Letters to the Editor
Edited by Jim Buckley
(The following is just a trickle of some of the many comments, observations, claims, and suggestions received by Santa Barbara Current, a publication that is reader supported and receives no direct or indirect USAID or nonprofit funding. To enhance your reading experience, please follow the Comment thread that appears immediately after each column. If you’d like to contribute a letter to the editor, please send separately to jim@sbcurrent.com, and add your city/town in your comment.)
Deport The Trouble Maker
Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a lawyer, says this jackass (Badar Khan Suri) can/should be deported under already in-place rules that've been around for decades. He arrived in the U.S. under the privileges offered by a student visa – nobody's entitled to enter our country except on our terms – and he's violated those privileges on several levels. He's much older than the average grad student and he came here to foment violence and unrest and not necessarily to learn anything or get a degree.
Suri’s marriage to a 28-year-old U.S. citizen doesn't shield him from deportation (according to Ted Cruz). As for the issue of “breaking up a family,” she has the choice of joining him in his return to Lebanon, Syria, or Algeria. There are consequences to marrying a revolutionary. His deportation should be a no-brainer, but with 62% of the world's attorneys living and practicing within the U.S., and most of them harboring varying degrees of hostility toward the 236-year-old American Republican Project, this joker's stance against the American Eagle will make him a cause celebre among the Left and all those who wish to give President Trump a black eye.
For the sake of decency and justice, it's paramount this guy is not released back into our body politic, which would make the deportation of others that much more difficult. The gauntlet is down and in place. Trump and the American nation-state cannot lose this test case.
David Samuel McCalmont
Santa Barbara
(Editor’s note: It does seem a trifle bizarre that some judge can tell the President of the United States – the Chief Executive Officer in the land – that he must allow a non-citizen of the U.S. to stay in our country. – J.B.)
Public Employee Benefits Breaking Taxpayer Bank
From Washington to Santa Barbara, taxpayers are finding they can no longer afford civil service workers with union benefits. They are breaking the bank at all levels and have far exceeded the income and benefits of the private sector that pays for civil service benefits.
Civil service unions are the bane of the taxpayers because, unlike private unions, there is no way to control them. In the private sector, there is a company profit motive and a board of directors that is motivated to control costs and therefore employee’ wages and benefits; in the civil service there are no such controls.
The elected Democrat politicians, whether federal, state, or local city, are beholding to their union fundraisers and vote getters and are hard put not to do their bidding. The private sector taxes used to pay union demands are not the politician’s money, so they are not as reluctant to hand out benefits as the private sector is. The Democrats are happy to spend other people’s money for their own benefits.
Unions extort dues from workers so they can hold their jobs and then unions use the dues to promote their own agenda, whether the employees like it or not. Unions cause more workers to lose their jobs because of these actions.
The elected officials do not have the backbone to say NO! because they use those union dues to get themselves elected.
We taxpayers elect our representatives to be our watchdogs over the civil service, but our trust is undermined when elected officials become civil servants themselves and are not eager to limit their benefits any more than the government employees that they oversee.
There is therefore a collusion of self-interests in which the taxpayers are locked out of the process. The result is always more benefits followed by more taxes to pay.
However, if voters continue to elect Democrats with their media and union buddies, budget deficits will not be eliminated. Municipal bankruptcies will continue to grow as taxpayers cannot afford to pay for civil service benefits.
The civil service is supposed to be a service to the taxpayers not to the employees. We taxpayers cannot afford to have it continue.
Justin M. Ruhge
Lompoc
(Editor’s note: Great to hear from you, Mr. Ruhge. We always appreciated the letters (and columns) that you wrote to and for the News-Press. J.B.)
Hardworking Mollie of Mollie’s Deli
I have known Mollie for over 30 years, she is the most wonderful hardworking woman I have ever known, I was her meat supplier for many years, and she was nothing but a pleasure to work with, I was always impressed with not only what a wonderful hardworking woman she was but what a fantastic, generous person she was to our community, always finding a way to give back in some way or fashion. Anyone that does not know her and then finds a way to criticize her should get a friggin’ life.
Thank you for reading my rant !
Jerry Shalhoob
Founder of the Shalhoob Meat Co.
Est: 1973
(Editor’s note: I too have known Mollie for probably a bit longer and I have nothing but admiration for her talent and her guts in the face of adversity. Long Live Mollie’s Cucina Italiana! – J.B.)
Standing Up for Mollie and Network Medical
Great article Bonnie, I look forward to patronizing Mollie’s. Maybe folks should boycott “Pat Riot?” You mentioned this person was in multiple cities? Nextdoor needs to delete this account; i is an example of why people are dropping their memberships in the Democrat Party. I did attend the Network Medical event at the Granada. I had never heard of this group before, but I did hear about those trying to prevent me and others from attending. That’s all I needed to know. Upon entering the theater, there was a vocal group outside spewing disgusting rhetoric and holding equally disgusting signs accusing attendees of being “Nazis.” Truly appalling by any standards and I suppose this is a similar radical group capable of burning and destroying Tesla dealerships?
More importantly is what I found inside the Granada, which was a friendly, warm, accepting group of mostly families. Network Medical is a truly inspirational and positive group.
As for City payouts to employees, it would seem this type of arrangement is tantamount to a payoff? Hush money?
We are in at a crossroads in our local community, state, and country. It’s high time that decent law abiding folks from all backgrounds and cultures, reject those who would divide us and turn us on one another. Yes, it’s time to stand up for the Mollie’s and Network Medicals of the world.
LT
Santa Barbara
Democrats Relish What They Spew
The biggest problem the Democrats have is they believe their own press releases, which are now totally devoid from reality. As set out in detail in this very article. This detachment from reality shows up even here, when Democrat ideologues hurl patent invective against their own cartoon versions of MAGA, Trump supporters, Fox TV viewers and/or Orangeman cult members. They seem to relish in the spew, for the spew's sake.
May Democrats continue down their own self-inflicted path of destruction. The country has now moved well beyond the railings of their inauthentic ravings. Their only way out now is to accept the conservative fundamentals that will make America great again. So, we are now in a win-win position.
Flail away, Democrats. Get it all out. That is how we finally get to start all over again. You love America enough to fight for it in your own way. So do we. We honor your right to free speech. Honor our demands for a balanced budget.
J. Livingston
Santa Barbara
Re Justin M. Ruhge: Thank you. I recently spent seven weeks in Cottage Hospital with deadly Sepsis. I came out of it with the greatest respect for the frontline health workers in Santa Barbara. We have amazing people in Santa Barbara working long, long hours here to save lives and make hospital stays more positive - from the doctors to the RNs to the clean up people. And then we have these elected officials like Laura Capps who carries on as though she and her parasitic bunch of guaranteed vote unionists have given so much to Santa Barbara that there is no financial reward good enough for them. And no demolition of our streets good enough for the Next Door lobbyists who want more, more, more affordable housing and bicycle lanes to the beach so they can sit on their sun washed asses and write nasty things on Reddit or Next Door about anyone who criticizes their mistress Laura and Co. When was the last time any of them worked a brutal twelve hour shift and saved lives? When did they change a bed pan with a smile? When did they do anything but manipulate for more for themselves?
I missed the original post, but I'm guessing someone started a boycott of Mollies Deli because she is advertising on the SB Current??
That's plain nuts and just a crappy example of the dark side of social media. 50% of the country voted differently than any of us did. What, we're not going to teach their kids? Put the fire out on their house? Go to Church with them?
We change things in politics by the way we vote. Not where we eat.