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We’ve had enough... Area residents need to retake Asheville
diocy has no limits!
After liberal city governance for years, creating lawlessness and homelessness, now they want to spend $73,000-plus to have someone study the situation and figure out what to do!
I can do that for nothing! Enforce the laws that are on the books for Buncombe County and the City of Asheville, period!
If you break the law, you go to jail, and stay there.
If you’re a vagrant, find a job or a place to live.
What nonsense to consider paying those who make the mess to clean it up!
Arrest those who litter our city, whether with trash or themselves. America is coming apart under liberal policies. Every citizen should be responsible, or suffer the consequences.
There are some who need and deserve government help, but many more are just “milking the system,†lining their own pockets while making it worse. This includes Asheville’s City Council!
What used to be a beautiful Southern city is now a dump. Let’s take it back!
All of Buncombe County should be able to vote for City Council, as whatever happens in Asheville affects all of us.
HEATHER DINA
Leicester
If ‘lunatic loser’ Trump runs ‘24, GOP will lose, critic says
Prior to Jan. 20, 2017, the American people have never had to endure the toxic combination of four years of obscenely corrupt personal and official conduct, unparalleled craven cowardice and truly transparent treason from a president of the United States, until Donald O.J. Trump (R-Moscow) stole the 2016 presidential election with illegal assistance from Trump’s boss Vladimir Putin.
To compare Donald Trump to Benedict Arnold would be an insult to General Arnold!
Trump the traitor desperately wanted to make himself king of America by way of widespread election fraud in Republican-controlled, gerrymandered racist police states (like Texas and Florida, for instance), where right-wing Republicans revere greedy televangelist charlatans who broadcast their laughable lies that God Almighty is somehow a beggar who needs your money, so that those creepy, deep-Southern pedophile preachers can misuse your funds to purchase new private planes.
Maybe it’s just me (or just most Americans), but I’m not about to take anyone who “speaks in tongues†or tosses poisonous snakes around their Holy Roller hillbilly church seriously about anything, let alone on questions of constitutional governance!
Stay in your lane, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists. Politics isn’t your thing — lying, cheating, stealing and molesting is. Just pray Jesus doesn’t come back someday, because y’all hate-filled hypocrites are in big trouble!
But before all you psychotic Trump sycophants crawl back into your GOP spider holes after Republicans (against all odds and conservative corporate media “conventional wisdomâ€) lose the 2022 mid-term elections as a result of selfish, extremist Republican candidates self-destructing spectacularly in the political equivalent of a circular firing squad, make sure you renominate Trump for president in 2024!
Do the Democrats a favor once again.
Donald Trump isn’t just history’s sorest and biggest loser, Trump is a sure loser.
If the GOP runs Trump in 2024, the GOP loses.
JAKE PICKERING
Arcata, Calif.
Daily Planet’s typos in letter ruined it, its writer laments
Thank you for printing my letter to the editor, “Could it be that humanity is living life in a video game,†but a couple typographical errors inside the breakouts I have supplied ruin the continuity and sense of the letter.
In the published letter, the bracketed paragraphs read:
“Whatr people’s purpose read:
“What purpose do those video games have for our alien video games.â€
Whereas, it should have read: “What purpose do those video games have for our alien video ganes.â€
Whereas, it read: “What purpose do these video games for our alience video games†in the published form of my letter.
“Scientists speculate that our alien games are dsembodied ninds.â€
I hope you will please correct the ruined letter. Also the freedom-of-speech-loving Elen Musk would have printed letters defending pop star Jo Jo Siwa that I submitted to you (that were not printed).
There is nothing wrong with them! Who cares what others think!
RICHARD D. POPE
Hendersonville
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope’s letter, headlined “Could it be that humanity is living life in a video game,†was handwritten and mailed to the Daily Planet, where it, in turn, was typed by the newspaper staff into a computer to convert it to digital form so that it could published.
Regrettably, some typos were made — by our staff — that were missed in the proofreading process.
The failures of our border crisis? They are continuing
Before Jen Psaki left her position, she admitted publicly COVID testing was not happening with immigration through our Southern port of entry.
The public soon heard admittance of a dangerously flippant attitude in COVID safety through the Southern border port of entry.
This after the huge debates upon workers here that lost their jobs by refusing COVID vaccinations, must show COVID passports in order to dine, lodge, even fly.
Don’t forget the social distancing nor numbers stayed safe for gatherings. So what the public finally became aware of is the stringent adherence of COVID protocols was completely the opposite for the historical highest wave of immigration into our nation were not subjected to.
Failures in our border crisis are cited in recent news article by CIS.ORG. The Senate and the House are still awaiting the ICE data report long past deadline that for a decade prior was always turned in on time.
It wasn’t until the Freedom of Information Act was utilized that the public actually saw with first-hand transparency the conflicting and the under-reporting stated over and over that terrorists apprehensions “rarely happen,†as Republicans keep stating.
It turns out since Joe Biden became president and Vice President Kamala Harris was assigned to get to the root causes of the border crisis, these terrorists apprehensions to individuals with criminal backgrounds is NOT “ rare†as they publicly assured.
You can we view the amounts of arrests of individuals caught entering with criminal backgrounds. https://cis.org/Bensman/US-Government-Now-Publishing-Terrorist-Watch-List-Encounters-American-Land-Borders
The insecurities of our nation’s border failures is exhibited in Newsweek on May 24th, titled “The first nail in the coffin of Title 42: Court order gives migrant families ways to skirt border COVID ban showing the loopholes individuals wishing to enter our nation can easily obtain†and, according to Newsweek, any individuals can qualify exemption to enter verbally and nonverbally by exempting “ manifestation of fear.â€
The Center for Immigrant Studies ran a piece earlier in these loopholes that state if one family member qualifies in a vast list of vague loopholes then the entire family unit qualifies.
There are also cases increasing in which immigrants are altering their identities to appear as children for asylum.
BorderReport.Com has El Paso 559 adult apprehended attempting to be unaccompanied children along with the just under 23,000 children in the 12 months, beginning Oct. 1, 2020, and ending Sept. 30, 2021.
The Daily Mail UK reported on May 23rd 2022 that 416 adults used fake birth certificates to cross Mexico and U.S. border.
What is abundantly clear is that the inadequacy in the so-called vetting system, as well as the obese backlogs, and obese pile-up today waiting at our borderline because now our administration has made the public aware on their intention to rescind Title 42, even though it was strictly propagandized by them previously as well as the CDC the use of Title 42 was to curb the COVID spread.
Then there’s the latest example of a individual that came here on a visitor visa two years ago. He was just arrested and the allegations are he was planning to assassinate former president George Bush. The arrested man stated he could easily get fake passports and his partners into our country included smuggling in his brother along with various other individual from foreign lands mentioned, such as Denmark and Turkey.
The Washington Post wrote:
“Shihab is an Iraqi citizen who came to the United States in September 2020 on a visitor’s visa, according to prosecutors. He’s lived in Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis and worked in markets and restaurants.
“Last June, according to the warrant application, Shihab sought the help of one of the informants to smuggle four Iraqi men into the United States. The men, whom Shihab allegedly identified as political exiles, would travel through Europe and then to Mexico, where they’d cross the border into the United States.
“Shihab explained that he had once helped “the resistance,†referring to the Islamic State or al-Qaeda in Iraq, the affidavit states. He also claimed he was related to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former Islamic State leader who in October 2019 died during a raid by U.S. Special Operations forces.â€
Obviously, the visa vetting program in place just isn’t cutting it. I’ve cited just a few examples.
KRISTEN BURNS WARREN
Cecil community of Haywood County
Let their lives not be in vain — a call to action
Even while victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School were being laid to rest, another senseless mass shooting occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this week (June 1).
With all of the political rhetoric, hand-wringing and finger-pointing, I ask myself how many more shootings must occur before we force our elected representatives to work together to find solutions?
I have been dismayed and heartbroken over the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States over the last 15 or 20 years.
I am old enough to remember what I believe was the true beginning -- the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting. The country was in shock that a mass shooting like that had occurred. It was unheard of at the time.
So I ask myself, when will we start considering this both a serious public health and mental health issue?
I also ask why are we afraid to mention the huge “elephant in the room†– and that is gender? At least 95 percent of mass shooters are male – predominantly young and white. We need to understand what is going so terribly wrong with our young sons and grandsons? Why are they feeling so angry, disenfranchised or entitled?
As for gun control, I am a believer in and supporter of the Second Amendment. However, I don’t understand why we are not willing to compromise on sensible gun legislation while still preserving our “right to bear arms.â€
If we can stop just one horrendous event like Uvalde, is it not worth it to:
1. Expand background checks through an up-to-date, high-quality multi-agency database?
2. Increase the age for purchasing certain kinds of weapons?
3. Severely restrict the sale and purchase of assault style weapons?
There is already precedence for this with the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, which effectively removed machine guns from the market.
If we can stop even one horrific massacre such as Uvalde by workable gun legislation, isn’t it worth it?
Hopefully, there is still a way to work together to help prevent this kind of violence from happening in the future.
AMY DUERNBERGER
Hendersonville
Has Johnny Depp’s exonerationgiven us back some sanity?
Johnny Depp has provided us a very lawful, public and rightful pushback to an extreme feminism ideology that claims whenever a woman accuses, she must be credible.
Even though he was not entirely innocent, he thwarted the rush to judgment, the expectation that he would fail.
Hopefully, his exoneration will be met with suitable employment, since that was what this was about – gaining back his reputation.
To us, to the culture, it has meant a compelling reinvigoration of justice, a condemnation of unjustified recrimination and a cautionary tale to those who would presume to foster the downfall of a man.
Since the ACLU was the precipitating player, it behooves us to look behind the curtain in accusations of this sort.
“Once a bastion of free speech and high-minded ideals, the ACLU has become in many respects a caricature of its former self.†(The Atlantic, L. Bazelton)
For an organization that spent $1 million to campaign against Brett Kavanaugh, a candidate for Supreme Court, left-wing politics seem to be their bread and butter.
There’s no honor among thieves – or liars, but this time it took a lawsuit to find that out; that doesn’t usually happen.
WREN WEST
Asheville
Polk School Board chair accused of silencing critics
In a bizarre attempt to intimidate and silence critics, the chairman of the Board of Education in Polk County removed citizens from meetings, who then received threatening letters from the chairman’s attorney.
On May 9th, 2022, during a meeting of the Polk County School Board in Columbus N.C., an agenda item under discussion sparked a dramatic reaction from Chairman Mike Ashworth.
The agenda item concerned pornographic reading materials in the high school. To rationalize inclusion of inappropriate materials, Dr. David Schweitzer, high school principal, responded to carefully crafted questions from the schools’ superintendent, Mr. Aaron Greene.
A citizen in attendance listening to this contrived discussion by school personnel had immediate questions and raised his hand.
For raising a hand and requesting to ask a question, this citizen was ordered removed from the meeting by Chairman Mike Ashworth with the threat of arrest by law enforcement at the scene.
Approximately one week later, that same citizen received a "cease and desist" letter from an attorney representing Mr. Ashworth.
For context, let me add some background information. Leading up to this school board meeting on May 9th, several parents expressed grave concern about the discovery of at least 16 books in the high school library deemed pornographic in nature.
Some months ago, the matter was brought to the attention of the school board, Superintendent Aaron Greene, and Dr. Schweitzer (principal of the high school in question).
The topic had been addressed by citizens at the last couple public school board meetings and at private meetings on school campus.
Now, at the request of a parent, the topic became an agenda item for the Board to address that evening.
Several parents and citizens attended the meeting looking for answers on the evening of May 9th.
Just prior to the meeting, a ‘prayer ‘vigil’ took place outside the location to pray for a resolution.
Two local pastors participated.In the opinion of the writer, Mr. Ashworth and his attorney Richard Tanker are weaponizing the law against a citizen to silence any criticisms or questions, and intimidate others from raising concerns.
At the heart of this battle by parents is a determined effort and parental right to stop the sexualization of their children in the public school.
DICK SHAUGHNESSY
N.C. president of ROAR
Green Creek
The Merrimon Avenue ‘road diet’ — a cautionary tale
The time is long overdue for the good citizens and taxpayers of Asheville to wake up to the reality of what’s happening to their city.
The Merrimon Avenue “road diet†is a cautionary tale of what can happen when the business community, taxpayers, property-owners and residents are either too timid, too lazy or too indifferent to speak out and take action when it becomes necessary to rein in (or get rid of) local officials who choose to ignore the common good in order to satisfy the self-serving interests of their own perceived political base.
Although the City Council (with the exception of councilmember Sandra Kilgore) and NCDOT would have you believe that the removal of two traffic lanes along Merrimon Avenue is being done as a “safety measure†to reduce speeding-related accidents, the truth is that’s merely a trumped-up diversionary “red herring†and official pretext to justify the “road diet,†so that bicycle lanes can be designated on one of the city’s main and busiest traffic arteries.
The reality of the Merrimon Avenue “road diet†fiasco is that it’s really all about the agenda of the Asheville Bike Club, whose membership incidentally is composed of many who hold jobs at City Hall and one member, who just happens to be the husband of a long-term member of the City Council.
Both NCDOT and the city know that if “speeding cars†was really the issue, the least disruptive and least costly solution would be to install traffic video cameras along Merrimon Avenue that automatically photograph a speeding car’s license plate and issues tickets to the registered vehicle owner. With that simple and inexpensive solution, combined with an APD patrol car to issue speeding tickets, Merrimon Avenue would soon be recognized as a “speed trap†that would cause drivers to have second thoughts about ignoring the posted speed limit.
At the very least, this solution could’ve veen tried first. But no, it’s really all about catering to a select and elite few with complete indifference to the interests of the majority of Asheville’s population, who need to use and/or who have long-established commercial businesses along Merrimon Avenue, where customers need to have reasonable ingress into and egress from the business locations they wish to patronize. If the ability to enter and to leave a business premise is blocked and/or substantially delayed, people will eventually cease to use and patronize those business locations and go elsewhere.
And what about those legitimate concerns expressed by Asheville’s police, fire and emergency “first-responders?â€
They publicly questioned the proposed “road diet†for Merrimon Avenue and the potential negative impact it could have on their response times to emergencies, such that life and/or property could be put at risk because of traffic delays. To avoid creating such a risk and, at the same time appease the interests of the bike-riding enthusiasts, the city could have chosen to install bike lanes along an alternate north-south roadway, such as Broadway (Street), a non-commercial scenic roadway with far less traffic and which connects directly onto Riverside Drive.
When City Council voted to approve this project “for the public benefit,†did they for one minute think that those in the community who are “economically deprived,†who struggle each and every day to survive and provide for themselves and their families, are now going to go out and buy expensive sport-racing bicycles and special bike-riding outfits, so that they can ride bikes along Merrimon Avenue?
To add insult to injurty (except for Sandra Kilgore, the only member of the City Council who has exhibited any scintilla of common sense on this issue, as well as genuine concern for the safety and well-being of her fellow citizens), our care-free City Council has now entered into a legally binding contract with NCDOT to appropriate $300,000 from the city’s budget should it become necessary in the future to discontinue the Merrimon Avenue “road diet†and re-stripe the driving lanes back to where they are now.
Obviously, NCDOT has concerns that the city’s push to reconfigure Merrimon Avenue in order to install bicycle lanes may very well turn out to be a motororists’ nightmare and a traffic-design fiasco.
But what do they care? After all, it’s not their money.
They sit on the City Council, listen to prepared presentations from City Hall’s bureaucracy, nod their heads and then proceed to “drink the Kool-Aid.â€
And if you listen very closely, sometimes you may even hear them chanting their favorite refrain:
“TAX AND TAX, SPEND AND SPEND, THE PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID
TO UNDERSTAND.â€
SIDNEY M . BACH
Asheville
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