Peterson himself) is lawful since Tennessee is a “Right to Work” state.

I have read and reread the conductor’s statement numerous times and have followed this story and read his news interviews and statements after his firing about his intent. He stated what he was referring to in his initial statement to those onboard was that in America you can leave if you choose to of your own accord and to leave America if you want to find a better place to live if you don’t think we have the greatest country.

He definitely could have said what he meant in a different way since it came out interpreted wrong.

I give him the benefit of doubt about his statement and intention.

I fully agree with him that America is the greatest country and if you don’t agree then you do have that option to move like Alec Baldwin and Rosie O’Donnell to another country. Clarification though, Rosie has moved back, evidently Ireland didn’t work out.

There is a problem with bigotry though the intolerance is alive and well. For decades, Democrats and the progressive left have pushed the notion that everyone should be inclusive and tolerant.

Yet right here in this opinion article the author of this thread would have the GoFundMe shut down this man’s page. Where’s the first amendment free speech in this way of thinking? This doesn’t sound like democratic tolerance. Do we just cancel someone because we disagree? The left thinks so they have been trying to do that for years to anyone that doesn’t follow their ideology.

I recall GoFundMe having allowed funds for Hamas supporters, illegal immigrants, criminals with their associated court costs and trying to fight deportation etc. plus funding to raise money for domestic terrorists who knowingly interfere with ICE officers doing their job. I don’t recall anyone calling for those GoFundMe pages to be shuttered.

As far as Mr. Pretti, he has had more than one run in with the law and is on video kicking and busting out the taillights of government vehicles as well as spitting in the faces and fighting with officers. His demise was of his own accord but evidently this proof is not shown on many media networks for all to see.

There are recent polls from Gallup and National News Desk that shows Democrats surveyed by these two organizations had respectively only 36 and 29 percent who identified as patriotic and proud of America. By the same polls Republicans polled in the 80 to 90 percentile.

Maybe this is part of why the conductor’s statement made national news and has triggered the left since there is a lack of Love of Country and Patriotism by evidence of the polls.

Arch Tinker

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The dismissal of the Incline operator is a straight-forward matter of workplace accountability under Tennessee's employment-at-will guidelines, rather than its right-to-work laws.

In any customer-facing role, representing the employer professionally is a non-negotiable requirement. The conductor failed to meet that standard by making polarizing remarks to guests on duty.

Turning a standard termination for poor performance into an $18,000 windfall via GoFundMe undermines the basic principle of professional accountability. We should expect higher standards of customer service, rather than financially rewarding those who fail to meet them.

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