Clinton likes to make laws but not obey them

Hillary Clinton has been involved in numerous scandals and answered for none of her crimes. She has put it in the public’s face that laws are only for poor people. While she loves to write new laws, she isn’t adept at following any of them.

She stated, “No one who is under FBI investigation should be allowed to buy a firearm.” I agree. They also should not be allowed to run for president.

Her constant attack on the Constitution should terrify us. The Second Amendment is in place to protect us from the government; hunting and self-defense are merely perks.

She says it’s to save lives, but the numbers don’t support her claimed motive. According to the CDC, nearly 11,000 homicides were committed last year with firearms. The number she prefers is 31,000 “killed by guns,” which includes 20,000 suicides using firearms.

More than 41,000 suicides were committed last year; I hear no talk of working tirelessly on that topic. The jobless rate may be connected to suicides. I hear no talk of correcting this problem, either.

In fact, Hillary supported Bill Clinton when he pushed for China to enter the WTO and signed NAFTA. North Carolina has suffered a 43 percent loss of manufacturing since.

Automobile accidents accounted for 38,000 deaths and 4.4 million injuries in 2015. I haven’t heard one word about improving driver education or testing. People obviously cannot drive; look at the confusion at four-way stops and brakes being applied in curves.

Johns Hopkins researchers say medical mistakes cause 250,000 deaths annually. It goes unmentioned.

The 11,000 homicides will require all of her attention “from her first day in office,” as she put it. I state these numbers as proof of an alternate motive for her desire to dismantle the Constitution.

As Barack Obama said a few years ago, “she’ll say anything.”

— William Kesler

Salisbury Post

 

The GOP’s poor record

First, to military types who think Richard Burr is the best thing since sliced bread, please check his ratings by various military folks (disabled vets, etc.) for the last 17 years, at https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/21787/richard-burr/66#.WBJEImQrL5s. Only five times in 17 years has he received better than a 50 percent rating. Don’t listen to what he says; check what he actually does!

Secondly, every registered-to-vote retiree needs to get to the polls and vote for Deborah Ross if you do not want your Social Security and Medicare privatized, for which you would see increased costs and reduced benefits. This is a high priority with Mr. Burr, who is richly supported by the insurance industry lobbyists.

Finally, this for Mr. Cobb: After seven GOP investigations costing more than $28 million in taxpayers’ money, the GOP could not find any way to charge Clinton for Benghazi, but not for lack of trying. They did state that the U.S. military failed to respond in a timely manner. If there had been any way to have charged her with that, do not think for one minute the GOP would not have done it. She was not responsible.

However, if you go back six months prior to Benghazi, there is that matter of the GOP blocking increased funding for additional security at our mid-east embassies. They have swept that under the rug, totally obscuring the facts by insinuating that it was all Clinton’s fault. If they had approved the increased security, it is highly likely there would have been no Benghazi attack, so the biggest blame lies with the Republicans who were determined to thwart the Obama administration at all costs. In this case the cost was the lives of four Americans.

— Dee Sink

Rockwell

 

Trump will bring change

As noted in the editor’s note regarding Bobbi Rae Smith’s letter, which pointed out the fact that the majority of Donald Trump’s wealth is within the U.S.,  Donald Trump has served the nation by providing jobs for thousands of American workers who built, manage and staff Trump real estate.  Hillary has been part of the Washington establishment (and I do mean established) who provided the loopholes for Mr. Trump and their rich donors to use in avoidance of paying taxes. Hillary’s foundation is another way to avoid paying their fair share, as I’m sure her tax accountants have used to her benefit. As I see it, both parties’ lifelong politicians have rigged the system to benefit the rich. We no longer have a republic of the people, by the people, and for the people but an oligarchy. At least Trump will try to change that.

— Loretta Ennis

Salisbury

 

Vote for future of court

Vote TRUMP if you care about the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court. That direction will be determined by the next justice to be appointed to sit on the court. If you find the killing of babies in the womb to be a horrible offense to the creator; if you believe the Scriptures that true marriage can only be between a man and a woman; if you don’t want the federal government to tell Christians what they must say (or not say) and do (or not do), then there is only one choice in this election. Vote for Mr. Trump. Defend your faith and your freedom of conscience!

— Ted Blanton

Salisbury

 

Voters deserve a choice

Recent polls show Pat McCrory will be a one-term governor.  Raising taxes (43 new sales and service fees) on our veterans, retirees and fixed- to middle-income earners was not received well by the majority of NC residents.  No one living on the verge of poverty liked being told that they needed a little more “skin in the game.”

HB2, the coal ash controversy and lackluster public education funding are all helping to further drag McCrory’s administration down. The GOP-controlled House and Senate are the ones primarily responsible. They also need to be voted out.

Sadly, one-third of NC representatives cannot be voted out because they are running unopposed. Forty NC House members and 13 senators have already been handed another term without even running a campaign or spending a dime. Local representatives Harry Warren, Carl Ford and Andrew Brock fall into this category.

The main reason for all these uncontested races is that district boundaries have been drawn with a lopsided Republican advantage.  Voters deserve a choice.  It isn’t really an election when there is only one name on the ballot — it’s more like North Korea!

Constituents should call their representatives and voice their feelings of disappointment with said representation.  The other thing a voter can do is leave the oval beside a candidate’s name blank.  If you’re unhappy with Carl Ford, don’t vote for him.  Don’t give him a false vote of approval.  The same goes for Brock and Warren. The courts will eventually need to weigh in.  Until that time, we’ll need to keep Roy Cooper well stocked with veto pens.

— Cary Wolf

Salisbury

Re-elect Judge Stephens

I urge you to help re–elect Appellate Court Judge Linda Stephens. Judge Stephens has more than ten years of experience on the appellate court bench and, during this time, has written hundreds of decisions reflecting her belief that a judge must be concerned only with the process of fairly applying the law. Most recently, she wrote the majority opinion supporting the constitutionality of tenure for teachers, a protection which the N.C. Legislature had stripped away in 2013. In April of this year, our State Supreme Court agreed with Judge Stephens and ruled that the repeal of tenure is an unconstitutional breach of contract. I believe she has earned the support of educators throughout N.C.

The primary qualification of Judge Stephens’ opponent, Phil Berger Jr., seems to be the fact that his father, Phil Berger Sr., is the majority leader in the N.C. Senate.  Early in the election process a random drawing by the State Board of Elections would have listed Judge Stephens first on this year’s ballot. Numerous studies have shown that being listed first on a ballot may give that candidate a slight advantage.  Consequently, our Republican State Legislature introduced Senate Bill 667 in the final hours of the 2016 legislative session, which, among other things, ensured that the first name now listed on the ballot is Phil Berger Jr. This should come as no surprise since this particular group of lawmakers long ago abandoned any sense of fair play.

In contrast, because of Judge Stephens’ clear sense of justice, impartiality, and a deep knowledge of the law, she has earned the bipartisan endorsement of many in the legal community, including six former N.C. Supreme Court justices. I hope you will agree with me that she has also earned our support. Please vote for Judge Linda Stephens.

— Keith Townsend

Mt. Ulla