Why they're coming
It seems to me that it's time to take a look at what some of the European Union nations are saying about illegal immigrants. If they are not being persecuted in the country where they are presently located, then they are not eligible for asylum in the country that they are trying to enter. Using that logic, people from Central America could not claim asylum in America. After all, Mexico is not persecuting them.
Let's face it, the only reason that they want to come here is because the pickings are better. If Canada offered better benefits, do you think that they would stop at the U.S. border? Somehow, I doubt it.
JOE WHALEN
North Little Rock
What we don't know
We don't know what we don't know. We do know we won't be told what they do know. Just a privileged few were informed. A very limited investigation was allowed and we're not told who was questioned, nor whether the questioners had expertise in that. We're told no polygraphs were used, but not why. We do know there were a good number who asked to be interviewed but were not. We're not told why.
Suffice it to say that if they don't want answers that differ from what they want, then just don't ask those who claim to have information. No, friends, we got a fast shuffle so the Republicans could put a partisan judge on the Supreme Court for life.
Full and public examination of the judge's record of work for Kenneth Starr wasn't allowed, nor whether he advocated for torture while serving George W. Bush.
Like the local press, it's what they don't tell you that is damaging to us in the long term. Merrick Garland was not even given a hearing so that the black president would be frustrated in any way possible, as they'd promised.
Governor Asa's first college degree and the first lady's, as well as his brother's, was from Bob Jones University. It seems he left that out of his biography online before the last election. Now you get religious-themed laws signed by him. We either fight them or we must live their religion. Next to catering to the wealthy, it seems his priority.
Folks, we have the best government money can buy--and they bought it. The love of money is the root of evil. Don't you wonder why the evangelicals funded and back this mess? I sure do!
KARL HANSEN
Hensley
About that caravan
I, along with the president, have been watching the latest caravan of migrants pushing north through Mexico. If one looks extra close at the growing mass of people, one might see a small Persian army hiding deep in the middle of the horde.
More seriously, this migration of families could remind one of the wagon trains that formed in St. Joe, Mo., a couple hundred years ago for the trek west. Those early Americans left their homes and headed west into lands that belonged to someone else. They were probably only seeking a better life and more opportunities to flourish.
It seems history sometimes repeats itself.
RANDY BLAKEY
Cabot
An effective response
As a lifetime Republican who believes in the sanctity of life in the womb, I prayed for wisdom as I drove to the polls in 2016.
Should I vote for (1) a candidate who would appoint a pro-life judge, but cut affordable health care, Medicaid expansion, CHIP, SNAP, WIC, child-care vouchers, housing vouchers, preschool, public education, free lunches and after-school programs, debt-free higher education, and oppose a minimum-wage increase? Or should I vote for (2) a candidate who would help a woman facing a crisis pregnancy through programs that would offer her child a fighting chance to succeed in life?
Nearing the polls, it became clear to me that Democratic policies don't force anyone to have an abortion, but they do make it possible for a woman in a crisis pregnancy to have her baby, and to raise the child without fear of poverty. For the first time in my life, I voted Democrat. The most common reason both married and single women give for having an abortion is that they "can't afford the baby." What's more, abortion rates decline during Democratic administrations, but rise with Republican policies. Two other facts shouldn't surprise anyone: Sex education reduces abortion rates, and so does providing access to birth control.
In order to reduce abortion rates, we have to vote for health care that provides neonatal services, as well as birth control; for a wage increase; and a safety net. Helping is not only the compassionate response, but also the effective one. Let's vote Democrat!
JANE RAMPONA
Little Rock
Not a great America
If we wish to have a great America, we need to be listening to and reading the writings of people like John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Susan Collins, along with people like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These are people who have made America great, not blowhards like Donald Trump and other specialists in insults, threats, and derision.
The America that Donald Trump talks about making is not a great America. It is a forum to enable an individual who thinks of himself as someone great to spread the image of his supposed greatness as widely as possible. Donald J. Trump is not a great man. His ideas, his walls, his tariffs, his insults, his derision, his demeaning tweets, his fanning of flames of divisiveness and personal and party enmity, his predatory personal and business practices do not a great America make!
JERRY NICHOLS
Pea Ridge
What's done in secret
When voting, please keep in mind that God promises he shall bring every deed into judgment ... whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
B.E. SPURGEON
North Little Rock
Editorial on 10/26/2018