Letters to the Editor | Opinion

There are 110 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. with more than half a million people, with a combined population of 228 million. Presidential campaigns under the compact will simply focus their attention on big population centers where they can leverage candidate time, policy, advertising and organization to maximum effect.

It would mean the end of visits to smaller towns like Johnstown (visited by Trump in 2020) or attention paid to groups like steelworkers or farmers. Pennsylvanians should thank their legislators for resisting this call to give away the state’s voice in the presidential campaign.

The author is senior legislative director for Save Our States, an organization focused on defending the Electoral College.

The Biden administration for months has been clandestinely transporting thousands of illegal immigrants to locations across the country.

Several migrants told Fox news that they had entered illegally, paying approximately $2,000 per person to cartel smugglers, and were flying to destinations including Miami, Houston and Atlanta.

The White House has repeatedly referred to vague “NGOs” (non-governmental organizations) who are helping with the process. NGOs are receiving large amounts of taxpayer money to transport illegal immigrants on planes and buses.

Alien Smuggling — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(i) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing that a person is an alien, to bring to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien.

Domestic Transporting — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law.

Harboring — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation.

Encouraging/Inducing — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) makes it an offense for any person who — encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law.

Conspiracy/Aiding or Abetting — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(v) expressly makes it an offense to engage in a conspiracy to commit or aid or abet the commission of the foregoing offenses.

Consequently, the Biden administration is blatantly violating federal immigration law.

On Saturday night, Feb. 5, just after midnight of Sunday morning, the power at my house went out. The temperature outside my pantry window was zero degrees. The house was cold and got colder as the night went on.

I was grateful when the power came back on shortly after 4 a.m., and the house began to warm back up. I do not know why the power went out, but I know somebody was out in the cold in the dark doing the repair work.

This letter is a shout out to those linemen who were up in the middle of the night fixing whatever went wrong to disrupt the power.

A politician several years ago started to claim that America had lost its greatness and he could get it back again. America never lost its greatness. America has always been great and continues to be great, because there are guys like those linemen who were willing to go out into the zero degrees in the middle of the night to restore power to cold houses.

This letter is in response to last week’s letters, about the “harmful” and “racist” words of a WASD director, regarding the Covid-19 virus.

Al Bieber has the same right to free speech as anyone of us. He did not yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. Mr. Bieber just called Covid-19 the Chinese flu. It is generally accepted by many of our government leaders, that Covid-19 did originate in China (lab leak or otherwise). Whether he called it the flu or a virus, what is the difference?

It is becoming obvious to me that there are many people in this country (and even in Tioga County), who do not want to hear anything which could be construed as negative about China.

Remember, China is a communist country, who appears to be: against freedom of religion, against free and fair trade, manufacturing most of the fentanyl (which is killing so many 18–44-year-old Americans), flying illegally over Taiwan, and human rights abuses against the Uyghurs.

Regardless of what China is or does, let me get back to the issue of free speech. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees Mr. Bieber’s and our right to free speech. But the writers of last week letters appear to be in agreement with Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She recently warned U.S. athletes not to speak out against China during the Olympics.

When local citizens start agreeing with political leaders about limiting free speech, we are slowly heading down the path of diminishing our right to free speech.

Mr. Bieber is a patriot and loves this country. If the prior letter writers believe that saying “Chinese flu” causes anti-American Asian sentiment, go after the people who are against American Asians, not Mr. Bieber.

It would be sad if the woke opinions of a few would eliminate Mr. Bieber’s right to free speech and his service to our wonderful school district.

As Pennsylvania’s gas prices skyrocket, hurting families and small businesses, the Biden administration can do something right now to help: Enact reforms to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS was well-intended as it was created to ensure that renewables were blended into our transportation fuels.

Unfortunately, many of our independent refiners are powerless to oversee this blending because that process takes place well after it leaves the refinery – however, they still must meet the mandate. As a result, these independent refiners who employ thousands of workers and provide fuel to small businesses throughout our region are spending more to meet the RFS mandate than on all other expenses combined. Fixing this broken federal program now is just common sense and it needs to happen soon before it’s too late for our last remaining independent refiners.

It’s time for the Biden administration to take action on common sense reforms that will protect our refiners, the jobs they create, and lower the prices we pay at the pump which is desperately needed right now.

Former Jackson Township Supervisor

The frequent letter writer from Blossburg is quick to deride all things Biden, claiming 2021 was “nothing but failures.” His statements lack detail and accuracy.

In 2021, our GDP grew by 10.0%, Average payrolls grew by 4.7%, (almost 16% in leisure and hospitality). The poverty rate in our country dropped significantly. Personal 401K’s grew at a record pace, not a bad year by many measures. But this growth has resulted in escalating inflation, something that presents a challenge for 2022.

His claim that Biden’s attempt at bipartisanship is “gibberish” ignores the Infrastructure Bill that was passed with bipartisan support. I wish there were more, but politicians need to put country before party.

He laments Biden’s permit cancellation of the “Keystone XL pipeline costing 30,000 jobs.” That’s not accurate. The Canadian company that owns the pipeline said the loss was closer to 1,000 jobs. In fact, despite Trump’s reversal of the permit, only 1.2 miles were completed during his administration.

He states Biden “immediately rejoined the Iran Nuclear Deal.” Not true. The Nuclear Deal is gone. Trump’s pull-out doomed the moderate regime and resulted in a ramp-up of nuclear development. Biden has re-entered negotiations with other countries to try to restore diplomacy and avoid military confrontation.

He speaks of a disaster on our southern border. We are being flooded with covid-infested drug dealers and crooks. The facts: refugee admissions in 2021 totaled 11,411, the lowest since the 1980s. Green Card holders (legal immigrants) are also down significantly. Too bad, we can use the workers. Purdue Pharma caused many more suicides and overdoses than refugee drug dealers or criminals.

“Embolden China and Russia to be more aggressive”? Biden does not refer to them as great leaders. The tariffs are still in place. In contrast to Tucker, we are not sitting back as Putin challenges Ukraine.

Finally, Biden’s covid disaster. Should the results be criticized by the very people who resisted the recommendations of our medical establishment? Hard to criticize the results if you ignore the strategy.

We have many challenges. They deserve to be aired. But the goal is to bring improvement or advance division.