Sounding off: Biden, plastic bags, extremists, national debt, Trump, wildlife rules, money for migrants

Biden, a modern-day Nero

So, according to most recent polling, President Biden’s approval rating bounces from just below to just above 40%. It’s hard for me to imagine that 40% of the country thinks he is doing a good job. Let’s leave Donald Trump out of the conversation. He’s been out of office for 28 months. Who among us walks around thinking, “My life has definitely improved under Joe Biden”?

Let’s just consider some of his “greatest accomplishments”: Record high gasoline prices. Near record inflation. A pullout from Afghanistan that became a national embarrassment. Record illegal migration, resulting in record fentanyl deaths. Major cities suffering from high crime and unable to maintain enough police to protect them. Bending to an increasingly aggressive China. A military unable to meet recruiting goals. A First Family that has inexplicably received millions of dollars from foreign actors.

Let’s not leave out the fact that this president supports allowing biological males to compete against females in sports, as well as using women’s locker rooms and bathrooms. Until the past few years, not one politician from either party would have advocated for that.

So now Biden prepares for a reelection run. It doesn’t seem possible that Americans are brainless enough to reelect him, but don’t count him out. Joe Biden. Our modern-day Nero. If he played the fiddle it would be perfect.

Richard Byers

Mt. Pleasant

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Time for plastic bag ban to spread through Pa., country

Philadelphia recently released a study showing its plastic bag ban has been successful at tackling plastic pollution throughout the city and its suburbs. From October 2021 to August 2022, the amount of plastic bags being used decreased by 94%. So far, the ban has prevented the use of over 200 million plastic bags, many of which would have polluted our environment through littering, ended up in the ocean or filled our landfills with unnecessary waste.

Thankfully, Pittsburgh has passed a similar law, with a plastic bag ban set to go into effect in October. This has the potential to significantly decrease the amount of plastic being used throughout the city, eliminating about 108 million plastic bags a year in Pittsburgh.

We know how effective these plastic bag bans can be at reducing plastic pollution. It’s time for other local communities to implement bans on single-use plastic as well. As each city, town and borough throughout Pennsylvania, and the country, takes action, we get one step closer to cleaning up our environment.

Sophie Davis

Havertown

The writer is an intern with PennEnvironment.

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Why are the extremists ruling America?

It’s amazing how the extremes of the two major parties are ruling the day in America and have been for quite some time. There is perhaps 1% of kooks on each end of the spectrum, yet they have a large portion of the other 98% rushing to take one side or the other, as if drafted into the armies of Bizarro World.

These two extremes are deciding how America thinks and acts way too often. Remember, you don’t have to take the side of stupidity. I find it hard to believe that commonsense Democratic voters think it’s a good idea to have unchecked entry into the country. It’s just as hard to believe that many commonsense Republican voters believe that it’s a good idea to reduce or eliminate Medicare.

I believe there is a vast majority of sensible people on both sides who see the good and bad of most issues. Don’t forget, you can be a liberal and still think owning a gun in today’s America is a good idea, or you can be a conservative and believe that in some cases, Obamacare has proven beneficial.

We don’t have to follow the thinking and voting patterns of our politicians in Washington where every “controversial” vote has to be a 100% party line vote.

When did bipartisanship become a bad thing?

There is no doubt we need more independent thinkers in government who can consider issues logically and independently of their party leadership, then, vote accordingly.

Tim Kaczmarek

Natrona Heights

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Defaulting on national debt would be catastrophic

In response to the letter “Government should default on national debt” (April 30, TribLIVE): Well, I do agree that as citizens we have no input on the national debt and someone has to be responsible, but this is what you overlooked. Experts agree the following events would occur:

• Unemployment would soar to 12% within six months. That is over a million people out of work, leaving taxpayers on the hook for their benefits.

• Inflation would soar to 11%, putting us back to the mid-’70s when gas went from 26 cents to 45 cents overnight and all consumer goods followed suit.

• The economy would backslide by 10%, leading to a rapid recession, now the gdp says 10% is a depression and that could last decades.

• The global inpact would be devastating to say the least. The U.S. would lose the dollar as the money standard. The value of the dollar might end up at 50% to 60% of its current value.

I do believe the incompetent politicians on both sides of the aisle are to blame, compounded by the gross incompetence of the current administration.White House. Voters must demand change and do it at the polls. There must be accountability. Democracy means for the people and by the people, not for the interest of individual political agendas.

Jack Juris

Buffalo Township

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Trump, the ‘ugly duckling’

It’s not very hard to understand why they keep going after Donald Trump. If only people would open up their eyes and cast aside their prejudices.

Trump was the proverbial “ugly duckling.” He didn’t belong. He was too radical. He didn’t fit in. But the average men and women in this country understood where he was coming from. They saw their jobs sent overseas. He roiled the waters and made the “in crowd” feel uneasy. They knew that their shenanigans were going to be exposed. He was an outsider. He didn’t need to be invited into their social circles. They had lost control.

He wasn’t going to go along to get along. He was going to bring about World War III, the pundits told us. Instead, he brought peace to the Middle East with his historic Abraham Accords.

Russia wasn’t involved in a war. China wasn’t causing havoc in the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan, and North Korea wasn’t firing missiles and threatening to test nuclear weapons again. This was infuriating the “military-industrial complex” that Dwight Eisenhower had warned us about — the same people who sent our men and women off to wars to be killed or maimed.

His southern border wall forced the migratory patterns to change, reducing human trafficking and fewer deaths among migrants. Look what’s happening now.

In the White House we now have the poster boy for term limits.

Edward J. Liberatore

Turtle Creek

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Wildlife should stay wild

Last month, the Pennsylvania Game Commission voted to pass a change to menagerie regulations, thereby allowing wild animal exhibitors in our state to monetize public contact experiences with most wildlife. The vote ignored serious concerns raised by various organizations committed to wildlife protection and conservation. It was passed even though it will increase Pennsylvanians’ risk of injury and the transmission of zoonotic diseases, make it harder for game wardens to observe safety standards and put unnecessary stress on Pennsylvania wildlife.

Since this entirely unnecessary change defies common sense and sound scientific reasoning, the most likely motivation for passing it must have been financial profit.

Wild animals should never be considered public entertainment. Facilitating close access to them sends an inappropriate and dangerous message: that it is OK to approach a potentially dangerous animal in the wild, or perhaps even have a wild or exotic animal as a pet, legally or not.

Readers who are passionate about our native Pennsylvania wildlife will agree that the best way to teach respect for wild animals is to let them be wild. It is wrong to subject them to inappropriate contact with humans, even well-meaning ones, for the sake of financial profit.

Christina Hoenig

Robinson

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Money for migrants should be spent on Americans

In a May 5 news conference, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ said the Biden administration has distributed $330 million more to communities and agencies to “address the humanitarian needs of migrants” coming across our southern border. Relocation help, housing, hotel rooms, meals, health care, etc.

Where is the $330 million for American citizens who are homeless, with nothing to eat, no health care. Why is nobody in this administration even acknowledging the homeless crisis in OUR country?

The U.S. is the greatest country. We need to take care of US.

Ralph Ignasky

Hempfield