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Speech restrictions are un-American

In Ohio and across the nation, state legislatures and school districts are banning books, limiting what can be taught in public schools and state universities, restricting the types of events that public librariescan host, and even saying that certain words can't be uttered in certain settings.

The people who are doing this are the same ones that yammer about Second Amendment rights while trampling the First Amendment.

This is what Nazis did; it is what Vladimir Putin does; it is not what we do in the United States ofAmerica.

Jim Kroeger, Fairlawn

After watching President Joe Bidens March 26 speech in Poland, I am reminded of lyrics from the U2 song Crumbs from your Table: where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die. To allow thousands of Ukrainians to die because they are not a part of NATO, thus on the wrong side of the street, is so immoral. To say that Bidens speech ranks up there with those given in Europe by John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan is a joke; those great men did not cower to tyrants. May God have mercy on those in charge who think sanctions alone are the answer.

Randy Ley, Tallmadge

Here is the original post:
Letters to the editor: Book bans, teaching restrictions in public schools are un-American - Akron Beacon Journal

By Jim Beerer

I was intrigued by the recent town hall conducted by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, and reported in The Express-Times. Her focus on energy and the Ukraine were certainly timely and appropriate. She will certainly not suffer politically from her position and comments on those items.

More than a month ago, I stopped into Wilds Easton office. I was greeted by two staff members who looked a little nervous as they surveyed their new guest. I introduced myself and handed them a version of the letter below. After a quick review, they said they would pass the letter on to the congresswoman. To this date, no response. Perhaps you can push this issue. Voters and the public in general need to know how candidates feel on these topics and others.

Please note only one candidate has responded to date U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Bucks.

The following is the letter given to Wilds office:

At your very earliest, could you kindly respond to the following questions so that I may have a better understanding of your position on these matters as a member of the United States Congress.

Finish Border Wall YES NO

Energy Independence (via all sources) YES NO

No excuse mail-in ballots YES NO

D.C as a 51st state YES NO

Defund Police YES NO

Term Limits for Congress YES NO

No stock trading while in Congress YES NO

Retain Electoral College YES NO

Add to Supreme Court YES NO

Defend Ukraine militarily YES NO

Return to Iran Nuclear Agreement YES NO

Paris Climate Accord YES NO

Balanced Budget Amendment YES NO

School Choice/Tuition Tax Credits/Vouchers YES NO

Free Community College YES NO

Total Student Loan forgiveness YES NO

Universal Pre-K YES NO

Single Payer Health Care YES NO

Eliminate Second Amendment YES NO

The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it does represent a compilation of some significant issues facing our country. I also understand that I do not reside in the congressional district you represent. However, your decisions and votes affect all Americans.

Thank you for the courtesy of an early reply and thank you for your service.

Jim Beerer lives in Durham, about 10 miles south of Easton in northern Bucks County.

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No response from Lehigh Valleys Wild to list of questions all in Congress should answer | Opinion - lehighvalleylive.com

Frank Barefield| Holland

In a March 5 column (Why are we trying to forget our nations racist past?) I argued that racism has been a part of us since Europeans first settled the Americas and denial of this history or suppression of current theories about it is dishonest. However, human affairs are seldom clear-cut, black and white affairs, and honesty also requires that we not over-attribute to racism the motives for individual behavior or the shape that our institutional structures take.

Sometimes racist motives are obvious as when Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was killed by three white men and racial prejudice was explicit in messages they had posted on the Internet. One post expressed a wish to shoot Black people described as monkeys and another that someone should drive a car into a group of Black Lives Matter demonstrators. A line from Bob Dylans ballad, The Death of Emmitt Till, still rings true 65 years after Tills murder: The reason that they killed him there, and Im sure it aint no lie / Cause he was born a black skinned boy, he was born to die.

More: My Take: Why are we trying to forget our nation's racist past?

More: My Take: How do we justify outrage, threats over something so simple?

More: My Take: Marlena is no hero

But motives are not always so obvious and claims about motives can look like fishing expeditions that bait a hook, throw it into the river, and call anything pulled out a fish. Sportscaster Jim Kaat, during an October baseball game. praised the skill of a player from Cuba and added that his team would benefit from a 40-acre field full of players like him. A minor media storm followed, claiming the 40-acre metaphor was an insulting reference to the unkept post-civil war promise to give 40 acres and a mule to every freed salve. However, the expression back or north or whatever forty is a common colloquialism in rural America that apparently originated in 1832 when 40-acres was set as the standard tract for selling government land as an incentive for settlers to move west, not after 1865 when land promised to former slaves was instead returned to the white, pre-Civil War owners.

Childrens author Dr. Seuss has been criticized for promulgating racist prejudices: the Grinch spreads antisemitism because stealing Christmas presents is similar to Medieval stereotype of the Christian-hating Jew and The Cat in the Hat portrays Black people as blackface minstrel stereotypes who are sources of entertainment not deserving of basic respect due to everyone. The trouble with this analysis is that seeing these characters as metaphors for racial stereotypes requires that the reader assume the characters are symbols and then interpret them as modern metaphors for historical events about which few children would have any knowledge.

Carol Anderson, author of "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America," professor of history at Emory University, provides a more serious example. During a June 2, 2021, NPR interview about her book she said that James Madison, to get support for the Constitution, added the second amendment to mollify the concerns coming out of Virginia and the anti-Federalists, that they would still have full control over their state militias and those militias were used in order to quell slave revolts.

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Her website says this book shows that the Second Amendment is not about guns but about anti-Blackness, shedding shocking new light on another dimension of racism in America. Her claim is true but incomplete. Like most important events, the structure of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights was influenced by multiple factors. Putting down rebellions, slave and otherwise (e.g., Shays Rebellion) was one concern. Citizen militias also provided security from external threats to the new union while avoiding the establishment of a professional army under federal control which states feared. Keeping Black people in their place is a major part of our past, but the history of the Second Amendment is too complex to reduce it to the one issue of race.

Efforts across the country to suppress the discussion of race and fishing expeditions to find racist motives where only the thinnest connection can be made are equally misguided. The Buffalo Springfield song, For What Its Worth, seem to apply today as much as they did during the culture wars of the 1960s: Theres battle lines being drawn / And nobodys right if everybodys wrong.

Even those with whom we have basic disagreements are not likely to be wrong about everything, but both ends of the political spectrum seem more interested in painting the world the way they want it to be rather than making efforts to see the world as it is. False narratives, whether supporting liberal or conservative causes, provide a poor foundation for forming the more perfect union promised to us by our Constitution.

Frank Barefield is a resident of Holland.

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My Take: Both ends of the political spectrum are failing us - HollandSentinel.com

CHEYENNE Gov. Mark Gordon signed the Second Amendment Protection Act into law Monday, with the support of law enforcement in attendance. The bill passed during the Wyoming Legislatures recently concluded 2022 budget session.

It is designed to protect Second Amendment rights, as well as prevent federal regulation of firearms, accessories, magazines and ammunition. Sheriffs, officers, gun rights advocates and lawmakers said the legislation was needed as President Joe Bidens administration pushes for such control.

This is a culmination of a lot of effort with law enforcement, gun owners in Wyoming, Shooting Sports Foundation, all those people that have a strong belief in the Second Amendment, bill sponsor Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, said at the signing.

We hope that the federal government will never do an unconstitutional act that would infringe upon peoples Second Amendment right.

The bill clearly states public officers are prohibited from enforcing, administering or cooperating with an unconstitutional act of any kind, and sets one of the harshest punishments for violation in the nation. An individual who knowingly violates the law is guilty of misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.

Nothing in the act can limit or restrict an officer from providing assistance to federal authorities or accepting federal funds for law enforcement purposes.

We stand strong together to hold ourselves and our officers accountable to not enforce, administer or cooperate with any unconstitutional acts, said Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police Executive Board President and Rock Springs Police Chief Dwane Pacheco. This is one of the most important legislative actions on a personal and professional level that I have seen in my career.

Pacheco testified throughout the session in support of the bill, which moved forward in the process instead of the Second Amendment Preservation Act filed on both the House and Senate sides. The legislation was similar to the bill signed into law, but would have set harsher punishments for violators and put members of law enforcement at risk of civil action by citizens. In the end, this alternative plan failed introduction because legislators in opposition said they were concerned about possible repercussions for public officers.

The Second Amendment Protection Act instead passed with a large majority. The House passed Senate File 102 on third reading 43-15, and the Senate concurred 22-7.

This is an honor to be able to sign this bill, Gordon said. I thank everyone who worked on this bill to get it to my desk. It joins the Firearms Freedom Act. Its a very strong statement of Wyoming appreciation for Second Amendment rights and the constitutional opportunities to use firearms.

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Gordon signs Second Amendment Protection bill | Regional News | thesheridanpress.com - The Sheridan Press

BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) The Blair County Tea Party (BCTP) is holding a meeting Tuesday evening to discuss recent developments of the second amendment referendumthat was approved by county commissioners.

Tea Party members along with the 2nd Amendment Coalition are inviting the community to attend their meeting at the Bavarian Hall along 13th Street in Altoona. The group says the commissioners approved proposal was written by local solicitors and does not reflect what voters supported last November.

The Ides of March came early this year as the Blair County commissioners chose to betray the overwhelming majority of voters who wanted true Second Amendment protections put in place, BCTP President Rhonda Holland said.

Commissioners reportedly rejected a proposal written two weeks ago by the Tea Party and 2nd Amendment Coalition.

2nd Amendment Sanctuary question on the November ballot was reportedly supported by 17,846 voters versus 7,149 who voted against it. The referendum was crafted on two current Pennsylvania ordinances and means the county would become a sanctuary that would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used on gun control or confiscation.

Read more:
Blair County Tea Party unsatisfied with 2nd Amendment referendum - WTAJ - http://www.wearecentralpa.com