Author: Chad Beatty

Freedom doesn’t come free. This was never more evident than September 11, 2001, when radical Islamists from 7,000 miles away launched the most sophisticated and deadly terrorist attack in world history.

Families sat in shock, worried about loved ones, while young patriots answered the call and signed up for the armed forces. The American spirit is strong, and we don’t take kindly to attacks on our Republic, or our brothers and sisters.

Our nation mobilized as we prepared for the global war on terror. American flags lined our streets, and patriotism was at an all-time high. It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

Now, two-decades later, those terrorists are back in control of their heartland, Afghanistan. Their immediate neighbors, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, share similar goals of extremism and global Islamic dominance, ruled by Sharia law.

After the attack it was easy for us to label the terrorists cowards, but make no mistake, they are not cowards. They are ruthless, calculating, cold-blooded killers who will sacrifice their lives in the name of religious extremism. They have been killing for centuries, and they will kill for centuries more.

While there are differing views on our role in the middle east, I think all sensible Americans can agree on one point: we need to secure our nation. This means tightening our borders and enforcing the existing immigration laws. Vet those coming into our country and make sure they share our values. In July alone, 212,000 immigrants were apprehended at the southern border and released into our nation. In just one month, it was nearly the population of Saratoga County!

The sad reality is, if we can’t control our borders, there will be another 9-11.

We owe it to the fallen, and the survivors, to never forget the events of 9-11; never forget those who lost their lives; never forget the children left orphans; never forget the mothers who will never see their children again; never forget the service men and women who fought and died far from home; and never forget the realities of the world we live in.

Remain vigilant my friends, and always do the next right thing.

God Bless!
– Chad

It’s 2 a.m.

Club music pulses in the thick night air as a mob of sweaty and drunken individuals control the street.

Heated words are exchanged between several groups as the initial violence erupts.

The first fight breaks out with a flurry of punches and kicks as people are jostled about.

In the chaos of combat, people lose track of their friends, and humans devolve into their primordial state.

But for this group, fisticuffs will not suffice. A flash of cold steel penetrates the night before landing in its target.

The blood begins flowing and tempers continue to rise as the combat zone expands and makes it way up the block.

BANG, BANG.

Shots ring out from a handgun as people scatter in fear…

No, this isn’t a scene from downtown Chicago, Atlanta, or even Schenectady.

This was last Friday night on Caroline Street in our little city in the country…Saratoga Springs.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: It is a quick and slippery transition from a beautiful upscale resort community to a crime-ridden deteriorating city….and we are quickly slipping. This most recent event comes on the heels of another barfight that spilled into the streets and involved a table used as a weapon, assaults on officers, assaults on teens, threats on officers and threats of burning this city down to destroy our economy.

Let this serve as another wake-up call to our elected officials…We want our city taken back; we want law and order restored; and we want our families to feel safe downtown.

Decisive actions need to be taken, and they need to be taken promptly.

Let’s start by listening to our law enforcement leaders rather than community agitators. They are the experts, and they have our best interests at heart. And let’s keep in mind the Pygmalion Effect, which states people tend to perform up to the level that others expect of them. Right now, it seems like we have some pretty low expectations for the public.

On a more specific note, here are some suggestions that should be considered:

1. I know it isn’t a popular decision with the bar owners, but the closing time needs to be revisited. If you aren’t familiar with our ordinance, Saratoga Springs bars can stay open until 4 a.m., while surrounding communities close at 2 a.m. This translates into large numbers of undesirable elements making the trip from Albany, Troy and Schenectady, to Caroline Street where the liquor flows freely (well, not free) for another few hours.

As mom always said, nothing good happens after midnight. Midnight may be pushing it, but 2 a.m. seems like a reasonable cutoff. If you can’t drink enough by 2 a.m., maybe you have some other issues you should be exploring. Let’s get this proposal back on the table!

2. Lock down Caroline Street with a heavy police presence. For the past year we have heard a steady mantra of “Defund the Police.” How about we Refund the Police and exponentially increase the police presence in Saratoga Springs? While this would not solve the issue short term (the trainees will be in police academy for months) we can do lateral transfers from other departments and borrow officers from the State Police and the Sheriff’s department.

3. Reimagine our image and our culture. Do we want to be known as the homeless capital of upstate NY where BLM shuts down intersections and harasses tourists while gang members (yes, gang members) control Caroline Street? I will take a bold leap and say that the overwhelming majority of residents do NOT want this.

This is our community. This is our hometown. This is where our children go to school and where our neighbors run small businesses. This is where tourists flock to escape the stress of daily life and where the world’s best jockeys, racehorses and ballerinas come to perform.

Save Saratoga Now!

“On April 22, a Saratoga Springs High School English teacher violated school protocol by allowing local leaders of Black Lives Matter to give a lecture to his class.
This past weekend the district admitted that the teacher acted improperly.”

While Americans were focused on the pandemic and economic recovery, a dangerous ‘woke’ movement quietly swept through education systems across America. Under the guise of social justice, this relatively new theory (Critical Race Theory or CRT), is an academic movement of activists who seek to critically examine issues of race and to challenge traditional liberal approaches to racial justice. This ideology goes by several names, such as anti-racism, identity politics, and intersectionality, among others.

 While this philosophy may sound good on the surface, a deeper dive into its history and practice exposes disturbing realities. ‘Anti-Racism’ appears to reject the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement.  In doing so it suggests that society should judge everyone based on their inherent characteristics such as race, sex, and sexual identity rather than evaluating everyone on the content of their character. This flies in the face of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream that children “will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

 Anti-racists are explicit about their views. They often say things like; “All white people are born racist” and “All people of color are victims.” Doesn’t that paint a beautiful picture of humanity? This is morally repugnant and completely unacceptable.

These “Woke” actors believe that concepts such as meritocracy, delayed gratification, and being on time are examples of “Whiteness,” and designed to oppress people of different ethnic backgrounds.  It positions everyone into one of two groups.  Either you are an Oppressor, defined as White, Male, Straight and sometimes Asian, or you are Oppressed, defined as a person of color (Asians excluded), female and gay.

Americans have spent enormous amounts of time, money and blood breaking free from the chains of oppression, yet many CRT proponents claim racism has not improved? They claim racism is woven into the fabric of the nation and is “in the air we breathe.” If children are taught they are either oppressors or victims, what sort of future does that hold?  I am a firm believer that people either rise, or fall, to the level of their expectations.

The good news is parents and concerned community members across the country are fighting back.

Last week two Saratoga Springs Board of Education Trustees began to ask questions about some of the language included in the district’s new Equity, Inclusivity and Diversity in Education policy. The policy guidance includes eleven items that the district and Board of Education must implement, and is built off a framework provided to the school by the New York State School Board Association and the Board of Regents. 

Included in the eleven-point plan is a call to “Model Anti-Racist Language and Action.”

What exactly does it mean to “Model Anti-Racist language and action?” Interestingly, when two Trustees began asking questions of fellow board members, no two members answered the question in the same way.

Language is very powerful, and words matter. I want to know exactly what is meant by “Model Anti-Racist Language and Action.” This is like building a nuclear weapons lab, but some people are using the metric system, some are using the imperial system, and some think they are building a coffee shop.

Ibram X. Kendi, author of the book, “How to Be An Anti-Racist,” states: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination. The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity.  If the discrimination is creating equity, then it’s antiracist (good).  If discrimination is creating inequity, then it’s racist.”

Discrimination, defined by Anti-Racists, is any unequal outcome between groups.

So if a law firm is full of Asians and whites, and not blacks, that’s “racism” even if everybody was hired based solely on their qualifications and not their race. 

Fundamentally the modern Anti-Racist movement is not against discrimination, it’s against inequity, which in many cases makes it pro-discrimination!

As Mr. Kendi puts it, “When I see racial disparities, I see racism.”

Let’s take a look at the actual practice of ‘anti-racism;’ in education:

Parents for Defending Education, a non-for-profit organization, has documented more than 200 instances of inappropriate curricula and lessons taught to students as young as five years old. Examples:

• In California, 3rd graders in Cupertino were forced to deconstruct their racial identities, create identity maps and rank themselves according to their “power and privilege.”
• In Illinois, a Loyola Academy H.S. assignment asks students to apologize for the color of their skin.
• In Missouri, middle school teachers were forced to locate themselves on an “oppression matrix,” and watch a video of “George Floyd’s last words.”
• In NY, a Rockville Centre High School assignment asserts that police are the sixth leading cause of death for young Black men after cancer.
• In Rhode Island, the Moses Brown School unveiled a ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ plan with ‘concept of intersectionality;’ which segregates children by race.
• In Irvington NY, Union Free School district hosted a Zoom meeting with invitees from the NYU Metropolitan Center on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. During the event it was stated that “all white children are born racist” and that we all “have to undo our whiteness.”
• In NYC, a group of concerned parents sent an open letter to the Dalton Community regarding the school’s “anti-racism curriculum,” referencing classes with an “obsessive” focus on race and diversity, racist cop reenactments in science, de-centering whiteness in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class, and wildly age-inappropriate issues.

Defenders of Anti-Racism in education will claim that these examples aren’t being “properly contextualized.”  But I ask them, in what context is it acceptable to demand students apologize for the color of their skin or to teach them that “all white people are born racist,” or “all people of color are victims?”

Kudos to the two board members who had the courage to ask pertinent questions about this vaguely written policy. It’s certainly not easy for anyone these days to stand up and ask a simple question to the ‘woke’ mob. Doing so can get a person harassed, cancelled, and shunned from polite society.

Interestingly, nowhere in the model guidance from the Board of Regents or the NYSSBA is the phrase, “Model Anti-Racist Action and Language.”  Why exactly is Saratoga Springs attempting to add it to the district policy?

The examples provided above may give Saratogians a glimpse into what the future of education may look like in the Saratoga Springs School District. Hopefulely they will give the Board of Education reason to pause, and carefully evaluate the policy language being debated this month.

I, along with Saratoga residents, overwhelming support more diversity and inclusion in the school system.  However, reasonable people should be able to agree that the school district must erect appropriate safeguards to prevent the most extreme examples of Anti-Racist Action in education, especially those that promote discrimination, from becoming a reality in Saratoga Springs. Now is our opportunity to make a difference on this topic…

Mark Your Calendars: On Tuesday, May 18, residents will be asked to vote for their new school board members. I urge you all to take this ‘right’ seriously. Do your own research and understand the values and beliefs of the candidates. For those who are interested, I endorse the following candidates for Saratoga Springs: Amanda Ellithorpe, Connie Woytowich & Christina Kraszewski.

Written by Chad Beatty, Publisher of Saratoga TODAY

GREETINGS LOYAL READERS,

I hope you are healthy and staying safe. I never thought we would be living through a global pandemic and economic meltdown, yet here we are.

Today I want to explore a polarizing subject of great importance: When should the regional economy be reopened? For all the elected officials reading this, I feel for you. You are in a no-win situation. There are plenty of Monday morning quarterbacks who consider themselves experts in epidemiology, economics, and virology, but the consequences of their opinions and platitudes are meaningless. Your decisions however, impact lives and economies. May God grant you wisdom to make prudent decisions.

Now I will do what I always do and share my personal views of this situation. By the end of the article you may agree or disagree, but hopefully we will all leave this with a little more information, a little more insight, and a lot more understanding.

THE ONGOING BATTLE…

Our current pandemic is not unique to this generation; humans and viruses have been battling for global supremacy since the beginning of time. Shaped by evolution to ensure their own replication and survival, viruses are a daunting opponent.

Thankfully, humans have been blessed with an equally ingenious group of epidemiologists who have managed to outsmart and outwork those microscopic enemies. From Hippocrates to Larry Brilliant, epidemiologists have kept the human race moving forward.

Relative to prior pandemics, the mortality rate of COVID-19 is rather low, but the transmission rate is rather high; these are both important facts needed for any decisions. Let’s take a quick look at pandemics from the past 100 years:

AIDS PANDEMIC  (1981-present)
Death Toll: 35 million

FLU PANDEMIC (1968)
Death Toll: 1 million

ASIAN FLU (1956-1958)
Death Toll: 2 million

Spanish Flu (1918)
Death Toll: 20–50 million

SIXTH CHOLERA PANDEMIC 
(1910-1911) Death Toll: 800,000+

And while it didn’t take place in recent history, I think it is important to mention the Bubonic Plague, (346-1353). Death Toll: 75–200 million

After an extensive search I was unable to find any consensual global death toll estimates for Covid-19, but it appears the range of global estimates are well below the prior pandemics mentioned above.

MORTALITY RATE…

Regarding the mortality rate of COVID-19: It seems to be changing daily as randomized test results come in, but it appears a generally accepted figure is 1.5%. A sobering figure but not relatively high when compared to the mortality rates of other epidemics such as Ebola (50%), Smallpox (50-90%), SARS (9.6%) or MERS (35%). *Both SARS and MERS are coronaviruses. Recent data from the randomized testing is showing that the infection rate of COVID-19 is potentially 25-50% higher than reported. This would mean the mortality rate could be substantially lower than the 1.5% figure.

A recent Stanford University antibody study now estimates that the fatality rate of infected individuals is likely as low as 0.1 to 0.2%, far lower than previous WHO estimates that were 20-30 times higher.

We need to treat this pandemic for what it is: A high transmission, low mortality virus. This is not a death sentence.

TO OPEN OR NOT TO OPEN…

This simple question is as powerful as Hamlets famous soliloquy ‘To be or not to be’, in which he is questioning the value of life.

It appears the general argument to remain in lockdown hinges on two specific facts:

1. A full quarantine will reduce deaths from COVID-19.

2. Ending the quarantine will increase deaths due to COVID-19.

While both statements seem to be 100% accurate, there is a fatal flaw in relying solely on that logic to defend an ongoing shutdown because it neglects to mention non-COVID-19 deaths which may occur due to the shutdown.

As anyone who has raised a family, run a business, or paid rent can attest, finances and health are not mutually exclusive. Money may not buy happiness, but financial insecurity can certainly impact your health (physical & psychological.)

Some of the risks associated with financial worries include, but are not limited to: heart disease, overdose, depression, domestic abuse, addiction, anxiety, molestation, stroke, relapse, suicide, migraines, diabetes, sleep problems, etc.

Additionally, there is a psychological effect from being locked down in your home. Police calls related to domestic abuse have increased substantially over the past month and local organizations which deal with domestic situations have seen a troubling increase. These are personal traumas that will last a lifetime, not a season.

As addressed in the article on page 9, people are putting themselves at undue risk due to COVID-19 fears. They are neglecting needed medical care for fear of contracting the virus at hospitals or Doctor offices.

Also, the high mortality rate is isolated to a very small segment of the population, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, allowing us to better control outcomes among age groups. Those in the high-risk categories can remain self-isolated with regular monitoring.

Is a life saved from COVID-19 more valuable than a life lost due to the shutdown? I would say no.

Companies and individuals make decisions every day that effect life expectancy.

Insurance companies decide what procedures and medicines they will or will not cover. Automobile companies decide the trade-off of safety vs. expense. The boxer steps into the ring accepting the possibility of catastrophic injury, mountaineers hike Everest knowing they may not return, and large swaths of society smoke, drink, and shovel unhealthy food down their gullet despite the warnings.

THE CONSTITUTION…

Quarantines were a normal occurrence throughout early American history. But the creation of the U.S. Constitution, as well as ongoing legal and procedural developments and the advent of modern medicine have helped shape current views on this topic.

While the First Amendment guarantees among other things, the Freedom of Assembly, what rights does the government have to abridge these freedoms for the greater public good? And, for that matter, who should oversee these powers, the federal Government or the state government?

This topic is far too in-depth to address in this editorial, but I will make two simple statements.

• The Tenth Amendment says: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

• James Madison pointed out in The Federalist, No. 10 that if a state adopts a disastrous new policy, at least it would not be a catastrophe for everyone. On the other hand, if a state’s new programs work well, other states can adopt their ideas and adjust them to their own needs.

Therefore, I would say the main power to address this issue lies in the states, with the Federal government acting as the facilitator and addressing specific national issues such as borders, travel bans and critical supply logistics.

FINAL THOUGHTS…

This is not a black and white issue with a simple solution, but we have plenty of data to point us in the correct direction. This shutdown could eventually (soon) create an economic meltdown like we have never experienced, with the fallout rippling through every aspect of society.

When I hear people nonchalantly say “Saratoga Springs should just shut down until next summer” it makes my blood boil. You are talking about families losing everything they have; dreams shattered; life savings gone; home foreclosures all around; college savings evaporated; businesses shuttered; not to mention the countless health issues addressed earlier in this editorial which will destroy families.

And let’s not forget that the tax revenue generated during our summer months is what helps to pay for many of our essential services such as police, fire, schools, sewer maintenance and roads. 

Currently the date set by Governor Cuomo for the potential reopening of businesses in upstate NY is May 15. That is only 2 weeks away. Things may look a little different in the beginning and we may need to wear masks and continue to social distance, but that is certainly an acceptable inconvenience for a short period of time.  This cannot last through the summer.

We need businesses open. 

We need normalcy. 

We need money flowing through the system. 

We need to be paying our bills. 

We need to navigate our way through phase 1 and enter phases 2 & 3 as soon as possible.

*For those individuals who are considered ‘at risk’, your self-quarantining may need to last until a vaccine has been developed or the virus has run its course.

THE NEW NORMAL…

We are a nation of survivors. Life WILL get back to normal.We have made it through world wars, pandemics, presidential assassinations and 9-11. We have crossed oceans, explored the unknown and put men on the moon. We will overcome this. We will get back to normal. We will forge on and once again experience the American dream of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

God Bless !

-Chad

GREETINGS TO ALL MY LOYAL READERS,

I hope you are staying safe and following the social distancing protocols. The sooner we can flatten the curve, the sooner we can all get back to regular life. I hope we still remember what ‘regular’ looks like!

Life at the newspaper has been somewhat lonely. We have 4 staff working in the building and we are spread out in different rooms. The in-house staff includes me, 1 sales rep, and 2 graphic designers. The rest of staff is hunkered down at home working remotely.

While I miss seeing the full staff, as well as my advertisers and of course all of you, I am very happy we have been able to provide continuous uninterrupted news and information to keep you ‘in-the-know’ about your community.  Some days have been more challenging than others to find good stories, but this remains a vibrant and caring community with plenty of great stories to tell.

Technically we are living through a once-in-a-century event. The last great pandemic took place 100 years ago. The Spanish Flu lasted from January 1918 to December 1920. It infected roughly 500 million people and killed approximately 70 million. But the Spanish Flu didn’t end the American dream, and neither will COVID-19.

I predict when we come out of this, we will experience a retail and dining boom like we have not seen in our lifetime. I know I am CRAVING: fine dining, hitting the gym, clothes shopping, massage, Jiu-Jitsu, chiropractic, home improvement projects, a haircut, etc. Yes, I am firmly confident that the wheels of capitalism will spin at full speed and cash will be flowing through the economy and the markets.

I suppose in the future, when I am bouncing my grandkids on my knees and they ask “Grandpa, were you alive in the great pandemic of 2020?” I can say “Yes I was sonny; in fact, I wrote about you during the pandemic in a letter to my readers!”

In closing, I, as well as the entire team at Saratoga TODAY, want to send a big heartfelt THANK YOU to all the front-line workers keeping society running. These include but are not limited to doctors, nurses, lab techs, EMT’s, police, firemen, bank tellers, grocery store workers, delivery drivers, power plant operators, garabage collectors, government officials, auto repair workers, chefs, volunteers etc.

God Bless & see everyone soon!

-Chad

GREETINGS EVERYONE,

This is Publisher Beatty coming to you from deep underground in the Saratoga TODAY emergency bunker.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, I want to assure you that we are doing everything to maintain stability in our news reporting cycle. This week’s paper just went to press, and we will be dropping bundles at locations by later tonight. As always, we are available at Stewart’s Shops, Price Choppers, Hannaford’s, etc…And you can always stop by our office and grab a copy from one of our newspaper racks located in front of the building. All our home-delivery routes remain intact.

If circumstances eventually eliminate our ability to print and distribute a physical paper for a period, we can still provide you with local news and information through our online and social media outlets. You can also access all our award-winning magazines online right now!

With 75% of our employees now working remotely, we are working diligently to return phone calls and emails. There may be a short delay and we thank you for your patience.

If you are one of our advertisers, we thank you for your ongoing support. We will continue to deliver your message to our readers and deliver results to your business.

I ask everyone to stay calm, stay smart, and think about those who may be less fortunate or have compromised immune systems. We can get through this together.

Stay Strong, Saratoga.
God Bless You and God Bless America!

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