I believe that most Americans, Republican or Democrat, believe that the Second Amendment right of self-defense against aggression and tyranny is absolutely necessary. But I want to talk about the First Amendment, which is protected by the second. I read the Beep every week and, as you say, it tells us what people are thinking. What much of it tells me is that many people don’t know what they’re talking about or what is really going on. In this country, everyone still has the right to say what they’re thinking even if their opinion requires no thought.

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Hello. I’m calling about Hillary Clinton out there in India talking about white women that didn’t vote for her because our husband, you know, wouldn’t allow us to. I’d like to say this to her. I’m a married white woman, and I didn’t vote for her because I don’t like her. I don’t like her policies. I don’t like her period. She killed these four people in Benghazi, and I just don’t like her policies at all. She didn’t stand for nothing. She felt like she was supposed to have that presidency job because she lost in 2008. Not only that, you know, just because I’m white, I have a right to vote for whoever I want to. I don’t have to vote for her. I don’t have to vote for her because she’s a woman. And, then, you know that lady had the audacity to say if you’re a woman and you don’t vote for her, you’re going to go to hell. You know, this is crazy.

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Amazingly, the people of Massachusetts, not all of the people, the Democrats, the die-hard Democrats, will probably reelect Elizabeth Warren in spite of the fact that she will not take a DNA test to validate whether or not she is an American Indian. And everybody knows what the reason is she’s not going to take the test. Because it’s not going to show she has any ancestry to being an American Indian. This is another, unfortunately, classic example of a social progressive Democrat who will deflect, demoralize and lie. I’m embarrassed for these people. I’m embarrassed for the Democrats that would ever consider voting for Elizabeth Warren.

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You’re right, John, that some stop lights just exist to satisfy the egos of bureaucrats. People who feel the urge to control others are naturally drawn to government. Just in the last few years you must have noticed some stop lights that force traffic to remain stationary when it’s perfectly safe to continue. Turning left onto I-40 East and Hornaday Road from Guilford College Road are examples of control-freak lights. Cross traffic has a solid red. You can clearly see half a mile past the Sheetz. There is no reason why traffic should not turn left when it is totally clear. After checking for cops, I normally do. These lights might make control-freak petty bureaucrats feel good, but the only way to remind them that they are our servants is widespread disobedience, like what happened to the 55 mph speed limit. Ignore the congestion causers. Just sign me off as an independent driver.

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Hello, Beep. Your Whirlie class of ’72 guy here with some information that might be of use to the Whirlies. I, too, wondered for many years what the whirlie was, is. There’s a whirligig park in Wilson County in the City of Wilson. And, so, there is a color picture there of the whirligig in case you’re interested and want to know what one looks like, like I did for many years as well. And it is in Our State magazine on page 226. So there you have it – a whirligig.

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Well, dummy here forgot to tell you which month magazine of Our State. It was the September issue. Bye-bye.

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To the neighbors of Forest Oaks, we, the neighbors, have lived in our wonderful neighborhood of Forest Oaks for over 50 years. We have owned our own properties and had the God-given freedom to make our own decisions of what to do with them. As many of you know, there is an attempted takeover of our neighborhood by a developer, a builder, and a real estate agent for three reasons: greed, control and power. If you choose to join the homeowners’ association, you will assist them in this disgraceful act. You will forever lose control of your property rights and pay dues that will rise annually. We choose to fight this. This week you will receive in a mail a notice to opt out of this HOA. I urge to return this signed notice and do not allow this to happen to our wonderful community.

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Continuation of my call. We in Forest Oaks do not need a homeowners’ association. We’ve controlled this wonderful community each and every one for own specific piece of land for many years. We’ve had our neighbors over. We’ve got along well with each other. We don’t need nobody to control us. If you want to be in a homeowners’ association, you need to move. We don’t want it. We’ve heard the horror stories. We’ve heard the stories about the management team riding the neighborhood every two weeks to make sure the neighborhood is in proper condition. We’ve heard the horror stories about the lady getting a letter about mold and mildew on the side of her house and they happen to give her two weeks to get it off or otherwise they would come and clean it and send her the bill.

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I hate to say that Channel 2 started it, but now all stations do it. Put delays and closings at the bottom of the screen 24/7. Why? Show the stuff one or two times an hour. Now you know why people go out and buy a Fire Stick. No commercials. Look at how many commercials on the Today Show, GMA. The commercials have more time than the shows they present. Thanks.

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I’m calling. Have you looked at the News & Record lately? Well, I’m telling you, it is zilch. The Rhino could put a paper out, you already got a paper that is good as what the news is now. All you need to do is have the deaths in there, because everybody likes to know who died. Not that they’re happy but they would like to know if there’s somebody they know. And I can tell you that the News & Record is so unreal now. And they have contracted the routes out to some kind of company. And the sorry service they’re doing to the people, no matter how many years you took the paper. They couldn’t care less whether you get a paper or not.

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I hope the elites in Hollywood enjoy their cushy lifestyle being separated from the rest of the country and living in their own little world and have their own little religion. I hope the elites really enjoy the life they have carved out by themselves – for themselves rather, by flooding our kids with bang-em-up, shoot-em-up movies and bang-em-up, shoot-em-up video games which have helped brainwash the youth and cause all this violence among the youth. So I hope the elites in Hollywood enjoy their selves with their cushy little lifestyle. Anybody who would go to the movie theater and give their hard-earned money to these millionaire prima donnas much be crazy. Stay away from the movie theaters. Don’t give the elite Hollywood walking garbage any more of your money. The people in Hollywood are pure trash. And don’t give them your money.

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I do see that BJ Barnes has decided to run again for sheriff of Guilford County. I don’t really have anything against BJ Barnes, but he has been in office for quite some time. I think that the paper said 24 years. Perhaps there should be some type of term limits for this position. Only because, not saying he’s not doing a good job, but just to give someone else a try. I think when you’re in an office that long you start to get complacent, and that’s natural for anybody, not just the sheriff. And I just feel like maybe perhaps we need some blood in there and some new ideas and I think that – I’m not sure why BJ wants to continue to work as hard as he is and deal with the stress that he’s in after all these years.

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Editor’s Note: There is a term limit. Every four years the voters of Guilford County get to decide whether or not they want Barnes to continue to be sheriff.

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You know, President Trump had a real asset in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and it’s unfortunate to see him go. I think government always benefits from top caliber business men and women. It needs that expertise and that experience, because these career civil servants and foreign service folks, with all due credit to them, it’s a different ballgame from business. I think we really need a healthy dose of American practical business acumen in the federal government. Tillerson, sorry to see you go. I don’t know if that’s the wisest decision or not. Doesn’t feel like it.

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If the Republican Party don’t get on the ball and go ahead and pass something so they can put somebody in the school with a gun, they’d shoot anybody that would come up the steps with a gun. That’s all it would take. I was hunting at 14 years old and knocking squirrels out of trees with a .410 shotgun. I didn’t have any training at all except put the shell in, point it, and shoot it. And I went in the service the same way. Of course, was using M1 rifles then. It don’t take that much training for somebody. Just got to have a man won’t go to shooting everybody in the school. The Democrats is going to get a hold of this. These kids that walked out of school. The Democrats will get a hold of it, and the next thing you know Black Lives Matter will get here. And here will come Jesse Jackson. And the next thing you know they’ll say that Republican Party don’t want no guns in schools. They need to do something, and they need to do it now.

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Hello, Beep. I was reading an article in the Rhino, which I do every week. All my friends, I give them to about A&T College in Ukraine. Well, I’ve been telling y’all people for a couple of years or more now, ever since the start when somebody posted a thing in The New York Times about Greensboro being a racist city, our city manager and our mayor, and all the City Council changed the laws for black people that they couldn’t stop them for tinted windows. They can’t stop them for lights. They can’t stop them for nothing.

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I’m sorry, Mr. Scott Yost. You got it wrong about the $130,000 hush money to Stormy Daniels and the worst money ever spent. I live in High Point. The worst money ever spent is on this baseball/football field that we’re building for Nido Qubein and High Point University. Well over $70 million will be spent so he can have a place for High Point University to play football. That’s got to be the worst money ever spent. Have a great day.

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Just to follow up. Let’s remember, Nido Qubein bought the baseball team and we built him a stadium. He’s one of the highest-paid administrations in the entire country with what he’s getting paid by High Point University. Why don’t he just pay for it himself instead of sticking us with the bill? I’ve got to get out of High Point. I’ve got to move to Archdale. Even Greensboro, as bad as it is, is better than High Point. Have a great day.

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Yes, I’m reading in this week’s edition of the Rhino Times how the City Council is seeking to cancel Greensboro Gun and Knife Show. What an idiotic idea. What does the Greensboro Gun and Knife Show possibly have to with a school shooting or illegal guns on the street? Criminals can’t buy guns at the gun show. There are no illegal guns for sale at the gun show. It doesn’t make any sense. It has nothing to do with any sort of violence or any sort of schools or criminal activity whatsoever. Beyond that, you’ve got the City Councilmember Abuzuaiter, whose husband was caught and arrested and charged with possession of stolen weapon, and another couple of counts of carrying a concealed weapon in his vehicle. That is a mandatory 21 years in federal prison. But it never happened. Why don’t we leave the gun show alone and try enforcing the gun control laws that are on the books? Stop blaming law-abiding citizens.

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Editor’s Note: Isa Abuzuaiter was arrested for two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and one count of possession of a stolen weapon, but the charges against him were dismissed.

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Hello. Two weeks ago, a caller to the Beep said that he did not read any letters to the editor that were written by Maureen Parker or Chuck Mann. He said that anybody with so much to say, obviously, does not do enough listening. But it is actually the caller who does not do enough listening since he refuses to read any ideas that are different from his own. Thank you.

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When Obama was in office, you frequently criticized him for playing golf. Now tell us how many rounds Trump played in his first year as president.

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Mr. Attorney General, just do it. Just fire him. He doesn’t deserve the money that he’s getting ready to get. Just another plot to help overthrow the country and switch powers. As a great old deputy sheriff once said, you got to nip it in the bud.

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This is in response to the Beep about Billy Graham’s money, fleet of cars and multiple houses. The caller felt that Graham, as a religious leader, should have given his riches to the poor. Jesus said, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. This beeper has given us all something to think about, not only with regard to Billy Graham but with regard to ourselves. Thank you.

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Thursday, March 15: Toys “R” Us will be open for the next 60 days from this date. They will start reducing their products 30 days from now. All locations are due to close down in exactly 60 days from March 15. A lot of the employees of the Greensboro location have no idea they’ve even lost their jobs. But, anyway, if you’re reading this, you have exactly 60 days from the date that I just quoted to, basically, get another job or go in there and do some good shopping. They’re waiting two months to close. The first month, prices will stay the same. The second 30 days, the prices will start being reduced by 10 percent, 15 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent.

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The only reason I graduated from high school is the junior class that was coming up was larger than the senior class, and they needed my desk. The very first school shooting in the United States, the next week, not 10 years later, but the very next week, all the doors ought to have been locked and a deputy sheriff ought to been sitting there with a gun. That would have eliminated all the school shootings. It’s just that simple. But these politicians have to make a political statement out of it. This, that and the other. But anybody that reads this, if you print it, knows that what I’m saying is right. I’ve got no law experience. I’ve got a gun, and I’ve got enough experience if I see a man coming in my house, I’m going to shoot him whether he’s got a gun or not. It don’t take a whole lot of nerve to do that. Just squeeze on the trigger and the bullet flies out and somebody falls dead. That’s all it would take to stop the school shootings. And they’re going to wallow this thing around from now till Christmas.

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We’d like to know, where are the police in Greensboro? I commute from Siler City to Greensboro daily to my job. There is a speed limit sign flashing on Friendly Avenue saying it’s 35 miles per hour. Cars are passing me going 50 miles per hour. No city policemen ever around to catch them. I leave work at 11 p.m. I see people driving down Green Valley Road on Market Street to Spring Street. They are speeding, driving with no headlights, have no taillights, running red lights like crazy, turning left on red. They give no turn signals. They’re texting on their cell phones while they’re driving. There’s never a city policeman on my commute.

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In discussing the tax reductions being temporary or permanent, you say it is a great lie, because it is truth. Do you know any other oxymorons? Also, you say the reduction for personal payers are temporary because of a spending formula, but you don’t tell us what that formula is or why it doesn’t also apply to corporations.

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To the people who don’t understand why we should want our AR15 rifles, consider this. Our Constitution was written to protect the common everyday citizen from our own government. The Second Amendment is to give the citizens, not the armies, the right to bear arms in case a corrupt government tries to overthrow our country. In the case this happens, I would rather stand up and defend myself with something more than a slingshot. And look at the corruption that the last administration had. They corrupted the White House, the State Department, the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA and the IRS. All this was done by the Democrats. Their agenda was for a complete control of our government, a complete takeover. These are the ones that are always trying to take away our guns and gun rights. They don’t want any opposition. That’s why they’re so upset that someone like Trump won the election, because they were so close to a complete takeover the US and now everything is being undone.

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Yes, I’m calling in reference to your trilliums blooming in your yard. Mine have been blooming for probably about four weeks, but I have the kind that the flower is purple. And if I remember the name of them from my days in grade school, it is called a wake robin. Now, if the flower was underneath the leaves, it would be called a nodding wake robin. I don’t have any white ones, but I sure am happy with my purple ones that are blooming their hearts out. The jack-in-the-pulpits, of course, aren’t up yet, but the ginger is there. I’m still waiting for blooms on them as those are plants still haven’t bloomed. But nice to hear that there are other people that are into wildflower business. Keep up the good work, John. We need you bad.

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Editor’s Note: I would call ours burgundy, but they may be purple. We also have yellow and white.

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I hate to be the one to throw cold water on all this hype about the Publix distribution center coming to Greensboro, but, man, when Nancy Vaughan says something like that, and the City Council starts talking about it, I can’t get too excited, because they’re track record is not too good. We get all hyped up about all these businesses, and so forth, coming to Greensboro or to Guilford County, and then it never happens. I hope it does. We certainly need the employment in this area. Also, you got to stop and think a minute about what do high wages mean. Well, remember this, this is the food business. This is the grocery business. And their profit margin is very, very narrow. So they’re not going to pay wages that are way beyond what’s competitive probably in this marketplace. They’re in the business to make money, and they’ve got lots of competition out there.

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Yes, I’m for the students and their rights to have some gun, which should have a little gun law. Make it 21 before a person can purchase a gun of any kind. Thank goodness for arms, US Armed Forces, you know. If they join at 18, you know, it’s fine. And have a weapon. But regular citizen, it should be 21. I’m tired of innocent kids getting killed in school. But I also like to tell them also get out there and protest against drugs, schools and universities, colleges, protests against beer and alcohol, you know, on campuses. All this binge drinking.

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A fellow named Otis called the Beep to say he dug trilliums out of the woods 20 years ago and have been enjoying them ever since. I didn’t know herbs would still be edible 20 years after they were dug up.

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Good early morning, Beep. It looks like a road to the Clintons’ house is getting shorter. Maybe McCabe can guide us there. They’re getting up a nice looking orange jumpsuit for Hillary, who has basically told everyone in the world how stupid she thinks the American people are. Have a great day.

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Good morning, everyone. Last night, the breaking news was that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is fired two days before receiving his retirement. After being in the FBI for almost two decades, it’s certainly a tragedy to see a man lose his pension and have his career ruined. But you got to realize, this guy is a crook. This guy is a liar. This guy has broken the law. He’s in the upmost elite, top law enforcement agency in our country. We have to be able to trust those people. So right now, the first thing that’s happening this morning, on Saturday morning, the liberals are all jumping on the bandwagon about how unfair this is, how insensitive Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump are to this man. Let’s remember, folks, this guy lied. He almost committed treason.

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So much for stare danger in the face, laugh in the face of death, ready to put your life on the line 24/7 without stopping for any kind of a break. Ready to throw yourself in harm’s way. So much for all that as we saw with that police officer in Florida who wouldn’t even go in that school and save those innocent children who were being slaughtered. As long as he’s like a lot of these so-called heroes, as long as they’re doing nothing, watching TV, talking on the phone, washing their car, playing basketball and doing nothing and making their regular salaries, everything is fine until they have to go in and do their jobs.

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Hello. As I was growing up in Florida, there’s a town on the east coast of the state whose name I have always heard pronounced St. Augustine. It was only when I was in college that I heard the name pronounced St. “Augustin.” I don’t know which is correct. I hope Orson Scott Card will inform me. Thanks.

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In response to the loquacious and opinionated Chuck Mann, he might be interested to know we already have term limits. They’re generally referred to as elections. Thank you.

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A query for the learned Mr. Hammer. What do you mean by Republican? I always thought they were conservative, in favor of small government, fiscal conservatism, anti-deficit. It seems like they no longer are with the high deficits, the high taxes. You keep saying someone who has been a Republican most of their life is more a Democrat than a Republican. I’m just curious what you mean. Thank you.

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Editor’s Note: I suppose I’ll have to start using conservative because we’ve got a bunch of Republicans who act more like Democrats than some Democrats.

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Greetings from Rockingham County. Last Saturday I was at the Greensboro Coliseum. Blake Shelton, roller derby, Greensboro Swarm. The place was packed. This Saturday I happened to find myself in the same parking lot. A rabbit show and swimming, NCAA diving, Katt Williams and a jewelry show. I just want to say thanks.

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Just to continue. You’ve got bejeweled rabbits high diving to Katt Williams. What a great Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day. I just hope it will be appreciated for all the Coliseum does. I saw license plates from at least 20 different states, and even some Canadian people. So, just keep up the good work. Thank you.

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All you bicycle riders, it’s time again for the eighth annual Rothar Turas Bicycle Ride. It’s a kickoff to the spring season. It will be on March 24. For all the details, you can check with Cycles de Oro online. That’s the local bicycle shop. Hope to see you there.

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When it comes to Uber, insurance companies are the big losers. I can’t believe the insurance companies haven’t got together and shut Uber completely down, because they have the power to do it. The way they are losing money is just like this. Any other taxi or transportation service, commercial insurance on their car, and commercial license plates. That’s how you tell if it’s a legitimate service or not. Uber has nothing. They have just personal insurance on the cars and personal license plates. So if there was commercial insurance on every car, the insurance companies would be making a whole lot more money. And not only that, people that are supposed to be running commercial license plates on their cars, are now saying to heck with it. If Uber can do it, so can I. So they are cancelling their commercial insurance and cancelling their commercial license plates and just putting personal license plates on their cars.