Thank you to the Times Herald for publishing the war that took place in Berkeley on the front page of Sunday’s paper. I think it should have been in headlines and had the entire front page, because what is at stake is freedom and liberty. I went to the rally. While I do not agree 100% with Trump, I detest and despise violent efforts to suppress free speech, which is what has been happening all over our nation. A Trump rally in Chicago was shut down last year by leftist anarchists. A Milo Yiannopoulos rally was shut down in Berkeley. A Heather MacDonald speech on the actual statistics involved in police killings of blacks, as well as the incarceration rate of blacks was hijacked by Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter had no counter facts, they just simply sat and chanted “Black Lives, they matter here” as if that was a valid argument. Every life matters, but to judge a wrong, one must have all the facts, not just the propaganda fed us by the media. Numerous other speeches and rallies have been commandeered by the left. Notice, you never see conservatives hijacking Democrat or leftist functions.
As I walked towards the rally meeting place, I heard a loud explosive boom. I thought a bomb had went off, but that was just the first of dozens of M-80 firecrackers (which are illegal in Berkeley) being thrown by menacing, black clad Antifa members. They say they are protesting fascism, yet they can’t intelligently discuss Hitler, Ernst Rohm, Himmler, or Eichmann, some of the most notorious fascists of all time, at all. So, because they don’t know history, these young hoodlums are busy repeating it. How can you protest alleged “fascism”, while intimidating opposing views and using violence and force to shut down their right to free speech? You can’t, which is why the left is a farce.
The Berkeley police were milling around, and really did very little. I saw people hit over the head and badly beaten and bloodied, yet the police watched attentively. Trump supporters knew what to expect. And they came prepared. America has liberty because we have never tolerated thugs who viciously assault free speech and try to terrorize the opposition. And thus, on Saturday, with very little major media fanfare, we had the Battle of Berkeley. As I listened to the speakers, who were not racist at all, speak about America’s love of free speech, low taxes, low regulation, and being against illegal immigration, it was heartening. And Trump supporters were of all colors. There was white and black speakers supporting Trump. Asians, latinos, Indians from India, and all races were represented among Trump supporters. While there were rumors a tiny fraction were members of white supremacist organizations, I saw not one word or sign supporting white supremacy at all.
As the Speakers spoke, the Antifa movement, nearly 200-300 strong, made up almost entirely of black clothed, masked types with backpacks filled with dangerous stuff, went around the police, and circled to the rear of the Free speech rally. This was trouble. They then walked completely around and went to the left of the rally, as one looked on it. They began hurling bricks, fireworks, more M-80’s, glasses and other items at Trump supporters. I personally avoided the melee, but still had an M-80 thrown directly next to me by the Antifa’s, which made hearing impossible for a few minutes, and left my ears ringing for some time. Since the police would not stop this violence, the Trump supporters began to forcefully confront the Antifa. There were numerous scuffles that broke out. I saw many Trump supporters gassed, bloodied, beaten, hit with sticks. As I was watching the speeches, I saw people laying down and being tended to by the speakers. I thought they must have had heat exhaustion. But no, they had been beaten and gassed by Antifa. In the beginning I saw a man approaching with blood streaming down his face, and asked him what happened, and he said someone with brass knuckles punched him directly in his face. So finally Trump supporters had had enough of the nonsense and pushed the Antifa hoodlums two whole city blocks back into the heart of Berkeley.
It is very sad the left has paid hoodlums to violently attack free speech, and more of us are not indignant about this travesty of injustice. I personally talked for 10 hours straight, while standing, to libertarians, and members of the left, and the amount of propaganda spread by the media is a huge part of the problem.
I had only eaten breakfast, and had had no lunch or dinner, and nearly fainted while walking away from Martin Luther King Jr. Park. My feet hurt badly, my legs were weary, but my soul was happy, because the cause of liberty had been defended against the forces of ignorance and anarchy with forceful, but disciplined passion, as well as reason and logic.
And if more of us determine to know the other side completely, and be able to explain their view just as well as we can explain our own; peace, prosperity, and strength will return to America. To find the truth is painful. It takes honesty, self-examination, discipline, and determination. And sometimes we lose all in our quest to find it, but without truth and justice, life is not worth living. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.
And we cannot know truth without first knowing virtue. Virtue is right living. That means avoiding sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, porn, masturbation, etc. That means avoiding mind altering drugs. That means avoiding all vices, or at least be in the habit of resisting to overcome them. As George Washington said, “[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness”.
With truth and virtue, and God on our side, our nation is united and strong. But without that, divided, we will fall.