shooting missiles, not a war of words. He'd best use missiles because he knows Trump would annihilate him in a Twitter fight.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Two leaders in a war of words

Does anybody in America truly want to repeat another horrific Charlottesville? 

I hope the answer is no but it seems there are different groups lusting for more of Charlottesville. Three people were killed and many others injured in a display of civil warfare reminiscent of what I used to watch on the evening news back in the '60s.

Are there hate groups in America? The answer is yes. Is there racism in America? The answer is yes. Is the solution to hate and racism violence? No. Hurting one another, cursing each other, violating each other and trying to kill each other comes from the basest and most depraved human beings.

 Where is the common sense of what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia? There was no commonsense.

How do we avoid another Charlottesville?

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of violence. Every group that protests in any community in the United States should first gain a permit from the local county or city government for a day and length of time with an exact location to hold the march or protest. The protest must be civil. There is no need for guns at a march or at rally to speak. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to start shooting off guns.

Next, the group should be required to put up a deposit of cash. It takes money to clean up a town after hundreds or thousands of people have dropped their cigarette butts and pop cans everywhere. Part of the cash deposit should be refundable if the group marches orderly and leaves the community orderly.

Tell all the local people that the protestors are coming and to leave town or find something else to do. In other words ignore them. The best way to kill anything is indifference. Indifference has been killing churches and marriages for many years now.

Forbid another group to protest at the same time. Civil freedom of speech should mean I get a turn and then you get a turn. However national cable television news and presidential debates have proven that there is little civility and manners in our nation anymore. People start talking and then opponents begin yelling trying to drown them out. Any group that has a permit to march and speak about their cause should have a chance to say what they want to say. When they are finished the opposing group should pay their fee to march and have their say about the issue.

Yelling at each other and throwing things and driving cars into crowds gains nothing but death, more hatred and more violence.

A date and time set by the city and county gives local and state police the opportunity to organize in such a way to save lives. An event such as Charlottesville requires hundreds of state police people and maybe even the National Guard. Yes, this is tragic.

When a group marched in Pikeville, Kentucky last April 29 no one was killed. Lots of words were hurled by the opposing groups but the community and the police kept the order. The groups came, the police made convincing barricades and lives were sparred. The Pikeville commissioners notably disallowed either of the groups to wear hoods or masks in their protesting. This is another good move that all city and county governments need to enforce in the future.

When groups interrupt and act violently toward those speaking they should be hauled off to jail until somebody pays their fine to get them out.

I was in the St. Louis airport the other day and there is a Freedom of Speech stand in the airport. People can stand at that location and give a speech. Nobody was giving one while I was there.

Every community should protect freedom of speech. No one speaking and conducting him or herself in a civil manner should have to fear being assaulted or run over by a car.

Those speaking should never be threatening to anyone physically nor should listeners be allowed to threaten the speaker. Where or how does violence resolve any issue? Unless of course people want another Civil War where hundreds of thousands of people were killed in order to get the point across.

Is this what we want in America? Surely we do not want to go backward to such a brutal and archaic time in our history?  

Violence will only provoke more violence and more hatred. We are a multicultural society. All colors and backgrounds live in America. The solution to our success is to quit biting and fighting each other and work together. Or, have we become just too barbaric?

Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author.

What's your view? Write a letter to the editor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: How to avoid another Charlottesville

Editor's Note: This guest column is a response to the News Bulletin's story, "Overcoming the odds: Though hard of hearing, Crestview student remains in choir, cheer squad," published in the Aug. 16-18, 2017, edition.

The deaf are beautiful people who have — in the past, at least — often been misunderstood and categorized as "less than" or "handicapped."

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

From the first time I observed a high school choral classmate using sign language to interpreting a song, I became passionate to learn the language.

I had never met a deaf person. I did not know about their silent world. I did not realize how isolated they were from society. All I knew as a high school student was that sign language was beautiful and I wanted to perform with my choral group. As shallow as that seems today, it was the catalyst to change all my perceptions.

I enrolled in a sign language class for beginners and, upon completion, had a faint understanding of the importance of this whole new world into which I was entering on tiptoe and with a sense of awe.

After a subsequent advanced course, I was tapped as proficient and invited by the instructor to become a counselor at a summer camp for deaf children.

As a junior in high school I was both honored and excited to participate. Getting to rub elbows with these children, immersing myself in their special culture, and most of all, discovering how being deaf makes for a very lonely world, sent me on a deeper journey of discovery.

I began to just show up at the food court in a local mall where these teenagers hung out. We chatted and, since I never spoke but signed to them in their special language, at first they believed I was one of them. They accepted me into their group.

They were totally surprised I cared enough to come out and meet them when they found out I was not deaf. They were equally surprised that I had such an interest (and) passion to learn their language.

As time passed, I ended up taking a teen to a movie and interpreting for over two hours. Being able to partially lip read in the movie did not give one the full experience of the audio. It was the first time this teenager had ever been to a movie theater!

One day I had just left the doctor's office when a man frantically came up to me and was signing and trying to speak. I instantly recognized he was deaf and I began to use sign language to communicate. Tears came to his eyes. He had been unable to talk to his doctor or nurses and he desperately needed someone to interpret.

I jumped out of my car and we went back in, where I was able to help him. I called such instances "divine appointments."

As Oprah would say, that experience was an ah-ha moment for me. I saw how great the needs for interpretations were. The people who could be of service through sign language were few and far between.

In 1995, Hurricane Eloise was another area-wide wake up call where an entire deaf community was concerned. After the Class 2 strike, emergency personnel searched neighborhoods to assess damage. To their dismay, an entire mobile home park full of deaf residents had not received alerts that Hurricane Eloise had turned around at Mobile, Alabama and headed back to make landfall at Navarre Beach!

The fact that these Okaloosa residents were fairly isolated and protected in an inland wooded area saved their lives! We can now fully appreciate today's technology that alerts the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Technology is no substitute, however, for that personal touch — that interaction with people which sign language gives those who take the time to study and learn the skill.

It is not necessarily how much we know, or even how much understanding we have, unless we put those skills into practice and show the deaf community the language of love.

Elisa McCrite is a Destin resident.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: People can serve through sign language

Many of the registered voters of Crestview (myself included) have been apathetic in our participation of local elections. If you’re like me, you probably make time for the big ones like the presidential election, but the local ones usually slip through the cracks. The last election, for example, yielded a 3.8% voter turnout, which is pathetic — and we can do better.

We don’t have any elections on the immediate horizon, however in the meantime there are some actions we can take to participate in our city. One such action would be to demand accountability from our elected officials and their campaign promises.

Joe Blocker, Shannon Hayes and Bill Cox were all elected in 2013. Since they are all the longest-sitting council members, much of this op-ed will be directed toward them (also, because of those elected to the council, these three are the only ones I am able to cite quotes back to the Crestview News Bulletin — JB Whitten was elected in 2015, and I was unable to find a “Meet the Candidates” featuring him — possibly because he was uncontested, but I can’t confirm that. The other council member, Doug Faircloth, was appointed and did not run on any campaign promises.)

First we’ll start with their answers to the question, “What do you feel is the biggest challenge you face?” Mr. Blocker’s question was worded slightly different (and in a separate article).

Mr. Blocker was uniquely asked, “What do you see as your biggest challenge and how will you address it?” His answer was “Restoring trust and confidence in our elected and appointed leaders.“

Mr. Hayes’ answer: “I don’t see any large issues at the time that the council cannot adequately address.”

Mr. Cox’s answer: “I will encourage greater citizen turnout at council meetings, including newer arrivals to Crestview who are concentrated in Precinct 2.”

It would appear Mr. Blocker answered half the question, but didn’t offer how he planned to overcome the challenge. My initial reaction to Mr. Hayes’ answer is that it wasn’t extremely well thought out — if you interact with the entire community, the odds of hearing that the only issues facing Crestview can be adequately addressed by a twice/month, part-time council, would be extremely slim. Mr. Cox’s answer sounds awesome — but he focuses his representation to Precinct 2 in the promise which, to me, says “I will only represent Precinct 2.”

At least its transparent?

Another quote of Mr. Blocker in the same “Meet the Candidates” article referenced above: “My goal — and reason for seeking this council seat position — is to restore trust and confidence in our elected and appointed leaders. As your city council representative, I will serve you by passionately advocating for your needs and ensure that our neighborhood is fully represented on the Crestview City Council.”

I am a firm believer that if you don’t vote, you give up your effectiveness in complaining, but that doesn’t mean that elected officials are not accountable to people who did not vote — it just means they’re more likely to hold themselves more accountable to the people who will reelect them, which is a smart move politically — and a terrible one for representing the entire public.

Let’s ask the questions: “What have you done in 4 years to restore trust in the elected & appointed offices?”, “Do you still feel Crestview has no large issues?”, “What are you doing to encourage greater citizen turnout to the meetings?”

If they haven’t made any strides in 4 years, how can we trust they’ll make any in the next 4 years? They don’t get paid a lot ($5,000~/year), but they DO get paid to do a job they ran for, and being accountable to the voting public, it’s not unreasonable to ask for a progress report: Here are the things you said you would do — how’s it coming along? If there’s no fruit to show for their labor, then we, the apathetic voting community, bear the responsibility to change it during future elections — or, continue the apathy & be silent while they get paid to make changes we keep quiet about.

Since it’s my idea to start asking about their accountability, I’ll get the ball rolling.

June 30, 2017, The Good Country’s Cal Zethmayr brought Joe Blocker on as a guest on “The Z Files.” At the 40 minute 37 second mark of this interview, Mr. Blocker asked people to come get involved. And at the 41:45 mark, he went so far as to use the word “beg” — and begged for the public to get involved.

Prior to this interview, I had emailed Mr. Blocker (and the other council members) at least three separate occasions, possibly more. One such email was an expression of support for a decision they were making about forming the charter review committee and sending my prayers. I have received responses from all council members with the exception of Joe Blocker.

As a voter, this is not the sort of representation I expect from someone making a bold stance on “passionately advocating for your needs and ensuring that our neighborhood is fully represented on the Crestview City Council.”

Now to be fair, I don’t live in Mr. Blocker’s precinct — does that mean my voice doesn’t matter to him? Why not make that distinction in his interview: 'Please, people of my district, come out and get involved' — instead, he opts for blanketing his invitation to the entire community.

For that, I expect more transparency out of him. And for someone using the term “advocate” as much as he does, I don’t feel advocated for. I’ve even had an op-ed published asking Mr. Blocker a direct question: What have you done to educate the voters?

I’m still waiting for my response.

I’m also curious as to what strides he has taken to rebuild confidence in the elected & appointed offices — after all, he said he would.

One positive thing has happened — my voter apathy has expired, and you can bet I’ll be at the polls from now on.

How about you?

Matt Gates, with the Facebook page Crestview Citizens for Change, is not to be confused with Matt Gaetz, the U.S. congressman. He lives in Crestview.

—

Editor's Note: Matt Gates clarified his statements via the News Bulletin Facebook page on Aug. 15 about Councilman Cox, saying "Councilman Cox did NOT win the 2013 election for which I'm quoting his campaign promises in this op-ed. In 2013 he ran against Hayes for Precinct 2, however lost to Hayes. Subsequently, he ran again in 2015 for an at-large position, which he now holds. In the 2015 election, he ran unopposed (like JB, as mentioned in the op-ed — running unopposed, he wasn't on record for any promises or commitments). What this means is, from an accountability perspective, Mr. Cox's statements in 2013 for Precinct 2 don't matter — what matters is how he serves the city now from an at-large position. I trust he holds the same goal (but for the whole city) — to get involvement to increase.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Holding Crestview leaders' feet to fire

Buried in all micro-drama distractions of the Trump administration are many of the good things it has done. One of the many under-reported accomplishments occurred in June, when Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions said the Department of Justice would reverse one of the sleazy practices of the Obama administration: allowing prosecutors to cut deals with corporate targets to direct payment of settlements to their pet political causes.

These “slush funds,” created from DOJ prosecutions of American corporations, allowed the hyper-political Obama administration to direct settlement money to politically favored causes. Settlements were sent to the likes of the National Council of La Raza, a Democrat activist group, and other “community redevelopment” and nonprofit “legal aid" organizations. You know, the folks who showed up at all those work-week, midday Obama rallies who happened to be in matching T-shirts.

When a company like Volkswagen slips up and runs afoul of myriad regulations and laws (never mind that no one noticed for years), the DOJ swoops in and shakes the company down for money — some of it sent to pet Democrat causes.

As expected, the CEO of Volkswagen capitulates. He says this is the most humiliating moment in his company’s history. Keep in mind, Volkswagen was founded by Hitler. Hitler was too early with VW.  Had he waited and teamed up with Samsung, he’d have been able to blow up Americans.

Then VW reaches a $15 billion settlement. Democrat friends in the plaintiff  lawyers' bar rake in billions, and the DOJ sends stacks of money to liberal allies and various like-minded activist groups. And VW owners, the supposed "victims" of increased horsepower and performance all those years? Well, they get a $25 gift card they can use on their next purchase of a VW.

Companies see this and, instead of opening another plant in Shakedownville, USA, they build a plant in Mexico. There they only have to bribe local cops. Jobs and revenues go overseas. Trump points this out and becomes president.

Government can do this because it creates all the myriad laws no one understands. In 2010 alone, 81,405 laws and regulations were created. I  suggest you try to read them. If it gets boring, stick with it; it gets real interesting after page 79,205. And if you do not want to read all this, you can watch the movie: Atlas Shrugged.

Washington knows we will not read all their rules or even notice. Most Americans care about and understand the infield fly rule better.

Per the National Review, “Under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, the Justice Department regularly designed legal settlements in which well-heeled defendants were encouraged (read: forced) to donate money to third parties with no legal connection to the case being adjudicated.”  So why did this work? The Government Accountability Office said that the practice was legal because the money was provided “voluntarily.” Yeah, much like you “volunteer” your wallet and watch to a robber who has a gun on you.

This dubious practice under Obama needs to be examined. Loretta Lynch would not investigate Eric Holder or any Democrat. For eight years the only animal allowed in the White House was the Attorney General’s guide dog. Yes, companies have constitutional rights to fight this practice but, according to the Obama doctrine, nothing says it has to be a fair fight. They know they are trying companies in the judicial system and the court of public opinion, and they settle.

Not even examined yet is how the practice was used to go after opponents (Rush Limbaugh’s largest sponsor, LifeLock, was shaken town big time), or how many police departments DOJ determined were "racist" and shook down.

The BP settlement was so big. Any time you put more oil on birds than Colonel Sanders ever did, you’re vulnerable. I really would like to see who all got anything beyond lawyers, bureaucrats and environmental groups.

Other cases involved Uber settling on various charges, seemingly weekly. There have been so many settlements, Uber just delivers the money each time — as you would expect — in a white Kia, five minutes later than they say they’d be there. Ticketmaster settled a suit for $9 million, but only paid $3 mil after their “servicing fee.”

LinkedIn paid $7 million in settlements to employees. But the company knew it would never have to pay, because it sent notifications to "victims" on how to get paid in emails from LinkedIn, and then kept deleting them.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Trump Administration ends government shakedown practices