April 25, 1976 found the Chicago Cubs visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers.  During the middle of the fourth inning, Cubs center fielder Rick Monday threw with left fielder Jose Cardenal, awaiting the beginning of play, when two figures ran into left center field, one of which had something tucked under his arm.  The man unfurled a lighter fluid-soaked American flag, knelt down, and began striking a match.  Monday, furious, sprinted to the spot.  Before he could reach them the first match blew out.  As the second was lit, Monday snatched the flag away from the ingrates.  The man threw the can of lighter fluid after Monday, but missed.  As security reached the pair and escorted them off the field, the Los Angeles crowd broke into an impromptu chorus of "God Bless America."  What can I say?  It was awesome.  

I have been following a news story from Great Britain, the story of the Evans family.  Alfie Evans is one year old.  He suffers from a brain condition that is killing him.  One hospital in Italy has offered to try to save his life with an experimental treatment.  There's only one problem.  The British government has decided that it is in Alfie's best interest that the be taken off of life support and denied the opportunity to seek the treatment.  And, since in the UK the government runs the single-payer universal healthcare system, the decision is final.  They will not even allow the Evans family to take their son and pay for the treatment themselves.  The hospital building itself has been surrounded by armed guards to make sure that no one is able to get him out to Italy.  In an effort to try to sway the court, Italy has even granted Alfie honorary Italian citizenship.  I read this morning that Alfie has been taken off of life support, and that his parents are keeping him alive using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.  Can you even imagine the horror?  Alfie's case is not the first either.  The same story played out with British citizen Charlie Gard less than a year ago.  This is the paradise that the flag-burners dream of.  

I do not apologize for America.  America has worked harder and done more than any other country in the history of the world to end slavery of all kinds, to keep the bad guys scared, to raise the world out of poverty, to make lifesaving medical advancements and to make them more available than any government program ever could.  America is the only nation in the history of the world who destroys an enemy then turns around, picks them up, and rebuilds them.  America was founded on the idea that no government bureaucrat knows or cares more about me and my children than I do.  Many of us seem to have forgotten what countless souls throughout history have sacrificed themselves for, that freedom is worth dying for.

Happy Rick Monday...Day!