Two-Faced Politics Make Everything Worse

January 29, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: If politics aren’t bad enough already, two-faced politics make it even worse. You can see it as the House ran the process of impeachment without “due process,” but as the House sent impeachment over to the Senate, Speaker Pelosi demands “impartial justice.” Has Trump received the due process that a terrorist gets in a trial? How can you have impartial justice without due process? Two-faced politics fake you into thinking that impeachment without due process is impartial justice. Senators Warren, Sanders, Booker, Klobucher, Gillibrand, and Harris ...

Trump Simply Must Be Convicted

January 27, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: What is the crime that President Trump guilty of? Trump is guilty of the crime of extortion. He did so by trying to get the government of the Ukraine to make an official announcement that it was investigating Trump’s rival political candidate, Joe Biden, in exchange for releasing military aid appropriated by our Congress. Trump committed the crime by blocking release of the aid using the Office of Budget and Management, according to the independent Government Accounting Office. It is as simple as that. So, what will happen if the Senate does not ...

Congress And The Impeachment Process

January 24, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: As I write, the House plans to send impeachment Articles to the Senate for a trial of Donald Trump. That action is, perhaps, next to going to war, the most significant thing our republic can do and should not be taken lightly. Whether Senators ultimately acquit or convict, while important in its own right, in my opinion is secondary to the process by Congress. The Founders apparently also believed in the process or they would not have included it in the Constitution. The process is straightforward - the House must pass an “indictment” to the Senate, which ...

A New Year Brings New Beginnings

January 23, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: The New Year brings a new beginning to Chautauqua County in interesting ways. Jamestown and Dunkirk both have new mayors, as does Falconer and Lakewood. Our County Executive is new as well. It makes for an important time in our area’s history. The possibilities are many and include relationship building, the development of trust, and working together in a strategic way, and of course, consensus building. I’m not sure if this situation is unique to the year 2020, but hopefully it is seen as good luck and an advantage. The opportunities are ...

A Statement In Support Of Choosing Life

January 22, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: How good it was to read Dr. James Faulk’s letter to the PJ (12-2) about his cousin who chose life for her unborn child. With every conceivable politically-correct justification to abort, her eventual decision through the timely and thoughtful intervention of her aunt not only preserved the child, but her life-affirming choice also turned out to be a blessing exceeding expectations. It reminded me of a clip from the 2019 Ohio State-Michigan football game announced by prolific play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson. After JK Dobbins scored four touchdowns and ...

America Seems To Have Forgotten Its History

January 17, 2020

To The Reader’s Forum: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced that Washington is not willing to bow to Iraqi demands to withdraw its troops and any future discussions with Baghdad will be purely confined to the future structure of our forces in their country. Earlier in the week, President Trump threatened to impose economic sanctions on Iraq if it refused to house US troops. I seem to recall a similar situation about 244 years ago. Americans have grown so arrogant that we have forgotten our history. We have forgotten that the self-evident and god given truths of ...