The Red Hen is red faced as the Virginia eatery that 86'ed Sarah Sanders is getting besieged with international attention that isn't all rosey. The bitter limelight can sting when the free market bites your sanctimonious keister, and when you kick out a high profile person you almost instantly kickstart a social media war.

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Does the Red Hen have the right to boot whomever they want if they find them to be immoral and repugnant? Absolutely! If they want to post a flashing neon sign that reads "liberals only!" they are more than welcome, and they may find catering honestly and openly to a rabid, niche crowd may do wonders for their bottom line. Just know, once you cross that canyon you can't put the burro back in the barn and you have effectively ostracized half your potential customers.

It is one thing to pull someone aside and stammer out your moral conundrum while you ask a diner to leave, it is another to condone gathering a mob to push around your political and cultural opponents because you disagree with their conclusions.

I would never want to eat at the Red Hen, just like I would never want to buy cupcakes from a bakery that's bigoted against gay treats, but we have to agree it is the right of these businesses to make their own misguided judgments.

Maxine Waters is not helping her cause by encouraging forceful, authoritarian reactions against perceived enemies. We live in a time where some reactionaries are so short sighted and simple they equate ideas and words with violence, and justify violence in return when they feel slightly slighted.

Yes, create a crowd, an angry mob, and push back. Or push them, or cut them or shoot them. Whatever it takes to silence that disagreeable voice. Civility may not be dead in politics, but if you leave it to Maxine the attention who-aah, she'll shiv it 'til it bleeds blue.