To live in peace is a false narritive

The Daily Press editors wrote an opinion on Saturday, Nov. 4th, 2023. This opinion concerns an interpretation of peace. Basically, it is calling for a cease-fire in Gaza for the sake of civilians. We are now seeing the Democrat Party's alliance with Hamas and Palestinians who chant death to Israel and America. These Democrats are calling for a cease-fire, an opportunity to allow vicious killers to run and hide with American hostages in tow. Now is not the time to slump your shoulders and look defeated; now is the time to throw your shoulders back, hold your head high, and fight the demons who attacked Israel. Who will, in time, garner an attack on American soil again. 

To live in peace is a false narrative.

Humans are tribal by nature. If you don't get anything else out of this letter, humans are naturally tribal. If you don't get anything else out of this letter, Arabs, for the most part, have not and, like other tribes, assimilated well into the White American dream. We only need to look to Minnesota and New York City to see the anti-American protest; these weekend warriors hate not only Israel but also America, the land in which these Arabs live, Arabs we gave a home to. Ultimately, humans are tribal no matter where they live or how well they prosper. Even today, serving as an observation, Blacks and Whites who came from tribes to America, some forced and some voluntarily, are still tribal by nature after over 400 years of being transplanted into the new world, where native Americans themselves lived in tribes, a people with common ancestry, a native people, lived in tribes and still do in a country where tribes still define five boroughs of New York City. "New York has five boroughs: The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan. These five New York boroughs all have a different vibe and interesting culture. Each borough is different, " says their tourism website. Hampton is tribal based on economic outcomes, where different parts of the city offer different vibes and cultures. 

These cultures, tribes, and people live in peace in America. It is one of the few places in the world where we live in relative peace. A peace, until a black man is shot by a police officer, noting a white man shot by a police officer garners no media attention, no destruction of cities, no protest, no attacks on white people in the streets, no assassinations of police officers. A peace, until deep hatred embedded in Arabs for the hatred of Jews rears its ugly head in protest and shouts for the destruction of America and Isreal and on our soil.

The truth that the Daily Press does not understand is that in the case of Arabs vs. Israelis and America,  you need to pick a side. Brian and Kris cannot ride the fence of Democrats in this case. There comes a time in war when you must choose a side. If the Arabs win, Jews will be slaughtered by the millions. Americans like yourselves sitting on the fence will still be Americans, and Arabs will target you meant for destruction, or do you not remember Charlie Hebdo? I advise you, do not ride the fence, Daily Press; some but not all Arabs will not care where you sit; they only see the destruction of America and Israel. The fact is Palestinians choose their leaders, and those leaders are Hamas. Hamas and other terror organizations have lasted long enough with their threats and hate. Civilian deaths are just a causality of war. As bad as that is in a time of war, it's better there than here. Pick a side, Kris and Brian. Will it be America or the terror group Hamas? 

A brief history of Israel, Judea and Palestine. Who is the real enemy?

History will not be told, so here you go. The media will not tell the truth. Our politicians will lie to you.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 (also known as the Partition Resolution), which would divide Great Britain's former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in May 1948, when the British mandate was scheduled to end. In May 1946, Truman announced his approval of a recommendation to admit 100,000 displaced persons into Palestine, and in October, he publicly declared his support for creating a Jewish state. This is the end of World War II, and the spoils go to the victors. Remember, six million Jews were slaughtered by Nazi Germany, and at the time, it was thought that the Jewish community needed its own state, providence, country, or whatever you want to call it. What better place than the Jewish people's traditional homeland since the Iron Age?

Throughout 1947, the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine examined the Palestinian question and recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state as it was during the Iron Age. The Iron Age lasted from roughly 1200 to 500 B.C.E. This was to be a great reset from a historical perspective of who was there first. The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate. The League of Nations, you may recall, was the precursor to the United Nations. This provided a mandate following WWI for the British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The Lord knows we don't teach this anymore in our schools.

This territory was put under British administration following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This was an attempt to keep the peace and local warring factions under control who were feared to turn on each other. This area of the world has been under foreign Empire control since 539 BCE. During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century B.C.E., then the Babylonians in c. 601 BCE, followed by the Persians who conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. We have yet to get to the Roman and Greek Empires! I point out that this region has been under control and in constant occupation for a long time. I point to the Iron Age of control, which was initially Israel and Judah, not Palestinians.

The mandate was assigned to Britain by the San Remo conference in April 1920, after France's concession in the 1918 Clemenceau–Lloyd George Agreement of the previously-agreed "international administration" of Palestine under the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Transjordan was added to the mandate after the Arab Kingdom in Damascus was toppled by the French in the Franco-Syrian War. Civil administration began in Palestine and Transjordan in July 1920 and April 1921, respectively, and the mandate was in force from September 29, 1923, to May 15, 1948, and May 25, 1946, respectively.

If Iran and the Palestinians have an issue, take it to the United Nations, which created the great reset with resolution 181. Revenge, war, terrorism, and sore losers are not the way forward and will only result in more human lives lost. The truth is Iran, who chants for the death of Isreal, also chants for the deaths of Americans. Our true enemy is Iran and its proxy war through terrorist organizations like Hamas, not the Palestinians.

I'm just a white man. I'm just a black man.

 I'm just a white man; I'm just a black man. 

By Reed Johnson

On a whim, I wrote down some lyrics I was singing to myself on a cross-state bike ride. When I can only hear the engine roar and the wind in your helmet, I tend to just start singing. That night, while settling into another hotel in Roanoke, VA,  I wrote to Oliver Anthony (Chris) a song/poem and posted it to his Facebook page. Now, the following is not direct or exactly what I wrote, and the truth is I did not write it down. I wrote to him my thoughts for a song in a matter of minutes.  What I put down on paper here will not be exactly the same, but close. It's the catchline that is the most important. Like "Rich man north of Richmond," mine is as follows. I told him he could have the song if it inspired him; it is free to use. 

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

Oh, why do you take from me my history and bury it in the ground?

Oh, why can't a man, a black, educated man, find a job oh, where can one be found?

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. 

Oh, why do you kill in your urban cities for a thrill? 

Have you no regard for life?

Oh, why do I live in poverty? 

Why do my schools fail me? 

Why do leaders turn to apathy and stab my soul with a knife?

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

Oh, black man, Sunday comes along, and where are you?

I sit here in church praying for you?

Oh, white man, Sunday comes along, and where are you?

I sit here in church praying for you.

We are just men living in the rich man's world.

We allow our politicians to live high on the hog.

While we country folk live in a bog

Our lives are but tiny swirls and whirls.

We go round and round, knocking the rural man down.

The urban politicians care nothing for our small town.

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

Ross Perot was right.

When he said, they would take in the night.

Our jobs and factories.

Does the rich man know no boundaries?

Unions are no better.

Just dues for the rich few.

A socialist kind of debtor.

Drowning my sorrows in a mug of brew.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

Oliver Anthony is right.

We have to take care of ourselves on the left and the right. 

We find our sister and brotherhood in our churches at night.

Together we can have might.

We can rule our lives.

Without greed and apathy.

Without covetness and agony.

Without hate and knives.

Stabbing each other in the back

As we allow the politician man to attack. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

Envy is the world's original sin.

We can no longer let in.

We can no longer allow envy to be used

To separate us, we must be fused.

Together we win; divided, we fall

To the rich politicians who give it their all.

To divide us a black man from a white man. 

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world. 

I'm just a black man living in a white man's world.

I'm just a white man living in a black man's world. 

America's core values and creeds are under cancel culture attack

If you ever get to read Joseph Filco, a regular commentary writer with the Williamsburg Gazette. In that case, I challenge you to find his sensible opinion based on years of human experience and education worthy of a chance to read. Joseph's recent opinion was entitled "Culture change takes time" Williamsburg Gazette 8-5-2023. When I read Josph's commentary, I thought about "Environmental change takes time." A subject near and dear to my heart. Using Joseph's advice and analogies for the same progress would be easy. Today, I am exploring why the American divide to progress. Following is my discourse and letter to Joseph for his consideration.  

"America's core values and creeds are under cancel culture attack."

If I may call you Joseph, I read your opinion today and couldn't agree more. A fine piece of critical thinking and explanation, at least from one point of view, and that is your own. I expect you will be attacked in the coming weeks, but then, like the Rhinouras, your skin is four inches deep. Welcome to the herd. Ad Hominem would be a good topic for consideration. To write about (an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they maintain. For many today, like our politicians, and the media, personal attacks seem the norm. So would it be any wonder this behavior trickles down to the average citizen hiding behind a social media post?  

Alas, I think of apathy. Why do people use personal attacks? Why does the media use personal attacks? Why do politicians today use personal attacks? Why would the editors of the Daily Press not expect personal attacks? What makes them immune to citizens? 

I suggest apathy. For example, the editors of the Daily Press, Williamsburg Gazette (any media), politicians, and academia should respond better to criticism. They use cancel culture to stifle those they disagree with. The only method left to attempt conversation is personal attacks of which the average citizen learns the behavior from the media, academia, and politics., It is because of the lack of communication with readers, community citizens with different opinions, and taxpayers the average citizen lashes out at school board meetings or board of supervisor meetings. 

In other words, why is it okay for the editors of the Daily Press to attack our governor's opinion or action, yet these same editors lack the fortitude to take criticism themselves? Example: I can write to the president of William and Mary with a different view, asking questions and expecting answers. The response is typical, "We just have to agree to disagree." It's a pretty lame way to treat a fellow citizen. The same can be said for media who do not respond or, for whatever reason, decide to cancel a human being because they disagree with an opinion without reason. 

You can't tell me today that the media is not biased or even bigoted (unwilling to change), spearheading liberal culture change in our society with cancel culture in mind if you do not fall in line. Your opinion bodes well for those who print your opinion; it is like, duh, look in the mirror, editor. Your article/view was well written; maybe those who need to listen to your call are the ones in charge, not citizens. The citizen follows in the footsteps of leaders who lead by example. When leaders, as mentioned, want a culture change, they use personal attacks to whip up the frenzy of cancel culture; that is just propaganda, not conversation. Liberals, the media, and academia use cancel culture to push culture change— Don't you think diversity, a range of different things, only applies to the left if you agree with them? If you disagree, you are canceled. Don't you think inclusion flies out the door every day that we disagree with the media leftist who use propaganda to push culture change and use personal attacks against our politicians? Don't you think equity is sunk like the Titanic in the Atlantic when cancel culture is used to push a narrative? Don't you think it is a sad day for America's creed and core values when leaders in our community use their power to squash communication or a difference of opinion? 

Virginia Governor Youngkin, Protecting America.

Dated 7-9-2023: The Daily Press editors go on the offensive against our Virginia governor. The editors seem to have an issue with border security between Mexico and our Nation. The attacks stem from Youngkin's assistance in sending 100 national guardsmen to Texas to assist in securing our border. My discourse follows as to why we need to help and in the same tone as the editors reminding all Americans of our distrust in the current federal administration and its puppets. 

As if right on queue, the Daily Press editors attack the Virginia Republican Governor again with hate for American security and conservatives throughout our Nation. In another attack dated 7-9-2023, the opinion page cast a remarkably weak stance on border security. Our Border security should be the responsibility of the Federal Government. A federal government that is led by a senile puppet president Joe Biden. A president so vile he and the first lady do not even acknowledge a grandchild. I have often said, do not judge me by me; judge me by how I raised my children. In essence, how you raise your children reflects your moral values and ethics. The old saying goes, a bad apple does not fall far from the tree. This senile puppet leader, and let's be clear, this leader has no clue who we are fighting in Ukraine, as he called Russia - Iraq in a statement earlier this month. A president who continues to show us how confused he is, "God save the Queen," and has to be led around on a leash to not get lost. 

What the Daily Press does not consider in their opinion and will never opine as they are handled by the same handlers of Biden; yes, the Daily Press editors are nothing more than puppets of the Wizard of Oz. Federal law is being broken by the Democrats when they allow foreign adversaries and other illegal aliens to cross into America without following the letter of the law. That is what all of this comes down to. State governors are stepping up and trying to do something to help protect our country, and the editors of the daily press attack mercilessly as if they are told what to do. I guarantee this same message will be played across Virginia in lockstep as if the media is used to persuade public opinion. The Daily Press plants seeds in their opinion with no proof; that is poor editorial comments. Our Governor does not need to listen to the Texas Troops to know that if one Virignian National Guardsman can stop one crossing of illegal fentanyl, millions of Americans might live. Suppose one Virginia National Guardsman can stop one Chinese national or other possible sleeper cell infiltration unit into our country from adversarial enemies; then, job well done. Even the Daily Press admits, although I think they do not realize it, sending troops, the Daily Press reports, to Texas has moved smuggling operations to other states. That means what we are doing in Texas is working and not a failure. 

It is time for other border states to step up and do the same. At a time when our doddering, decrepit President ignores our safety, I, for one, am glad Governor Youngkin has stepped up and done what he can to help our country. At a time when our President associates himself with breast-baring, mentally deranged white house visiting people and in front of two-year-olds no less; when cocaine is found in the white house; when the press secretary lies as to who was in the white house at 6:38 pm on a Friday long after Daddy had left; when you have a president whose moral decision is to ignore a granddaughter; when a president wants to take from you your gas stove and heating appliances, and when the Daily Press seems to think criminal trespassing and whatever they believe are minor offenses are not important then we as Americans have a profound mistrust of the media and our federal puppet leader. 

"The Follower" chapter three. "You first"

"You first" 

 A lazy summer afternoon somewhere in the late 1970s. We had finished milking cows. Ralph Lee Harris (RL) and I had ten dollars between us, and as was the ordinary afternoon growing up in Appomattox, VA, near the James River, we were off to fish. In our day, wade fishing with purple worms on a Texas rig was all you needed to harvest smallmouths of good size. The river where we fished was about a 20-minute drive through our community's farm roads and countryside west of Stonewall off Rt. 623. A local farmer, whom we helped bail hay, allowed us to fish on his farm. Stopping at the country store along the way, we pop in for a cold beer at two dollars an eight-pack. Standing in the middle of the river, our eight packs resting comfortably on the closest rock, we would knock back those Old Milwaukee ponies, fishing.

Wading the river is for something other than barefoot. We wore shorts, tees, and old tennis shoes. One had to carefully make his way into the river and up to the rapids, where casting your line above the rapids and allowing that 6-inch wiggle worm to float into the pools below was our standard fishing technique—a little secret to the big ones. Along the shore of the James, you will find creek-like waterways that are a part of the river but separated from the river by small patches of sand bar covered with trees and other vegetation. Not more than 4-6 feet wide, but deep was ideal. Here the big ones lurk in the lazy noncurrent push of the river waiting for dinner to arrive. I was always happy to oblige them with my offering. One had to be careful; the river could be 1 foot deep or 20 feet deep with every step. Although above the Richmond fall line, I remember a rise and fall to the river. Not sure if the paper plant was to blame at the time; we knew no better, but most of the time, the tall tell sign of an approaching storm. 

On this day, as we carefully approach the rapids in front of us, we are approaching from downriver, looking upriver. We get out of the river, working the banks to the top side of the rapids, and back in we go. You are better off in the river walking than on the shoreline as mother nature's poisonous creature's sunbath and nature's perfectly made ich scratching plants thrived. RL and I noticed the river's rise, black clouds in the distance, and always from the north towards the south by southeast or down the river; the storms would always come. The old farmers knew the summer thunderstorms would follow the river for miles. RL and I are in the middle of the river, looking at each nonchalantly, casting our lines, catching fish, yet the storm is getting closer. We smile; the game is on. The game is called "you first." Now, before any of you reading this want to comment on how silly a game we played, nonetheless. The game was, who is getting out of the middle of the river first with a thunderstorm barreling down the river? 

Like most afternoons, we could see the storm coming from miles away; about 20 minutes later, we could hear the thunder; about 5 minutes later, we could see the lightning. The wind is blowing briskly like the fan on a farm porch blowing the playing cards off the table on a Sunday morning. Living in the rural parts of Appomattox, the routine was all too common, and on Sundays, we visited RL's cousin, father, and Grandfather. After milking, we played "set back," a card game on Sunday mornings.

Rain is starting to pelt us like a farmer's saltpeter blast of a shotgun against our backsides running with sweet corn; I look at RL; he looks at me, still fishing, smiling; who will blink first? Bellowing thunder is now on top of us. I look again and can barely make out RL's silhouette in the driving rain. The fish is on; I have put my mind to catching fish with every throw of my lure, reeling in another one. Lightning strikes the river about 300 yards down the river before the bend, another fish on, can't go now, got to catch fish. 

When fishing the rapids, we throw into the current or what we call up the river, and then we turn with our lure to the down river, and a gentle pull of the bait indicates fish on. Now for smallmouth, you must be patient. You let the fish take the worm; you can follow the line in the water as the fish races out of the current to the nearest still water hole behind a rock where he intends to munch his lunch. It is then that you set the hook—a big one. I break my line on a sharp rock, and here I stand in the middle of the river, rain beating down, thunder and lightning all around now, wind hallowing without a lure on my line. I pull my farmer's hat off my head, unhooking a floating creek chub, and tie it on. I turn, and RL is nowhere in sight. Did he leave? Did he move downriver; did he take shelter? Did he get hit? No, I thought he was ok just worked his way down to the island in the middle of the river. We had fished together for so long that we knew each other's fishing patterns. 

 The first cast of the floating creek chub, right to the tip of the upriver portion of the island, produces a fish jumping high into the air. I will never forget in all my life that one fish in the late 1970s, the tender age of 19, and today at 62, one fish on the line is etched into my mind forever. Suddenly as I was reeling this 3-pound smallmouth, lightning hits not 30 feet away from me; I looked at the spot where the lightning struck, knowing the light I saw was after the bolt had hit the water; the crack of the lightning was as loud as an F16 breaking the sound barrier, the light blinding, I can't see, the thunder comes on top of me in seconds, rain as thick as heavy fog. I looked at my line, and I looked back for RL; I looked forward. I don't remember being afraid for some reason; fish on, I thought, so fish on… I am fishing in the rain through a mighty horrific thunderstorm, lightning everywhere, standing in the middle of the river without care. I will be damn if RL beats me today. 

The thunderstorm came and went in about thirty minutes; looking behind me, watching the storm roll up the river, I smiled at God's wondrous beauty. In these thirty minutes, with the barometric pressure falling rapidly, I had reeled in 15 smallmouth bass; I mean to say every cast was a fish in those thirty minutes. I had challenged God to keep me safe. I had stuck my middle finger in mother nature's eye, failing to yield to her power. The sun comes out behind the clouds now as if nothing had happened. I would be dry from the waist up again in about forty-five minutes. Helios is starting to sink and giving way to Selene's visit in the sky. I am looking around; RL comes out from under the trees of the main shoreline, walking out of an old, abandoned barn next to the river. RL wades into the river, he smiles, and I smile back; "you last," he says, throwing his purple six-inch wiggly Texas rigged lure up against the island's bank. 

 Reed Johnson Author: A horse named Ray Ray

Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity.

Williamsburg Gazette, June 3rd, 2023. A last-word writer, for whatever reason, decided to take the stance that the Irish should not be counted as in need of reparations since they were never slaves but indentured servants. I thought it was time to research and write about Irish servitude and slavery. America needs to tell this story better. 

Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Irish Indentured Servants and Slaves, a story not told well. A conversation around Indentured servants has found its way into the Williamsburg Gazette. In the last word, this historical past is attacked by people who should understand. Ignorance is all I can call it; as Joesph Filco wrote, in an opinion, "Education wars continue." "People who tend to take extreme views bring out the worse in themselves."  Yet extreme views are still a part of our society, and who is to judge what is extreme? After all, George Washington was an extremist. The Sons of Liberty was an extremist group, and Abraham Lincoln was an extremist, each killing and murdering thousands for change. Extreme is limited groupthink, as people are, by nature, tribal. In other words, we tend to group ourselves based on like-kind thought and employ our will. 

If we promote diversity, defined as a range of things, which is the definition, we exclude an excellent idea of seeking truth. When we exclude the extreme according to our dictates, we fail to achieve diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI). While DEI is meant to include, DEI is accomplishing exclusion; we see exclusion daily in our society through cancel culture and when mainstream media ignores prominent newsworthy events. In doing so, DEI is never really obtained; thus, the child's education must still be completed. The adult teachers' ideals are limited to groupthink for fear of exclusion. We see this in colleges, high schools, and grade schools; groupthink controls what our children learn.   

Americans have not been dedicated to learning about world slavery. If they have, they don't seem to care to understand that slavery in the thirteen colonies was a tiny portion of slavery in the world during the 1600s. Historian James Horn, a past director of the Jamestown Settlement, wrote in his book 1619 that there is considerable debate as to whether the first Africans arriving in Virginia were indentured servants or enslaved people. We don't know the truth, according to Horn. We know many Africans were able to obtain their freedom, with some moving to the eastern shore. The truth is not enough was written down historically concerning the 20 and something. Here, diversity of thought is censored by historians, the mainstream media, internet search engines, or groups of people who want to push a narrative in our schools. This is the educational war Joseph Filco describes. 

Irish indentured servants were a significant portion of the population throughout the period when white servants were used for plantation labor in Barbados, and a "steady stream" of Irish servants entered Barbados throughout the seventeenth century. Irish servants in Barbados were often treated poorly, and Barbadian planters gained a reputation for cruelty. The decreased appeal of an indentured servant in Barbados, combined with the enormous demand for labor caused by sugar cultivation, led to involuntary transportation to Barbados as a punishment for crimes, political prisoners, and the kidnapping of laborers who were sent to Barbados involuntarily. 

Author Robert West, in "England's Irish Slaves," writes, "The earliest written reference to the Irish is the establishment of an Irish colony on the Amazon river in 1612. Long before Africans arrived in America in 1619, another writer (Smith) reports in "Colonist in Bondage," "a proclamation of the year 1625 urged the banishing overseas of Irish political prisoners and the kidnapping of the Irish was common." 

West goes on to write; If there is one thing historians can agree on, as to the 17th-century American colonies, most historians agree that the treatment of white servants or white enslaved people in English colonies was cruel to the extreme, worse than that of enslaved Black people; that inhuman treatment was the norm, that torture (and branding of fugitive traitors, upon the forehead was the punishment for attempted escape. West cites another historical writer (Dunn): "Servants were punished by being strung up by the hands and matched lighted between their fingers, beaten over the head until blood ran,"--all this for the slightest provocation." Another writer of the time period Ligon reports as an eyewitness in Barbados from 1647-1650; he said, "Truly, I have seen cruelty there be these servants as I did not think one Christian could have done to another. 

Unfortunately, this story is not told well. Diversity of thought is squashed in our schools, social search engines, historians, and the mainstream media contribute to history masking. Even today, we see history being erased with the removal of Confederate historical art. We see slave history being retold, yet not all truthful. The history of the enslaved Irish person and servant has been changed to serve another outcome. Books being banned by both sides of the debate bring out the worse in humanity. Of course, one only has to dig deep into the dungeons of your free library. Where books by time period authors concerning the diversity of thought of the enslaved Irish person and servant exists, Joseph Fillco is correct; the education wars continue, the whitewashing of our world's history manipulated by the unforeseen Wizard of OZ who dwells behind the curtain, locked doors, and tall walls; they hide from most of us, but not me; I may not know who you are, but I know you exist. Interestingly, DEI is the same as DIE. 

Reference: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/englands-irish-slaves-10927