If You Want A Safe Concert Please Respect the Rules

Sadly, at the Hot 97 Hip Hop concert on Saturday at MetLife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey, contact between concert attendees and security turned violent.   Commentator Geraldo Rivera blamed the music for the violence.  A concertgoer claimed, “the way they treat us is barbaric. If this was another concert this would've never happened".  Both of these conclusions are dangerously wrong.

Twenty-six years ago in October 1989, Andrew Katz a college sophomore dressed in bright tie-dye was also at the Rutherford Stadium then known as Brendan Byrne for a Grateful Dead concert.  He was found lying face up in a pool of blood with the top of his skull bashed in. Although no one was charged in Andrew's death, nine guards were charged with assaulting Deadheads during the five day concert run.

Two markedly different types of crowd and styles of music, yet violence ensued at both concerts.  At the Grateful Dead concert, the crowd was white and the music anything but violent or aggressive.  Thus, the default arguments that the violence was a product of the violent lyrics or the race of the crowds do not apply.

The similarity of both concerts was that attendees showed up at the concerts without tickets and then tried to get in to the sold-out shows.

As DJ Ebro pointed out on his show following the concert, “You can’t just jump the fence and then get mad and throw bottles.” “You cannot throw bottles at the police,” his co-host added, “what is wrong with you?”

It is time our culture stop blaming race and violent music and start demanding that our youth, black and white, respect property and authority.

More Glass Ceilings Broken by Combat Veteran Jodi Ernst

Less than a year ago, with the retirement of Iowa's Democrat Senator Chuck Grassley, pundits and politicians were mourning the prospective loss of the Iowa Steak Fry. The Steak Fry initiated by Grassley in 1972 became a launching pad for democrat presidential and vice-presidential careers. Over its 43 year tenure, candidates came out to mingle with middle America, and Bill Clinton became its most featured guest.

With the loss of Grassley's senior stature and an increasing number of democrat and moderate republican candidates openly weighing whether to avoid campaigning in Iowa, Iowa needed a marketing jolt to maintain its electoral relevance. 

Enter Jodi Ernst, Iowa's republican first term first female senator.

Crashing in on the democrat moniker and Grassley's goodwill, Ernst launched her first Roast and Ride Fest on Saturday. Sure enough, six republican presidential hopefuls made the very most of the fine Iowa day. Governors Walker and Perry rode in on Harleys, Senator Rubio, from Florida, offered to take on his competitors on a jet ski, and Carly Fiorina, the industrialist, rode in on a John Deere tractor, a homage to American manufacturing. From the buzz created at the event, CNN concluded that the Roast and Ride "promised to become a must-stop on the path to the 2016 presidential race." 

Senator Ernst, a farmer and combat veteran of the Kuwait and Iraq Wars, won her seat in the 2014 election cycle. Along with Ernst, Shelly Moore Caputo, secured a senate seat for republicans in West Virginia. In the House, spearheaded by GOP Conference Chair Cathy Morris Rodgers, republicans gained five seats for women. Although, women are still a minority on Capitol Hill, Chairwoman Rogers has increased female representation in House leadership to 50%.

Welcome to ModernRight

My name is Joanne Zervos, welcome to my Blog.

From my days as a Dead Head to the present as a retired attorney, entrepreneur, and the mom of college students, advocating political positions has been part of my life.

In law school, I walked the parking lots at Grateful Dead concerts obtaining signatures on petitions advocating that President Reagan stop funding the Contras.

As a "yuppie", I used my wedding list to solicit for Planned Parenthood.

To the present, where I went over to the Right over the Iraq War and never looked back.

After six years of what we can all agree has been a very left of center Administration, there are striking differences between the Right and Left.  The purpose of this Blog will be to point out those differences, and call out both sides to take their principles and apply them to modern world realities.