MacGyver

The national anthem is a bit of a shibboleth - it's a who's in/who's out test. By refusing to stand, Kaepernick offended a lot of people - and that's okay. When it comes to the national anthem, which do we value more - the adherence to the tradition itself, or the values that the tradition supposedly represent? Because if it's the later, more of us should take issue. That anthem doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. By asking everyone to stand, we're essentially asking people to pay tribute to a vision of how we perceive things to be. But, for many blacks, American history is deeply troubled, and continues to be. I grew up in Decatur, Georgia. My grandfather worked as a superintendent of Atlanta schools during integration. I count myself as fortunate to have grown up in a multicultural community. While I saw racist statements and actions against friends from time to time, I would have argued that those were exceptions rather than normative actions. Historically I've argued that people of my generation - maybe with some naive hope - who were born 10 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act ought to think of the the effects of slavery and reconstruction and racism as historical artifacts as opposed to modern realities. But, that's simply not true. Look below the surface just a bit and you'll see that the byproducts of our racist past still account for communities being held back. And, that affects everyone in the community. I had coffee with some black friends yesterday. On the surface, they look like successful professionals. But, I know them. Every one of them has had to work harder and longer than I have, and without as much to show for it. I was disciplined as a chid, but never once did I hear, "I'm going to beat you so the police won't." Their experience is different. And, when you look at communities like Ferguson where the government is profiting off of the citizens it's supposed to be serving, it's not hard to see why people are protesting. I know that a lot of people are dismissive of groups like Black Lives Matter. But, while protest isn't a solution, maybe it creates room to talk about finding one. Reread Letter from Birmingham Jail and you'll find that people disagreeing with how groups go about protesting is nothing new. Everyone's experience is different. I'm certain my perspective is different than many of y'all's. But, if America is going to truly be great again - it has to be because everyone gets to come along for the ride.

We only sing the first verse of Key's anthem, but the third is pretty offensive. It celebrates the death of slaves and free blacks. There's some specific history from the War of 1812 that had Francis Scott Key in such a sour mood, but there would be a lot more folks not standing if they realized the lyrics. From Wikipedia's entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,A home and a country, should leave us no more?Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Standing for an anthem is an act of worship. When you refuse to stand, you're offending the faithful who rise to that deity. I believe America has more promise than any country on this earth. But civil religion is dangerous. You only need to look at some of the comments in this thread wishing for violence to see why.

If you decide to do this give me a shout. Depending where you decide to head, I'd be glad to pull the bay boat down and hit the reds in the flats for a few days before hitting some hogs.

That's great to hear, Randall! The Lord continues to work, and we cannot escape his love. Let us know if we can help.

How they took this classic piece of engineering and came up with this plastic monstrosity is beyond me...

My college roommate had one. We called it the Vomit Comet - because if you didn't know what to expect you were going to vomit. If my memory serves, it was an early 80's Crown Vic that was babied by some north Georgia police chief. You could drive as fast as you wanted in that thing and all you'd see is brake lights as you went down the interstate. Truthfully, it's a wonder we lived through our freshman year.

My best this season has been in the saltwater. I caught a couple giant snook a couple of weeks ago fishing with a client in Tampa Bay.

Were it mine, I'd probably take it out of the package and see how much of the bend is caused by the plastic/label being chewed up. They shouldn't take a set from being in a box unless they're actually damaged (a bend/kink you can actually see.) I expect if you take it out of the plastic, they'll straighten out fine.

You know, that's clearly her gun and she's using a holster. I don't get it. Why some of us have to find something to "help" any woman with a weapon with is probably the reason we don't have more women on the board. Looking at her Instagram page, it appears she spends a lot more time in the field and a lot more time shooting than most of us.

This just isn't moving the needle very much for me.

I'll definitely lift you and your family up. If there's anything we can do to help please don't hesitate to let us know - or shoot me a PM. Some things you have to go through in you're own, but some stuff is easier when you've got some folks beside you. Know that you've got our prayers regardless.

Yeah, that's pretty cool!

Is he in his own boat or riding with you? Kids tire quickly when paddling. There are some pretty decent GPS tracking apps, but if i knew I was going to be on the water a lot, I might pick up a dedicated unit.

I bet he sure scared the heck out of them.

You know we need pictures with that thing on, right?

You can't be serious?

I saw a pretty good show on a plane ride home last night.

Then Senator John F. Kennedy published this in April 1960 to a "Know your lawmakers" column in Guns magazine: http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1960issues/G0460.pdf - see page 4 There's some pretty cool reading (and prices) in there. Here's the editor describing it in a later Field and Stream article: https://books.google.com/books?id=7h_7foxuvVoC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=john+f+kennedy+guns+field+and+stream&source=bl&ots=knYG0phV-F&sig=m2gU6HALSkJJcdomXs3q-R1i9LY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAhP-FjbbOAhVWwWMKHfRdADIQ6AEILTAG#v=onepage&q=john f kennedy guns field and stream&f=false - see page 30

This is one of those situations where it doesn't matter if what he did was technically legal or not. This man and his antics certainly turned someone who may have been a neutral bystander into a supporter of "common sense gun laws." Seriously. Why go confront someone in a situation like this? It's stupid? Did he have backup in his little posse? What if the people in the car had had malicious intent? What if there were more than one of them? This guy, in his bravado escalated a situation needlessly. Because the lady was just talking on her phone, he just made gun owners at large look bad. Lord knows we need some more examples of that. This is Bellvue - not out in the country somewhere. Monitor the situation from your living room window - and call the cops if you think something is going down. It's Bellvue after all. They'll be there pretty quick. I'm all for taking care of your family and your neighbors. But this was stupid - and maybe across the line legally. Nobody wants the next Trayvon to be in Tennessee.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm thankful y'all could be there.

What's the detail on the story if you don't mind sharing?

One of my favorite things as a kid was reading Boy's Life magazine and seeing the Heroism Medals awarded to scouts who had saved lives. He definitely qualifies.

That's a great looking sheath you made for that thing, by the way.

It may have been culled now - but yes - he said some very nasty things which caused Blade Forums to lock his sub-forum and ESEE to disassociate themselves. Jeff was kind in his comments at the time as I recall, but they made it clear that their commitment to their customers was 180 degrees out of phase with RYP's.

The ESEE saga is pretty well documented over on Blade Forums. As I recall, they just finally reached a point where they were afraid his antics were going to negatively affect their reputation.