Protect our kids
I thought legislators were supposed to respond to their constituents, but I guess Dels. Amanda Batten and Chad Green missed that memo. While close to three-fourths (73%) of Virginians support stronger gun control laws, both Batten and Green have done their best to vote against our wishes by voting “no” on at least 17 different gun bills over the last few years that would have kept our families safer.
Some of the things these bills addressed were firearm storage safety; the illegal sale, transfer and distribution of high-capacity assault firearms; waiting periods for purchase; age requirement of 21 for assault rifle purchase; restrictions on assault rifle sales to those convicted of hate crimes; funding for firearm violence intervention programs and more. They even voted against school board communication to remind parents of the importance of safe storage of firearms. Seriously?
Green and Batten are unresponsive, uncreative, unempathetic and should not be reelected. I’ll be voting for Jessica Anderson, and Dr. Mark Downey is the logical replacement for Green. Anderson and Downey will vote to protect our families.
John Cabaniss, Williamsburg
Michael Vick
Norfolk State University football coach Michael Vick’s players flounder under the same lack of discipline and empathy that marked his abuse of dogs. Leadership requires integrity and control, which are traits he’s never mastered. The chaos on the field mirrors the chaos he once created off of it, proving talent can’t compensate for a broken moral compass.
Pat Orange, Norfolk
Pam Bondi
I watched the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday in which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was being questioned. By my count, she lied several times, and was rude and confrontational when asked valid questions about the Department of Justice’s weaponization.
As horrible a person as Bondi has revealed herself to be, the thing that angered me the most during this hearing was the lack of response to something Sen. Chuck Grassley said. Grassley (and it was echoed by others) repeated the monstrous lie that the DOJ under former President Joe Biden was weaponized against President Donald Trump.
I follow politics very closely, and I followed all of Trump’s cases even closer. (I have read the indictments.) Both of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s cases were slam-dunk cases built on overwhelming evidence and testimony. Moreover, Trump was given much more consideration than any other defendant in the investigations leading up to the indictments. So, it really angers me that Democrats in these committee hearings did not aggressively assert that the claim that the Biden DOJ was weaponized against Trump is a lie.
Christina Anne Knight, Newport News
Beware
For more than 200 years, by the U.S. Constitution and legislation (Posse Comitatus Act), we have prevented the military from policing activity inside our country. President Donald Trump normalizes the act, which desensitizes our awareness. Will the situation become a Kent State on a grander scale?
Trump commands business to “eat the tariffs.” Without authority, his administration is defunding New York City tunnel infrastructure with money already appropriated.
Trump talks about “the enemy from within” and “using U.S. cities as training grounds.” If sending troops into Washington, D.C., actually reduced crime, then the solution is more funding for personnel. Yet the Department of Justice canceled 373 grants awarded to local police.
The former GOP’s values were fiscal restraint and free trade. That is no longer their status quo. The Big Beautiful Bill adds around $3 trillion to our debt and we have the highest tariffs in the world. These tariffs are a tax and are paid by us.
Trump wants to move that pot of tariff money to soybean farmers, who have been decimated by his policy. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Welcome to autocracy, where a single person re-orders business, media and law.
Beware, Trump 2028 is no idle threat.
Paul English, Chesapeake
