Where are we?
Insanity and genius are closely related brothers. Necessity is the mother of invention. Stupid is as stupid does…Where are we right now? We have moved past slavery, survived 2 world wars, recessions and depressions, to become the most generous, strongest, wealthiest, envied, country in history. We share our wealth, our military strength, and support throughout the world, while welcoming more immigrants than any other nation. Yet we are vilified, through politics, for not succumbing to socialist-communist ideas that, historically, have never succeeded, at any time/any where! Forest Gump seems to have hit the nail on its head! This is what stupid looks like. Why go from the very best to the very worst? We still have a long way to go, but let’s stay on the right road. Let’s regain the moral values we have abandoned since the Greatest Generation.
Randy Rosness
Solvang
Vote for what you want
If you want more homeless people and drug users on our streets, vote for Rep. Salud Carbajal. If you want rents and housing spiralling out of control because millions of illegals in California need housing, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like Planned Parenthood selling baby parts, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like our utilities shutting off the power and killing the handicapped, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like your gas prices going up again ($4.25 per gallon), vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you want your health insurance to go up because of illegals getting free health care, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you want criminals to be safe in sanctuary cities, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like to be called the armpit of the county (Lompoc), vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like our small businesses fleeing to other states, vote for Mr. Carbajal. If you like government ownership of land, factories and other basic means of production (socialism), vote for Mr. Carbajal.
I’m sure many editorials will be sent to the News-Press urging voters to vote for Mr. Carbajal.
Tony Krejdovsky
Goleta
Phony politicians
After reviewing a previous readers comments about Salud Carbajal not following his oath of office, I have come to at least 2 conclusions. One, Mr Carbajal who claims to have served in our U.S. Military but refuses to follow his oath of office, appears to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Of course he is not much different from about 75% of all politicians. And two, The American people need to start demanding that our representatives start telling the truth & doing the job they took an oath to do and stop letting their hatred for our president get in the way.
Floyd Keinath
Solvang
CNN soap opera
Democrats in Congress are still producing political theater to damage the President. Throughout the Mueller Report media campaign they ignored the Christopher Steele dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign which relied on disinformation from the Russians. Two years of the made for CNN Mueller Report only proved that Mr. Trump did not collude with the Russians. Now Democrats in Congress will put on a made for fake news CNN show to try to impeach the President. So they can again write the script, they won’t allow Republicans to subpoena witnesses. They will ignore the actual footage of former Vice President Biden publicly threatening the Ukraine with canceling $1 billion in US funding unless the Ukraine fired the prosecutor investigating his son, Hunter Biden’s company. When their impeachment hearings are finally done 9 months from now the Democrats will go on CNN and announce with long serious faces, “the President is guilty – not just a little guilty, but extremely guilty – very very guilty of bad manners.” CNN may nominate them for an Emmy, but haven’t we seen this movie before?
Michael Sanchez
Santa Barbara
Marketing firearms
It is the greatest marketing campaign in the history of capitalism. A loose coalition of American manufacturers convince the public that to buy their product is to be a good citizen. They convince them that if they buy several of their products, they are a true patriot. Furthermore, they convince the public that if there is a problem with their product- such as a school shooting- the solution is to buy more of their products and put one in every classroom in the nation. The marketing campaign implies that anyone who suggests that any limit on the supply chain for the product is un-American.
Rather than market their product directly to the public, the manufacturers highjacked a sportsman’s organization to give their message authenticity. Year after year the manufacturers donate millions of dollars so this organization can lobby Congress on their behalf, allowing the manufacturers to avoid scrutiny under lobbying laws. The campaign to market guns is so effective that the public seems uninterested in addressing the uniquely American phenomena of frequent mass shootings regardless of the age of the victims; 6 and 7-year olds at Sandy Hook or by the sheer numbers, 58 people died and 1,000 were injured in Las Vegas.
The gun industry is like any other business, it exists to make a profit. Corporations don’t care about your safety or your 2nd Amendment Rights. They don’t “care” about anything, they are money making machines. As gun violence starts to affect “the bottom line” we may see change.
Recently the CEOs of 145 major companies sent a joint letter to the Senate which stated that “Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable…We need our lawmakers to support common-sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.” When the next mass shooting happens, remember, those are for-profit deaths.
Molly Machin
Santa Barbara
Support of the evangelicals
Evangelicals view President Trump as their protector. The president’s immoral behavior — foul language, constantly blaming others, corruption in his administration and a sordid history with women — does not seem to matter to them as long as he is anti-abortion, anti-gay and lines up with their belief that Christians are being discriminated against in our society.
What they typically fail to bring up as concerns are our eroding democracy under this president’s leadership, his weakness standing up to authoritarian regimes, his failure to uphold liberty and freedom for all our citizens, and the decline of this country’s stature worldwide. There is more, of course.
One would think this makes evangelicals one of the most unpatriotic groups of citizens in this nation. Is that really true, or is loyalty and strong support of our country and what it stands for just not on their radar, or simply beyond their comprehension? Evangelicals are really good friends and neighbors, but it really makes you wonder.
Bernie Schaeffer
Goleta
