Editor’s note
Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email [email protected].
Short memories
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What short memories we have. Many people are criticizing President Biden for reading scripted speeches off a teleprompter. All presidents do, including Trump. You seem to have forgotten when Trump didn’t read his scripted speeches, he spoke in broken sentences, often repeating himself, straying off course and babbling most times. In this case, thank goodness for scripted speeches. It’s so refreshing to have a grown man in the White House who can put together and speak in full, understandable sentences, scripted or not.
You are part of the problem
To the person who doesn’t trust the government or the vaccine: I bet you trust the government to send you that Social Security check every month, or those stimulus checks when they were being handed out. I bet you trust the government will make sure the standards of the hospitals are up to par when you end up there with COVID. COVID is a virus that has taken over a half-million lives in one year. Good grief, wake up already. You are the reason we will continue to have to wear masks indefinitely. You are part of the problem, while the rest of us are part of a solution.
Look it up
I guess I can understand supporting the death penalty for the sake of revenge. Although, I personally believe that revenge is reserved for the Lord, and not us fallible humans. But wanting to bring the death penalty back to save money, or as a deterrence? That won’t work. It costs more money to execute a prisoner (mostly in legal expenses), than it does to keep them in jail. Look it up. And study after study has shown that it simply doesn’t work as a deterrent. Look that up too.
Double standard
It is wonderful to have a Democrat in the White House. A major hurricane hits and not a single story about minorities being affected. Only when Trump or Bush is president do hurricanes affect minorities.
Kicking the bill
I’ve been renting out houses in Lake County for 40 years, and I’ve heard it all when it comes to excuses for not paying the rent. Other than food, having a roof over your head should be everyone’s main concern. At times, there are extenuating circumstances, but more often than not, nearly everything else is more important. Rent is usually the first thing people stop paying. In many cases, I’ll offer out-of-work renters jobs at more than they were making. Very few take the offer. They’d rather sit at home and collect the “free money.” Why pay rent when the governor says you don’t have to. We live in a country where no-consequence irresponsibility has become the norm. This moratorium on evictions has made things exponentially worse. The government is not helping people, it’s enabling them to milk the system and kicking the bill to our grandchildren to pay.
What was the point?
The Illinois Senate just approved a $700 million bailout for Exelon, the parent company of ComEd, which recently agreed to a $200 million settlement for a long running bribery scandal to influence electric rates. The cost of this bailout will be paid for by a rate increase on the customers. What exactly was the point of this settlement?
Maybe cannabis would help
I’m so happy to live in Lake Country. We have a great President Biden who’s finally ended Bush’s Afghan war, and now wants to rebuild America. And what about our swell Gov. Pritzker, reforming Illinois and helping us (the smart ones) stay safe from COVID. We live in the best part of the country, in an area without earthquakes, hurricanes or forest fires, and we have all the lake water we need to water our yards. I pity those sad, bitter, unhappy folks writing to Talk of the County with their ranting and whining. Maybe some cannabis would help.
Today’s version of slavery
Recently there were articles about a murder and a sexual assault. Bad, right? But a broader criminal aspect is hiding right up front — that it took three or four years for these cases to come to sentencing. That’s just the beginning of the overhaul needed for justice and prison reform in this country. The bookend of badness is the parole system, another moneymaker intent on punishment rather than rehabilitation. Prison reform has gotten sidelined by police reform. The prison industry is today’s version of slavery. We lose sight of prison reform at peril to our standing as a civilized nation.