BND readers sound off on protests, Sen. Clayborne
Protest corruption
To the protesters on the Public Square in Belleville, rather than walking around for an issue in St. Louis, why not protest the corruption in St. Clair County?
Invisible 12th
The leader of the Indivisible IL 12 gets death threats before the 20-person protest march in Belleville? Of course, the threats were deleted before she could show them to anyone. The big Belleville protest was supposed to be Saturday, but liberals couldn’t find enough people to show up. No wonder Belleville shop owners weren’t worried.
MidAmerica a joke
Time to put articles about MidAmerica Airport in the comic section of the paper. After reading how much money the St Clair County brain drain spends on airport consulting, you really have to wonder how ignorant Kern and his clowns really are. These idiots keep wasting taxpayer money year after year, with absolutely no results. The consulting firms have to be laughing at Kern’s utter stupidity. Even funnier, airport manager Cantwell gets paid annual bonuses for losing $8 million dollars every year. Kern and his clowns will pay another consultant tens of thousands to develop another 10-year plan. MidAmerica is a joke.
Slow brew
It is absolutely amazing that O’Fallon and Shiloh can build two hospitals faster than Belleville can build one Hofbräuhaus.
NFL nonsense
The controversy over Trump’s statement about the NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem is way overblown, because he is 100 percent right. While players may have First Amendment rights, that’s on their own time. When they put on a uniform, they are representing their team and the NFL. The league needs to make contractual rules to eliminate this nonsense.
Football morality
Note to the NFL: How an employer allows its employees to express themselves exposes the moral values of that employer.
Union workers
Some millionaire and progressive athletes decided that the National Anthem is improper at the start of their noon to 3 Sunday work shift. I agree. Millionaire athletes are no different from UAW, AFSCME, SEUI or any other union workers. There’s no anthem when the 11 to 7 takes over from the 3 to 11 at the GM plant. These millionaires are nothing more than employees, albeit their compensation is many times more than the average union worker.
Understanding
The 8-year-old footballers do not understand the reason for taking a knee and turning their backs on the flag during the National Anthem. They are 8, not 18 or 80. I am not black, nor am I a soldier or veteran. But I do understand I honor the flag and National Anthem out of love and respect for all those who have sacrificed for our freedom. The unfortunate citizens of Pyongyang stand and salute out of fear. That’s a big difference.
Living off taxes
The Illinois taxpayers will finally be rid of Sen. James Clayborne. Clayborne spent 22 years helping Madigan flush Illinois down the fiscal sewer. Between girlfriends, a troubled son, and questionable political hires, Clayborne accomplished little and embarrassed the position of Illinois Senator. Hey, after putting Illinois on the bankruptcy trail, Clayborne gets to retire at 53 and live a life off the taxpayer for the rest of his life. Clayborne has had plenty of time to line his pockets. Good riddance.
Senator’s firm fired
Just days after James Clayborne announces his retirement as state senator, his law firm is dumped as attorneys for East St. Louis. Even funnier, we find out Clayborne’s law firm has been charging double what the Belleville city law firm charges. Gotta love the people who take advantage of East St. Louis. The Democratic machine takes care of their own, and when you are no longer a useful Democrat, you are out. We can only speculate what Clayborne was useful for. Nothing that I can remember. Can’t wait for the next shoe to drop.
Bathroom politics
If you want a good example of why Illinois is broke, look to HB 3215, which mandates Illinois schools to provide feminine hygiene products in bathrooms to students for free. The cost of this program is unfunded. That means local property taxes will fund it. In the House of Representatives, only one metro-east lawmaker had the guts and good sense to stand up and vote no — state Rep. Jerry Costello, a Democrat from Smithton. Thank you, Rep. Costello. The voting record for other lawmakers is not so stellar. Greenwood and Hoffman, also Democrats, both thought funding the program with your tax dollars was a good idea and voted for it. Both take their marching orders from Mike Madigan. Last time I checked, Madigan was not a voter or taxpayer in either of their districts.
Other priorities?
I disagree with the caller who questions whether or not we need to know that the schools will supply feminine hygiene products using our tax dollars. We absolutely need to know. This is yet another example of how clueless and misguided our elected officials in Springfield really are. Our state is declining rapidly. We are losing business, our residents are moving to other states, school funding and pension programs need reform. And what do our lawmakers accomplish this session? A feminine hygiene bill.
Arm guards
On the recent robbery at the Casino Queen, when is upper management at these companies like the casino, going to figure out that they need to arm their security officers. These guys are basically sitting ducks. If a patron was shot at, the guard couldn’t do anything about it except stand and watch. Casino, hospital and mall guards need to be trained to carry weapons. It’s a changing world and they need to be able to protect themselves and the public.
Belleville taxes
Did anybody question why they gave the Belleville mayor, treasurer and city clerk a raise but they came back, a few meetings later, and voted to keep the sales tax? Eckert says we have city positions open but we don’t have the money to pay for them. What comes first? The workers for the city or their glorified positions? The more money the city spends, the more they want. Today, we kept the sales tax. Tomorrow, they’ll be coming back for more.
McCain a hero
About Senator McCain voting “no” on the healthcare bill: He is my hero.
Sick of Bost
Rep. Mike Bost refuses to go on the record over the zombie Trumpcare bill that’s winding it’s way through Congress. Graham/Cassidy, as it’s known, will kick even more people off their health insurance plans and put Medicaid on the path of destruction. Once again, his colleagues won’t wait for the CBO score to tell us what the long-term damage will be before they vote on it. Rep. Bost refuses to hold public events or answer questions about this bill because he hides from constituents. What few healthcare answers have been squeezed out of him have been mealy-mouthed nonsense about “buckets” and lies about the Affordable Care Act.
Amazon action
Congressman Bost owes us an explanation. The NGA would have brought many jobs and supporting businesses to our district. He was a part of those negotiations, along with Sen. Durbin and ex-Sen. Kirk. We got nothing. Chicago’s mayor is going out of his way to get Amazon’s new 50,000-job headquarters. St. Louis’ mayor is at the table. Where is Mike Bost? We haven’t heard a word. We finally have a chance to use Mid-America airport and the surrounding land to their full economic capacities. We need jobs and economic growth here too, maybe even more than St. Louis. After all, they got the NGA on your watch. What have you done for me lately?
St. Louis for ER
I was glad to learn that patients decided which hospital to go to during an emergency. Our choice will always be BJC in St. Louis. My family prefers the expertise of the doctors across the river. We do not seek medical services in St. Clair County. The quality across the river is unsurpassed.
Funding cesspool
The Feds decided to return East St. Louis Housing Authority to local control. Public housing is nothing more than a funding cesspool for local Democrats to funnel money to their families and buddies. When funding disappears, the local Democrats always manage to look the other way, as long as the votes are delivered from East St. Louis.
Poor suffer
Mayor Mark Eckert thinks he’s a hero for consolidating the Belleville township and saving taxpayer money. He is not. The two part-time employees he hired to replace three people have greatly reduced the quality of service. He eliminated two full-time union positions. The same union that supported him in every election. I am very sorry for the citizens of Belleville seeking assistance who have not been helped. Sadly, this is due to the lack of knowledge of Eckert’s part-time staff. His current staff has repeatedly given the wrong information to people in need of assistance.
Althoff smeared
Why do BND reporters repeatedly mention in their articles, surrounding the not guilty verdict for former St. Louis police officer, Jason Stockley, that he is a 1998 graduate of Althoff Catholic High School? What relevance is that? The off-handed reference adds no value to your articles and does a disservice to this fine educational institution.
This story was originally published October 1, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "BND readers sound off on protests, Sen. Clayborne."