Off The Publisher’s Desk – 7-8-2020
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Medal of Honor!
The United States Medal of Honor is the highest and most-prestigious personal military decoration that may be awarded to recognize United States military service members who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
Because the medal is presented “in the name of Congress”, it is often incorrectly referred to as the “Congressional Medal of Honor.”
Since it was first introduced during the Civil War, 3,525 Medal of Honors have been awarded to 3,506 individuals, with nineteen service members receiving two Medals. There is a financial award to the recipients of $1,366.81 monthly on top of every other military stipend that they are eligible to receive.
What brought the Medal of Honor idea into my head was watching a FOX News interview of Staff Sgt. David Bellavia. Sgt. Bellavia is the only living Medal of Honor recipient of the Iraq War. There were five other recipients of that war that received the award, but all received the honor posthumously.
It was what Sgt. Bellavia spoke about in the interview that got my attention. But first, let me tell you his story. The army narrative tells the story of his actions.
“On his 29th birthday in 2009, then Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia charged into a darkened house in Fallujah, Iraq and fired his weapon at lurking insurgents as the squad he was leading, scrambled outside. He single-handedly saved an entire squad, risking his own life to allow his fellow soldiers to break contact and reorganize when trapped by over whelming insurgent fire.”
In the June 25th, 2019 White House event, after President Trump draped the medal around Sgt. Bellavia’s neck the president said: “Alone in the dark, David killed four insurgents and seriously wounded the fifth, saving his soldiers and facing down the enemies of civilization.”
The one item in his interview that I want to relate to you is that he was amazed at the number of young people signing up for military service. He continued: “Those young people will probably get a better education at Fort Benning, GA, than they would get in most colleges.”
I find myself spending more time listening to and watching conservative shows and when did I decide to devote all that time on the conservative agenda?
I might say that it was during the presidential term of former president Obama or maybe as far back as former president Bill Clinton, but since President Trump took the oath of office I have found myself in front of the TV watching Fox News. But, I often turn to the other side of the Force, where a different political view is presented, and watch Rachel Maddow. I feel that she does not like us old white guys, but I can live with that.
The last time I tuned her in was when the unmasking story broke over people that had something to do with the Michael Flynn controversy. I felt that Maddow would have some comment about the unmasking. But she avoided the subject entirely; at least for the 35 minutes that I endured her telling us about the COVID-19 tracking sheet in all fifty states.
And, that brings me to my conclusion about the national news coverage. President Trump is probably right in calling some of it “Fake News.” Most reporters for the national media seem only to find the negative things about President Trump.
There are a lot of people out there that feel our institutions of higher learning are not educating our young people, but are indoctrinating them into a political agenda.
Appearing on the morning Fox and Friends show last week, Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor of the Federalist noted: “Hate is taught at American Universities, spilling out into the streets.” She continued: “There is a clear connection between what is happening nationwide with these colleges.”
What other conclusion can we come to following the riots, looting, and burning that came on the heels of the death of a black man at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers. Reports on the violence in Minneapolis, state that it was outsiders that did the damage to the city.
Sixty-years ago I attended school at Dunwoody in Downtown Minneapolis, and often walked down Hennepin Avenue to a ‘White Castle’ to get a cheap lunch. I wonder if I could do that today and feel safe?
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton