Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you there’s something you’d like to comment on in Elgin or beyond, send an email to [email protected]. Please include “speak out” in the subject line.
Votes for sale? In the 2020 election, the oil and gas industry made 84% of its political contributions to Republicans. For coal mining, the number was 96%. Is this buying influence?
Scary entertainment: The Jan. 6 investigative hearings should be of vital interest to anyone who watched “Game of Thrones” or enjoys the tragedies of William Shakespeare. Its tale of a treacherous and egomaniacal leader on the brink of madness is as entertaining as it is foreboding.
These are not toys: Semi-automatic rifles were in the possession of the Highland Park shooter. Again, please tell me why these rifles need to be available to the general public? These are meant for killing people, not hunting or as toys for gun owners to brag about.
Bailey’s judgment questioned: I am troubled that Darren Bailey was so excited about an endorsement from the former president as the select committee uncovers more and more information, in real time, about how Trump acted in the last days of his administration. Much of it has been unethical, horrifying and unhinged. Can one of moderators of one of public debates please ask him why he thinks it was good to seek an endorsement from the former president? It makes me question Bailey’s judgment and ethics.
We need accountability: Official estimates of stolen relief funds put the total at $100 billion nationwide. The estimate for Illinois alone is $2 billion. So, what’s the plan for investigating the root causes and holding people accountable? Kwame Raoul, where are you when we need you?
This is some country: It was 246 years ago that this country was founded. Happy Fourth of July. And what do we have? We have a mass shootings. We have a lack of gun control that’s sorely needed in this country. Unbelievable, we’re the world leader of gun violence. And we have Joey Chestnut, promoting gluttony with his hot dog-eating contest. What kind of the country do we live in? Seriously, let’s take a look and understand what is going on.
Column on point: Carl Leubsdorf’s column, “High court’s majority is here to stay,” points out that no one person is to thank or blame for the Supreme Court’s recent rulings. All have been a decades-long culmination of political power or lack of it, appointments and the personal decisions of longtime justices. Well written.
Penny in the fountain: I wish we had our beautiful country back! I wish that district attorneys all over the country would prosecute all dangerous felons to the maximum allowed. I wish our schools would all get back to basics like math, English, history, etc., and critical race theory would be outlawed all over this nation. We are so far behind other nations in education that it’s scary! I wish we would use our own God-given natural resources instead of depending on other nations who hate us. And last but certainly not least, I wish everyone believed in and loved God and treated their fellow man well. If everyone did that a lot of our problems would disappear.