Speak Out: Readers sound off on Trump nominations, liberal policies, Cape police reports, and the attack on hemp

The Speak Out column allows readers to voice their opinions on topics important to them. Comments are meant to be short in nature. There is no guarantee that a comment will appear in print or online. We encourage positive comments, especially those that mark local accomplishments and acts of grace. To submit a comment, go to: Submit Speak Out comment.

Democrat shenanigans

Oh the shenanigans that the Democrats pulled the last four years and now they meltdown kinda like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz! What goes around comes around and they better get used to it. Our country will begin to pull out of this slump finally in January if Biden doesn’t get us into a world war before then, and I wouldn’t put it past his clowns that surround him, especially the cancer of the Democrat Party, George Soros.

Cape's police reports

Congratulations to the new chief. Long and faithful service to the city. But his remarks are the same tired PR stuff about transparency and community involvement. If he is serious, start with the police reports. It's obvious they don't want us to know who has a warrant, or who to look out for, or who might be dangerous. They really don't want the community to be involved. Compare that with Jackson and county reports.

Mark Cuban

What’s the name of the Shark Tank guy who said Trump was afraid to surround himself with intelligent women?

Bondi, Trump donation

In 2013, Pam Bondi, the Florida AG received a $25K "donation" from Donald Trump’s personal charity — while Bondi was deciding whether to take legal action against Trump University. Bondi eventually decided not to pursue action. Trump University was shut down for Fraud. The personal charity of Trump was shut down for fraud. Pam Bondi is now the likely next AG in the Trump Administration.

Hegseth security clearance

Pete Hegseth couldn’t get a security clearance and was removed from a detail protecting Pres Biden, due to concerns. Yet, he is a nominee for Secretary of Defense. Without security clearance?

Wal-Mart prices

Wal-Mart’s finance chief has publicly stated that Trump’s tariffs will make their prices go up and add to inflation. People who actually know how tariffs work understand that — others don’t.

Trump mandate

Re: No mandate (Speak Out 1/21/24): Yep, no mandate with majorities in both the House and Senate plus the White House from the legal American voters! Never fear Democrats, the USA is in good hands with America First Trump/Vance!

Marijuana vs. Hemp

Cannabis users have two legal options to enjoy their buzz: A. Marijuana that is expensive due to heavy regulations and added taxes, or B. Hemp that due to minor regulations and no added tax is at a lower cost. Is the attempt to ban Hemp financial? With the elimination of the competition, there would be higher profit and increased tax revenue. That would not be in the best interest of the users.

Trump's nominees

Trump seems to think that because the voters didn’t care about his criminal history they’d do the same for his cabinet picks. Somehow the Senate GOP has decided to grow something that resembles a spine when it comes to confirming his appointees with shady pasts.

Secretary of ag

Kelly Loeffler of Georgia was selected as the secretary of agriculture. She is fully involved in agricultural matters. Family members received more than $4 million in farm subsidies through the years. She was raised on a family farm. She served in the U.S. Senate for a year. She will be approved by the Senate.

RFK and fluoride

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. A few days before the election, Kennedy tweeted “the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.” He made many grossly misleading claims against fluoridation. Fluoridation has been in U.S. tap water since 1945. In 2011, Calgary, Canada removed fluoride from the drinking water. It experienced an increase by 700% of required medical treatments. Tooth decay increased by 51%. Kennedy also has promoted the treatment of COVID-19 with ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which have been proven to be useless. Fluoridation has been proven beneficial for over eight decades.

Gaetz nomination

America dodged a bullet with Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from the AG position. In 2017, he was the only House member to vote against an anti-sex trafficking bill. He knew what he was doing then was illegal and he was trying to save himself from prosecution. For everyone who rose to his defense, this is what you were defending.

Vance loyality

As the libs continue to lie about what Trump will do as president, they now are upset because our wonderful new vice president Vance supports President Trump. Wow, a vice president who supports his president, what a breath of fresh air as compared to Harris who was completely absent from anything Biden did. Yes, there’s a thing called loyalty and respect for your boss, but I know that goes over the heads of some individuals when they have had zero loyalty and respect for Biden when they threw him out to the curb when Soros and Obama told them he had to go.

American workers

The idea that many “able-bodied” Americans could fill the jobs that illegal workers are now doing is a joke. How many people born here would work in the lettuce fields all day long doing backbreaking work for the low wages the growers pay, and how many would stand on the line in a meat packing plant doing repetitive work in the heat, cold and stench for low wages? American-born workers would quit after one day because unemployment pays better!

American values

Huh? There is a ridiculously complicated and condescending way to explain a very simple phenomenon. America is traditional by nature — not progressive. The American electorate didn’t like progressivism shoved down their throats. People rebelled — they started listening to music about small towns and traditional values. Then they voted for political candidates who promised to protect those values.

MSNBC headline

MSNBC just published an opinion piece titled, “Laken Riley’s killer never stood a chance.” They changed it to “The Guilt of Laken Riley’s Killer Was Never in Doubt.” He came to America illegally. He received work permits and free plane tickets. He stalked, tried to rape and brutally murdered an innocent young woman. But in the eyes of MSNBC, he didn’t stand a chance. And Democrats wonder why they lost?

46th president

When historians update the list of Presidents, who will they name as number 46? Jill Biden or someone else besides Joe Biden?

National debt

The annual interest on the national debt reaches $1 trillion today. Good luck President-elect Trump.

Thanks for Donald Trump

This Thanksgiving 2024, all legal American citizens should give thanks to God for the election of Donald Trump as President!

Cabinet picks

The 2024 cabinet picks. Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss.

Climate change predicament

Climate activists have themselves in a Catch-22 situation. They hound countries to cough up money not available due to anemic economic policies but are also against capitalism which would allow countries to generate more tax revenue to increase climate change funding.

Stand strong

President-elect Trump's main job is as the national cheerleader. As the national debt grows and tightens its grip on businesses and consumers he will stand strong, for us which is all we can

Mpox in US

With a case of Mpox showing up already in the country, I’m extremely worried if it will turn into another pandemic, especially with Trump in charge. I don’t see him learning anything from his COVID debacle and he’ll use the same denial and magical thinking for that too. We’ll be told not to worry, it’ll be over by Easter and tens of thousands of Americans will needlessly die again — guaranteed!

Trump's presidency

The initial perceptions of President-Elect Trump’s cabinet and insiders are made up of multimillionaires and in some cases, billionaires with a consistent blend of people have a history of sexually abusive patterns. I am not sure if this is what a large portion of his voters were supporting. And it is difficult to conclude that the economic policies will not be designed to help millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the average working-class family. There will be no trickle-down with the pending MAGA Trump policies. In fact, cutting some programs to pay for further tax cuts will put added economic stress on many families.

No prosecution

Bad news for Trump and his sycophants who want to go after the generals who were responsible for the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The order came directly from Biden as an official presidential act and is covered by presidential immunity. The generals were following orders and that clears them of any wrongdoing. Trump wanted presidential immunity and he got it, and it applies to all presidents and the orders they give. Sorry folks, no generals can be prosecuted for following orders.

Pandemic concerns

Here are two things that could cause another pandemic if mpox (monkey pox virus) hits America: Trump himself and RFK Jr. as HHS secretary. With Trump’s denial and lack of response to COVID and RFK Jr.’s denial of vaccinations, we could be in for another deadly pandemic. Over one million deaths were caused by COVID and tens of thousands were preventable if Trump had simply responded like a caring and empathetic person, but he’s not. RFK Jr.’s skepticism of vaccines could doom thousands if not tens of thousands to the same fate as Trump’s first term. This is why the Senate needs to be allowed to hold hearings to confirm or reject cabinet appointments. American lives are at stake!

Liberal lie

Another liberal lie. The tax breaks went to everyone, and yes, some went people who have money. Who do you think provides jobs? Poor people? It is people who are willing to take a risk and invest THEIR money. So yes, they deserve tax breaks too. Thank God for the rich investing in America! Much to the liberals' disgust, the majority of jobs in this country are created by individuals NOT the government.

Not legit

Only Congress has the ability to form a government department. Just saying you’ve created one doesn’t make it so. Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is not legitimate and will not have subpoena power. They can cosplay all they want but subpoenas issued by them don’t have to be honored.

What meltdown

I keep seeing comments about a liberal meltdown. What I don't see is a real liberal meltdown. January 6 was a meltdown and those weren't liberals!

Real diversity

Unlike the DEI cabinet of Biden, Trump's cabinet is made up of Experience and Diversity of Opinions and not skin color, gender, or sexual preference!

Gabbard nomination

If Tulsi Gabbard is confirmed as Trump’s intelligence chief then friendly nations in both Europe and Asia will think twice about sharing classified information with America. No one can be sure that the information won’t be sent straight to Putin or Xi or some other dictator. This could put every American at risk, especially those in the intelligence services. This is Trump’s retribution against the intelligence agencies from his first term.

Hegseth NDA

It appears that Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, did not disclose to the Trump group his issue with the sexual assault charges that then needed an NDA agreement. If this man can’t be totally honest and forthright to the Trump people, how can he be trusted in any matters? This is also a reminder and the reason that these nominees need to be fully vetted by the FBI prior to the Senate voting on the nomination. Trump wanted to bypass the Senate entirely and he wanted the background checks to be done by private corporations. Perhaps some Republican senators might step up and demand that the laws be honored in this matter.

The coming flush

Re: The rising price of paying the national debt is a risk for Trump's promises on growth and inflation: Hooray, at least someone else is seeing the big problem with going forward while paying so much for the past. "About 1 in 5 dollars spent by the government are now repaying investors for borrowed money, instead of enabling investments in future economic growth." Whether increasing taxes, decreasing payouts, trashing the true cost of money through tweaked Fed interest rate decreases, or some equally or unequally combination of all of the above, suggest the swirl around this financial toilet bowl should be stopped before reaching the coming final flush.

Advisory group

Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is nothing more than an advisory group. It doesn’t have department status. Only Congress can create a department. That means they can’t subpoena anyone because of their lack of standing and all they can really do is make suggestions. And Elon Musk isn’t even a member of Congress so you can see how bogus it is.