BY CILLIAN ZEAL
Conservative Tribune
An Arizona restaurant is planning to reopen its doors after being forced to shut down by threats it received for posting a pro-Donald Trump message on its Facebook page.
According to Fox News, the situation arose when owners of the Cup It Up American Grill in Tuscon decided to put up a Facebook post discussing all of the things its owners support, including the president.
Other things the restaurant went on record supporting included “Always Standing for the National Anthem,” “Drug screening for welfare recipients,” and “Less Government.”
The owners also made it clear they didn’t support anthem-kneelers, the so-called “antifa,” other liberal hate groups and hate crimes.
This was the viral FB post that Cup It Up American Grill posted & deleted after backlash. Restaurant is closed indefinitely. (prior tweet) pic.twitter.com/o4847nNNjF
— Jennifer Martinez (@Jennymartineztv) October 10, 2017
Chris Smith, a Navy veteran and co-owner of Cup it Up, says he was moved to post the Facebook list after the NFL’s protests during “The Star-Spangled Banner” struck a chord with him.
“There’s just no justification to disrespect our national anthem and the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces,” Smith said.
Unfortunately, as Smith and fellow co-owner Jay Warren told “Fox & Friends,” it wasn’t long before they were met with “pure nastiness” in the form of angry phone calls, threats of violence and irate liberals coming to the restaurant — even though they had deleted the post. That’s when they decided it was time to shut down, at least temporarily.
Now, of course, these individuals have every right not to patronize Cup it Up should they vehemently disagree with the Facebook post. This is America, baby — you can patronize whoever your little heart desires based on their political beliefs.
The problem is when your idea of “freedom of speech” extends to threats or intimidation. The use of thuggery to achieve political aims is a grotesque caricature of free speech — particularly when it involves shutting down someone’s livelihood.
While the restaurant remains closed, Warren says he hopes to reopen soon. Let’s hope that when they do, customers who value the actual meaning of free speech give Smith and Warren their business, and that they remain free from liberal intimidation.
H/T Sarah Palin
Via https://conservativetribune.com/restaurant-owners-shut-down/
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