Trump Rally Numbers

Dear Editor,

The recent Oklahoma Trump rally received 1 million requests for tickets. The arena limited the crowd to 19,000. Of the presumed 19,000 tickets distributed, only 12,000 to 6,200 actually attended. For several weeks all news agencies, liberal and conservative, raised questions about COVID-19 impact on health. Liberal politicians went further by fighting the rally in court. They eventually lost.

Lower than expected numbers resulted in criticism. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, celebrated teenagers for using TikTok to falsely increase requests. This should be investigated. Politicians have a constitutional right to host events. Voters have a constitutional right to attend these events. If true, the “teens” deliberately requested tickets in order to reduce participants at the event. Each falsely requested ticket represents a lost opportunity for others to honestly participate. If AOC’s comments are true, the interference with voters’ rights is voter suppression. AOC’s claim should be investigated as voter suppression.

AOC’s tweet excused this abuse through falsely labeling political opposition as “white supremacy.” It is becoming far too easy to falsely claim racism to excuse abuses. These “teenagers” were also attempting to reduce access, free flow of information, to differing perspectives. Reducing attendance reduces the communication of the message, which censures speech. They are falsely labeling opposition as “racist” while preventing individuals from determining if it is in fact racist for themselves. The ease with which censorship is occurring is being used to pressure opposition into silence. You can be fired without investigation when disagreement is falsely labeled racist.

Supporters of this ideology view the ease of making false accusations. Little evidence is required with little repercussions as justification of the “rightness” of false accusation. This is also being used to pressure opposition into silence. The trend of falsely claiming opposition is racist is being used to threaten opposition. Sadly, this is occurring at multiple levels across the country. This censorship is not occurring to “protect” the “defenseless” from emotional pain. Emotional pain is often being manipulated by liberal politicians to punish disagreement. This is a very dangerous growing cycle that must be stopped.

We need to stop using individual’s emotional pain as pawns to distract us from failed policies. AOC’s comments must be taken seriously.

Alan Burke

 

 

A New Way Forward?

Dear Editor

Has anybody heard of H.R. 5383, which was introduced back on Dec. 10 of last year? It’s called the New Way Forward Act. Sounds impressive, right? Well, like any bill introduced by the (National Socialist) Democrats in the House, its name is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

From the bill as posted… “Title I—End Mandatory Detention and Require Probable Cause for Arrest.”

That’s right, no mandatory detention a requirement for probable cause for arrest of any illegal alien entering the United States anywhere, any way. The bill calls for removing the law that makes it illegal to enter this country by any means other than a port of entry.

In simple terms, open borders.

From a summary of this abortion of law and order:

“And even if an illegal is caught they won’t be detained or deported unless they commit a felony, and even then that’s no guarantee of deportation.”

  Limits the categories of “serious crimes” under which an immigrant is currently barred from qualifying for asylum, changing, changing the banned category to only felonies with a jail sentence of at least five years.

  Repeals or limits decades-old laws that limit immigration judges’ discretion, instead allowing it “if the immigration judge finds such an exercise of discretion appropriate in pursuit of humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest.”

  Prevents state or local law enforcement from the “investigation, apprehension, transport, or detention” of undocumented immigrants, as some law enforcement particularly in red states are doing.

  Repeals the existing law which makes crossing the border illegally a potentially imprisonable offense.”

The mask is off and the (National Socialist) ’rats and their lackeys have shown their true colors and their lack of patriotism and concern for the American people, for our history of struggles and sacrifices to make this country great, for those that committed time and money to follow the law to become American citizens the right way, for those that have sweated and sacrificed to build a great country.

This won’t pass the current Senate (I hope), but their plan is to wait until they have both Houses and the presidency. This, more than anything, should be the battle cry to get out the conservative, Republican voters. If they win, the country loses. We all lose.

“To arms! To arms! The socialists are coming! The socialists are here!”

Alan Marshall

 

 

Be Woke, Or Else

Dear Editor,

A city in Minnesota is considering removing the word “chief” from supervisory job titles because it might offend Native Americans.

The CEO of Chick-fil-A is suggesting white people should shine the shoes of black people “to express shame for racism.”

They are pushing to have the city of St. Louis change its name because it’s offensive to some people!

If you doubt me about any of this, just Google it.

At this rate, anyone not considered woke enough or who disagrees with these whackos will be rounded up and dragged off to reeducation camps. And the truly scary part is the people pushing this is are allowed to operate heavy machinery (i.e. cars}, own a gun and vote!

Is this really how the greatest country in the world, a country that played a significant role in stopping the subjection of the world, that survived a civil war early in its formation, that went from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong in the temporal blink of an eye, going to end?

Between this out-of-control insanity and the pandemic, the lords and ladies are happy as can be. Not only is this allowing them to consolidate the power they’ve already acquired, it’s going to give them more control over what they consider the great unwashed masses of peasants. They are able to have their legions of paid minions on the streets to keep the chaos going. Paid by whom you ask? Some by direct cash payments from questionable sources, but the majority are being paid by us, the people that don’t have time to spend days out protesting because we have jobs – jobs that pay taxes, taxes that gets collected by the lords and ladies under threat of imprisonment, then get handed out to people who can’t work (deserving) and to people who won’t work (undeserving). I wonder what the real numbers are for each group.

A poll says a third of people believe there is going to be a second civil war. While I don’t put much credence into polls, I believe that number is too low. I hope I’m wrong.

As I write this, President Trump is going to have a rally. I predict the leftist, socialist, lawless mobs are going to be there and there is going to a bloody outcome. Again, I hope I’m wrong.

I am so not woke, I’m in a coma,

Alan Marshall

 

How Your Taxes Are Being Spent In High Point

Dear Editor,

So the city and the High Point City Council have now decided on a budget.  Great!  There is no property tax increase so “there is nothing to see here folks.”  Except the council met last week and promised to read into the record, comments from taxpayers.  But Monday night, they changed their collective minds and said no, we don’t actually want to hear your comments and concerns. We will just include them as footnotes to the meeting.

Let’s take a look at their decision making process and decisions they made.  The city proposed 2020-2021 HP budget was posted on the city website June 1 and the new budget takes effect in two weeks.  As outlined on pages MM-1 thru MM-17, the city proposed an increase in property taxes, wanted to defer a stadium bond payment of $443,323, close the HP Museum and the Morehead Recreational Center, reduce some purchases and a number of other proposals.  Included in these pages is this year’s elimination of a (apparently yearly practice) of giving every single city employee a ‘holiday bonus.”  The city also wanted to hire new employees using the money they saved by firing other employees, give every single employees a 1 percent mid-year pay raise and raise water and sewer rates by 2 percent.  However after being besieged by citizens and organizations, the city has revised their proposed budget.

Here is some background.  Profits from the baseball stadium are supposed to pay the city enough money to cover the annual bond payments.  However, now that it is uncertain if the team will play this year and make the contractually obliged payment, the business owners and taxpayers of HP must dig into their pockets and make that $443,323 payment.  This type of scenario was one of the issues raised during the limited discussion the council held about the stadium.  Do you remember the $70 million dollars the city spent on a $35 million dollar project that was rejected by voters but built by the council anyhow? Just so you know, the city and council took about $20 million dollars out of its savings account and city departments and lost at least $200,000 a year ($600,000 over three years) in interest income to help fund the stadium. During the election last year, one councilman said the stadium was never about (paraphrasing now) “‘putting butts in the seats.”  This butts in the seats method of paying for the stadium was enthusiastically touted by the council and everyone was told not to worry.  While the China coronavirus has caused the pandemic this year, will business owners and taxpayers face this type of “the butts were not in the seats so you must pay because the Rockers can’t pay” scenario again if the Rockers don’t play this year or have a bad season next year?

Did you know that the city and council gives every single HP employee a Christmas (excuse me) holiday bonus each year?  Did you know as part of the original budget, the city planned to spend $223,507 of business and taxpayer money so every single HP employee could buy Christmas (excuse me again) holiday gifts?  Did the council know of this annual giveaway of taxpayer money or did the city hide it from them?  Either way, HP city employees should never receive any holiday bonus of any kind. No way, no how! Although this bonus will not be part of the 2020-2021 budget, the council should prohibit this from ever happening again.  This is taxpayer money, folks.

Then you have the 1 percent mid-year pay increase for every single HP employee.  Once again, they don’t have to be exceptional employees, just be any employee.  This is going to cost $520,000.  The 2019-2020 annual payroll costs for the city were $134 million dollars and will grow to an astounding $136 million dollars beginning in just two weeks.  If the city and council are laying people off, reducing services, cutting 50 percent of money spent on street quieting projects among others, why would total payroll expenses go up by a whopping $1.5 million dollars?

As for sewer and water rates, I originally opposed a 2 percent increase in rates and said so in the public comment email I sent to every council member and eight members of the executive team of the city.  (I wonder if my email will be part of the public comment footnotes to the council meeting.) The city admits (page MM-10) that “This plan [rate increases] calls for rate increases between 3% to 5% range …” and adds, “This strategy was adopted in the early 2000s to avoid some of the 15-22% rate increases that were needed due to a lack of proper long range planning.”  So I guess a 2 percent increase is better than a 15-22 percent increase.   So business owners and homeowners are forced to deal with the city and council’s failure to do any proper long range planning.  Does this lack of proper planning sound familiar?  Does it sound like with the baseball stadium that nobody wanted, except the council?  Remember the false information the council tried to pawn off on Guilford County until they got caught?

We must demand the city and council perform proper short and long term planning and must treat our hard earned sales and property tax dollars with greater care.  The city and council must not pass out, like manna from heaven, the hard earned sales and property tax dollars of business owners and homeowners.  If the council says they will do something like read into the record comments from taxpayers, they need to live up to their word.  If they don’t they are just lying and should be replaced or recalled … now!  Nobody will or should ever trust them again!

Ken Orms