Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

 Justice can be defined this way. When laws are enforced and justice is fairly served. Or it can be defined as just or fair treatment. Vengeance on the other hand is punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong. In my view vengeance can also be part of the justice process. These definitions only apply in a perfect society, or a society that is striving for perfection. It has not been the case in America for a very long time. We have a two tiered justice system where Democrats can virtually commit any crime and never be held accountable. That is Democrats who walk the party line and never buck the system. This doesn't apply to Democrats like RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, or Eric Adams who have the nerve to think for themselves. Because of Democrats we are seeing law abiding good Samaritan citizens like Daniel Penny and Kyle Rittenhouse prosecuted for defending themselves and others. While at the same time perpetrators are ignored, slapped on the hand, released from ja...

Although I voted for Jimmy Carter twice, now I consider him one of our worst and most incompetent presidents in American history. I was a delusional Democrat in those days. Having said that even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. Most of what he did was bad but I will give the devil his due in one area. Carter was able to negotiate an effective peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1978 called the Camp David Accords. It was through Carter's persistence that the Israeli prime minister Manachem Begin was able to sign a peace treaty with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Sadat was a rarity in the Muslim world. He was a secular Muslim who became a true statesman. A man who was looking out for the interests of Egypt and not Islam. Since Israel's founding in 1948 there had been four major wars between the Arab states and Israel. There had been a major war in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. The Camp David Accords was strategic in the sense that as long as Egypt honored the treaty ...

The Downtown Nashville Presbyterian Church on Church Street. formerly the First Presbyterian Church was the third church built on this site in 1848. The first two burned down. It was built in Egyptian Revival style by William Strickland who designed the Tennessee State capital building. General Andrew Jackson accepted a ceremonial sword on this site after his victory at the battle of New Orleans. During the Civil War this building became Union hospital number 8 with 208 beds. A stone Mason who carved gravestones had a business across the street as seen in this picture. The last picture is of a Union nurse treating wounded men in another Nashville tent hospital during the Civil War.

The Maxwell House Hotel was at the corner of 4th and Union in Nashville. Construction was begun in 1859 by John Overton Jr. who was the son of Andrew Jacksons campaign manager and long time friend John Overton. The hotel wasn't completely finished until 1869. It was named for Overton's wife Harriet Maxwell Overton. The hotels coffee was marketed in the late 1800's and became Maxwell House coffee. During the Civil War it was used as a hospital, barracks, and prison for Confederate POW's. Several Confederate prisoners were killed when a stairway collapsed in 1863. Although the KKK originated in Pulaski Tennessee in 1866, it was a harmless social fraternity created to relieve the boredom of six former Confederate soldiers. They dressed up in Halloween type costumes and rode their horses around town scaring local citizens for fun. They also outfitted their horses in similar costumes. The modern day white robes and hoods did not come along until the rebirth of the Klan in 19...

 In Trump's first term he adopted Reagan's Soviet Union strategy directed at bringing down the Iranian regime. Trump knew that the Iranian people, like the Russian people of the 1980's were unhappy with their government and wanted change. Without targeting the Iranian people Trump targeted the regime itself by isolating it economically from the world. Trump promised severe economic sanctions against any country that did business with Iran. Iran's oil exports dropped significantly and by the end of his first term in office Iran was on the verge of bankruptcy. They were also unable to fund their proxy terror groups like Hamas, Hezbolah and other terrorist groups. Trump was hoping that this economic punishment would spur a popular uprising in Iran. It would probably have happened had he been reelected in 2020. His sanctions were also designed to kill their attempt to build a nuclear weapon. The most clear and present danger to Israel, the United States and the entire world...

 On the late afternoon of April 4, 1968 I was working the 2nd shift at Baird-Ward printing company in Nashville when I heard the news about the assassination of Martin Luther King. All hell broke loose in Nashville and Memphis that night. Cities all over the country were burning and looters were running rampant. A state of emergency was declared and by the next day National Guard tanks and armored vehicles were deployed throughout Nashville. Our plant was right across the street from the Tennessee National Guard headquarters. On my breaks I watched as the troops were being mobilized. By the next day a six PM curfew was declared by then Democrat governor Buford Ellington. The Mayor of Nashville was Democrat Beverly Briley. Both handled the situation masterfully. After six o'clock the only people allowed on the street were people like myself who were going to work or were enroute to a hospital for emergency care. Everybody else would be arrested. I was a senior in high school at the ...