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opinion
Thursday, April 8, 2021 • Page 4A
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Letter to The Editor:
City Council
Members,
Do Your Duty
To the editor:
I just read your [April 1]
article on watering down the
alcohol ordinance.
The store owners are all
fully aware of Thomaston’s
ordinances. This shows what
direction we, as a people, are
heading in. Sad times for
sure.
The two council
members voting to change
the ordinance always vote to
gether. OK, but the two who
abstained should have the
fortitude to cast a vote.
Conflict of interest?
Surely that is a lame excuse.
You two have an obligation
to voters and citizens alike. If
being bankers is an excuse,
then you should resign your
council positions. How many
citizens do you do business
with? A large portion of
Thomaston, I am sure. So do
your sworn duties or else.
Our law enforcement did
a tremendous job and they
get let down. This is happen
ing all too often. They de
serve our support. An
ordinance once made should
not be so easily changed
when it is a good one.
Thanks to all our law en
forcers!
P.S. Thanks to Don
Greathouse.
Jerry W. Chastain Sr.
Joe Biden, along with
Stacey Abrams and other
knee-jerk, “woke” left
wingers, has painted a tar
get directly on the State of
Georgia, and the latest
shot to find the bullseye
was fired by Major League
Baseball.
Biden called Georgia’s
recent voting law change
“un-American,” “Jim Crow
on steroids,” and said, “It’s
sick.” For his comments on
the bill Gov. Brian Kemp
signed, Biden received the
gold medal of lying, “4 Pi-
nocchios” from The Wash
ington Post, not known for
its conservatism. But the
damage was done.
Atlanta is expected to
lose more than $100 mil
lion in tourism revenue
from the misguided politi
cal statement.
MLB cancelled its re
servation to hold the All-
Star Game and Draft in
Atlanta, and Coca-Cola
and Delta Airlines quickly
fell in line to condemn the
state in which they are
headquartered. Adding to
I’m Just Say in’...
Say It Ain’t
So, Joe’
the shame, all-star festiv
ities were planned to cele
brate the memory of the
late Atlanta Brave Hank
Aaron. Now, that will
occur in a different city.
Hats off to the Braves
organization for not sup
porting relocation of the
game, and to Kemp for de
fending the state and its
voting laws.
Commissioner of Base
ball Robert D. Manfred, Jr.
said this in his statement:
“I have decided that the
best way to demonstrate
our values as a sport is by
relocating this year’s All-
Star Game and MLB
Draft.” Clearly, Manfred
agrees with Biden and
Abrams that Georgia’s
values are beneath those of
America’s pastime, so we
must suffer the con
sequences.
I am not going to waste
space listing the state’s
voting law changes
(anyone can Google the in
formation), but the short
version is the bill does not
reduce poll hours on elec
tion day, does not abolish
drop boxes, absentee, or
mail-in voting, and does
not deny voters food and
water while standing in
line.
The law does require
valid identification, which
seems to be a sore spot for
Democrats. Never mind
that valid ID is required to
purchase cigarettes or al
cohol, or even to cash a
check at a grocery store
(ID is required to pick up
baseball tickets at will-call
windows). Why should
you dare be asked to verify
your identity when helping
choose the leader of the
free world?
Democrats would have
you believe the changes,
particularly ID and signa
ture match requirement,
unfairly suppress minority
voting. If I were a minor
ity, I would be offended
and angered that Demo
crats, especially Abrams,
are insinuating that I am
incapable of obtaining any
form of identification
(many are free) and cor
rectly submitting a ballot.
It seems as if there are
three culprits on which the
current administration
consistently places blame:
Racism, the pandemic,
and Donald Trump.
Since he has been out
of sight and banned from
social media, it has be
come increasingly difficult
to blame Trump. But
Biden’s press secretary has
laid the border crisis at
Trump’s feet, saying the
former President “left a
mess” at the border for
Biden to clean up. The
magnitude of irony in that
statement is beyond com
prehension.
The pandemic remains
a viable justification for
most decisions, but the
race card ends all discus
sion. The problem is that
card is being played so
frequently that eventually,
its effect will be dimin
ished to the detriment of a
cause or situation which
merits its use.
Example: Democrat
Elizabeth Warren recently
labeled the legislative fili
buster as racist, yet she
used it last year while in
the minority party, against
a black senator, Repub
lican Tim Scott. Hypocrisy
and more irony... Warren
may have inadvertently
cast herself as a racist.
“The filibuster has deep
roots in racism, and it
should not be permitted to
serve that function, or to
create a veto for the mi
nority,” Warren said of the
parliamentary procedure.
“In a democracy, it’s ma
jority rules.”
A senator, of all people,
should know that the
United States is a republic,
not a pure democracy,
which is constitutionally
designed to provide a voice
to the minority. Further,
Democrats shamelessly
claim to be champions for
minorities.
I have said numerous
times in this column that I
consider the mainstream
media’s coverage - or
omission of coverage - of
events to be one of the
most dangerous trends of
our time. Particularly CNN
and MSNBC seem to
thrive on fueling racial
tension and division with
subjective commentary. At
least one federal appeals
court judge in Washing
ton, D.C. agrees with me.
Senior Circuit Judge
Laurence Silberman wrote
the following in a dissent
to protect the press:
“The increased power
of the press is so danger
ous today because we are
very close to one-party
control of these institu
tions... One-party control
of the press and media is a
threat to a viable democ
racy... Two of the three
most influential papers,
The New York Times and
the Washington Post, are
virtually Democratic
broadsheets... Nearly all
television - network and
cable - is a Democratic
Party trumpet.”
The judge mentioned
Silicon Valley, which he
claimed is responsible for
the increasingly anti-con
servative bias in the news,
then named Fox News,
The New York Post, and
The Wall Street Journal’s
editorial page as the “few
notable exceptions to
Democratic Party ideolog
ical control.”
Regardless of political
inclination, we all should
diversify our news sources.
Otherwise, we may be
hearing and seeing only
one side of the story, or we
may never know that “the
story” exists.
As for Biden, he is no
less of a liar than he
claimed his predecessor to
be, and his rhetoric is no
less divisive.
As for Abrams, who
seemingly continues to
hold a grudge against
Georgia, we dodged a bul
let when we chose not to
move her into the gov
ernor’s mansion.
And for those who
question whether the most
prestigious PGA tourna
ment in the U.S. will be
played in Georgia this
week, I predict that Au
gusta National Golf Club
will host The Masters, with
or without corporate spon
sors, as always. Cancel cul
ture be damned.
(Written Monday, 4-5)
B.WaineKong,Ph.D., JD
•Vt\/ '
Why did Cain kill Able?
According to the Bible,
the cause of the murder
had nothing to do with
anything Able did except
Cain was jealous because
God favored Able, which
gave rise to the green-eyed
monster or what the
Orientals call “Mankind’s
greatest flaw” that leads to
recklessness and bad
mindedness in the one
who envies and posses
siveness in the envied - a
poisonous snake around
your ankle.
A falling out between
siblings and family
members and friends al
ways seems to be about
envy - making an other
wise good and loving rel-
Waine’s World:
Jealousy: The
Ugly Emotion
Known as the
Green-Eyed Monster
ative want to destroy a
rival and themselves in the
process because they are
favored by a parent.
I wrote in a previous
column about people who
win the lottery getting poi
soned and hated for their
good fortune. Maybe
siblings don’t mind their
brothers and sisters suc
ceeding, each of us just
wants to be a little better
off than the rest of them.
We would much rather be
the cousin that is bom
barded with appeals for
help than the one asking
for the loan.
According to Eric
Berne, those who feel like
they are in a one down po
sition lie in wait until the
NFAC,
charge of the group,” who
told Walls he was unaware
that [the cousin] who gave
permission did not own the
property. The spokesman
told Walls he was not prior
military, saying he “used to
work for NRA teaching
people to shoot firearms
and... trained S.W.A.T.
teams before.”
Walls witnessed all sub
jects and vehicles vacate the
property, according to the
report.
The NFAC advocates for
black liberation and sep
aratism, according to online
sources. It has been de
scribed by news outlets as a
“black militia,” but the
group denies any connec
tion to the Black Panther
Party or Black Lives Matter.
The group’s leader,
John Fitzgerald Johnson,
known as “Grandmaster
Jay,” was indicted in Feb
ruary on federal charges re
lating to an incident during
a protest in September
2020. A grand jury indicted
Johnson on one count of as
saulting, resisting, or im
peding officers and one
count of brandishing a fire
arm after allegedly aiming a
rifle at members of the U.S.
Secret Service and other of
ficers, according to online
news sources.
Johnson could face up
to 20 years in prison for the
charges.
Johnson served in the
Virginia National Guard
and the Army fromi989 to
2006 and was an independ
ent candidate for U.S. Pres
ident in 2016. “We aren't
protesters, we aren't dem
onstrators,” he commented.
“We don't come to sing, we
don't come to chant. That's
not what we do.”
In an interview reported
on Wikipedia, Johnson
said, “The United States
person who they feel jeal
ous fails, giving them
sweet revenge. “Now I got
you, you SOB! What right
did you have being better
off than me?” They shout it
from the rooftops: “How
low the mighty has fallen!”
According to the dic
tionary, envy is a feeling of
discontented or resentful
longing aroused by some
one else's possessions,
qualities, luck, painful or
resentful awareness of an
advantage enjoyed by
another, joined with a de
sire to possess the same
advantage. When you
want what someone else
has, a covetous feeling
arises toward another per
son's attributes, posses
sions, or status.
Envy is triggered when
you believe you are short
changed in some way and
will go to great lengths to
overcome your inade
quacies. So, this can be ac
complished by cutting
those that are better off
down to size, put them
down in some way, putting
should either hand the state
of Texas over to African-
Americans so that they may
form an independent coun
try, or allow African-Amer
icans to depart the United
States to another country
that would provide land
upon which to form an in
dependent nation.”
Thomas Mockaitis, pro
fessor of history at DePaul
University, said, "In one
sense, the NFAC echoes the
Black Panthers but they are
more heavily armed and
more disciplined...”
The Upson Beacon has
learned that the group
trained locally more than
once.
MSNBC televised a seg
ment on March 22 featuring
footage of the NFAC train
ing in Upson County. The
five-minute, 35-second
video can be viewed at
https://y0utu.be/yvhFcr9m
PBQ.
them in their place, or
work hard to bring your
self up so you will no
longer feel inferior. We
need to feel some per
ceived level of success or at
least to measure up. Of
course, it is much easier to
bring the target of your
envy down than to elevate
yourself.
When envy is triggered
and you become unhappy,
you will likely feel hatred
toward the object of your
envy and disappointment
within yourself but also
motivated to compensate
or eliminate the source of
your envy to level the play
ing field.
Is your attraction, high
regard, and admiration for
someone an idealization of
their desired qualities or
possessions activating
envy? Do you suspect that
what you want (wealth,
education, talent, status,
cars, and material posses
sions) can be had from as
sociating with them so at
least hope that some of it
will rub off on you and
bring you happiness and
fulfillment? Sounds like a
formula for happiness.
According to “Envy:
The Emotion Kept Secret”
in Psychology Today
(March 15, 2011): “Your
ideal self is what you as
pire to be; the best that
you think you could or
should be, and often this
ideal comes from social
comparisons. Your sense
of self is constantly meas
uring itself against your
ideals and coming to var
ious conclusions. If you
measure up, you feel good,
excited, and even elated. If
you don't measure up, you
may feel depressed, or
ashamed. Self-esteem is
determined to a great de
gree by your own compar
ison of your sense of self to
your ideal self. However, it
is sometimes easier to
project that ideal onto
someone else in the form
of envy.
The values against
which your self is meas
ured are likely to change as
you mature and as you
learn to evaluate your po
tentialities and accept your
limitations. If you have re
alistic ideals and can gen
erally live up to them, your
self-esteem will not be
threatened. If your ideals
are exaggerated and you
cannot reach them, your
good feelings from suc
cesses may be short lived
and you may feel that you
are never good enough and
will envy others.”
So, when you envy
someone else, you are giv
ing them a compliment.
Maybe we are all guilty of
envy, calling it “keeping up
with the Jones.” In the
final analysis, we probably
all want to be smug about
how others view us with a
little envy - maybe not
enough to encourage as
sault and battery as we
flaunt and show off
spouses, successful chil
dren, cars, boats, air
planes, big houses,
makeovers, and clothes.
Don’t compare yourself
to anyone. You are incom
parable!
Continued from Front