Thoughts on the Roundtable......

Needed:  Honest, courageous, and productive conversations at the roundtable on Tuesday....

Sheriff Chip Simmons has empaneled a group of community leaders to hold a round table discussion this Tuesday regarding a deadly double-shooting in District 1 two weeks back. I applaud his leadership in taking this bull by the horns.  The conversation will be about the levels of violence in the community as well--not just this particular shooting.  I am honored to have been invited to participate, and I look forward to Tuesday.

In the lead up to the event, I have given three media interviews on this topic, after having been asked my opinion on what, if anything, should be done to focus on the violence in our community that leads to these tragic events like the murder that happened in Bellview.  Two of the pieces have subsequently been published and I believe the third will be published this week in the lead up to the roundtable. 

The violence, the gun crimes, and the gangs+drugs issues we see growing in our community are symptoms of a bigger problem that few are willing to discuss: The loss of the family unit in growing pockets of our community.  This dissolution of the in-tact family unit leaves many young men with no strong role model and disciplinarian in the house to deal with issues that invariably arise in child rearing through formative years.

The single biggest predictor of whether or not a young man in America will become entangled in the criminal justice system is whether or not a father was/is in the home where such a young man is/was raised.  But to some, such discussions are verboten for political correctness' sake.

Imagine, as my friend Tom Danheisser posited in his hard-hitting, prescient op-ed on this topic last year, if we were trying to cure lung cancer but we could not talk about cigarette smoking?  He knows what I know and he has seen it in his courtroom as has my brother in his courtroom:  Fatherless families produce children who are at a much higher risk of committing crimes, being prosecuted, and ultimately ending up in prison.  (And lending creedence to the media's reticence to discuss root causes of the crimes, drugs, and gangs issues in Pensacola/Escambia County that produce the carnage we see locally--I'm told the Dannheisser op-ed was also sent to the PNJ last year in May of 2021--but their editorial team refused to print it.  Too much truth I suppose.....)

So this conversation Tuesday has to have a few guideposts if it is to be successful:

1.  We must realize the long term solution will take decades.

2.  We must realize the problem is not the police.

3.  We must have the courage to speak truth and use irreputable facts and figures to buffet our positions.

4.  We must realize no matter what we do we cannot and will not be able to save every young person from descending into a life of crime.

From my perspective, in order to actually accomplish a worthwhile outcome and trajectory toward

Opinion Host Andrew "Tallman" McKay Weighs In on Upcoming BCC "Resign to Run" Ordinance

While purportedly reporting "news" Andrew "Tallman" McKay of AM 1620 expressed his desire that his listeners and the public "light-up" the Escambia Board of County Commissioners at their next meeting over a proposed "resign to run" personnel ordinance.  This garbage is NOT News.....

Flipping through the radio dial this morning I happened to catch AM 1620 morning host Andrew "Tallman" McKay opining and droning on about his "opinion" of an upcoming BCC decision on an employment ordinance.

Hey, everyone has their right to an opinion.  This is America.  And he is an entertainment/opinion program host.  Not a news guy----but rather an entertainmnet and opinion host masquerading as a news guy.  Problem is, some folks don't see a distinction.

Naturally, he is entitled to his opinion.  

But the issue becomes murky when he transitions between his opinion and his so called "news."  

He's not the only one who does it-- lots of hosts like Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon, and (former) host Chris Cuomo engage in this sort of "entertainment/news commentary." Report something, then opine on it, then drift back to opinion, add in some facts, then more opinion.  It's very fashionable these days and not uncommon and a leading reason why more and more Americans do not trust the media complex anymore.  Too much mushy garbage and no clear delineation between opinion and fact.  But this particular AM 1620 segment is called "future news"--- on a show called Pensacola's Morning News and where he, Tallman,  identifies himself as a "news" guy.   And in the segment in question he and his co host predict whether or not a particular "thing" (purportedly news) will happen---so the area becomes grey for listeners once again.  Is it opinion, or is it news?  Is it good or is it bad if the thing happens?  

I'll answer for him.  It's neither.  It's straight up "opinion."  And in HIS (Tallman's) opinion--this "resign

Fake News Media Give "N-Word Using Andy Marlette" a "Pass"

White PNJ Cartoonist Andy Marlette used the N-Word in a disgusting, racist cartoon--and signed his name to it. It was posted recently on the official PNJ Facebook page and NOT immediately taken down.  It is still up on their site.  Is this acceptable in 2021?

A cartoon created by Andy Marlette of Gate House Media's (Formerly Gannett) Pensacola News Journal was recently posted on the PNJ's facebook website.  A censored rendition captured from a screenshot is above.

In this era of "cancel-culture"--a dangerous practice that I do not condone-- I find it to be astonishing that Andy Marlette gets away with writing the N-Word on his cartoon, and signing his name to it.

No ramifications, no apology, no explanations, nothing.

One media professional with whom I spoke on this recently about this matter specifically told me, candidy, "we tend not to report on other media figures unless it is something really beyond the pale, or unless citizens come forward and press for it"

So while the rest of us apparently have to watch Classic Disney movies be de-platformed, while decades old pictures in Dr. Seuss books get cancelled, while "The Bachelor's" 20-year host Chris Harrison gets canned----and he didn't use the N-Word like Andy Marlette did--- and while many average, everyday citizens who say and do much less get cancelled- "N-Word using Andy Marlette"---a white, privileged liberal elitist--gets to use the N-word in his cartoon, sign his name to it, and carry on smiling in 2021.  

And the FAKE NEWS MEDIA GIVES N-WORD USING ANDY MARLETTE a PASS!

The PNJ is apparently so unabashed about their support for this conduct, they left the facebook post up where this Marlette cartoon was posted.  Look at it here.  Wow!

Andy Marlette is a public figure, just like I am.  Andy frequently accuses others of being racists.  He is a dishonest, toxic fake in my opinion; he has accused me of being a racist multiple times via his cartoons and insinuations in his articles over the last 15 years. 

When he requested a meeting with me, he was frenzied in his rapid-fire, condescending, and harried questioning and accusations.  I was calm, cool, and collected in my rational, cogent responses to him (which he frankly did not deserve)  But boy oh boy, he sure was angry when I looked him in the face and told him I'd continue to manipulate his cartoons whenever I want to.  He shrieked like a squealing pig to his editor about it.  He was unhinged; totally and completely unhinged.  But he is/was a hypocrite who was projecting, apparently.  Because come to find out--He's the one that is racist, apparently, so far as I can tell from his cartoon above.  He uses the "N-Word" freely and nobody says a thing.  NAACP is silent.  BLM is silent.  Gate House is silent.  PNJ is silent.  FAKE news liberal press doesn't report it.  Rooms to Go continue spending massive sums of money advertising with PNJ.  The silence is deafening.

I guess Andy Marlette  must make too much money for his bosses in the liberal press establishment for them to call him out or at least make him offer an explanation and apology for this disgusting racist cartoon.   

Media is biased, and they most certainly condone,  no,  ENDORSE this; it illustrates the double standard they enjoy--which is disgusting and one more reason why more and more people distrust them!  

America's Distrust of the Media, Part I

In the original version of this cartoon, our President was portrayed as a rat demanding loyalty.  a more apropos rendition is the rat being the biased, partisan media trusted less and less by the American people

Trust in the American mainstream media is the lowest it has been since Gallup began tracking this metric in 1972.  Today, only about 1/3 of Americans trust the mainstream media to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly.”  This number continues to fall with good reason.  America is polarized and everyone is a partisan, and the media is now taking sides and by a massive proportion the 4^th Estate aligns with the left.  

The evidence of this is on display with nightly attacks on the President of the United States by the media who are bent on his destruction.  The media is so focused on a non-story that they have worked themselves into a rabid feeding frenzy—desperately searching for the monster under the bed that is not there.  With reckless abandon, they keep reporting half-truths and innuendos that are flat out false, and “straight news” reporters are now editorializing during evening broadcasts.  Russia, Trump, Russia, Trump, Collusion, Russia, Trump, Russia, Trump, meddling, meddling, Russia.  It is mind-numbing and more importantly—it is undermining our country.  

Democrats are so furious over their loss in the Presidential election that they are working hand in glove with their ally the mainstream media in an open attempt to destroy a man’s reputation and take him out of office utilizing the power of their collective bully pulpit to pull this off.  It is a slow rolling coup d’état that is taking