This is Viewpoints for Friday, Dec. 4, 2015
No support here
Tuesday's newspaper website featured a picture of a friend and I browsing pins outside of the Donald Trump rally. The caption called us, "Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump." However, we were definitely not supporters. I know very little about politics. However, listening to Donald Trump's speech certainly did not prove itself a productive way to inform myself.
His oration was scattered, repetitive and generally unimpressive. Trump, being the genius that he is, doesn't need a Teleprompter like President Obama. Instead, he has contented himself with speaking out of his backside. His speech centered on an absurd scenario in which CNN should pay him $5 million to participate in the debate — which may or may not be illegal. Trump continued by pledging this money to the veterans, a declaration met with an elated fervor of chants.
For starters, if Donald Trump wants to give $5 million to veterans, he can. It is well within his financial capabilities. When not describing doubtful situations, Trump boosted his ego for the thousands of people in the Macon Coliseum by calling himself "the smartest man in the room" at debates. Yet, his speech featured no discrete policies, no long-term plans, excluding the infamous wall that Mexicans will pay for.
I can vote in the next election, and after that speech, I promise I will not vote for that man. So just for the record: if I wasn't a Trump supporter before the rally, I'm definitely not one now.
— Carly Wanna
Macon
Change coming — again
It seems our local, major cable communications company is up to something — again. I'm sure you will all remember from a few years back the big roll-out from analog broadcasts to high-definition and the cable rate increases that followed. With excitement they told us how being digital would be so much clearer and enjoyable for our viewing pleasure, and, yes, we could still use our old televisions as long as we had cable. What a deal.
Now it turns out we weren't all digital at all. It was just partially digital, and now, they are going all digital and we need to purchase their mini-boxes. Quoting from their mailed flier received at my house "Soon, you' ll need equipment like a mini-box for every TV in your home to continue receiving TV service."
One box for every television in your home at the cost of $2.99 a month. They do offer two of the devices free for a year until the end of January and in my case since I need five of the devices, after a year they will be charging me $15 a month extra to be all digital. That's hurtful to my fixed-income budget and to my sensibilities since I never saw the big difference in analog versus digital in the first place. And, Middle Georgians, I will wager they get a rate increase next year, too.
The transition to all digital begins on Jan. 5, 2016. So keep in mind, you need the box, or a company-provided certified compatible;Cable Card retail device" to continue receiving TV service." It';s not an option. Period. Even on your HDTV, plasma, LED, LCD, etc.
Does anyone besides me think this is just a way to now charge us for every TV in the house that cable is connected to?
— J.D. Spence
Warner Robins
Crazy Joe
It seems that the editors of Viewpoints decided the Thursday edition theme would be "Trash Trump." The letter titled "Crazy Uncle Donald" was a hack attack and nothing more. The last line of Steve Berman's letter reads: "It's fun to see the "King of Blather visit, but would you vote for your crazy uncle?" The answer is — you already have. His name is "Uncle Joe Biden and he could very well be your next president before the 2016 election cycle. "Uncle Joe" has been blasting us with endless and often senseless blather for years. Even so, he remains a crowd favorite that many would vote for in a presidential election.
In "The Donald," you have the same motivation that came forth in the 2008 election. Backlash aimed at eight years of G.W. Bush was often hateful and rabid in nature as he was blamed for everything including global warming. Seven years of the most disastrous presidency in American history has left a sour taste in the mouths of millions of voters. The nation is in desperate need of leadership that thus far hasn't emerged. I don't believe Trump is the man for the job. Then again, if it comes to "The Donald" versus The Duchess of Sleazyboro, then I have a newfound hero. On a more immediate note, we must survive another 413 days of endless ineptitude. God help us all.
— Tommy Parker
Macon
More gun laws?
The attack in San Bernardina, California was at least a Muslin home-grown terrorist attack. It was not caused by the Second Amendment or the lack of gun control laws. Anyone wanting to do something like this only needs to cross our Southern border into Mexico to get any weapon they wanted to use. Liberals keep calling for more gun control laws. We do not enforce our present gun laws or our of immigration laws. If more guns laws worked then Obama's hometown of Chicago, which has some of the strictest guns laws in America, would not be one of the most violent places in our country. We need to put violent thugs who use guns while doing violent crimes in jail. If you look at the cities in America with the highest violent crime rates you will see they have the strictest gun laws and have been run by Democrats for many years.
— Don Hensley
Macon
This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 ."