The Ferguson Riots; Is this 2014 or 1964?

 By Mike Scinto

As seen in 

The Civitas Media Newspapers Group

Prior to this month had I asked you about Ferguson, Missouri I’d be willing to bet most of you would have to whip out your smartphone and Google it. Today you’d likely to be able to tell me it is (or was) a suburb of St. Louis. I used “was” because much of that community has been battered after rioting over the deadly shooting, by police, of 22 year old Michael Brown.

There’s always a danger with a columnist commenting on an ongoing story that’s as fluid as this one because by the time you’re opening the newspaper at your dinner table, or reading it on-line, things could change. But what I’m addressing with this column is something that hasn’t changed since I was a young boy in Memphis in the 1960s; and I’m convinced now may never change in America.

I’ve yet to understand why, when a black American is shot or restrained by the police, or loses their job, the blame by civil “rights” leaders goes straight to the whites who are connected to the incident. Before any investigation takes place, and regardless of anecdotal and even eye-witness evidence, community based race-baiters and the national “Team Reverend” starring Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson start pointing the finger at the “white power” and “racist” bosses. Don’t blind them with the facts. There’s no money in that. Jackson and Sharpton, and their local counterparts, translate camera and microphone time to dollar signs.

Let me state before I go another paragraph that ever since those boyhood days in the turbulent 60s in Tennessee and Georgia, where I lived, I’ve been around relatives and friends who didn’t see color as a dividing line for race or society. At the risk of offering up a cliché, some of my best friends then and now happen to be black. Let me also say the huge majority of blacks have always been very reasonable and responsible and don’t like or agree with the jump to judgment any more than the whites around them.

I understand the hurt and anger of the family; even if the evidence tends to point to the “victim” being wrong. These are their friends and families. I get it! What I don’t get, and will never get, is how smashing a store window, stealing a flat screen TV or computer, fleeing only to come back and loot some more is helping anything. The looting, lining up in the street and defying police and throwing rocks and bottles at those cops doesn’t help the investigation which could actually uncover any injustice that may have occurred. It also creates a terrible image that is projected on TVs around the globe of the blacks in that community.

If Reverend Sharpton and Reverend Jackson truly want to do a service for the black community they claim to represent, they would come into an area like Ferguson and demand that all law-breaking stop immediately, that parents and citizens in the area, some of whom just stand by and watch it happen, take back Ferguson. And by take back I mean control the lawbreakers so a meaningful and fair investigation can take place. If the violent energy in the streets could be channeled into training in coping mechanisms within racial mixed communities, this kind of thing could truly be relegated to the dusty pages of history books. I’d sure love to see that for the generations that will follow us.

The “Obama Show” Script

 By Mike Scinto

As seen in 

The Civitas Media Newspapers Group

 

If it had been written as a Saturday Night Live skit it would be funny. Unfortunately there’s nothing comedic about the real events as they continue to unfold for President Barack Hussein Obama and the American people.

As word reached America about Iraq collapsing at the hands of Sunni militants and city after city falling in the march to Baghdad, where was our Commander-in-chief? Was he in the war room with the Joint Chiefs Staff? Was he consulting with Congressional leaders on our next moves? Was he on the phone with world leaders contemplating a strategy as the nation where so many Americans spilled their blood and so many billions were spent in a war to liberate the country was falling to insurgents? No, at that particular moment he was walking to a nearby coffee shop in Washington commenting to some school children about the colors of their M&Ms, using the moment as a photo op with some of those kids then scurrying back to catch Air Force One to fly to Palm Springs for a four day golf outing.

To be sure, Mr. Obama did instruct his staff to come up with some solutions to this crisis unfolding more every minute; with instructions not to interrupt his game unless absolutely necessary. As the leader of the strongest nation in the world was teeing up on #15, Iraqi soldiers, military leaders and civilians were being beheaded, their bodies stacked in the streets and militants taking control of virtually every part of Iraq. I suppose if he were interrupted during a shot he could take a mulligan.

I’ve honestly tried not to politicize my comments on this President giving him some benefit of the doubt that his inexperience was guiding, or misguiding his actions. But I’ve come to the realization that he doesn’t get it, doesn’t care to get it and if anything he takes on doesn’t glorify him, why bother.

Just when I think he can’t do anything else unthinkable, he writes a new chapter. Comedy shows like Saturday Night Live and sitcoms usually fold up shop for one reason; they run out of ideas for bizarre scripts. I guess if this presidency were a comedy show it would never go off the air. The star of the show always seems to outdo his previous “episode”. The only problem is that nobody’s laughing any more.

A Solution to School Violence in our Sights

By Mike Scinto

As seen in 

The Weekly Record Herald

and other fine Civitas Media Newspapers

I vividly remember the shock and horror as America watched the slaughter at Columbine High School unfold in 1999.  I’m sure all of us recall that day and the media analysis post-Columbine. That event really became the example used when those types of incidents occurred in the months and years that followed. We don’t really call them “Columbine-like” any longer. There are so many from which to choose, we don’t need that standard. Two more shootings in recent days, as the school years were winding down, has brought out the usual calls for dismantling the Second Amendment; as if that frightening solution would put to rest this kind of school violence.

I feel like I’m in the movie “Groundhog Day” as I address this. In that film star Bill Murray relives that end-of-winter forecast day over and over again. As I point out the lunacy of suggesting banning guns would be a fix to the school violence issue, I feel like I’ve said it over and over again on the radio, TV and in my column; and I have!

Guns are not the problem. People are the problem. I went to grade school and high school from 1958-1970. There were no Columbines. Now it’s rare to find a two week span where there isn’t a case of school violence. What’s changed?

Guns are MORE controlled than ever before today. I recall at the age of 10 living in suburban Memphis and owning a 12 gauge shotgun and a 22 caliber rifle. Even in grade school during hunting season we (students) would bring our guns into school and store them in our lockers so we could head out to the woods after the school day to hunt. I knew proper use of, and care of, my weapons and was not afraid but rather respected guns even at that young age. It didn’t promote violence.

Of course today if a student of any age, and at any school, brought their hunting weapon into school there would be SWAT teams and a sea of live vans for the networks on the campus as the student was strip-searched, cuffed and thrown in the police van.

The end of the nuclear family as we knew it is the reason for the problem. “Parents” more focused on career than parenting is at the root of this disease. We are given the gift of children not to “have” but to “nurture”. When parents decided to let their kids “do their own thing” is when this happened.

When parents are held criminally accountable for anything illegal their child does that’s when you'll find a solution; forced though it may be. I was a helicopter parent for our son. I can tell you where he was, who he was with and what he was doing 97% of the time until he was 18. And while he has made a few small bad decisions, we are very proud of him. If he said at 16 he was going to be at some location, I would be there (covertly) at some point to verify it. If he was NOT there, he was in his room for some number of days. If he had done or said something he shouldn't, it would happen one time only. It kept me burning candles at both ends but in my mind there is nothing more important for 18 years than the child we have been blessed with. That is our job, not a hobby. I learned that from my parents who handled me the same way.

Young people know they can threaten; threats of lawsuits, seeking emancipation, investigation by child social services are used all the time. Rather than “parent”, these adults allow their children all the freedom they want. And this is the result.

If I ever got in trouble in school I knew when I got home my father would punish me four times over; often using a belt on my bottom into my teens. He never drew blood or bruised me but it hurt. Today he’d go to jail for that. I thank God he did it!

No, the solution isn’t in disarming America and stripping away our Second Amendment rights it’s demanding that parents do what God intended for them to do in the first place; BE parents! There are obvious signs of issues with children that, if observed, can be seen. Kids who wear black trench coats to school on hot summer days, don’t participate outside the classroom with peers, have a fascination with weird Internet sites or hang posters of Charles Manson on their bedroom walls MIGHT need a little closer scrutiny.

Guns will never disappear, nor should they. I wish I could say the same about good parenting.

Five Terrorists for One Alleged Deserter? Quite the Trade!

By Mike Scinto

As seen in 

The Weekly Record Herald

and other fine Civitas Media Newspapers

President Obama has topped his own disastrous presidential deeds with this one. Without Congressional notification, against the recommendations of his own military field commanders and in spite of tradition, policy and law, he negotiated with terrorists to make a trade for a soldier who may or may not have been held captive by the Taliban.

The soldier released was Bowe Bergdahl. He’s the troop you may recall who allegedly walked off his post without permission, weapons or personal possessions five years ago. Over the next 90 days money, manpower and soldiers’ lives were expended to find Bergdahl.  Reports now are he asked civilians in the villages he passed through where he could find Taliban leaders.

I was a Military Training Instructor in the United States Air force at the end of the Vietnam War. If a scenario like this had been presented to me by one of my recruits for my evaluation, my response would have been the soldier needs to be court-martialed for AWOL (absent without leave) and/or desertion since this occurred in a war zone. If convicted he needs to be dishonorably discharged and sent to prison for life.  Rather, he was being painted as a hero, planning to come home to ticker tape parades and the warm welcome of his community; and America.

The price tag to get Bergdahl returned was the release of five high ranking terrorists in our custody; released to return to the Taliban and the murdering of Americans. That price was too high even if Bergdahl had been an exemplary solider.

When you negotiate with terrorists you signal that if any group wants to extract anything from the USA, simply take hostages and negotiate. What could, and quite possibly will happen is American soldiers or even civilian tourists, will be taken captive to be used as negotiation leverage. If Obama realizes what a mistake he made (as I’m sure he has by now) it will be too late. If his answer now is that we won’t negotiate with terrorists, the groups will have no reason to keep their hostages alive. The precedent set is a potentially disastrous one.

Of all of the arrogant and destructive Obama policies this ranks highest in my book. His own Vice-President, Joe Biden, said during the 2008 campaign (and he was right) that the office of President was no place for Obama to receive on the job training. And boy was he correct!

Benghazi; A Free Pass For Those In Charge

By Mike Scinto

As seen in 

The Weekly Record Herald

and other fine Civitas Media Newspapers

This is surely not the America I grew up in or served in the United States Air Force. That seems to be a running theme in my columns, and my life lately. But it’s true. My latest disbelief is with the majority of the population willing to sit back and keep quiet over the Benghazi assassinations and cover-up.

We now have the special House committee to investigate the horrific deaths of an American ambassador and three other brave Americans. I won’t go into the details we have all heard over and over again, the charges and counter-charges and the denials by those in charge. I will simply say this is not the way the America I knew and loved would have handled it. First of all, in that America this never would have happened.

The committee is at least something. But this is going to drag on with challenges, subpoenas, more lies and more cover-ups. There’ll be debate, sub-committees, testimony, pundits offering speculation and the truth is we’ll likely never hold any individual(s) accountable. And that STINKS!

I was a Military Training Instructor in the United States Air Force. I was a non-commissioned officer. I was given the responsibility of watching over and training 50 new recruits every six weeks. They were MY responsibility. If anything happened to any of those trainees under my watch, whether or not I was present, I would have been made to account and quite probably court-martialed; as I should have been. To borrow the infamous line from President Harry Truman, “The buck stops here”.

Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, should have been held accountable, civilly and criminally. It happened under her watch. Barack Obama should have been impeached and convicted over this. It’s really just that simple. This PREVENTABLE tragedy, with plenty of warnings, happened to Americans serving their country. And we seem just fine with that.

No, this is not the America where I grew up. I can only pray that future generations will have what it takes to turn this ship around. If we don’t the once greatest nation on the planet will face the same fate as the Titanic; and we’re fresh out of lifeboats.

A Gloomy Road Ahead; But Does it Have To Be?

                We’re into the final days of 2013 and facing an unsure future as a nation looking ahead to 2014 and beyond. I’d love to be optimistic and offer a positive outlook but with the economy still in a state of flux, and Obamacare only creating more problems with every passing day, I can’t see a bright horizon in the foreseeable future. I’m not trying to be Mr. Gloom and Doom but I am trying to be realistic.

As I’ve said so often on the air and in this column, I truly don’t assign much blame to Obama or liberals in Washington. You see, they’ve been forthcoming about what they want to do. And they’re doing it. No, the real gripe I have is with the uneducated, uninformed and/or anti-American voter who continues to support the destruction of this nation and its economy by sending this bunch back to D.C.

This country is resilient and will bounce back I’m sure, but there’s no need to continue to make the challenges even greater for those of us who believe hard work, less government, free choice and that a free market economy is the best, and only, way for America to prosper.

                Given the dictatorial, unconstitutional free-reign Obama has given himself, if we go much longer on this downward spiral, while we likely can recover, the end product might be quite different from any America we’ve known in the past.

                Many of us remember a day when Americans had a pride that said they’d rather go hungry than take a government handout; or charity as it was called. Fast forward to today; it’s tough to campaign against Santa. Free phones, 100 weeks of unemployment, the prosperous paying for health care for lower income, your mortgage being subsidized and the list goes on and on. The thinking on the political left today is that government should hold the scissors to cut your chord at birth and manage your life until they shovel the dirt in on top of you. Aside from that being an unsustainable task, it robs us of the ability to grow and prosper on our own. The best lessons on sinking or swimming in life aren’t learned by opening a welfare check or handout, but by the successes and failures we all experience. Is anything other than that REALLY allowing us to live? Is that what America has become?

                As you compile your list of New Year’s resolutions I suggest you include choosing leaders who are willing to allow you the growth God intended you to enjoy. It’s not easy but the rewards will be so sweet!