Cohen Confusion
Dear Editor,
I’m not a lawyer. I’m confused about the Michael Cohen revelations. How could Donald Trump paying a woman to keep quiet about an affair be a violation of campaign finance laws? If he was just celebrity Trump, it wouldn’t be illegal. All of a sudden he is candidate Trump so it crosses a magic threshold and is now illegal? From my understanding, the allegation is his personal lawyer on retainer paid the accusers, and was reimbursed by Trump. How is this a campaign contribution?
I understand that this law was intended for the John Edwards candidates whose donors pay off mistresses. These types of arrangements bind the candidate to personal favors. However, Trump’s personal private lawyer paid the money which was then paid back from his personal money. This was not the intent of the law. If I buy the candidate lunch because he left his wallet in the car and don’t expect to be reimbursed because he bought me lunch two years ago when I lost my wallet, is that a campaign contribution just because he magically became a candidate?
Candidate Trump was also a wealthy business man. Is the probe going to label all business transactions as campaign contributions just because he could use some of the money net expenses and taxes to fund his campaign?
There are a million personal, professional and other reasons why then candidate Trump would wish to silence affair accusations, one of them would logically be the campaign. This is a ridiculous technicality that is an “I got you” from the special counsel. It suggests they have very little evidence regarding the initial purpose. A poorly written law, intended to catch candidates whose donors secretly pay off accusers, thereby placing the candidate in the donors “pocket” should not be used to “take down” a lawfully elected president of the United States whose personal lawyer paid knowing he would eventually be reimbursed.
Let’s be honest, the CNN article captioned, “Cohen and Manafort paid dearly for their association with Trump in near-simultaneous convictions” is accurate. These individuals were targeted for supporting candidate Trump who dared to win an election. If he lost nobody would care. If it wasn’t for the Clinton allegations of Russian collusion, nobody would care.
Alan Burke
Tyrants Won’t Quit
Dear Editor,
The cake baker in Colorado has to return to court again because he dared to once again exercise his constitutional right to practice his religious beliefs. He has the only bakery in Colorado and so must be forced to violate his personal moral standards to provide goods to anyone who demands them.
Oh wait, my mistake. He’s not the only baker in the state. It seems he is only one of thousands if not tens of thousands of bakers in the state that could create the cake this transgender lawyer wanted. (Hmmm, transgender lawyer … is there something here?) Could it have been because he challenged the fascist LGBTQRSWXYZ tyrants and won? He cannot be allowed to continue to exist. He must be crushed before others see we can be defied.
The radical progressive left constantly demands that their constitutional rights be honored, but if you try to exercise yours and it doesn’t fit their agenda, if it points out the idiocy and/or the destructiveness of their actions, if it points out their desire to destroy this country, it must be shut down at all costs. If these people didn’t have double standards they’d have no standards at all.
Several times I have pointed out how there is us – the hardworking common man and woman trying to maintain the American dream that was passed on to us by our parents, our grandparents, our forefathers. (Yes, feminists and social justice warriors, I said “forefathers,” not the politically correct term forebears. Live with it.) But, as I have pointed out before, there are those that lord themselves over us, which see us as serfs, peons that need to be held to different standards than themselves. We get punished, but the lords and ladies get a pass. After all, it’s hard work knowing more than us, knowing what’s best for us. They need to be free of any possible punishment for breaking the law.
There are two old adages the sheeple and the sheepdogs need to keep in mind as the fight for the heart and soul of this country unfolds.
“Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” Martin Niemoller
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson
Get out and vote for Alissa Batts and Kurt Collins.
Go Galt and save the republic.
Alan Marshall
Say No To Robo Calls
Dear Editor,
How to stop or ignore most robo calls:
Ask your phone company to block your caller ID, so when you make a call, your caller ID is not visible. That way, you can minimize who gets your number.
Put all your contacts on your cell phone. If any other number calls, do not answer. You can Google any telephone number to see who it is. Furthermore, with your ID blocked, you can return the call to see who it is. A legitimate caller will leave a message.
If you also have a land line, you can make it an answering machine only. Turn off the ringer and the volume.
Make your phone numbers unlisted and unpublished. Give out only to people you know.
Do not put your number on the national Do Not Call Registry. If you do, you will receive daily calls from the same robocaller from a different local number everyday.
Ask all your contacts not to hand out your phone number or any other personal info (like email addresses) to anyone.
Our privacy is being destroyed by computers. I feel like a hamster in an exercise wheel.
E.R. Harris
Against Spanking
Dear Editor,
I would like to commend the Robeson County school board for doing the right thing by eliminating corporal punishment in its schools. I believe that Graham County schools are the only ones that still allow some adults to spank some kids. I believe that spanking, paddling and all forms of corporal punishment should be banned throughout the state. Adults shouldn’t hit children.
Chuck Mann
Act Endangered
Dear Editor,
With so much focus on people and politics, issues affecting all life on the planet could escape our attention. Currently there are efforts by Congress and Secretary Ryan Zinke of the Department of the Interior to weaken the Endangered Species Act, according to the Endangered Species Coalition. The changes being proposed would benefit developers, oil, gas, mining and animal agriculture industries while undermining science and would make it harder to protect important habitat for imperiled fish and wildlife.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t think much past our daily routines and may not even be aware how many species we have lost and the implications for us as ecosystems vanish with them.
The Endangered Species Act is a safety net for fish, plants and wildlife on the brink of extinction. Since it was signed into law in 1973, hundreds of species have been saved from disappearing forever, including grizzly bears, the peregrine falcon, the gray wolf and the bald eagle. Because of this act, many species are on their way to recovery.
The entire planet has lost over half of its wildlife in the last 40 years. We do not know how many ecosystems perished with them. On national news we hear and watch the heartbreaking story of Orca J35 of the southern resident orca pod. She has been pushing her dead calf up to the edge of the water for days, while keeping up with the travel of the pod as they desperately search for food. Every single pregnancy in the last three years has failed due to lack of food. This orca population is at a 30 year low as the Tillamook Salmon they rely on is also threatened and endangered.
Polls show that four out of five Americans are concerned about the extinction of wildlife. So here is our chance. Please speak out and let your senators and representatives know how you feel about these devastating losses and the importance of the Endangered Species Act remaining and being upgraded.
Plugging in an address will reveal the senator or representative for any district in the United States.
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=NC
www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Watch these two short videos to understand how and why this is happening and see the success of reintroducing a protected species back into habitat.
BBC: Eating our Way to Extinction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2co3CX5VGvI-
How wolves change rivers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q&authuser=0.-
Carol Anderson
Send to letters@rhinotimes.com or 216 W. Market St., GSO 27401
