What’s Quickly? It’s where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.
The just published expose of how the filthy rich conceal their fortunes and evade taxes, The Pandora Papers, shows that the state of South Dakota is one of the world’s most coveted tax havens. It is said to even rival Switzerland in terms of its laws of confidentiality and secrecy. It’s estimated that nearly a trillion dollars in squirreled away in South Dakota banks. I hope somebody asks their ultra-right wing governor, Kristi Noem, what she knows about all this. Might be the reason she hates the federal government so much. She doesn’t want investigators from the IRS snooping around.
A whistleblower has come forward to say that Facebook pushes content that is misinformation and used to enrage people. So they are identical to Fox News. And people wonder why everyone is walking around screaming at each other, shooting people and generally in constant chaos.
I wonder how many of you diehard Facebook fans feel, now that you see how information has been manipulated to misinform you?
Mitch McConnell doesn’t want to raise the debt ceiling on the money he and the Republicans already spent. He’s like the guy that walks into the bar and orders drinks for everyone and then claims he forgot his wallet!
Nikki Haley gave a speech at a conservative event where she regurgitated the standard line that has been repeated since Reagan about how we on “the left” are unpatriotic because we dare bring up problems with American society and culture. We lefties would like to point out that working to make America better is far more meaningful than wrapping oneself in a flag and insisting that America is perfect. In their song “Stars and Stripes of Corruption”, Dead Kennedys put it very succinctly when they ask “Who’s the real patriot, the Archie Bunker slobs waving flags or the people with the guts to work for real change”. One more question for the people with a flag fetish, is it desecration of the flag if you wrap yourself up in it to get elected?
The United States has the oldest current democracy in the world. At over 230 years in age, our country has experienced many challenges to our form of government, including a civil war. Democracy is reliant on informed citizens making choices. What is frightening currently, is we are a country of two realities. In the past, we would argue the pros and cons of one real issue. We currently can’t even agree on what is real. I can’t see anything in the future that could close this chasm. If 9/11 happened today, it would not be one country pulling together. It would be two opposite sides laying blame and accusations. Our democracy is truly in trouble.
To the young girls that ran the golf cart into my mailbox in our subdivision, how did you explain the damage to your parents? They can stop by and watch my Ring video if they want. You know where I live.
Remember back to high school when we learned about the law of supply and demand. 1) The cost of infrastructure that is needed will cover the next 10 years not just one! (Remember the metric system. We’re the only great nation in the world that is dependent on “cheat sheets/equivalents” to understand the metric system.) We cannot allow such smugness and laziness when it comes to infrastructure or be left behind in this 21st century. 2) As for “Biden’s pipeline”, forget that pointlessness! Aim your thinking to “supply and demand”. 3) Oil companies/gas companies have already projected their loss in income 10 years from now and beyond. Mother Nature disasters, the growth of suburbia, electric cars, improved forms of transportation, etc., have been on corporate drawing boards long before current presidencies. As long as people “want” gas guzzlers instead of battery-operated/electric cars, oil and gas companies have to and will meet higher profit goals for as long as people will pay higher prices. Stop buying gas guzzlers and see what happens next! And remember — you read it here!
Mike Pence claims that media coverage of January 6th demeans the 74 million people who voted for Trump. Apparently he’s forgotten that this violent mob was out to hang him, and very possibly might have if he hadn’t managed to escape them. Can Pence possibly debase himself any more than he already has with his continual truckling to Donald Trump? If our Indiana Republican legislators want to do something useful for the people of Indiana, they should pass a resolution suggesting that Mike Pence refrain from constantly humiliating the people of his home state.
In answer to the Quickly reader who asked if the Whiting BP refinery was still getting discounted Canadian tar sand oil, the answer is NO. The refinery still uses tar sand oil from Canada, but the discount went away when the Keystone pipeline was canceled. That why gasoline went up $1 a gallon almost immediately. No pipeline means we will still see these long tank car trains and the related train wreck spills.
Republicans figure that they can’t get any more than the 74 million votes for Trump that they got in 2020, so they are now doing everything they can to chip away at Biden voters by suppressing, disqualifying, and concocting ways to control the counting of the ballots of the 81 million who voted for Joe Biden. In several states, they have even gone so far as to empower their legislatures (dominated by Republicans, of course) to overturn the results of an election on the thin grounds that “fraud” is suspected — by them.
Trumps ex-press secretary that never held a press conference is making the rounds promoting her tell all book about how corrupt and incompetent the administration was. Why didn’t you speak up when you were there? Why don’t you go on Fox where you spun your lies to start with? You’re just a hypocrite like the scum you served with.
You are not grown until you know how to communicate, apologize, and tell the truth without blaming the next person. Children learn these basic lessons in pre-school and and kindergarten. I think most adults need a refresher course.
Sean Parnell, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, is seeking a gag order on his wife to prevent her from discussing former protective orders she held against him. Is every Republican politician an abuser of some sort. They either sexually assault women, children or have extreme anger issues. We do not need these people in our government.
As everyone is well aware, the Catholic Church has a problem with pedophiles within. As they have been fighting court cases about the sex abuse, the Catholic Church has been funneling money into secret trusts to avoid paying the victims. $300 million was stashed overseas, and millions were invested with a corporate landlord that evicted struggling tenants during the pandemic. Is this how Catholic Churches are supposed to operate? And why exactly do they continue to not pay any taxes?
Read more at www.post-trib.com/opinion.
