Community Roundtable

The House Democrats are conducting the impeachment inquiry lawfully and intelligently.  Just as a Grand Jury conducts investigations privately to gather evidence and determine if and what charges might be filed, the House Committees are sequestered to protect witnesses and to shield some from coordinating their testimonies.  Republican strategy is ‘chanting talking-points,’ criticizing & attacking the House Democrat’s process of closed-door depositions, because pranks are all they’ve got!     The House Republicans tried to censure House-chair Intel-Committee, Adam Schiff, on 10/21, but that stunt was rejected (218 – 185 vote); and 10/23 found 3 dozen or so House Repubs, looking like a fraternity reunion-prank, storming a secure hearing-room — where Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, was giving testimony– delaying the proceedings for 5 hours.  Their pranks, “born of impotence”, are ineffectual.  Adam Schiff advised colleagues on 10/16 that “committees anticipated taking witness-testimony in public when they don’t jeopardize investigative equities …. so that Congress and the American people can hear the testimony first-hand”.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Many Americans ARE invested in hearing what candidates have to say and how they conduct themselves; many cannot abide sitting on their cushions for 2 or 3 hours, listening to all the issues discussed.  Tens of thousands of rural Americans rode horseback or in buggies for hours navigating rough, muddy, dangerous trails to hear 2 Senators, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, debate issues of great import in 1858, at 7 Illinois sites (our Knox College, Galesburg, IL, being the last remaining building associated with those debates).  Today, many think they know everything, henceforth they can’t be schooled on anything (unless that schooling comes from Fox).   There are currently 3 Republican primary challengers to Donald Trump, although organizers in several states have cancelled GOP primaries to help ensure Trump’s re-election, whilst many are divided and leaving the party in droves.  Several Republican Congressmen have resigned in the past 3 years, and continue to resign, some imprisoned; more could be lost to indictments soon.

Trish Forsyth Voss

A military invasion and operation to replace Kurds with nearly three million-Syrian Arab refugees, a replacement program, is really ethnic-cleansing.  Turkey has previously facilitated ISIS, and views secular Kurdish State as their enemy.  The Kurds — again betrayed by the West!   With no consultation among military advisors, Trump (with over a hundred business ventures in Turkey) gave Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his blessing for this offensive.  Senator Lindsey Graham    (R-S.C.) told FOX,  “It’ll be hard to protect America without allies over there; the Kurds have been good allies.  The Turks are not entering Syria to fight the Islamic State; they’re going in to kill the Kurds!”  Rep Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said, “this decision aids America’s adversaries, Russia, Iran, Assad, and has sickening and predictable consequences”.  Pitting two U.S. allies against each other, hours after the attacks began, in classic oppositional-style, Trump tweeted, “The U.S. does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea!”

Trish Forsyth Voss

President Trump has committed abuses of his office, abuse of the public trust, contempt of Congress, many obstructions of justice, and has violated his oath of office.  Trump delayed 7/18/19, urgently-needed, congressionally-mandated aid, to help Ukraine fight a hot-war against Putin’s Russia.  A 9/9 whistleblower complaint: “credible and urgent wrongdoing” by the president, was not forwarded to Congress as mandated.  On 9/11, the military aid was released.   Unanimous Senate vote 9/24/19, called for the release of the full July 25th transcript of phone conversations between U.S. president Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.    The White House provided a memo-summary, NOT a transcript, of the conversation outlining Trump pressuring Zelensky into investigating Trump’s political opponents, amid stalled aid, (“to a fledgling democracy — fighting for it’s life”) putting his interests above our national security interests.  Trump involved bumbling-consiglieres Giuliani and A.G. Barr in this fiasco.   Many Republicans agree with Mitt Romney, that the evidence is “troubling in the extreme, deeply troubling”.     House intel-chairman, Adam Schiff, said the memo, “reads like a classic Mafia-like shakedown”.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Americans deserve a more standardized, highly equitable, less expensive national healthcare system, subsidized by taxes, with most care provided by private sector caregivers.   The U.S. has a hybrid-system, with more disparity than uniformity across our nation.  Presidential debates don’t offer much time for candidates to flesh-out what systems they favor, but as Lawrence O’Donnell, tv-host of The Last Word, pointed out recently: we don’t need to get too worried about what candidates now espouse on healthcare, as Progressive Democrats favor a more-accessible, affordable healthcare system, which would be worked up in Congress and go to the president to sign or veto.  Most Americans agree on wanting a more universal system, providing healthcare to all citizens.  We want a system easier to understand and navigate,  that doesn’t bankrupt us.  I’ve heard horror stories from patients about services and billing, and from Americans who traveled  abroad, were hospitalized,  and didn’t even receive a bill.  We can definitely do better than what we currently have!  VOTE BLUE!

Trish Forsyth Voss

Register-Mail, 9/4, front-page article went into some detail concerning this issue, and stated there was “a robust public comment section before the vote”, with speakers making “a principled stand against allowing cannabis businesses to operate in Galesburg”.  In summary to those arguments, Ken Springer, president of the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development, said he believed a lot of the evening’s speakers “really wish to relitigate the fact that cannabis was legalized at the state level”.  He stated, “the council’s action can position Galesburg to do the best with what we’ve been given by the state legislature.  Like it or not, legal cannabis is one of the fastest growing job markets, right now 211,000 people work in the legal cannabis business ….. as we know from history, communities that are quick to embrace new industries position themselves best.  These businesses filling vacant properties, such as the old Aldi, bring jobs and make property tax payments.”   Amidst varied concerns, Galesburg should embrace this as we do brewers, gamblers and strippers.  Partake if you like.    ******  P.S.  For those who argue that Marijuana is still federally illegal, so THEY can’t agree with this action; Abortion is legal at federal level (since early 1970’s) but THEY seem to have no problem with ‘states’ rights’ outlawing abortion!

Trish Forsyth Voss

Life and death; survival as a country, a species, a planet, nothing less.  Ridding the government of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and lobbyists like NRA are the first steps to implementing big, structural changes like instituting Universal Healthcare, changing gun laws, and affecting climate change.  Twelve of the thirty-two developed countries have universal healthcare.  The U.K. is an example of single-payor socialized medicine.  We can save lives and stop the bankruptcies of our citizens by curbing capitalism in healthcare, paying for it by rescinding the huge tax breaks given to billionaires by the GOP.   **  “More Americans have been killed by gun violence since 1968 than in all U.S. wars combined”, reported by NBC news.  The majority of Americans want more restrictive gun-control initiatives enacted.  We should obsolete wars and guns.    Climate change affects lives, economies, migrations and even wars in foreign countries.  Humans have damaged the environment, and humans can mitigate damages; we must embrace a Green New-Deal.   Apathy, Ignorance & Disinformation are hugely consequential.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Illinois is experiencing “a severe statewide teacher shortage”.  The new law increases minimum teacher’s salaries to $32,076  for 2020-21 school year, adds $2,500 in each of the next two years, arriving at $40,000 in the 2023-24 school year, with mandatory increases indexed to inflation thereafter.  This timely and important legislation shows that Illinois values its teacher’s commitments to educating and preparing our youth for their futures, while earning a decent salary, more commensurate with their education, expertise and experience.   Currently the bulk of K-12 funding comes from property taxes, with only 27 percent paid by the state, and about 7 percent paid from federal government.  Governor Pritzker stated this year’s budget includes a $375 million increase in state funding for K-12 education; great for teachers, students, parents and Illinois!   Pritzker’s getting big things done for Illinois — definitely NOT a state for suckers!   Anyone who doesn’t appreciate Illinois should move to Missouri or Alabama, a ‘state-of-mind’ that would probably suit them much better!

Trish Forsyth Voss

“Most Republicans now think that colleges are bad for America, and they don’t think much of the media either”, says Vox.   Actually, the Pew survey found that 58 percent of Republicans & Repub-leaners think higher-education institutions have a negative impact on America.  In contrast, 72 percent of Dems hold a positive view of the effects of universities, holding steady with past years’ results.  In 2015, 54 percent of Republicans said that colleges had a positive impact.  What changed?      “Over the past few years, universities made headlines for a series of controversies and protests around racism, free speech and civil rights”, basically egged-on by far-right personalities insisting on spreading their unwanted hateful-propaganda to liberal institutions.  Despite polarization, the increase in Dem’s positive views balance out Republican’s increasingly negative ones, which probably also includes abhorrence of the country’s changing demographics.  Higher-education helps people grow personally, teaches the changing technologies, and ensures graduates are prepared for the jobs of the future.  Repub snowflakes could home-school college courses.

Trish Forsyth Voss

In our 21st century classrooms, most all middle and senior high-school students carry cell phones, as do many grade-school kids.  With all their extra-curricular activities, after-school sports, etc. kids may need to get in quick contact with their transportation agents.  In this day of school-shootings, we’ve witnessed televised-news reports of attacks underway, with students on their phones, telling what they’ve seen, heard, and where the shooter might be.  Many parents want their kids to have appropriate-access to their phones.  It seems reasonable that high-school students be allowed to keep their phones muted in their bookbags, pockets, purses and lockers.  Reminders to mute cell phones should be posted in classes, and students should be treated respectfully.   Several years ago, my grandson was in grade-school; he said that students had to turn their phones over to their teachers during school-hours; that seems reasonable for grade-school kids, who might not have the control that older students hopefully have.

Trish Forsyth Voss