“Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong”
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
October 27, 2019
“Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
With that seven word Tweet, posted by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, a firestorm erupted demonstrating the hypocrisy of the NBA while shining a brighter light on the struggles of Hong Kongers and their fight for freedom.
Protests in the city that enjoys more autonomy that their mainland brethren have moved from largely peaceful to a greater level of intensity and even violence. To strengthen their most worthy cause, ongoing for more than the past six months, the protesters should behave more like the Tea Party and infinitely less than Antifa.
To not want alleged criminals extradited to the mainland is a valid concern, as it would seem the so-called leader of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, is a puppet of the mainland despotic regime. Lam, the first woman Chief Executive of Hong Kong, was appointed by the Central People’s Government in April 2017 and assumed her post in July of the same year.
Yes, the People’s Republic of China is run by a despotic regime, regardless of what the likes of LeBron James, Charles Barkley, and even official NBA bloviators say. Perpetrators of human rights violations for decades if not centuries, as well as current abusive treatment of their Muslim minorities, should net the Chinese government greater criticism than that which is doled out upon the United States and its government.
By siding with the Chinese efforts to squash Hong Kong capitalism and freedom, the NBA, Nike, and any players kow-towing to the despotic regime in Beijing are demonstrating sheer hypocrisy. For starters, the league, under the auspices of Commissioner Adam Silver, unceremoniously threw Morey under the bus, first by not defending his Constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech, then by calling Morey’s words and Tweet “regrettable.” The NBA should be renamed the No Backbone Association for falling all over itself to kiss the collective tuchuses of the powers that be in China. To be fair, the NBA stopped short of punishing Morey, which would have set free speech back to the Stone Age.
While I will defend a person’s First Amendment right of free speech, that in no way should be tantamount to an endorsement. The NBA sold out to China like the fawning obsequious weasels they truly are. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, the first to criticize Morey, tweeted that he was “misinformed or not really educated on the situation.” If James is standing up for China against supporters of freedom in Hong Kong, clearly it is he who is misinformed and most certainly uneducated.
Former NBA superstar Shaquille O’ Neal, most definitely a capitalist - is there a product he is not endorsing these days - took up for Morey. O’ Neal defended Morey’s First Amendment rights in no uncertain terms. “Daryl Morey was right. Whenever you see something wrong going on anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say ‘that’s not right.’ … Here, we have the right to speak… We’re going to say whatever we want to say whenever we want to say it,” pronounced O’ Neal during TNT’s pregame show prior to opening night in the NBA.
Vice President Mike Pence also spoke out in support of Morey and free speech while taking swipes at both the NBA and Nike, a company heavily invested in China. “In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech, the NBA is acting like a wholly owned subsidiary of the authoritarian regime,” said Pence.
Pence took a requisite shot at Nike, the company whose recent mantra has been “Stand for something, even if you lose everything.” Clearly Nike put greed ahead of what Americans stand for. “Nike promotes itself as a so-called social-justice champion, but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door,” said Pence who also leveled criticism at Beijing for its poor treatment of its Muslim minority population.
Responding to Pence, former NBA player Charles Barkley said, on the air, that vice president Pence “needs to shut the hell up.” Does Barkley deserve more of a First Amendment right than Pence? Of course not. While it is his right to say what he said, Barkley was wrong for saying it. On the other hand, Barkley suggested that the US should “stop all transactions with China.” That is a very good idea.
Not only should the United States support Hong Kong, its fight for freedom, and Hong Kongers themselves with trade deals, the NBA should promote itself in Hong Kong, not mainland China until China comes around in its treatment of minorities and stops stealing American technology. Hong Kongers should use 1776 as its template. Americans, enjoying free speech (for now) should speak up vociferously for Hong Kong and against the Chinese government which continues to deny its own people the right of free speech.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Addressing Millennials' Parents
Addressing Millennials’ Parents
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
October 20, 2019
This is an open letter to the parents of our precious snowflake millennial children undergoing their four year campus indoctrination at the hands of liberals and socialists.
And this comes in just a nick of time as these millennials will be storming our gates in about a month for Thanksgiving break, armed with dirty laundry, and sanctimonious opinions about how our generation is one step below Hitler, as they have all the answers. I’m in no way invoking the Holocaust, about which millennials know very, very, little, but if I used the name of Mao they may get offended.
I am going to offer my fellow parents some key budget savers as we go forward this school year and into the future. Trust me - you’ll thank me sooner rather than later. And quite frankly, it is vital for us to take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves for the apocalyptic onslaught of a potential Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren administration. Yes, we all just collectively shuddered while allowing that thought to sink in.
Since my own children rarely, if ever, read my columns, this will come as an enormous surprise to them upon their return home for their Thanksgiving sojourn. To be fair, I love my daughters to incomprehensible levels. That said, I’m still trying to figure out where I went wrong and failed them as a father based upon their dangerous political beliefs. On the other hand, they are excellent students and are working hard in their studies and jobs to pay their way.
While on the subject of Thanksgiving, here is money saver number one: for those millennials who have some irrational objections to this great American tradition, that’s fewer servings of all the goodies we enjoy this time of the year. Don’t believe in Thanksgiving, don’t eat. “No soup for you!” Or turkey, stuffing, yams, corn bread, sweet potato pie, etc.
For the next money savers, it’s important to remind our ungrateful millennial offspring that their fervently held beliefs reek of hypocrisy. Take their car keys. They support the banning and elimination of fossil fuels. Assuming they are not driving the electric cars they demand this country mass produce, they should not be driving the cars so many of us bought for them. Also when you take their keys, you can remove them from your auto insurance plans. At their ages, that’s a huge savings.
Cut off any tuition/room and board payments you might generously be making. After all, they have more faith in government making their student loan debt magically disappear, than they do in mom and dad who raised, nurtured, fed, clothed, and love their children. These millennials support the untenable promise that their college debt will be cancelled. Now here’s the damning aspect of this horrible plan. The one-third of the population who attend college, and will be earning bigger salaries, by far, on average, than the two-thirds of the population who do not attend college, actually expect those two-thirds to foot the bill for their student loan debt.
Just remember, there’s no such thing as government money, therefore, when the likes of Sanders and Warren make such outlandish propositions, what they are actually saying when they tell their fawning minions their debt will be wiped out, is that we the people will be strangled with the more than $1.52 trillion in student loan debt. No one forced anyone to attend expensive private colleges and universities. No forced anyone to take five to six years to graduate, and I’m not talking about engineers and other worthwhile academic pursuits that will actually allow the graduate to earn a real living upon graduation. Our millennials don’t need our help; they can rack up all they debt they want because Big Brother is picking up the tab.
While your children are wasting your money studying The History of Lesbian American Presidents, The Science of Diversity in the NHL, and/or The Psychology of Free Speech in the NBA, remind them that their sanctimony does not exist in a vacuum.
What also does not exist in a vacuum, is your millennial’s belief in socialized medicine. So, for our next money saver, parents, since your children support the insane program of Medicare for All, that will bankrupt the United States - as determined by independent and liberal economists, as well as the liberal IRS, remove them from your insurance policies. They don’t need to remain on your policy until age 26; government will take care of them as the proposals from Sanders and Warren call for the absolute elimination of all private healthcare and insurance.
This last item won’t save you any money, but it shouldn’t cost you any more either - a zero sum game. Once again, this will be an important teaching moment for your millennial children who support open borders and granting automatic citizenship to illegal aliens. Since they feel strongly about this, give to more deserving illegal aliens your children’s bedrooms that they count upon when home from school.
And while your children are home next month celebrating whatever they celebrate as the rest of us give thanks for living in the greatest country on G-d’s planet, to ensure the quietest Thanksgiving table in history, ask your millennial children to defend their political and social choices. Wishing you and yours an early happy Thanksgiving.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He and his wife have two daughters currently in college.
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
October 20, 2019
This is an open letter to the parents of our precious snowflake millennial children undergoing their four year campus indoctrination at the hands of liberals and socialists.
And this comes in just a nick of time as these millennials will be storming our gates in about a month for Thanksgiving break, armed with dirty laundry, and sanctimonious opinions about how our generation is one step below Hitler, as they have all the answers. I’m in no way invoking the Holocaust, about which millennials know very, very, little, but if I used the name of Mao they may get offended.
I am going to offer my fellow parents some key budget savers as we go forward this school year and into the future. Trust me - you’ll thank me sooner rather than later. And quite frankly, it is vital for us to take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves for the apocalyptic onslaught of a potential Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren administration. Yes, we all just collectively shuddered while allowing that thought to sink in.
Since my own children rarely, if ever, read my columns, this will come as an enormous surprise to them upon their return home for their Thanksgiving sojourn. To be fair, I love my daughters to incomprehensible levels. That said, I’m still trying to figure out where I went wrong and failed them as a father based upon their dangerous political beliefs. On the other hand, they are excellent students and are working hard in their studies and jobs to pay their way.
While on the subject of Thanksgiving, here is money saver number one: for those millennials who have some irrational objections to this great American tradition, that’s fewer servings of all the goodies we enjoy this time of the year. Don’t believe in Thanksgiving, don’t eat. “No soup for you!” Or turkey, stuffing, yams, corn bread, sweet potato pie, etc.
For the next money savers, it’s important to remind our ungrateful millennial offspring that their fervently held beliefs reek of hypocrisy. Take their car keys. They support the banning and elimination of fossil fuels. Assuming they are not driving the electric cars they demand this country mass produce, they should not be driving the cars so many of us bought for them. Also when you take their keys, you can remove them from your auto insurance plans. At their ages, that’s a huge savings.
Cut off any tuition/room and board payments you might generously be making. After all, they have more faith in government making their student loan debt magically disappear, than they do in mom and dad who raised, nurtured, fed, clothed, and love their children. These millennials support the untenable promise that their college debt will be cancelled. Now here’s the damning aspect of this horrible plan. The one-third of the population who attend college, and will be earning bigger salaries, by far, on average, than the two-thirds of the population who do not attend college, actually expect those two-thirds to foot the bill for their student loan debt.
Just remember, there’s no such thing as government money, therefore, when the likes of Sanders and Warren make such outlandish propositions, what they are actually saying when they tell their fawning minions their debt will be wiped out, is that we the people will be strangled with the more than $1.52 trillion in student loan debt. No one forced anyone to attend expensive private colleges and universities. No forced anyone to take five to six years to graduate, and I’m not talking about engineers and other worthwhile academic pursuits that will actually allow the graduate to earn a real living upon graduation. Our millennials don’t need our help; they can rack up all they debt they want because Big Brother is picking up the tab.
While your children are wasting your money studying The History of Lesbian American Presidents, The Science of Diversity in the NHL, and/or The Psychology of Free Speech in the NBA, remind them that their sanctimony does not exist in a vacuum.
What also does not exist in a vacuum, is your millennial’s belief in socialized medicine. So, for our next money saver, parents, since your children support the insane program of Medicare for All, that will bankrupt the United States - as determined by independent and liberal economists, as well as the liberal IRS, remove them from your insurance policies. They don’t need to remain on your policy until age 26; government will take care of them as the proposals from Sanders and Warren call for the absolute elimination of all private healthcare and insurance.
This last item won’t save you any money, but it shouldn’t cost you any more either - a zero sum game. Once again, this will be an important teaching moment for your millennial children who support open borders and granting automatic citizenship to illegal aliens. Since they feel strongly about this, give to more deserving illegal aliens your children’s bedrooms that they count upon when home from school.
And while your children are home next month celebrating whatever they celebrate as the rest of us give thanks for living in the greatest country on G-d’s planet, to ensure the quietest Thanksgiving table in history, ask your millennial children to defend their political and social choices. Wishing you and yours an early happy Thanksgiving.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He and his wife have two daughters currently in college.
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