Big job ahead
If, as has been said, it is true that “God takes care of drunkards, fools, and The United States”, then, truly, Her work is cut out for Her now.
Don K. Moeller, Kelseyville
Protest vs terrorism
Protesting should be about freedom of speech .
The people who riot and damage property should be treated as terrorists
I am hopeful that our new President will make some needed change.
Rosemary Hyden, Lakeport
Torture
Can you believe it? Senator Tom Cotton told Wolf Blitzer that waterboarding is not torture. The US Constitution calls it torture. The US code of justice calls it torture. Military code calls it torture. And the Geneva conventions (which the US signed onto under George H. W. Bush) calls it torture.
The US prosecuted Japanese soldiers and civilians for torture for waterboarding. When will Republicans stop thinking that this is OK? Contrary to what Senator Ted Cruz thinks, (waterboarding does “not meet the generally recognized definition of torture”), waterboarding is generally recognized as torture. Where was the Republican House (who impeached President Clinton for lying about sex) when President George W. Bush authorized torture? Where will they be when Donald Trump authorizes torture?
Kevin Bracken, Kelseyville
Is this America?
The day after the elections, a grade school teacher brings Play Doh and coloring books to class, other than teaching, because her 3rd grade students will be too traumatized by Trump’s election to learn? I don’t know about you, but my 3rd grade in school is a blur, but this teacher is going to traumatize her students because of her far left beliefs! She should be fired! As far as I am concerned that’s child abuse! Did anyone know about politics in the 3rd grade? NO! Except for this far left nut case.
So the question is, do you want your children taught by a Sol Alinsky taught teacher to teach your children to hate America because of a Constitutional mandated elections. Hate has to be taught and to hate America should never be taught by anyone! But I am just a racist, homophobe, deplorable, etc., who loves his country.
Then we have social media calling for Trump’s assassination ? Wait until the Secret Service makes a visit to these far left loons and then prosecutes them. Is this what you want America to become? A hated America! Then you on the left ask yourself why is it you riot in the streets and burn down businesses and the right doesn’t? Hypocrites! This will continue until we all try to get along and work together for a better America and better life in America! But the left doesn’t to want to work together.
It’s my way or the highway!
Mac McKay, Lakeport
An empty promise
One thing we can say about Donald Trump is that he certainly doesn’t under estimate the stupidity of the American electorate! By making the campaign about personalities, he avoided any real policy discussions as evidenced by his Make America Great Again theme. One of the important planks in this platform is that jobs will be brought back to America, and jobs will be stopped from being outsourced overseas.
Beginning in the 70s, many industries shifted manufacturing overseas in search of cheap labor. This shift was done for two reasons: to avoid high labor costs, which increased profits, and to keep consumer prices low, which increased sales. This march began with the clothing industry that shifted to Hong Kong, the lumber industry that shifted to Taiwan (plywood) and steel (Taiwan). Companies found it cheaper to ship logs from the West Coast to Taiwan, have the logs made into lumber, and then shipped back to the U.S. This search for low wages continued and more industries moved production overseas. Today, a stroll down any section of any store will reveal the overwhelming number of items made in foreign countries.
How will this torrent of goods be stopped? The classic method is to raise tariffs on imports. This makes foreign goods as expensive as domestic products. The problem is that this maneuver results in tariffs being raised on American exports, which hurts American industries.
President-elect Trump has said that he will tax industries that leave, industries such as the auto industry that plan on moving some plants to
Mexico. How does he plan to tax this industry? The auto industry will simply build plants in Mexico under a Mexican company name. Is the
President going to get Congress to levy a punitive tax on industries for foreign investments? Hardly! The only way that these companies can be taxed is if tariffs are raised on the items that are imported into the U.S. Once again, this is another way to fire the opening shot in a trade war.
The fact is that labor intensive jobs have left America and are never coming back unless Americans accept the wages of Chinese, Taiwanese, and other countries’ workers.
Even worse, American companies, particularly tech companies, are importing foreign workers that are displacing qualified Americans because foreign workers will work for lower salaries. Congress seems happy with this arrangement although it hurts American workers and our economy.
President Trump showed genius in making the Presidential campaign about personalities. He never had to confront the impossibilities of what he stated he could do in bringing back American jobs! American workers will get a front-row seat in the unemployment office as they see the impossibility of what Trump promised. Hopefully, after four years, they will not have to watch the sequel.
Charles Moton, Lucerne
