Pushing seniors to the back of the vaccine line

There was some very interesting and disturbing information in the Dec. 24 Betsy McCaughey column. A very vocal government entity, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), wants to push “senior citizens” to the back of the COVID-19 vaccine-shot line. Why? They say, “racial and ethnic minority groups are under-represented” in this age group. The ACIP wants all “younger essential workers” to be vaccinated first, because this group “includes a high proportion of minority, low-income, low-education workers.” So, some in my own Government would DISCRIMINATE against me because I am a senior citizen in the majority race, and have a good income and education!

It’s interesting that in England, their government vaccination policy is aimed at “saving the most lives.” Their priority list is “over 80 first, then those 70 & 60, and down the age scale plus younger people with high-risk health conditions. The U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and The World Health Organization agree with this kind of policy … “save the most lives!” What is going on in America?

“Jack” Gibson

Hideaway

PRAYING THE COUNTRY DOESN’T LET SOCIALISTS TAKE OVER

Politics is not the enemy. America is being yanked between evil and good. Our nation’s heritage and her Constitution is being violated by evil people with self-seeking motives to control Americans by socialism, stripping us of freedoms won by the bloodshed of wars. The freedoms we know will be gone, courtesy of socialism.

Some people think it’s all right since we’re in the end times. “This is supposed to happen.” No, no. We should fight. It may be God’s will, may not be. Our republic was set up with Isaiah 33:22 in mind, “The Lord is our Judge, Lawgiver, and king.” The three branches of government. Spiritual warfare is fought with prayers. They were effective when (Florida) was counting chads in the election between W. and Gore; they were effective when Trump was elected.

We need to pray now. The Lord prays for us. He matters. MLB matters but we all matter to Jesus. He came to Earth from heaven to give us eternal life if we will receive it. Satan’s minions have no use for Him. Mr. Trump does. He is a believer. He loves America and Americans. He gets things done because he is not a politician. He is a businessman. I hope and pray our country doesn’t just roll over and let the socialists take over without a fight. I believe in prophecy of the end times, but I also believe in honor and that God had a hand in establishing this nation.

Lauri Jones-Congleton

Whitehouse

Medical marijuana can be life-changing

Recently the United Nations Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug — removing it from Schedule IV where it was listed alongside dangerous and highly-addictive opioids. It’s an historic and long-overdue move and an important step in destigmatizing a drug that has proven to be more helpful than harmful for medical purposes.

Medical marijuana can be life-changing. Patients with debilitating conditions and chronic pain have found relief and normalcy after being prescribed medicinal cannabis by their doctors. It has also shown to be an excellent alternative to opioids.

In a region with staggering opioid abuse numbers, this cannot be overlooked. East Texas counties have some of the highest opioid prescribing rates in the state, with Smith County averaging 73.2 opioid prescriptions per 100 people. The City of Longview has some of the worst opioid abuse numbers in the entire country.

Marijuana is a well-tolerated and safer option in many cases, and a tool that Texas should allow our trusted doctors to use as they see fit. The Texas Legislature, including Senator Bryan Hughes, have shown great compassion for this issue so far, but there is more work to be done. As the U.N. has demonstrated, we need to reorient our thinking on marijuana, and we should not allow it to be a causality of the “War on Drugs.”

Morris Denton

Manchaca

Our government just spends what they do not have

What is our country’s debt now, 23 trillion or so? Now a lot of people are hurting and need help. Our politicians need our votes so they say they want to help. It takes them over 10 months to maybe agree on something. It is a last minute thing, as usual. It is, I think, 5000 pages. They got it the last minute, so of course most of them do not have time to read it, so they vote in the dark. They approve something that they do not know about. We are told by some that there is pork in it, imagine that. There is money to help another country. We or they do not know what is in it. Of course we do not have the money we are giving away, so we are borrowing it from somewhere.

Now our president all of a sudden says he thinks it is a disgrace, but he probably has not read it either. He wants to triple the check we want to send to everyone. We will send the checks to a lot of people who do not need the money, but who cares, everyone is happy. Our national debt skyrockets up. The politicians do not care, they just want your vote. How high can the debt go before we are bankrupt, and then what happens? It is very confusing. Our government just spends what they do not have. Our children and grandchildren will have to deal with it, and future politicians.

Harvey Collen

Tyler