Media Predictions About the Next Republican Presidential Candidate

Just for fun, I would like to make some predictions about future stories run by our super impartial and unbiased mainstream media (MSM) regarding the next Republican nominee for the Presidency. Once you reach a certain age, not only do you gain a certain amount of wisdom, but you also begin to see patterns (if you have been paying attention). It is sort of like Keanu Reeve’s character ‘Neo’ at the end of The Matrix where you have taken the ‘red pill’ and can now see what is really going on.

The first thing the MSM will attempt to do is to tell us how dumb this candidate is. By the way, it will not matter the gender or race of the individual. The double standard is clear now. If you are on the Left and you happen to be black, female, gay, or whatever, then you are defended by the MSM; however, if you are any of the aforementioned minorities, but on the Right … well then you forfeit your protection and are free to be ridiculed (see my previous article The Hypocrisy of the Left – Feminism Part II).

Much of what this Republican nominee says will be taken out of context and distorted so as to make them look foolish. The plethora of ill-liberal late-night talk show hosts will glam onto this and ridicule this person mercilessly. The sad part is that despite how unfunny their monologue is, the lemmings in the audience will clap and cheer vigorously.

The next thing the MSM will do is to attempt to paint this candidate as a racist, misogynist, homophobic, bigot of some kind. They will take some innocuous statement, picture, or tweet from their past and construe it in such a way as to be unflattering to say the least. Incidentally, Ralph Northam is still the governor of Virginia despite appearing in blackface in his 1984 medical school yearbook standing next to a guy in a KKK hood and robe. By the way, when I ‘Googled’ ‘Northam Governor Blackface’ I found several apologetic and excusatory articles by left-wing publications in this order: CNN, NY Times, USAToday, Washington Post, NY Times (again), NBC News, Washington Post (again), USA Today (again), CNN (again), CNN (a third time), Politico, Newsweek, NPR, etc. Thanks for your impartiality big tech!

Anyway, this new Republican nominee will also be portrayed by the state-run-media as an anti-globalist, anti-environmentalist, and pro-military G.I. Joe-type character. I, for one, am a-okay with an American president whose primary concern is America, and is unafraid to stand by our allies and oppose our enemies – such a novel concept! As far as the environment goes, does anyone want a piss-poor environment? We literally all have to live here, so it is hard for me to believe that anyone really wants a crummy environment. In regards to the military, we need to keep our noses out of most other country’s business, but when horrible things occur such as a natural disaster or GENOCIDE – well then I feel we may be in a position to help, and we ought to do just that.

Jean-Marc Bovee, PharmD retired
St. Louis, MO

The Hypocrisy of the Left – Presidential Portrayals

I remember growing up in the eighties as a teenager seeing HBO’s show Not Necessarily the News constantly making fun of Ronald Reagan’s age and portraying him (prematurely I might add) as a nonsensical senile old man (he was 77 at the end of his second term). In fact, I remember Dennis Miller doing a joke around the beginning of Reagan’s second term where Dennis stated that his family would not let their grandfather be in charge of the remote control, and yet we as a nation were giving the presidency to Ronny. By the way, Joe Biden just began his first term as President at the age of 78 years old.

Flash forward to 2001 with George W. Bush and his constant portrayal by the media as some dim-witted cowboy. Comedian Will Ferrell portrayed our 43rd President in a one-man Broadway show with an unflattering depiction to say the least. Previous to that we had to hear about how dumb Vice Presidential candidate Dan Quayle was by the self-contradictory comedian George Carlin.

The point is that the mainstream media, and the Left in general, for decades now, have consistently presented a skewered view of Republican politicians as buffoons, and Democrats as supremely enlightened beings. Now it is 2021 and we have a legitimately impaired, feeble, and barely sentient person in the White House, and the cowards that inhabit Saturday Night Live, or the plethora of late-night TV talk shows, refrain from mining this vast endless pit of potential comedic material because their politics forbid it. 

Following are just some examples of the ‘Big mans’ gaffes over the years:

Three decades ago, Biden’s verbal attack on a voter at a New Hampshire house party helped derail his first presidential campaign. When Claremont, New Hampshire high-school teacher Frank Fahey asked Biden what law school he attended, the then-senator from Delaware responded, “I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.” Biden snapped as he expounded on a glittering academic record that reporters later found was largely manufactured. The exchange, captured by C-Span’s cameras, resurfaced months later when Biden was revealed as a serial plagiarist going back to his college days. He abandoned his White House bid soon after.

In 2006, as he explored a second presidential run, Biden’s penchant for racial insensitivity resurfaced. “In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans, moving from India,” he told one voter. “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. And I’m not joking,” he added with a grin. Indian-American groups objected to what they called “embarrassing, stereotypical comments.” “We do appreciate knowing what he really thinks of his Indian-American constituents,” said Dr. Raghavendra Vijayanagar of the Indian-American Republican Council.

Then he said this about Barack Obama while running against him in 2007, “I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean.” 

Back in October of 2008 in Athens, Ohio, at a rally, Biden said, “Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word, jobs: J-O-B-S.”

During a 2008 campaign rally in Missouri Biden told a paraplegic man to stand up, “I’m told Chuck Graham, state senator, is here. Stand up Chuck, let ‘em see you. Oh, God love you. What am I talking about? I’ll tell you what, you’re making everybody else stand up, though, pal. Stand up for Chuck!”

In February 2009, Biden showed his mathematic prowess when discussing the economic stimulus package, “If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there’s still a 30% chance we’re going to get it wrong.”

In March 2010, a cranky Biden scolded American troops for their tepid response to a set-up applause line, “Clap for that, you stupid bastards,” the vice-president barked, minutes into his speech to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing stationed in Abu Dhabi. Biden was seeking kudos for his “incredibly good judgment” in having nominated one of the group’s officers to the Air Force Academy - but his pronouncement was met with crickets. “Man, you are a dull bunch,” he complained.

Unbelievably in August 2012, Biden said this to a black audience in Danville, Virginia regarding Mitt Romney and the GOP, “They’re going to put you all back in chains.” How he was able to get away with that one is truly remarkable.

Voters cringed through the vice-presidential debate between Biden and Republican Paul Ryan in 2012, as the hyper-aggressive veep interrupted Ryan 85 times with sudden guffaws and dismissive interjections - a heckling strategy much like the one that Donald Trump turned on Biden in their first debate.

Biden’s apparent cluelessness about racially sensitive language has repeatedly landed him in hot water. One day after Kamala Harris scorched him for his past opposition to racially integrating schools through busing in a June 2019 debate, Biden scrambled, “We’ve got to recognize that a kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate,” he told members of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition - “not a gangbanger.” In seeking to dispel damaging stereotypes, critics said that Biden reinforced them. “This is just another example of lessons that Joe Biden shouldn’t have to learn,” remarked New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

“I am a gaffe machine,” Joe Biden admitted in December 2018. “I will develop some disease and say I have to resign,” he told CNN, as Harris shook her head in bewilderment. In March 2018 he also espoused, that he would “beat the hell out of” President Trump.

A town hall speech in August 2019 with the Asian and Latino Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa set the stage for a stunning Biden blunder, “We should challenge students in these schools to have Advanced Placement programs. We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” After a pause, he realized his faux pas. “Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids,” he revamped. “No, I really mean it, but think how we think about it.”

In February 2020 Biden referred to a Mercer University economics student Madison Moore, 21, as a “lying dog-faced pony soldier” on national TV.

In December 2020 he exploded at an Iowa Democrat who challenged him with some impertinent questions. “You’re a damn liar, man,” Biden sputtered in an eruption of insults. Later, one reporter chided him for the flare-up. “You talk about needing to restore civility,” she began. “It’s not civil to call someone who lied a liar?” Biden responded. 

In 2020, Biden stumbled over his words as he attempted to recite the Declaration of Independence ahead of Super Tuesday, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.” He also accidentally referred to Super Tuesday as "Super Thursday."

On February 10, 2020 Biden called a woman a, “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

In March 2020 Biden got into a verbal spat with a factory worker telling him he was “full of sh-t” when the worker accused Biden of trying to take away Second Amendment rights. Later during the same exchange, the worker told Biden, “You’re working for me, man” and Biden replied, “I’m not working for you. Give me a break, man. Don’t be such a horse’s ass.” 

In May of 2020, while appearing on the Breakfast Club, a New York City-based radio show, Biden brazenly asserted, "Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."

In his first and very delayed press conference in late March 2021, he came across as confused at times losing his train of thought, “…if you hold near and dear to you that you uh, um, like to be able to um ... anyway … we’re ready to get a lot done.”

In April 2021 he stated, “You walk into a store and you buy a gun you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want and no background check,” which is untrue. He also repeatedly referred to the ATF as the “AFT” in a speech on April 9, 2021.

While rolling out a set of executive orders on gun control in April of this year, he said, “No amendment to the Constitution is absolute.” He did not elaborate if that included the 13th amendment abolishing slavery or the 16th Amendment regarding Federal income taxes or the 19th Amendment addressing voting.

In regards to Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Biden referred to it on national news as “Jim Crow on steroids” and suggested that Major League Baseball (MLB) pull the All-Star game out of Atlanta, which they did. Incidentally, the Left-leaning Washington Post assigned Biden four Pinocchios for falsely stating things like the Georgia law “ends voting hours early” when in fact the bill extends them. Interestingly, not only does Denver have only 15 days of in-person early voting versus Georgia’s 17 days, but Atlanta is 51% black and less than 10 % of Denver is black. So, in other words, the roughly $100 million dollars lost to the majority-black city of Atlanta vis-à-vis the MLB All-Star game will now be going to the overwhelmingly white city of Denver.

Sadly, anyone old enough to recall when Biden entered politics in the early seventies, knows that he has had a long history of controversial stances. During his first term as senator in 1977, Biden was outspoken in regards to busing students to desegregated schools lamenting the fact that his children would be subjected to a “racial jungle.” Again, how he gets away with this sort of thing in a cancel culture that throws people under the bus for a 10-year-old tweet they put out when they were teenagers is perplexing to say the least. For a man who ran on the promise of a return to political decorum, Biden has a long history of bigoted cracks, public put-downs, and angry outbursts.

Despite the fact that this pattern of his has been going on for more than a few decades, there is a possible explanation as to why it has gotten so much worse recently. It has been alleged that the President may in fact have Alzheimer’s disease. Here is a short list of some of the symptoms one is afflicted with regarding this terrible disorder. Ask yourself if Biden meets any or all of these criteria: memory loss, difficulty in communication (especially finding the right words), reduced ability to organize or reason, confusion and disorientation, difficulty with coordination and motor functions (think stairs), changes in personality and behavior (like getting angry and raising your voice for no reason during a speech), and mood swings (as in threatening to beat someone up). This pattern could go on and on, and probably will. In fact, in 2020, even Barack Obama warned Democrats, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up.” 

Jean-Marc Bovee, Pharm.D. retired
St. Louis, MO

PRESS RELEASE - April 13, 2021 "In Defense of Robert E. Lee"

Re:  In Defense of Robert E. Lee 

Today, our nation struggles to recover from $2 billion dollars in destruction and countless lives lost over this past summer—much of it surrounding the destruction of monuments dedicated to important figures in our national past.  It is no surprise that with the decline in knowledge about our nation’s history that citizens have pressured the Ft. Myers City Council to remove the Memorial dedicated to the memory of the man for whom our county is named. Gone are the days when mayors and commissioners would pose for pictures at the base of the Robert E. Lee Memorial. Nor do many citizens recall that in recent years our County Commission has both officially recognized Confederate Memorial Day and passed a resolution to protect historical monuments within our county.  Unfortunately, with the march of today’s ‘cancel culture’ all that matters is to follow the dictates of an uninformed mob. Due to the blatantly erroneous statements that were made before the Ft. Myers City Council regarding the character of Robert E. Lee, we believe it’s necessary to set the record straight. 

It’s been falsely stated that Lee was a cruel slave owner who whipped his slaves and sold apart family members. The truth is Lee freed not only the slaves he inherited from his wife, but also all those from the Custis estate which were not owned by him.  He always stood in opposition to the institution. True, as executor he rented slaves from the Custis estate, but he did so in order to raise the funds to pay for their emancipation. He accomplished that goal. Those of his slaves who wished to remove to Liberia even had their transport paid by Lee.  

Nor was Lee a ‘traitor.’ He had already dedicated much of his life to the defense of our nation and risked his life in its war against Mexico. Lee always saw himself as following the steps of his Revolutionary War father, “Light-Horse Henry” Lee, and George Washington. He opposed secession but was forced by history to choose. Thank goodness none of us is faced with his choice—to take up arms against one’s one family and neighbors and to invade one’s own state or to hope for peace and vow to protect your loved ones from foreign invasion. Through Lee’s simple word and deed, a murderous guerrilla war following Appomattox was averted. He turned down opportunities to make a fortune off his name as he saw his own properties seized by the federal government, leaving him in dire poverty in 1865. Thanks to an offer from a bankrupt Washington College, he found a respectable home and comfort for his wife by assuming the presidency of the little school. For the next five years as thousands of his officers, former soldiers and southern citizens sought out his guidance, he always advised them that God had decided the contest and their duty now was to be loyal citizens of the United States. Without a doubt, he single-handedly did more than anyone to heal the wounds from a war that cost 750,000 dead and another hundred thousand maimed and disabled. For this he won the undying devotion of our nation and countless Presidents and world leaders. Hardly acts of a traitor!

Lee’s life is a lesson to us in troubled times. For that alone he should not be driven in disgrace from our public square. Drawing inspiration from his ordeal, he continues to inspire generations of Americans to enlist in an army that prides itself on duty, sacrifice, loyalty, and perseverance. We’ve forgotten that in 1964 President Johnson invoked the memory of Lee to successfully pass that year’s momentous Civil Rights Act into law. We’ve forgotten his memory was invoked again during the national turmoil over the Vietnam War. When his “lost” loyalty oath was rediscovered in the National Archives in 1970 there were over 400,000 draft dodgers who had fled to Canada or were in hiding out within America. Congress quickly rushed through a bill restoring Lee’s citizenship. Signed into law by Gerald Ford on July 22, 1975 it offered hope for our future. Shortly afterward, President Carter used this example to pardon hundreds of thousands of Vietnam draft dodgers. Once again Lee helped heal our wounds.

Today should be no different. Many of our members had ancestors who fought in the American Civil War. We respect the views of many Black citizens in Lee County who are offended by the local Robert E. Lee memorial.  We ask them to judge the entire man’s life, however, and not just the four years he chose to defend his family and state from what he considered foreign invasion. We ask that they remember that through his acts and deeds he opposed slavery and humanly freed his own slaves. We feel just as closely touched by Lee’s deeds as they—actions on his part freed their ancestors while they maimed and killed some of ours. 

Lee’s Christian heritage taught him to forgive his enemies and to forget the divisions of the past. He never drank, smoked, swore or was unkind to any person. He was always a faithful husband and loving father. He was a renowned educator—both at West Point and later at Washington College. We’d like to call upon the citizens of Lee County to remember Lee’s character and his entire life’s lesson—one that all our school children should be educated to.  Rather than remove this man from our collective memory, we need to strengthen our remembrance of him. 

With the same hope that Lee had for our nation’s future, we urge the collective elective officials of Ft Myers and Lee County to make the right decision for of our community.

WORDS 949

Sincerely,

 Brian Bailey, President, Southwest Florida Civil War Roundtable
Naples, FL   34117
Cell:     239-      

The Hypocrisy of the Left – Hate Crime Double Standards

A professor named Liam O’Mara from Chapman University in California, who was also a candidate for a Riverside County congressional seat, tweeted a picture of a Ku Klux Klan hood to Candace Owens, which read, “Yikes. You may’ve dropped this.” This was because Miss Owens previously tweeted that, “The #1 violent offenders against black people are other black people.”

Miss Owens stated that Mr. O’Mara had been harassing her for two years, but this time she had to respond.  It turns out that he did eventually capitulate and stated, “I made a terrible mistake. I’m officially (resigning) from all my responsibilities within the Democratic Party and am no longer running for Congress. What I did was a display of white privilege.” His tweet, as well as his Twitter account, have since been deleted. 

Miss Owens followed up with a tweet of her own – “For everyone that is suing @Twitter for clear cut bias – they have written to me to let me know that sending Klansmen hoods to black people does not violate any of their rules. Racism is ok on their platform! Thanks @TwitterSafety!” This sort of reminds me of the fact that Hitler’s Mein Kampf is still for sale on Amazon, but Ryan Anderson’s When Harry Became Sally is verboten there.

It is interesting what is deemed appropriate and what is not by ‘progressives.’ The New York Times motto claims All the News That’s Fit to Print, but a more accurate one would state All the News That We Deem Fit to Print. For instance, if you only follow Left-wing news outlets, then you may not have heard about the 65-year-old Asian American woman who was walking to church when a suspect assaulted her and said, “F-ck you, you don’t belong here,” on 3/20/2021 according to the NYPD. On 3/25/2021 police arrested and charged a suspect wanted in the homicide of a 74-year-old Asian man in Phoenix, AZ. He was punched in the face and his skull fractured when he hit the ground causing brain bleed. Marcus Williams was charged with second-degree murder. 

You also may not know that the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is currently seeking a suspect who assaulted an Asian woman on 3/27/2021 at the 51st Street and Lexington Avenue subway station. He too made anti-Asian, racist statements during the attack. Also on 3/27/2021, a 38-year-old Asian man walking with his wife and five-year-old son was sucker-punched in an unprovoked Central Park attack. 

On 3/28/2021 two teenagers (15 & 17) in Milwaukee found an Asian woman alone in a park, assaulted her, dragged her to a pond in the woods, then raped and killed her. They recorded the crime on their phones. Around the same time, a man named Chris Hammer was arrested over multiple hate crime attacks on Asians in Seattle. He is a BLM activist and was a participant at CHAZ. His social media is filled with posts against Trump and Republicans. 

On 3/28/2021 an Asian woman was struck in the face by a man spewing ethnic slurs at her in a Manhattan subway station. Currently, the NYPD Hate Crimes is asking for help identifying a man who assaulted an Asian woman in front of her three children while on the “5” train heading to Times Square on March 30th. He made racist comments to her during the attack as well.

An elderly Asian couple in Oakland, CA was robbed by four males after they returned home from grocery shopping - the video went viral. A male robbed a Korean-American-owned convenience store in Charlotte, NC on 3/30/2021. He destroyed the store with a metal bar during the attack, and screamed, “That’s what you get you Chinese motherf--ker!” Police have NOT charged him with a hate crime. Currently, police in Tacoma, WA are asking for information regarding a viral video showing a group of males assaulting a Korean couple who are screaming for help, which also went viral in the video.

On 4/1/2021 two men were arrested and charged over the slaying of a 48 year old Vietnamese–American, Tong Nguyen, in San Jose, CA. He was shot in the head. 

Also on 4/1/2021 an Asian woman named Ke Chieh Meng, 64, was attacked by Darlene Stephanie Montoya, 23, a transient. and was stabbed to death in a ‘random’ attack in CA while walking her two dogs.

The Ontario Police Department in CA made an arrest over the hate crime felony assault of an Asian couple. The perpetrator Tuvorius Mencer is also facing a charge of assaulting an officer. A South Asian immigrant who ran a souvenir shop on the Atlantic City boardwalk died after being robbed by an armed group of youths, and the NYPD held a press conference recently showcasing people they have apprehended for attacking members of the Asian community. In the latter case, the perpetrators consisted of four black males, one black female, and one Middle Eastern man.

And that is the point in all of this. The current #StopAsianHate movement seems to focus of Caucasian perpetrators of racial hate crimes, but ALL of the aforementioned cases were conducted by NON-white people. In other words, if the true focus and goal of this movement are to stamp out unjust crimes against Asian-Americans, then we may have to perform the unenviable task of looking at other minorities.

Jean-Marc Bovee, St. Louis, PharmD 

Published in American Thinker at:  https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/04/what_the_left_ignores_in_all_these_antiasian_hate_crimes.html

What the Left Ignores in All These Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

A published version of this article appeared in American Thinker (April 10. 2021) and may be accessed at: 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/04/what_the_left_ignores_in_all_these_antiasian_hate_crimes.html

_____

A professor named Liam O'Mara from Chapman University in California, who was also a candidate for a Riverside County congressional seat, tweeted a picture of a Ku Klux Klan hood to Candace Owens, which read, "Yikes.  You may've dropped this."  This was because Miss Owens previously tweeted, "The #1 violent offenders against black people are other black people."

Miss Owens stated that Mr. O'Mara had been harassing her for two years, but this time she had to respond.  It turns out that he did eventually capitulate and stated, "I made a terrible mistake.  I'm officially (resigning) from all my responsibilities within the Democratic Party and am no longer running for Congress.  What I did was a display of white privilege."  His tweet, as well as his Twitter account, have since been deleted.

Miss Owens followed up with a tweet of her own: "For everyone that is suing @Twitter for clear cut bias — they have written to me to let me know that sending Klansmen hoods to black people does not violate any of their rules.  Racism is ok on their platform!  Thanks @TwitterSafety!"  This sort of reminds me of the fact that Hitler's Mein Kampf is still for sale on Amazon, but Ryan Anderson's When Harry Became Sally is verboten there.

It is interesting, what "progressives" deem appropriate and inappropriate.  The New York Times motto claims All the News That's Fit to Print, but a more accurate one would state All the News That We Deem Fit to Print.  For instance, if you follow only left-wing news outlets, then you may not have heard about the 65-year-old Asian-American woman who was walking to church when a suspect assaulted her and said, "F--- you, you don't belong here," on 03/20/2021, according to the NYPD.  On 03/25/2021, police arrested and charged a suspect wanted in the homicide of a 74-year-old Asian man in Phoenix, AZ.  He was punched in the face, and his skull fractured when he hit the ground, causing brain bleed.  Marcus Williams was charged with second-degree murder.

You also may not know that the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is currently seeking a suspect who assaulted an Asian woman on 03/27/2021 at the 51st Street and Lexington Avenue subway station.  He too made anti-Asian, racist statements during the attack.  Also on 03/27/2021, a 38-year-old Asian man walking with his wife and five-year-old son was sucker-punched in an unprovoked Central Park attack.

On 03/28/2021, two teenagers (15 and 17) in Milwaukee found an Asian woman alone in a park, assaulted her, dragged her to a pond in the woods, then raped and killed her.  They recorded the crime on their phones.  Around the same time, a man named Chris Hammer was arrested over multiple hate crime attacks on Asians in Seattle.  He is a BLM activist and was a participant at CHAZ.  His social media profile is filled with posts against Trump and Republicans.

On 03/28/2021, an Asian woman was struck in the face by a man spewing ethnic slurs at her in a Manhattan subway station.  Currently, the NYPD Hate Crimes is asking for help identifying a man who assaulted an Asian woman in front of her three children while on the 5 train heading to Times Square on March 30.  He made racist comments to her as well.

An elderly Asian couple in Oakland, CA was robbed by four males after they returned home from grocery shopping.  The video went viral.  A male robbed a Korean-American-owned convenience store in Charlotte, NC on 03/30/2021.  He destroyed the store with a metal bar during the attack and screamed, "That's what you get, you Chinese m-----------!"  Police have not charged him with a hate crime.  Currently, police in Tacoma, WA are asking for information regarding a viral video showing a group of males assaulting a Korean couple who are screaming for help.

On 04/01/2021, two men were arrested and charged over the slaying of a 48-year-old Vietnamese-American, Tong Nguyen, in San Jose, CA.  He was shot in the head.

Also on 4/1/2021, an Asian woman named Ke Chieh Meng, 64, was attacked by Darlene Stephanie Montoya, 23, a transient, and was stabbed to death in a "random" attack in CA while walking her two dogs.

The Ontario Police Department in CA made an arrest over the hate crime felony assault of an Asian couple.  The perpetrator, Tuvorius Mencer, is also facing a charge for assaulting an officer.  A South Asian immigrant who ran a souvenir shop on the Atlantic City boardwalk died after being robbed by an armed group of youths, and the NYPD held a press conference recently showcasing people they have apprehended for attacking members of the Asian community.  In the latter case, the perpetrators consisted of four black males, one black female, and one Middle Eastern man.

That is the point in all of this.  The current #StopAsianHate movement seems to focus of Caucasian perpetrators of racial hate crimes, but all of the aforementioned cases were conducted by non-white people.  In other words, if the true focus and goal of this movement is to stamp out unjust crimes against Asian-Americans, then we may have to perform the unenviable task of looking at other minorities.

Jean-Marc Bovee, PharmD retired  

Defending a Great American from Cancel Culture

                                                                                         H.S. “Jack” Bovee     
                                                                                         19001 Cypress View Drive
                                                                                         Fort Myers, FL  33967

April 2, 2021

Mr. Kevin Ruane, Chair, Lee County Commission, dist1@leegov.com
Re: In Defense of General Robert E. Lee

Dear Mr. Ruane,

I am writing to you as a resident of Lee County for 50 years, a former U.S. History teacher at N. Ft. Myers High School in the 1970s, a former Social Studies Coordinator for the Lee County School District in the 1980s and 1990s, and afterward a former Lee County Elementary Principal of the Year. I’ve dedicated all of my adult life as to the education of youth. Among my most treasured achievements was to have taken an idea begun by Maureen Copeland at Fort Myers High School for establishing a rigorous Social Studies Honor Society for her students and promoting similar societies across Florida and eventually the nation.  I tell you this because I am passionate about the subject I wish to discuss with you: the need to preserve in Lee County the memorial dedicated to Robert E. Lee, for whom our county is named.

I am keenly aware of the toxic nature of many monuments to America’s past—especially those that pertain to anyone associated with the Confederacy. As an educator, however, I can’t help but believe there is an opportunity here that would benefit everyone in our community.  I need not tell you that the life and times of Robert E. Lee closely mirror our own.  Today, our nation has been divided almost to the extent it was 160 years ago when a tragic Civil War destroyed half the nation and took an estimated 750,000 lives.   Robert E. Lee’s personal efforts to reconcile the division in our nation won him the praise of countless U.S. Presidents and world leaders. He worked against what would have been a murderous guerrilla war following Appomattox, thereby saving the lives of countless Americans. After the war, he continually told his students and friends that he saw himself as an American and encouraged them to put aside their resentments and prejudices. His example has repeatedly served as a lesson to our nation in times of political and social division. Much later, when LBJ urged Congress to approve the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reminded Southerners of the legacy of Lee.  He remarked to his fellow southerners, “If we are to heal our history and make this nation whole…opportunity must know no color line. Robert E Lee…a great leader of the South—and I assume no modern-day leader would question him or challenge him—Robert E. Lee counseled us well when he told us to cast off our animosities and raise our sons to be Americans.” Finally, for the record, Lee abhorred slavery. 

Without a doubt, Lee’s example and his character have guided Americans in turbulent times. Today is no different. 

It should be noted that Robert E. Lee is today a great AMERICAN citizen. He sought and posthumously received restoration of his citizenship and civil rights by nearly unanimous votes in both Houses of Congress not that long ago. In the historic presidential signing ceremony marking that event, Gerald Ford spoke to the nation: General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride. . . .As a soldier, Gen. Lee left his mark on military strategy. As a man, he stood as the symbol of valor and of duty. As an educator, he appealed to reason and learning to achieve understanding and to build a stronger nation. The course he chose after the war became a symbol to all…     

The fact that Lee devoted 4 years of his life toward the defense of his state, family, and neighbors in a cause that he believed was constitutional should be no reason to erase a memorial to his honor in the county that bears his name. The toxicity of the current situation threatens the very historical legacy of both the City of Ft. Myers and Lee County. Are we next to rename the city because it honors another Confederate? Will we rename the many roads, parks, schools, buildings, businesses and even our county name itself because these pay tribute to the man that so many of our presidents and world leaders have praised? Where will the cancel culture end? Why not deal with it now? If Lee cannot be respected, who can? If this monument is removed, what other tributes to the man should remain?

I submit that there is an alternative route that the County Commission and City Council may wish to explore. It is to follow the time-honored tradition of political compromise. I respectfully suggest that the City and County each nominate such stakeholders and distinguished local citizens to a committee that would be charged with establishing a common-sense solution to our current dilemma. Nominees might come from prominent local educators, the Bar Association, historical museums, and perhaps even from the Board of Lee Memorial Hospital—whose very existence owes a debt to this man. Nominees could be from stakeholder groups such as the NAACP, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, possibly the Lee County Visitors/Convention Center, one or more of our university Presidents, or representatives from our many elective bodies. The possibilities are endless and as an optimist, I believe there are enough people of goodwill that a satisfactory agreement could be made. A committee report with representation from all stakeholders would hopefully provide a firm foundation for any decision by elective bodies.

I’d further suggest any such group charged with arriving at a solution should meet basic criteria. Among these might be:

      -- that the location of the memorial be appropriate (this might mean county property instead of city property or that it be removed to a historical museum or another appropriate venue. (Are the various historic busts by sculptor Don Wilkins still housed in the City convention center?)   
     -- that it be made available to the public for historical and educational purpose
     -- that it be in a secure location to protect it from further vandalism or destruction 
     -- that educational background be provided as part of the monument to give context to all sides
     -- that some final clarification of ownership be established for the future 

Among other possibilities, it might be possible to create a short educational video (that could be produced by WGCU, the school system or a local news network) that could briefly cover the life of Lee as well as the controversy surrounding this historical legacy. This could be used to educate and better inform Lee County citizens, visiting tourists, and local school children about the man and would help to answer the question as to why this county continues to bear his name.

The above scenario of an advisory committee is only one suggestion and I’m aware that such a move would entail legal obligations under Florida’s Sunshine Law. Another idea would be to submit something of a solution to the voters of Lee County for their input or approval. 

As a member of the Southwest Florida Civil War Roundtable, I’m aware of the desire of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to possibly remove the Lee Memorial to a location outside of Lee County. Doing so, however, would not end these controversies.  We’d still have a hospital, roads, banks, schools, parks, businesses, portraits and more to protest and agitate over.  As a community, we have a choice. We can deal with our past history today or kick the can down the road for our children to solve. Personally, I’d hate to see this memorial to the man removed from the public square in Lee County when having it present provides such wonderful educational opportunities for our residents and students.

I’d welcome the chance to discuss this with you further. I’m copying your colleagues and Major Kevin Anderson on the matter in the hope of getting some common-sense discussions going between your two local governing agencies.  

With best wishes for a workable solution to all,

Most sincerely,

Jack Bovee            Email:  jsbovee@aol.com       Cell:  239-272-3508

Cc: 

Mr. Cecil Pendergrass, Commissioner, Dist. 2   dist2@leegov.com
Mr. Ray Sandelli, Commissioner, Dist. 3  dist3@leegov.com
Mr. Brian Hamman, Commissioner, Dist. 4  dist4@leegov.com
Mr. Frank Mann, Commissioner, Dist. 5   dist5@leegov.com 
Mr. Kevin Anderson, Mayor, City of Ft. Myers    mayoranderson@cityftmyers.com