BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
There is an underlying
tone in the discussions that
journalists, politicians, academics,
business leaders and
everyday citizens have among
themselves. It is the fear of the
mob.
It began fi rst on college
campuses, where mobs have
prevented non-leftist speakers
from addressing students
and discouraged such individuals
from even being invited
on campus. The problem rapidly
grew from attacking free
speech to attacking people.
Jeremiah Poff, writing in
The College Fix in 2019, reported:
“Throughout this fall
semester, conservative activists
at campuses across the
nation have continued to be
physically attacked — and had
their displays destroyed — by
aggressive student peers infl
amed by right-of-center messaging…
The most recent incidents
are just the latest in a
long line of campus bullying
and intimidation targeting
conservatives.”
The trend spread to the
streets, which have become
unsafe for people expressing
support for non-leftist causes.
The matter was recently evident
when participants in a
pro-Trump rally in Washington
were attacked.
Making the problem far
worse is the almost total refusal
of the mainstream media
to adequately report its
existence. “When violent far
left-wing extremists organize
violence online, you can always
count on the Twitter hall
monitors to ignore it,” Mike
Cernovich, political commentator
has written.
Coverage of even the most
serious acts committed by
progressive perpetrators
fairly quickly leave the news
cycle. Barely remembered
now, due to this intentional
news coverup, is the 2017 attempt
at the mass assassination
of Republican congressmen
at a baseball practice, in
which four individuals were
shot, the most serious being
Rep. Steve Scalise. (R-Louisiana),
by James Hodgkinson, a
left-wing activist.
The refusal to acknowledge
left wing violence can
BRONX TIMES R 34 REPORTER, DEC. 25-31, 2020
be discerned in Hollywood’s
popular entertainment venues.
There is a common plot
in many television dramas. A
horrible crime or act of terror
is committed, and all indications
point to a left-wing extremist
group. But in the fi nal
moments, the real culprit is exposed
to be a right-wing businessman
or conservative politician.
The message is clear:
those in the center and on the
right are bad guys, and it’s OK
to attack them. After all, as
Hillary Clinton proclaimed
during a 2016 Democratic primary
debate, Republicans are
“the enemy.”
Antifa, the left-wing
masked stormtroopers who
specialize in street rioting,
property damage, and physical
assaults, have continuously
received protected status
despite their vivid record
of mass violence, mayhem and
serious physical assaults. The
mayor of one city they have
victimized, Portland, Oregon,
has encouraged the police to
essentially stand down and
surrender the streets to them
during their outbreaks. As
a consequence, nothing was
done when journalist Andy
Ngo was beaten so severely
by an Antifa mob that he required
hospitalization, to cite
just one example.
The response to this and
Antifa’s other outrages? As
reported by the Daily Wire,
“Democrat Rep. Debra Haaland
(D-NM) proclaimed that
far-left extremist group Antifa
consists of ‘peaceful protesters’
who are just trying to
protect Portland from ‘domestic
terrorism.’”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.)
instructed her followers to assault
Trump cabinet members
in public places. Individuals
have been threatened
and beaten merely for wearing
“MAGA” apparel expressing
support for the incumbent
president. Despite the blatant,
extensive, prolonged and nationwide
employment of largescale
violence, leftist groups
continue to be condoned and
even celebrated by many politicians.
During the 2020 presidential
campaign, Biden was famously
reluctant to even acknowledge
the left’s penchant
for violence.
All of this is particularly
important in the discussions
about the irregularities in the
2020 presidential campaign.
Americans may argue about
whether the evidence of misdeeds
and the appearance
of middle-of-the night Biden
ballots was suffi cient to overturn
any particular state’s results.
But it’s not just the 2020
campaign that is involved. If
misdeeds are to be tolerated
because the mob will riot if
exposed, will there ever be a
truly honest campaign in the
future?
Welcome to the mobocracy.
Editor’s note: All views in
this column refl ect the author’s
opinion and should be verifi ed
by outside sources.
CIVIC CENTER
COMMUNITY ACTION
CIVIC ASSOCIATION
Great American
Smokeout 2020
BY GUILLERMO FLORES
While NYC health advocates
have made tremendous
progress in reducing tobacco
use rates, 85% of African
Americans use menthol cigarettes
and 65% of Latinos use
menthol cigarettes in NYC. To
bring awareness and understanding
of this problem, NYC
Smoke-Free provided a special
Great American Smokeout
presentation and a viewing of
“Black Lives, Black Lungs”
at Throggs Neck Community
Action Partnership Monthly
Meeting on November 2020.
The Great American Smokeout,
started by the American
Cancer Society, is a positive
and motivational effort that
can aid smokers in making
their own healthy decision to
quit the habit.
A majority of Bronx residents
who use menthol tobacco
products desperately want to
quit but smoking is an addiction
that makes it very diffi -
cult to do so. Menthol fl avored
tobacco is highly addictive and
the tobacco industry spends
over 200 million each year in
NYS alone on marketing and
promoting their products.
These advertisements also entice
youth to start smoking. A
study conducted by the New
York Public Interest Research
Group (NYPIRG) observed a
prevalence of tobacco advertisements
in locations including
the Tremont area of the
Bronx and has cited that this
exposure to tobacco advertisements
is directly related to an
increase in youth who take
up smoking. While efforts are
needed to prevent youth from
taking up smoking, efforts are
needed to help smokers to quit
as well.
For more information on
tobacco control in the Bronx,
visit www.nycsmokefree.org/
Bronx.
BY GEORGE HAVRANEK
The Spencer Estate Civic
Association extends sincere,
heartfelt Merry Christmas
and happy holiday wishes
to everyone. We pray that
good health and happiness
embrace you and your loved
ones during this atypical holiday
season. Many of us are
confronting degrees of separation
during this unprecedented
“pandemic period.”
It is paramount that we retain
every link in our chains
of social connectivity. When
preferred face-to-face interactions
are impossible, communication
must be maintained.
From the traditional phone
call to creative uses of modern
technology implementations
of the adage “where
there is a will there is a way”
must be utilized to preserve
this most important aspect
of life.
UNIFICATION
At the close of 2019, the
catch phrase, “2020 will be
a year of vision” quickly
spread like wildfi re throughout
the political and civic arenas.
This year, the alleged
period of vision, rampant
spreads of uncontrollable
weed-like divisions smothered
visions of harmonious
unifi cation. Laser-like focus
on the importance of community
unifi cation must supersede
individual differences.
Collectively, we must honor
obligations to those dedicated
predecessors, the trailblazers
that built our communities
and fulfi ll responsibilities to
strengthen, stabilize and improve
our communities for
those that will eventually follow
in our footsteps.
The well-documented increased
incidences of vehicle
crimes throughout our communities
are indeed troublesome.
Escaping the news
cycles and police reports is
the disappearance of a most
important vehicle, our community
“CAR.” The community
“CAR,” inspirational
and motivational promoters
of harmonious unifi cation, is
apparently misguided, wandering
on divisive weed covered
roadways. The community
“CAR” unlike holiday ad
campaign, ribbon wrapped
luxury models adorning opulent
driveways, is acronymic,
metaphorical and simply defi
ned. The community “CAR”
is powered and navigated by
a state of mind, a dynamic,
positive attitude that is undeterred
by signage, road diets
or traffi c devices. The community
“CAR” does not require
an operator’s license
yet is catalytic to inclusive
unifi cation. Our internal GPS
systems give us the intellectual
capabilities to locate and
place this important vehicle
on proper pathways. We must
get behind the wheel and
drive the community “CAR”
across the “bridge of unity.”
Steadfast implementations
of the 15 traits below are the
tolls required to complete the
journey across the all-important
“bridge of unity.” Follow
the 15.
C.A.R.
C = compassionate, courteous,
conscientiousness,
considerate, communicative
A = appreciative, altruistic,
accountable, accepting,
agreeable
R = respectful, responsible,
righteous, reliable, rational
The actions of a community
reveal true intent; blusters
of words merely pass like
an uneventful fl eeting breeze.
Many communities are near
critical periods that are closing
in on tipping points. The
community “CAR” is quintessential
to developing the
unity needed to confront adversity
and avoid points of no
return. “If we want to keep
and reap the blessings of our
fi ne quality of life…we must
endure the fatigue of supporting
it.” Remember: “Inclusion
brings solutions.” Community
= common unity.
CIVIC CENTER
SPENCER ESTATES
CIVIC ASSOCIATION
CIVIC CENTER
THROGGS NECK
COMMUNITY ACTION
PARTNERSHIP
Call 718.260.2555
..to sell your car in our
CLASSIFIED SECTIONS
& get...Real Results!
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