Will inmates Obama released come back to haunt us?

Track drug offenders Obama released

On Aug. 30, President Obama commuted the sentences of another 111 federal inmates, bringing his total number of commutations to 673.

This number is more than the previous 10 presidents combined. One-third of the commutations were given to criminals serving life sentences.

Most inmates were convicted of the possession and sale of drugs and weapons violations.

The media should examine how many commutations went to minorities. It should also track how many of these felons return to the drug and weapons trade, how many are returned to prison, and whether more Americans become victims as a result of their early release.

After all, this is in effect a social experiment and the public deserves to know the results.

Can’t ignore Cheney’s ties to Haliburton

I find it ironic that columnist Martin Schram compares access to Dick Cheney while he was vice president to Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State.

There is no evidence to support anything other than Secretary Clinton was willing to meet with these donors.

However, while vice president, Cheney’s then-very-recent former company – Haliburton – received a no-bid contract for support services in Iraq after the Bush administration invaded the country. A deal worth billions!

Talk about influence and conflict of interest.

I don’t recall the Democrats, or the news media for that matter, being anywhere near as boisterous or critical.

Should have left out ISIS ‘martyr’ claim

We all know that ISIS is an immoral group of people who murder innocent people using bomb vests on women and now children.

So, why would the U.S. media even report a comment from the IS-run Aamaq news agency saying that one of their leaders was “martyred”?

The U.S and most of the world recognize the word “martyr” as one who loses his/her life for their belief in God or certainly something good.

Shame on the media for repeating the statement!

Trump bankruptcies left trail of victims

This Forum writer argued that “Trump has worked hard all his life to provide jobs and build a company.”

What the letter writer did not say is that six of Trump’s companies filed for bankruptcy over the years to avoid paying creditors.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of employees and contractors have complained that Trump has not paid some or all the money owed to them.

If the letter writer has a moral compass saying “vote Trump,” she had better get a new compass.

How to stem rising prescription prices

One person can solve the exploding cost of prescriptions.

The administrator of Medicare needs to announce: “We are legally not permitted to negotiate drug prices. We will not negotiate. We will remove from our authorized formulary any drug that is priced above that paid by health systems in other developed countries.”

Medicare’s costs will immediately fall in line and other large purchasers will demand similar pricing.

Congress to blame for immigration mess

President Obama should be known as “the deportation president” for deporting more people in less time than President George W. Bush did.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Obama’s immigration plan from proceeding.

In 2013 President Obama asked Congress to act on immigration reform. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill, but the House never took it up.

So Congress is to blame for our immigration mess, not Obama who enforced the law Bush signed in 2008.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Will inmates Obama released come back to haunt us?."