The death of George Floyd was the most vividly displayed, all-inclusive example of unnecessary and unbridled use of force I have ever seen on film. the sight of four police officers pressing their weight on the length of an already subdued body was disgusting, disturbing and enough to make any law-abiding citizen wonder how men capable of this degree of malicious violence can possibly wear a badge.

I have - as I’m sure most of you have too - been caught up in the “bad news cycle.” It seems like it’s one bad report after another with politicians trying to take advantage and media trying to scare us even more than we are already.

What happened to George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman recently cannot be explained away by emotions, feelings nor necessity. It is a flagrant and careless violation of the basic code of all policemen to protect and serve.

If it was not such a serious time and sordid subject, what is happening in some states committed to having sanctuary cities, would actually be humorous, but considering the somber events of the last few months, we’ll just call it ironic.

Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Tuesday. In honor of Memorial Day, here's a Soapbox Rewind from 2014. - TeamCDB/BW

My first memories of war were on a cold gray Sunday afternoon in December in 1941. Our family was gathered at my Grandfather's house on the Carolina Beach Road in Wilmington, North Carolina enjoying the closeness of our family ties.

Activism in the cause of something you deeply believe in, when carried out by a private citizen is a noble thing and a precious right of our Republic.

But when institutions, put in place to serve the public in a fair and impartial fashion step over the bias line, it harms the very foundation of liberty and justice for all our nation was founded on.

To say these last few weeks have been trying, nerve-wracking, confusing and uncertain is the grossest of understatements.

Even watching the president’s daily coronavirus briefings did little to glean enough information to form any solid opinions, the negative and abrasive questions of a totally biased media, the sometimes stilted science-speak of some of the officials and guests left you wondering what they actually said.

As I was sitting here contemplating what I was going to write this week, wanting to be topical and subjective, the thought occurred to me that, aside from a cure for the coronavirus, the paramount issue nowadays is getting everybody back to work, the opening of America.

“We’ll all stick together, and you can take that to the bank.

That’s the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks!” - Charlie Daniels 1980

It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years since one of the most impactful CDB songs was first introduced to the public, “In America.”

I just perused the headlines at a major online news source and if that was all the information I could obtain, I would have an extremely depressing day. I’ll admit there is enough bad stuff to dominate the front page or lead story of any news organization right now, but what really irritates me is the total omission of, or relegating to boilerplate status, anything uplifting or hopeful.

The coronavirus did not suddenly pop up on the city streets of the world, it didn’t get there by itself, it was carried in the body of a human being.

There may be controversy about the exact location at which it originated but it is a proven fact that its origins are somewhere in the city of Wuhan, China.

I am going to do my level best to aim this column straight down the middle, glancing neither left nor right, in what the politicians in DC call a bipartisan fashion.

It is an attempt to circumvent personal political preferences, step around the hyperbolic, the rhetorical and the prejudiced vendettas so firmly ingrained into our minds by media on the left and on the right.

There is no doubt that Easter will be celebrated in a way that will be so foreign to Christians this year as we shelter in place, practice proper social distancing, wash the first layer of skin off our hands, wipe down, clean up and do our individual bits to rid our beloved country of this plague that has besieged not only our nation, but Planet Earth at large.

What America has been going through the past few weeks has brought out the best, and the worst in our beleaguered nation.

To say that the last couple of weeks in America had been a trying time would be tantamount to referring to Lake Pontchartrain as a mud puddle, as our beloved nation has had to accept realities we’ve only read about in science fiction stories and put our lives, our jobs, our relationships and even our families on hold.

Since the advent of coronavirus, America has had little time, energy or interest in anything else.

Trying to keep up with the latest mortality rates, the number of infected, the spread and all the other moving parts associated with the virus, and I do mean moving parts because the situation changes so rapidly, sometimes on an hourly basis.

Our nation - and for that matter, every other nation on the face of the planet - is in a state of anxiety, confusion and bewilderment about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that has caught even the most technologically advanced nations on earth totally unprepared to deal with it.

“I want to tell you, Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch, you have unleashed a whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”

Is this the statement of a rational man, a political leader who is charged with leading his party in the US Senate?

We have long heard the phrase “The dumbing down of America” to describe the effort of the Democratic Party to indoctrinate, under-educate, immigrate and acclimate, to influence the coming elections to favor the Democrat candidates.

At the writing of this column, it is a well-known fact that a billionaire from New York is trying to buy the presidency. His well-financed strategy is such that he is able to circumvent the heavy lifting of the smaller primaries while the other candidates are slugging it out visiting small-town gatherings, shaking hands in diners and walking the streets letting the folks get to know them.

If Americans are used to anything, it's hearing politicians make campaign promises that they forget about when they get in office and never fulfill.

The phrase “God Bless America” is the title of one of the most durable songs in our history and is a part of the lyrics in an unknown number of compositions by American composers in all genres of music.

I know it’s only a dream, and perhaps you’ll say an impossible one, but being an incurable optimist, I believe with the right leadership it could happen.
The scene is the chamber of the House of Representatives, the occasion, a specially called joint meeting of both houses, at the podium, the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House - Obviously not the two currently in office.

This week, the United States Congress will embark on a path that, though many are making predictions, nobody knows for sure where it will lead them and, unfortunately, the nation.

Almost every day for the last several years, I have tweeted “Benghazi ain’t going away” on my Twitter page.

There are a couple of reasons. First of all, I have met the three men who were fighting the mob from the roof of the embassy annex, getting shot all to hell in the process.

The fallacy that by severely restricting the sale and ownership of firearms as a means of curbing violence in America is easy to discredit, in fact, we need look no further than across our southern border.

I can understand political parties thinking they have all the answers while the other parties are lame and doing their best to raise money, choose good candidates and campaign hard drawing comparisons and pointing out differences to point out why their platforms and their candidates are much superior to their opponents.

*NOTE*

Charlie will be back with his first soapbox of 2020 on Friday, but in the meantime, here's a New Year's Soapbox Rewind from 2014.  Happy New Year from everyone at the CDB and Twin Pines Ranch. - TeamCDB/BW

2015

Well, for somebody born in 1936, the very numerals themselves sound like the title to some B-grade black and white science fiction movie, some cheesy tale about how in 2015 the two-headed minotaurs from Uranus came to earth and ate everybody's brain and turned the human race into mindless robots.

When I was a little boy, it seemed that Christmas would never get here, now it seems to come about every six months.

No matter, I love Christmas time, and at our house we celebrate heartily. Hazel decorates five Christmas trees, keeps us all well fed and every Christmas Eve we go to church and when we come home we are joined by a bunch of family and friends and we spend the evening enjoying each other’s company.

As we approach the end of another year I oftentimes turn my attention to the chorus of voices that are so plentiful this time of year, that proclaim, “Where did the year go?”