Tag Archives: Pledge of Allegiance

national news

TDS? Who … me?

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(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A frequent and persistent critic of this blog has accused me of suffering from something called “Trump derangement syndrome,” whatever that means.

I don’t actually know this fellow; we’ve never met face to face, but he reads my blog and I presume he thinks he “knows” me better than most folks. Whatever.

I’ll cop to a couple of points he keeps making. He thinks I am driven exclusively by my “hatred” for Donald J. Trump. I won’t attempt to change his mind on that point, so we’ll just agree to disagree on this matter: I do not hate Trump; I do hate what he stands for, which to my eye is self-enrichment. To the extent that I hate the kind of presidency he has cobbled together, I will acknowledge that it has consumed me for the past, oh, four years.

There. I hope my critic will acknowledge my, um, acknowledgment. I won’t expect it.

I have sought to make this point about Trump, which is that my constant criticism of him is driven by my love for the United States of America. I am going to presume that the point has been lost on my critics, all of ’em!

I went to war for my country. I stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I will never “take a knee” during the National Anthem to lodge a political protest; it ain’t my style, man. I have voted in every presidential election since 1972. I pay my taxes on time; oh, and I have paid my “fair share” of taxes for as long as I’ve been a working stiff, unlike at least one prominent politician who happens to be seeking re-election to the nation’s highest office.

So, there you go. I am angry at Donald Trump not because I hate him, but because I love my country.

Are we clear on that? Good. Now, let’s get over this election.

State news

Why ask for a specific pledge from Muslims?

Molly White has just taken her seat in the Texas House of Representatives and already she’s making noise.

That’s all it is, apparently, from the Republican lawmaker, who wants participants of a Muslim Day event in Austin to declare publicly their allegiance to the United States of America.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/231167-muslim-event-at-texas-capitol-disrupted-by-protestors

I’m still not sure what this is all about, other than to try to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment in Texas — as if it needs stirring up among many Texans.

White posted something on her Facebook page about a Dallas court adhering to — are you ready? — Sharia law, rather than being loyal to the U.S. Constitution, which I’m pretty sure is a secular document.

This is the kind of scare-tactic nonsense we likely can expect to hear from the people’s House, the lower chamber of the Texas Legislature.

White left a note in her Austin office and said she’s asked Muslim leaders to “renounce radical Islam.” Someone needs to tell Rep. White that Muslims in this country and all around the world have been doing precisely that, especially in the wake of the Paris shooting massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. As religious scholar Reza Aslan has noted, if you haven’t heard the outcry, you “aren’t paying attention.”

The Muslim Day is organized as an effort to have the Texas Islamic community meet with legislators. What in the world is so scary about that?

Rep. White needs to take a chill pill and let her fellow Texans speak to their representatives about issues that are important to them.