As for Fox News?
The only time Cal Thomas mentions Fox News in his tedious June 19 screed against the "liberal media" is when he rhetorically asks if the publisher of The New York Times watches the channel.
I don’t know what he’s so worked up over. Despite recently forking over a record $787 million to settle a defamation case, Fox averages 2.6 million viewers per day while CNN averages less than 1 million. On Fox News, which I watch occasionally, I rarely if ever hear about Trump’s legal woes (two arraignments already, lots of charges, too), but often hear their vicious character attacks on any Democrat mentioned, including recently branding President Biden a "wannabe dictator."
And for years they permitted Tucker Carlson to voice racist commentary and to deny the outcome of the presidential election (until his texts about his bosses upset them), at which point they ditched him.
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Fox News has been Trump’s main collaborator in turning regular people into angry haters of those whom the station disagrees with. They continue to influence people to mistrust institutions our nation relies on for law and order, such as the FBI and the Justice Department. Their war against what they consider "woke culture" stokes the flames of fear and diverts people from contemplating the central challenges facing this country. Cal Thomas does the same thing, but he does this in your newspaper.
I’m not claiming there is no bias in any of the major media outlets, I’m just calling on the N&R to find another conservative commentator who might be more "fair and balanced" in their articles.
Robert Goldberg
Greensboro
Planned chaos
State Sen. Phil Berger represents me and I am calling on him, Rep. Reece Pyrtle, and the entire North Carolina legislature to make funding the State Board of Elections a priority in the final budget. It's time for Sen. Berger to put our money where his mouth is.
The N.C. House and Senate budgets that were recently passed do not have enough funding to upgrade the antiquated elections information management system (SEIMS). Along with 100 county boards, the State Board of Elections is supposed to:
- Oversee elections that include thousands of voting sites.
- Educate the public about voting changes.
- Assist counties in security and support.
- Investigate election law violations.
- Maintain voting systems and databases.
- And ensure campaign finance compliance.
All of this with less money every cycle. Sounds like chaos.
Then Sen. Berger will blame the State Board of Elections for the chaos. Along with proposed State BOE restructuring, gutting of popular voting policies, and withdrawal from the national organization that maintains accurate voter rolls, all of us will have a harder time voting and less confidence that our votes will count.
According to the legislature, that’s a feature, not a bug.
Claire Stone
Stoneville
More than mosquitoes
A recent letter to the editor (“Mosquito sprays”) asked whether we are “in the process of creating another 'Silent Spring.' "
The letter was prompted by a neighbor's yard being sprayed for mosquitoes and it pointed out that the yard was a place where birds find food. This time of year birds are looking for nice, soft insects to feed to their babies, which cannot eat hard food, similar to young human babies who cannot eat solid food.
The companies that spray for mosquitoes would have us believe that the insecticide used is selective for mosquitoes. Sadly that is not the case. Commonly used sprays contain pyrethrins or synthetic analogs which the National Wildlife Federation says kill all insects — bees, caterpillars, crickets. The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia states that the safety document for the most commonly used mosquito spray echoes that. No insects are spared.
The EPA regulates and approves the use of these sprays but notes their toxicity and recommends an integrated pest management strategy. Kill the larvae before they emerge as adults.
One might think that we'll not miss a few bugs here and there. Unfortunately we humans are killing more than a few bugs. Insect populations worldwide are falling 2% a year. Bird populations are down by 30% in North America since 1970, perhaps partially due to decreasing insect populations. Like birds, we humans need insects to pollinate our food crops and most other plants on the planet. Not Silent Spring yet, but quieter than it was.
Jack Jezorek
High Point