If it is so bad here, why does everyone want to come?
Why are so many powerful people intent on teaching everyone, including our children, what a bad, evil country the USA is. There has been a trend to focus on all the negativities, failures, and shortcomings, even teaching that we were evil from the very beginning.
Without question, we are not perfect but show me any country that is or has been. If anyone is looking for perfection I think the only place it will be found is when you die, you will be able to hold your breath perfectly. Being a second generation born American, today I much more appreciate the things I learned from my grandparents and parents. My grandparents came over almost broke, spending all their money to get to the ‘land of hope and opportunity. There weren’t any government programs to feed, shelter or clothe them, their only support was extended family here, ethnic community and their religious affiliation. They took the worst, hardest, low-paying jobs, scrimped, saved, and sacrificed, after a long period saving enough to buy a rundown house and a rundown frame.
But this was part of my grandfather’s dream, to grow his own food and be a “beekeeper”. They raised six children, two boys that served in World War II and one girl that enlisted just before the end, actually lying about her young age to get in. They also had three other children that died in childhood.
They never fully mastered the English language but demanded all their children needed to and learn reading, writing arithmetic, and history, particularly of their ‘new’ country so the children could teach it to them. They never felt entitled to anything and were very grateful for just having the opportunity to have the freedom even to fail because of their choices. They never felt envious or jealous of what others had teaching their children if they worked hard enough, smart enough, and long enough, done honestly, they too could get some of those things they desired, but always tried to remind them of the things that are really important.
Sadly, so many of these well-taught principles have all but disappeared. It didn’t happen overnight but they “everybody gets a trophy” and “I’m a victim” that’s been prevalent in today’s world is everywhere from real royalty, well known entertainers, wealthy sports figures, and many others claiming victimhood and blaming others for their unhappiness. What’s really difficult to figure out, spreading the word on how really bad it is here, why would anyone want to come here to live? It seems there should be a great exodus from here!
David Jaronik
Wildlife killing contests may be legal, but they’re wrong
While blood sports such as dogfighting and cockfighting are recognized as serious crimes, a little known but similar activity—the wildlife killing contest—is still legal in Nevada. Sponsors and organizers of the event reward contestants with cash and prizes for killing the most or the largest animals.
As the public becomes increasingly aware of these contests, they are asking policy makers to end the cruel practice. Killing in mass violates the hunting principles of fair chase and respect for animals and their habitats. These contests are giving Nevada’s hunting community and her residents a bad reputation.
As more states ban the contests, predator hunters are flocking to Nevada to enter killing contests because it’s illegal in their state and there’s big money to be made. One can win $20,000 just for killing the most native wildlife. Once the prizes are awarded, the bodies of the animals are often tossed away like trash. It gets worse, since Nevada doesn’t require a hunting license to hunt coyotes, not a dime is going to NDOW. Don’t be fooled, this is not conservation.
What’s more, research and empirical evidence has shown that randomly killing vital wild carnivores will not prevent conflicts with farm animals and will not increase numbers of deer or turkeys for hunters.
On March 20, our Nevada Board of Wildlife Commission has the chance to add Nevada to the growing list of states that have banned these cruel and unsporting events. If you agree the NBWC should end WKCs send an email asking them to support a ban: wildlifecommission@ndow.org
Come on Nevada! We can do this. #stopthekill
Fauna Tomlinson
Reader offers rebuttal to recent political PVT letter
Perhaps it is best for me to first briefly summarize myself, and express what I believe, because some seem to infer that I am a socialist or a socialist sympathizer. I am a conservative, non-Fox News addict, capitalist. I am a retired businessman with a comfortable life style. I was a devout Republican for most of my life. I am also a humanitarian who does not believe that all people on welfare are freeloaders. No political party nor individual is a panacea for all the problems we face. No political party or government is perfect. A two-party system is desirable because we all, including yours truly, need to be challenged on our beliefs. A retired judge once told a group of us, “Consider the possibility that your thinking may not always be correct.”
We can and should enforce our laws on illegal immigration in a humane manner. Human decency should be respected.
I agree with Mr. Fisher, “our Constitution is under attack.” This was recently and blatantly, more than ever before, done by Trump with his illegal and unconstitutional insurrection of our republic. He really showed himself to be an enemy of our republic. Adam Schiff is one of the most ethical, and knowledgeable representatives in Congress, plus being a great lawyer. No scandals whatsoever. He fully supported the second impeachment of Trump. Even Senator McConnell said that “Trump was responsible,” and committed criminal acts against our Constitution and republic. For those who may respond to the aforementioned and say it is not true, please give us more than your opinion. You need to present title, page, and verse of any statute in federal law or in our Constitution that supports Trump’s recent attempted coup. Please don’t give us unintellectual garbage like “the election was stolen from Trump,”(now known as the big lie) because not one single shred of evidence has been presented by Trump or any of his supporters to make such an unfounded claim.
Like many of my critics, Mr. Fisher has made a number of untruthful claims. One being…”we have gone from a self-sufficient energy country back to relying on the Middle East; we are being systematically forced out of our cars with skyrocketing gas prices.” All nonsense and not true. “Skyrocketing gas prices?” Gas is still one of the cheapest items when compared to rise of other items, especially groceries, over last 20 years. True, our stockpiles of oil are being reduced, but we are not running out. Mr. Fisher appears to be totally unaware that Tesla, a major manufacturer of electric vehicles, has changed the whole economic landscape nearby in Reno, creating thousands of new good-paying jobs. Also, fossil fuels are not renewable. Why doesn’t Mr. Fisher realize we are producing renewable energy to replace the used up fossil fuel? And why does he support poisoning us with hydrocarbons from fossil fuel? And what about climate change? Does anyone deny these facts?
However, Mr. Fisher made at least a partially correct statement, “Small businesses are going bankrupt as never before over tyrannical regulations.” He neglected or failed to list even one “tyrannical regulation.” No. They went out of business because of Trump’s failure to handle the COVID crisis, denying it existed, not instructing us to wear masks, opening up the economy too soon, saying it would “go away,” until it got so far out of control that businesses were forced to shut down and go bankrupt. However, thanks to the Biden policies, against the Republican do nothing stance, many of these formerly failed businesses are being restored and new jobs are being added.
Mr. Fisher implied correctly that our federal spending has long been out of control. Both parties have contributed to this. However, huge deficit spending by Republicans, starting with Reagan,has far exceeded deficit spending by Democratic administrations. And yes, if we don’t get a handle on this we might see ourselves like Germany in post-World War I. Some history books show an individual in Germany pushing a wheelbarrow full of paper money, showing that its value as a commodity was greater than its currency value. Some protections against this possibility is to own things like gold, stored food, and land that can produce food.
Mr. Fisher, thank you for your criticisms, even though virtually all of them were baseless and without evidence. Did you get your training for writing while on the turnip truck? Like I wrote about Mr. Smith. “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.”
Jim Ferrell
Reader champions Biden administration actions
The presidential election has been over for four months now and every week I read an editorial about the “good old days” of the Trump presidency or how President Biden is ruining the country. I wish the nonsense would stop.
The bizarre conspiracy theories of David Jaronik are especially annoying. Joe Biden, who is not suffering from dementia, is governing as a centrist.
The stimulus bill is one example where the majority of Americans favor a $1,400 per person check for middle and low income families. If David regards this as a “socialist” policy, I would invite him to sign his stimulus check and mail it to me. (I will gladly reimburse him for the stamp.)
President Biden also proposed background checks for people purchasing guns, a comprehensive immigration reform package and increasing the minimum wage. All of these proposals are overwhelmingly supported by our citizenry.
Meanwhile, the Insurrection Party (the Republican Party died on January 6) has introduced 250 bills in 33 states that make it more difficult to vote. This party cares nothing about governing, but they care deeply about regaining political power. In Arizona, a state with zero cases of voter fraud, the Insurrectionists proposed a bill where the state Legislature could overturn the results of a statewide election. So much for democracy.
Dennis Crooks
Passing of new bill will mean voting process changes
I believe the public needs to know what the Democratic Congress of the United States are promoting with their new bill HR1. This bill will make the U.S. Congress in charge of the congressional elections, in place of the states. 2. Any challenge to HR1 can only be filed in District court for the District of Columbia by only one attorney. 3. Mandates automatic voter registration in all 50 states for anyone who gives their information to a government agency. 4. Does away with signature requirements for absentee ballots and make states accept ballots given within 10 days after election day. 5. Would make it illegal to verify addresses of voters or to remove ineligible voters. 6. States must get approval from federal government to make any changes to voting rules. 7. States will not be allowed to require ID for voting. 8. Ensures that illegal immigrants can vote. 9. Allows same day voter registration. 10. Allows 16 year olds to vote and requires states to encourage this. 11. Prohibits the publication of misleading information about elections. (Of course this is according to someone’s idea of what is misleading.) 12. Legalizes nationwide mail-in voting without photo ID. 13. Legalizes nationwide early mail-in voting. 14. Any designated person can turn in absentee ballots. 15. Requires colleges and universities to hire campus vote coordinators. 16. Mandates that states make absentee voter boxes available for 45 days within an election. 17. There can be no campaign dollars for covering ads on the internet. There are many more parts to this bill and you could look them up on line if interested.
Each one of us should decide if HR1 is appropriate, and what this will do for our elections.
To me it looks like a scheme to get the Democrats in office and keep them there with no Republican representation and voids U.S citizenship..
Judy Pendleton
People today are too concerned about the wrong things
Today’s residents of the Intermountain West seem to be only a shadow of our hard-working, ethical, independent, and knowledgeable ancestors.
For example, we watch the weather forecast every night. But we don’t spend much time on the social forecast—learning how to get along with family members, when to meet neighbors, why to get to know customers. That forecast is even more uncertain and turbulent than the weather.
Our people are more concerned about elk poaching than poaching of black, Hispanic and Asian lives by the police. We are more concerned about the number of credit cards we can pile up in our wallets than the interest rates charged on them.
We beat our breasts over a single favorite issue rather than invest time in studying all the many important issues of the day.
We seem much less interested in science than in passing along speculative tales like the government is putting tracking devices into vaccines to take away our freedoms.
Sincerely,
Kimball Shinkoskey
Let’s get the facts straight on vice president, gas prices
Where to begin? Let us start with the biggest falsehood in the letter: The claim that Kamala Harris is not a “natural born” citizen.
She was born in October of 1964 in Oakland California, about 400 miles north of my birthplace, Orange, California and about 2-1/2 years before my birth in April of 1967.
Where you are born is the major factor in determining citizenship. If you are born within the jurisdiction (there are limited exceptions to this rule, but none that would apply here) of the United States, you’re an American citizen (There are also exceptions to this, an example of which is a child of an accredited diplomat).
The fact that her parents were both immigrants, (both of whom received PhD’s from UC Berkeley. Her father later became a U.S. citizen), nor the fact that she lived for a time during her teenage years in Quebec, Canada would change this. I’ve spent more time out of the U.S. than she did, due to both my father’s service and my own. My mother would be AMAZED at the claim that I’m not a “natural born” citizen.
Next up, gas prices. I’m getting my information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, link below.
The price on Jan. 18 was $2.285 and on Jan. 21 it was $2.298, a whole difference of about a 1.5 cents, so I’ll call it $2.28.
And since she mentioned 45 days, I’ll do early March. Let’s use March 8 when it was $2.684 and round it up to $2.69 so it matches her number.
By my calculations, gas has risen 41 cents, give or take.
On the other hand her prices were $1.97 (I had to go back to March of last year to find a price below $2.00 BTW) and $2.69. A claimed difference of 72 cents.
There is a big difference between claiming a rise of almost 75 cents when in reality it was closer to 40 cents.
Plus I’m not sure how she is blaming Biden for this change anyway. Blame OPEC, they lowered production. But saying the halting of Keystone Pipeline, as some have, as the cause is pure fantasy. It has never been in operation, so, how could it? Maybe in a couple of years, but not now.
Here is where I got the information I’m using: https://www.eia.gov/opendata/qb.php?category=240692&sdid=PET.EMM_EPMRU_PTE_NUS_DPG.W
As for the rest? I won’t bother.
G.B. Clark
Good, bad, and ugly are present in today’s society
I see that a biological (trans) male has been allowed to win the Miss Silver State USA pageant. Some questions: What kind of people deny reality and make believe that obvious disorders like transsexuality are not disorders? What kind of people put the disordered feelings of transgenders above the feelings of decent, moral, normal females who don’t want to share their restrooms and showers with biological males who believe they are female? What kind of people let disordered feelings trump science, logic, natural law, and morality?
What kind of people deny the obvious scientific fact that there are only two human genders: heterosexual males and females? What kind of people want to normalize all sorts of sexual and gender disorders? (Sane people want to fix physical and psychological disorders, not irrationally make believe they are not disorders.)
What kind of people put heterophobic homosexuals on the same level as normal heterosexuals? What kind of people offend millions of Blacks by putting them on the same level as the sexually aberrant, by comparing involuntary skin color with voluntary aberrant behaviors? What kind of people want to let biological (trans) males compete against normal females in sports?
What kind of people have values so upside-down, backward, and corrupt that they actually believe it’s OK to discriminate against, legally persecute, and make criminals out of decent, moral businesspeople (e.g., bakers, photographers) who merely don’t want to cater to heterophobic homosexuals?
As an article in Psychology Today once noted: “people with mental disorders so easily rise to positions of power” (Steve Taylor, “In the Seat of Pathocracy,” Nov./Dec. 2019, p. 28). It’s a long story why that is the case, but it’s time we faced the fact that the extremists and fanatics running the liberal movement are very probably psychologically disordered people.
Wayne Lela
Reader: Do you miss Trump yet or like socialist agenda?
Check the Facts: These are a few of the things the lying and hiding Biden and his administration are doing or have done. Killed thousands of jobs. Caused fuel prices to go much higher. Wants to increase taxes and punish any state who cuts taxes (this is in the stimulus bill). Rebuild Democratic cities and states who encouraged riots and ruined their economy by lack of good management. Open the borders and let anyone, including drug smugglers, into our country. Creating a crisis that they won’t admit to. Make this a one-party nation and restrict your freedoms including free speech. Replace the death tax and create a wealth tax. I could go on and on and name more things most are not aware of if they only watch CNN, other fake news and other socialist outlets.
By the way, a cure for the border crisis would be for the Democrats who want open borders to take the thousands of children in and let them stay with them. Believe facts and don’t let hatred for Trump make you ignorant of what is happening to our country. What did Biden do in his 47 years as a politician? Check out the backgrounds of the many Democrats in office now and see how most have a socialist or communist plan for Americans.
Hope you like paying more for drugs. Biden likes the pharmaceutical companies, who gave millions to his campaign.
Do you miss the things Trump did for the American people yet or Biden’s administration’s socialist agenda?
Bill Angle
Former Soviet leader’s words ringing true 60 years later
Just some food for thought: Since Ocasio Cortez and the “Gang of Four” Warren, Pelosi , Sanders and Schumer took over the Democratic Party,I constantly remember what Khrushchev said 60 years ago….”Your children’s children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright; but we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find communism. We will not have to fight you. We will so weaken your economy, until you will fall like overripe fruit into our hands. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who are not.”
It was Sept. 29, 1959, when Nikita Khrushchev delivered his prediction for America at the United Nations. Remember the television coverage of him banging his shoe on the podium? At that time, just the word “communism” was feared throughout our nation. Remember this, socialism leads to communism!
So just how do you create a socialist state?
1) Poverty – Increase the poverty level as high as possible as poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them.
2) Debt – Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.
3) Gun Control – Remove the ability of People to defend themselves from the government. Thus you are able to create a Police state.
4) Welfare – Take control of every aspect (food, housing,, income , health care, etc.) of their lives as that will make them fully dependent on the government.
5) Education – Take control of what people read,see, and listen to, and especially take control of what children learn in school.
6) Religion – Remove the belief in God from the government and schools because the people need to believe that ONLY the government knows what is best for the people.
7) Class Warfare — Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor and eliminate the middle class. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to tax the rich to support the poor.
Is this our scary future? Think of how many of these levels are already being pushed today by our government (?) in one way or another!
And today, several national news channels reported the present government is now considering a 3 TRILLION Dollar Package ! And now we learned that Biden is using $83 million of our tax dollars for hotel rooms for immigrant housing! Hard to believe how fortunate we are to know “Uncle Joe has a plan”!
I’ve been very fortunate as I’m enjoying retirement after a 30-year military career. And I’m thinking being old is not so bad as I grew up being able to take advantage of the contributions of the “greatest generation” in all facets of my life, and at my age I won’t spend much time trying to pay off our national debt and I would bet there is no one in the next two or three generations that will see that debt paid off either.
Ray Waldhauser