Speakout

Where are the Otto stories?

I was wondering why you don’t print anything as far as Otto Porter Jr. who is in the NBA playoff finals? I haven’t seen anything in y’alls paper. Of course you know he played basketball at Scott Central. I just wondered if you guys could put something in your newspaper about that because we need to be proud of this individual for being from around this area.

Unfortunately, we do not receive any Associated Press articles on the NBA except the finals, so with Porter and the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA title Thursday night, we’ve been able to run some stories.

It’s price gouging

Over here in Mississippi County, three places, I know they’re connected to each other and I know I can’t say the name of the stores, gas is $4.29 a gallon. I’ve been riding around from Cape, Jackson, Highway 25 came through there, gas is from $4.04 up to $4.14. I think this is price gouging. I think the Standard Democrat should send a reporter to that store over in Mississippi County and East Prairie and ask them question: “are you guys price gouging?” How did gas go from $4.04 to $4.29 overnight when everybody else is at $4.04, $4.12, $4.10 and $4.14? That is price gouging and they need to be reported.

Americans paid the price

It has been reported in three different publications dated Feb. 15, 2019, Aug. 24, 2020, and Dec. 22, 2020, Trump diverted around $18 billion from the Pentagon’s Department of Defense account, which cancelled 127 military construction projects. It caused the cancellation of construction of a new cyber operations facility, which we seriously need. Trump diverted billions of dollars from the Department of Defense’s drug interdiction program. That is why all those tons of drugs (laced with fentanyl) came through the border so easily. Another Defense Department project that was cancelled was for helping Puerto Rico rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico is a territorial possession of the United States and has been for years. It was reported on the nationwide news about how some of the military housing was old, broken down, moldy and a hazard for military families to live in. Biden had to stop the border wall. His 2022 budget will put funds back into the Department of Defense, which is crucial for our national security. Diverting funds may have made Trump’s deficit look a little better, but Americans paid the price.