LETTERS TO THE
E DITOR Misleading statements need to be addressed
To the editor: The headline of a letter to the editor (“Trump is preferable to Dems’ socialist agenda”) written by the former chief of the Colby-Abby police department, needs to be totally refuted. The article appeared in the Sept. 2, 2020, issue of the Tribune- Phonograph.
Socialism is a theory of government ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods. To think that Democrats Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi are believers of this idea for the United States is incorrect. The Democrats have not called for the government ownership of retail stores, automotive plants or the airline industry. They don’t believe in giving free stuff to failed owners of hotels and golf courses.
Voters need to be informed on the issues, the facts, the truths. Does one realize that President Trump has been corrected on thousands of his statements and tweets that he has made to the public? This is easily corroborated by news media sources, even Fox News.
Obama did not give Iran “$150 billion in cash” as Trump claimed. The U.S. was part of a nuclear agreement that lifted a freeze on Iranian assets that were mostly held in foreign, not U.S., banks. Quite a difference.
What about taxes on corporations or Trump’s taxes? Many corporations don’t pay a penny to the U.S. government, yet new tax laws favor them and the wealthy but not the middle class? It’s no wonder that the top one percent holds more wealth than the entire middle class.
So Trump gets a vote? The president who belittles and denigrates his military officers and calls them weak; a man who chastises the FBI and contradicts director Christopher Wray; fires top-notch diplomats who gave testimony to the Ukraine incident. Read the Republican report on the 2016 Russian collusion.
How about the multiple associates of Trump convicted of crimes, sent to prison, and of Roger Stone, convicted of seven felonies, but serving no jail time because Trump commuted his sentence? Not one felony, but seven.
Trump says vote twice and he slows down the voting process with radical postal service changes pushed through by his corporate donor appointee.
Of course, he has Attorney General William Barr, who says the Department of Justice prosecutors are like preschoolers, and Trump has said that Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of defense, is “dumber than a box of rocks.”
What about the virus? Trump’s handling of this disease shows his total incompetence with over 200,000 now dead. Most doctors, disease specialists, and even his own task force, would give him an F, not the A+ that he claims.
Time is short, but make an effort to read or review the following books or listen to their remarks about Trump: Bob Woodward’s Rage, Michael Cohen’s Disloyal, Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Trump’s own sister has remarked that he is “cruel.”
Bob Woodward broke the Watergate scandal. He understand presidential corruption. He has over nine hours of tapes and man interviews with Trump. Woodward deserves the last word on the president: “Trump is not the man for the job.” Stephen P. Subera Withee
Right to self-defense will in jeopardy under Biden
To the editor: Joe Biden’s gun plan will cost AR-15 gun owners $3.6 billion in taxes. Joe Biden’s website states that AR-15 rifle owners will be required to register under the “National Firearms Act of 1934.” This would mandate a $200 federal tax per AR-15. It is estimated there are 18,000,000 AR-15s in the United States. 200 x 18,000,000 = $3.6 billion in taxes if enacted into legislation. This does not even consider other guns that may be classifi ed as assault weapons.
Detailed on the Biden campaign website: “Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.”
Under the Biden plan, in order to possess firearms under the NFA regulations, an individual would be required to undergo a background check, that includes photo identification, fingerprints, and requires registration of the firearm with the ATF. In addition to the $200 tax established by the NFA.
The key point in this agenda is the classification of assault weapon. One definition of assault weapon used by the Giffords’ memorandum is “Assault weapons are a class of semiautomatic firearms that are designed to kill people quickly and efficiently.”
If enacted, the Biden policy would encompass “all existing assault weapons.” In practice, this could mean any semiautomatic rifle, not just the AR-15. If you own a rifle that is a semiautomatic and deemed an assault weapon, you will be required to have a background check, register the gun, submit finger prints, photo ID, and pay $200 for each semiautomatic gun you own.
So please remember Joe is coming for your legally owned guns. It is on his website, look it up. He wants to take your right of self defense away.
Rick Weber Colby
Trump does not honor our fallen soldiers
To the editor: The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, designated the hour, day and month the hostilities of World War I ended. One year later, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service.”
The country has honored our veterans every year since then. When I was young, even in our small, one room, country school, children stood and observed a moment of silence at 11:11 a.m. in honor of those that gave their lives so we could live ours in a free and democratic country. Just three weeks from now some of us will again, solemnly and sincerely, give thanks to the brave men and women that have given their lives for this country. Our president will not be one of them.
President Trump was the only leader of an allied nation that refused to attend the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood held at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris where 1811 American Marines are buried. On the morning of the event he asked his aids, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
On that same trip, Trump referred to the fallen Marines as “suckers” and asked, “Who were the good guys in this war?” In 2017, as he stood near the grave of General Kelly’s son in Arlington National Cemetery, he asked, “I don’t get it. What’s in it for them?”
This is the same president that asked officials not to allow wounded soldiers to participate in military parades and said of Senator John McCain, who spent five years as a POW in Vietnam, “He’s not a war hero. I like people that weren’t captured.”
He expressed no outrage when he learned Vladimir Putin had put a bounty on the heads of American soldiers. We will see him lay a wreath and say nice words on Veterans Day, but they will be meaningless. We know what he says when he thinks the cameras and microphones are turned off. It will sadden some and anger others because we all now know, he is a fraud.
Bryce Luchterhand
Unity
