Sounding off: No 'gray area' on guns

Lori Falce’s column “The black and white of guns” starts out lumping seven hot topics with gun rights/control as having “gray area” that must be understood before both sides of any issue are settled.

When it comes to gun rights/gun control, it is black and white. Because the “gray area” will never stop man killing man with firearms. It is a right, in the United States, for citizens to own guns; guns are legal to purchase; and there are adequate regulations at all levels. These facts do make this issue black and white — for guns for individual protection, hunting, law enforcement, etc.

Liberals want to muddy the waters of all issues with the “gray area.” More regulations, more background checks and more community gun buy-back events will never dissolve the “gray area.” That’s because governments will still wage wars, crackpots will still “go postal” with a hunting rifle and inner cities will still have violence. I’m sure the drug dealers and gang-bangers were in those gun buy-back lines.

The “rainbow of gray” you speak of with the gun control issue is lost on me. I don’t know what that means. I have no idea how this issue is solved by more focus and “buy-in” from both sides. No one knows why man kills man. Sadly, if mass killings came by way of bombs, vehicles or knives, then this gun control narrative would cease.

Paul A. Hornbake, Bolivar

Impeachment and incumbents

Both political parties showed the worst of already loathed politicians during the impeachment debacle. It never had a chance of succeeding. It really boiled down to Nancy Pelosi running out of options. It then became a Mitch McConnell show. Thus we saw the absolute worst of both Pelosi and McConnell.

Incumbent has become a very dirty word, typifying people who are mentally inert and morally blind. Do not listen to the extreme stuff they sell. The truth is almost always in the middle. Be a sensible citizen and think for yourself.

Richard Boley, Delmont

Making Trump a 1-term president

President Trump’s critics consider him to be crude, self-centered, pathologically dishonest and childishly vindictive. Of course he is, but for some reason nearly half of the country doesn’t care. And I don’t believe there is any way to make those folks care.

So how do we make Trump a one-term president? Trump and his supporters love to bring up the economy, but what is good about the economy has been good for nearly 11 years. The Great Recession, which President Obama inherited, had caused the Dow to bottom out at 6,470 in March 2009. Through the success of the Democratic stimulus bill, the stock market turned, and by the time Obama left office in January 2016, the Dow sat at 19,805 — a 206% increase. Since Trump took office the Dow is up about 47%; this is very good, no doubt, but well short of Obama numbers.

The gross national product grew by an average of 2.4% during Obama’s time in office; it has grown by 2.4% for Trump’s first three years. Trump can’t take credit for increased job growth, either. When Obama took office, the nation was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month. Starting in fall 2010, the country produced 75 consecutive months of positive job numbers. That’s what Trump inherited.

The best the Trump administration can claim is its policies have not ruined the Obama recovery. That’s the message we need to shout from the rooftops.

Let’s stop complaining and talk issues. For the good of the nation, we need to end Trump’s political career in November.

Bob Charlton, Springdale

We should unite behind the president

I never thought of myself as a political person, and I certainly never thought that a TV reality show host would become our president. But I am pleased with how things turned out. The economy is good, people are working, wages are favorable, unemployment is low and terrorists are being eliminated. Those are very good things.

I simply do not understand why our country is so divided. Is it because some people thought they would see the first woman president? And when that didn’t happen, those people decided not to accept the elected person? Or is it because the person elected was not a career politician?

I don’t remember so much division after prior elections even though some in the country did not like the person elected. I don’t agree with some things our president says, as I did not agree with all the things prior presidents said or did.

We have choices to make. It seems to me that making America first would be a favorable choice for all of us. Why wouldn’t a person want to live in the greatest country in the world? We live in a country everybody wants to be a part of, where many people want to come to escape famine and poverty. It’s a country where we are all free. It’s a country that is first in so many things.

I believe no matter who is the duly elected president of our country, we should stand united behind that person. And we should all start now.

Dorothea Cremonese, Hempfield

Kids are brainwashed on climate change

Watching a news report about children protesting about so-called climate change gave me something to ponder. The young can lead us old nonbelievers by first scrapping their video games, computers, cellphones and other electronics that use energy in order to be manufactured, mostly from oil that injects carbon into the atmosphere. They could walk to the schools they now ride on buses to attend. After all, the buses emit an awful lot of carbon into the air.

Get rid of gas, electric and oil heat because they all produce carbon dioxide. I am sure the geniuses who came up with this climate hoax can come up with other ways to light, heat and cool our homes.

Then there is the problem of producing enough food to feed the masses by using oxen and horses to plow the fields. Oh wait, those animals produce methane, and that also induces climate change. There also will be no way to fight many sicknesses and diseases without using petroleum products.

Eventually, all will be well when the human race dies from frigid temperatures in the winter, heatstroke in the summer, and starvation because bark and grass do not meet our nutritional needs, not to mention the epidemics that we will not be able to prevent.

The climate fanatics will be happy in the great beyond that they brainwashed the children into believing this hoax and have helped extinguish the human race from the planet.

John T. Watson, North Huntingdon

Democratic Party’s platform

It is a sad sight indeed to watch the spectacle of the Democratic Party choosing the delegates to their national convention this time around.

It is an argument among candidates who espouse radical programs, all of which are ridiculously expensive and few of which comprise what the average American wants to pay for or otherwise support.

It’s time for the Democratic National Committee to step in and tell all candidates that they must swear to support the Democratic platform in order to be selected as the party’s candidate for president. The platform will include:

• A balanced budget that includes reasonable budgetary increases for health care and vital infrastructure improvements.

• A basic foreign policy that supports our allies to the extent that they support themselves.

• A limited military budget that allows for a reduction in personnel stationed overseas.

• A second-year, 5% reduction in all departmental budgets of all other government activities.

• No increase in the national debt for the entire first term of the president.

Without such clear objectives, clearly stated, Democrats might as well start gathering dirt for Trump’s next term impeachment(s).

Ed Collins, West Newton

Paying for police

Regarding the article “Local officials say paying for state police would be tough pill to swallow”: When is it ever enough? We in Penn Township are known as a bedroom community while having little business. With our own million-plus 2019-20 township budget, our police have been allotted over $4 million of it, which equates to using 43.9% of the money.

And now comes Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal to charge our township an additional $367,309 for covering our portion of state police costs. It’s not enough that we are already paying for state police through our high state gasoline taxes; he wants more.

The governor uses local population and median income to reach his projected charges, while totally disregarding what areas having their own police already pay per individual for their own local police coverage. What an insult!

Marian Szmyd, Penn Township, Westmoreland County