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The Red Hen Is a Canary in the Coal Mine
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen Restaurant in Virginia along with her seven guests. They already ordered, but a snowflake waiter decided he didn’t like her because she worked for President Donald Trump.
The owner came in and asked the employees what “they wanted her to do.” They said expel Sanders, so she was asked to leave, and she did. Why did this remind me of the 1960s lunch counters where blacks were refused service based on skin color?
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) June 23, 2018
Sanders was belittled by a vulgar woman masquerading as a comedian at the White House Correspondents Dinner, even calling her the “Uncle Tom of white women,” who got a laugh at her expense. The double standard of what is acceptable has become absurd.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielson, was recently bombarded by protestors chanting “no borders” inside a Mexican restaurant while she was dining. The harassment was allowed by the manager and it forced her to leave.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was harassed at a recent screening of a new Mr. Rogers documentary. The protestors approached her asking her questions, became very aggressive, and police were called to escort Ms. Bondi from the Tampa Bay theatre. A local paper reported,
“The video they are choosing to share is of the least aggressive portion of the attack that transpired after police arrived to control the scene. What they are not sharing publicly are several previous encounters involving large men getting in the Attorney General’s face, spitting and blocking her exit,” the spokesman, Whitney Ray, said in an emailed statement. “The Attorney General tried to have a conversation with these individuals, however, when it became abundantly clear that they were not interested in a constructive dialog but were only there to cause a scene, the attorney general tried to leave the volatile scene.”
Vulgar threats were recently made against First Lady Melania Trump and her son by former actor Peter Fonda, to the point where the Secret Service was contacted.
The level of vitriol and vulgarity in the public square, in the entertainment world, on college campuses, in social media, even at a movie or restaurant, has increased to a startling level, where people, especially women, feel frightened for their safety. The recent harassment over political differences has overstepped the boundaries of “the right to protest” in our free society.
Further, the media is oddly silent on the recent IG Report showing the vulgarity and level of corruption and manipulation at the highest levels of our government and law enforcement during the last election. Not only was Trump and anyone associated with his campaign a target, but so was Bernie Sanders. The tolerant, progressive, and so-called politically-correct Left have created a new low in civility and decency, by words and example.
Heated issues such as immigration, healthcare, foreign policy, and more (problems that did not begin with the 2016 election) are worked through and solved through debate, votes, and democratic means. There can be no tolerance of violence or violating the rights of citizens, whether public or private, to where they feel unsafe in their public or private lives.
These incidents are our wake-up call, and we must ask ourselves if we should be accepting it as normal. Our freedoms as law-abiding citizens are being threatened; there are no more boundaries between having differences of opinion and actual hate. What should be done in this case and others?
Published in General
The right doesnt riot. The right does this.
From the siege of Venice 1848
Valiuth, I cannot believe you honestly think this is a just comparison. (Weren’t you just arguing for nuance?)
No one should be legally compelled to perform an act that violates his conscience.
I think it’s beyond absurd to suggest that serving food to a Trump official violates anyone’s conscience. But if someone wants to pretend it does, fine. Be a fool.
Again, I’m not proposing restaurants be legally compelled to serve anyone. I’m proposing that refusing to serve someone based on their political viewpoint and/or work for the political opposition is grossly uncivil and should be denounced as such.
There is nothing uncivil about declining to perform abortions or to sell contraception or to sell pork.
I corrected that in the story – it was indeed, the owner, not the manager, according to the news, that was called and made the decision to ask her to leave – which is even worse.
Great point – how many children were in the Red Hen or even with Sanders and what kind of lessons were they being taught witnessing this absurdity? So wrong in so many ways. No wonder kids don’t feel safe these days.
I was heartened and more than a little surprised to find this in my news feed this morning.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-the-message-86-ing-sarah-sanders-sent-to-conservatives/
Michael Graham quoted Ari Fleischer:
Mostly they do.
I might have said to the staff how much I appreciated their informing me of their narrow minded intolerance, because the last thing I would want is to financially support such a disgustingly, preening and morally self righteous idiocy of thought. I also might have added that my position , which they found so objectionable in the Trump administration, just might give me the opportunity to make their stupidity famous…very famous.
The right would never do this. This ideological segregation is entirely a leftist thing. I hate when people try to couch that, it goes both ways. NO IT DOESN’T. You would never hear about this happening the other way around.
I know that wasn’t the point that was being made in the comment but I saw the quote from the article and just wanted to note the this is kind of behavior is entirely on the left.
Looks like the place’s Yelp rating is taking a beating.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-red-hen-lexington-3
It continues.
NPR: Trump Staffers Are Hypocrites for Eating at Mexican Restaurants
The ‘free market’ is like “Mother Nature” … storms can be sudden and with extreme prejudice.
Expect “Trump Staffers Should be Forced to Eat at Chipotle” any day now.
From the #95 comment article about 86-Sanders
I saw this yesterday, and I thought, “When our oppents do good things, behave justly, they should be applauded.” I don’t know the man, or his record, but Kudos to Elijah Cummings.
He ran cover for Hillary on Benghazi.
But isn’t it weird that we’ve gotten to the point where normal, civil behavior is an outlier of some kind, and therefore to be applauded?
O.M.G. not even going to read it. Headline says it all.
Because one wants to control borders and manage immigration according to legitimate laws does not transfer to cultural rejection of those who might enter, most especially our neighbors to the south.
Unbelievable.
It’s time to fight back by drinking lots of margaritas!
Cultural appropriation!
The bigotry of low expectations is strong on the left. This quote from the CBS article is telling
So, only illegal immigrants can work in restaurant kitchens? Huh?
My thoughts exactly. I’ve seen similar comments to the effect of “Who’s gonna clean your houses and your pools and do your gardening?”
Er . . . I am? (Well, not the pool, because I haven’t got one of those.
Yglesias should not quit his day job. I actually wish Michael Graham hadn’t supplied the “explanatory” phrase at the end and allowed the nonsensical attempt at humor (?) to stand on its own.
Can I screen patients and refuse service to Communists, Socialists and Democrats? Maybe hand out a questionnaire?
Apparently we are all hypocrites because we eat, period. Since apparently it would be impossible to harvest food in America without a constant invasion of illegals.
And only illegals can harvest food, pluck chickens and milk cows too.
FIFY
This. Several restaurants in town have decided to hang out pride flags this month. Short of a posted “hate policy” that works for me. As does a BLM sign in the window, or visible support for any progressive position.
unless he was a white Hispanic.
I agree with this, though if I lived in Virginia the Red Hen would be off my list of places to eat. They should have the right to choose who to serve, I should have the right to choose where to eat.
Maybe they shouldn’t, but they actually can. Political viewpoint is not a protected class.