BRONX TIMES R 34 EPORTER, APR. 9-15, 2021 BTR
BY TONY SALIMBENE
China Virus vaccine
update: For enrolled vets,
the VA now has walk-in
vaccines. Call fi rst to make
sure, give them a break, it’s
a world wide emergency.
Possibly available for the
vet’s family care giver too.
Info on our next 3rd
Sunday regular post meeting
location soon…slowly
getting back to “normal”
I hope. We can also hope
some young guys who came
home, thank God, will stop
by and check us out when
we settle back in.
Met up with a buddy’s
son, just graduated from
USMC boot camp. Dad is
in the Sons, son will become
a Legionnaire! Fair
winds and following seas
kid, job well done. *Hand
Salute*
Until Next Time: Life
is like fl ying a helicopter,
I have no idea how to fl y a
helicopter!
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
Why is America so close to
being ripped apart, with differences
that appear to be irreconcilable?
The United States, with its
vast diversity in ethnic and
religious groups as well as political
perspectives, has not,
with the exception of when
the Union wasdivided by those
who sought to preserve slavery,
been so torn asunder.
That reason is twofold.
The First Amendment has
allowed contentious perspectives
to play out to the fullest
extent. All the shouting and
arguing has allowed volatile
differences to be aired out and
defused.
There has also been deep
and widespread trust in the
electoral system. Although
there have been irregularities
in the past and some questionable
practices, overall Americans
have had faith that balloting
has been fair.
These attributes have been
misunderstood abroad. According
to one former State
Department offi cial, The Chinese
government believed
that during the 2000 “hanging
chad” election, the nation was
about to be tossed into massive
disorder.
Those two unique civic
virtues are now being threatened.
The censorship imposed by
social media giants, and the
“cancel culture” throughout
academia, the media, and corporate
America has prevented
honest and thorough discourse
in the public square. Adding to
the growing crisis has been
the highly partisan and thoroughly
inappropriate alterations
in the election system,
made worse by the Supreme
Court’s refusal to review the
issue.
A study in Tablet found that
“Between 2017 and 2018, trust
in media…dropped from 47%
to 42%. Trust in government
declined even more precipitously,
with a 14-percentagepoint
drop in the number of people
who said they trusted the
U.S. to ‘do what is right.’ While
those numbers rebounded by a
few points in 2019, Americans’
overall faith in the country remained
dismal: A mere 20%…
And that’s the insidious thing
about a culture where trust is
eroding: A majority of people
don’t even have to support or
participate in cancel culture
for it to wreak havoc on society
at large…Without trust, we
become fearful and desperate
to exert control. Instead of terrorism
or violence or a boogeyman
lurking in the bushes
with a gun and a roll of duct
tape, we suspect the ordinary
person sitting next to us, who
suspects us in return. We are
less charitable, more judgmental,
and more likely to go to extremes—
including violence…”
It is undeniable that the
2020 election has torn America
further apart than at anytime
since the 1860’s. The harsh divide
did not end with the conclusion
of the balloting and
the inauguration of the new
president. The reasons for that
are due to both censorship
and cancel culture, as well
as the utter failure of the U.S.
Supreme Court to rule on the
combative issue.
A mere mention of the
phrase “Stolen Election” may
get one kicked off of YouTube
and Facebook.
Terrifi ed editors of both
print and electric media mandate
that writers and newscasters
preface remarks about
the very real irregularities in
the 2020 ballot with disclaimers
that the complaints are
false, despite an almost overwhelming
abundance that procedures
were changed without
the required legislative approval.
The U.S. Supreme Court
could have, at a minimum,
softened the anger if it ruled
on the issues, one way or the
other.
However, in keeping with
Chief Justice John G. Roberts’
apparent policy of keeping
away from what he considers
“political” issues, the
Supreme Court would not
hear the complaints. It is
often stated that the Trump
campaign lost in its bid to
have the high Court overturn
the irregular changes made
in various states. In reality,
it never even received the opportunity
for a full hearing
before that august forum.
In a recent dissent to a yet
another Supreme Court refusal
to hear an election-related
case, Justice Clarence
Thomas eloquently outlined
the danger from this abdication:
“..both before and after the
2020 election, non-legislative
offi cials in various States
took it upon themselves to set
the rules instead. As a result,
we received an unusually
high number of petitions and
emergency applications contesting
those changes…unclear
rules threaten to undermine
this system…they sow
confusion in the integrity
and ultimately dampen confi
dence in the integrity and
fairness of elections…changing
the rules in the middle of
the game is bad enough. Such
rule changes by offi cials who
lack authority to do so is even
worse. When those changes
alter election results, they
can vary damage the electoral
system on which our
self-government so heavily
depends.”
Editor’s note: The views expressed
in letters refl ect only
that of the author.
CIVIC CENTER
C.O,M.C.A.T.A
BY AL D’ANGELO
The politics of division is
alive and well and we are all
complicit. We have allowed
a small percentage of our
population to divide us, dictate
our values, tell us what
to read and how we should
think. The media has perpetuated
this, political parties
have embraced this and
we the people just follow like
sheep to the slaughter. The
double standards perpetuated
by the media and politicians
is a disgrace to our democracy
and we the people
are letting it happen. How
do you justify illegal immigrants
being in classrooms
and our children are home –
why is the media silent? How
do you justify American soldiers
sleeping on fl oors in
garages in Washington and
our homeless wandering
the streets while 86 million
dollars of our money was
set aside for hotels for illegal
immigrants – why is the
media silent? How do you
justify holdings centers for
children being called cages
during one administration
and the same centers being
called shelters during
another – why is the media
silent? How do you justify
an administration which
promises to be transparent
and then puts a media
block on what’s happening
at the boarder – why is the
media silent? How do you
justify the fact that, when
the Covid vaccine was proposed,
politicians such as
Governor Cuomo and Vice
President Harris told us not
to trust the vaccine, putting
our lives in danger for political
reasons, – where was the
media? How do you justify
forbidding large gatherings
yet allow tens of thousands
of illegals into our country
without testing – where is
the media? How do you justify
allowing criminals with
as many as fi fty prior arrests
to be released without
bail – where is the media?
How do you justify millions
of dollars going to education,
an average of twentyfi
ve thousand dollars per
year per student, and more
than 50% of our students
aren’t profi cient in basic
Math and English – where is
the media outrage? How do
you justify only 16% of Black
students are profi cient in
reading and 13% profi cient
in Math and politicians are
against a voucher system –
where is the media outrage?
How do you justify AOC likening
the boarder crises,
under the Trump administration
to German concentration
camps, but when
asked about the recent surge
at the boarder reverted to
the old game of defl ecting
the question by playing the
race card saying the word
“surge” depicts white racism
– why isn’t the media
calling her out? How do you
justify AOC calling for reparations
for families separated
at the boarder during
the Trump administration,
I guess the fact that they are
here illegally doesn’t matter
– where is the media? How
do you justify Facebook and
Instagram censoring an interview
with a former President
– where is the media to
defend free speech? How do
you justify trying to make
people feel guilty about their
race, when we are supposed
to be a nation of inclusion –
why is the media complicit?
How do you justify banning
children’s books because
they depict violence yet say
nothing about songs, fi lms
and video games that are far
CIVIC CENTER
Morris Park Civic
Association
CIVIC CENTER
Korony Post 253
worse -where is the media?
How do you justify allowing
“cancel culture” to remove
our freedom of choice?
Children’s books that for
generations have provided
laughter and have been an
educational tool are now
considered racist and the
media sanctions this idea.
When will we stand up and
be counted? Our judgement
is valuable and as educated
adults we should be allowed
to choose what to read and
what to put aside. We the
people are complicit because
we don’t stand up and
say that’s enough we are
not going to let your race
retorque divide us, we are
not going to let you tell us
what to read and what to listen
too, we are not going to
stand by when you censure
free speech even if it offends
us. The beauty of a free society
is that we all have the
right to express our opinions
and once we limit that
ability, we begin to lose our
freedom. Diversity is what
made this the greatest nation
on earth. It’s time to
stand united and say NO
MORE!