There are several things that bother me, and should you, in terms of judicial confirmation,education and local government.

• Judicial – The senate confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch has been contentious and the Democrats have filibustered his nomination, to which Sen. Mitch McConnell, leader of the senate, said the nextoption will be applied in this judicial Supreme Court appointment – the commonly referred to as the “nuclear option,” which instead of 60 votes to confirm a candidate, the nuclear option allows a majority vote only (51 votes). Democrats and a Republican (John McCain) are crying foul.

The former Vice President, when he was a Senator – Joe Biden – said no Supreme Courtnominee should be selected one  year before a presidential election, the new president should select who they want instead of being saddled with a nominee not of their choosing. He should have added only if the President is Republican and not a Democrat. Guess Democrats forgot that edict from Saint Joe.

Judge Gorsuch is immensely qualified and the vast majority of his rulings and written opinions in the lower court have been thoroughly vetted and accepted to be correct, abiding by the Constitution, and the vast majority of legal reviewers have agreed. He was confirmed by voting when he was appointed to the Appellate Court by none other than Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama among many others. Now he’s not qualified just because a Republican president nominated him to the court appointment?

For those of you saying this process is unprecedented, you can thank Senator Harry Reid for the rule change to oppose President Bush’s lower court nominees. Judge Gorsuch was confirmed Friday, April 7. Judge Antonin Scalia can quit spinning in his grave.

The Democrat smokescreen against Judge Gorsuch was just to placate their radical left base. They will also use the filibuster and their despicable behavior for fund-raising – this was all Kabuki Theatre and Senator Chuck Schumer is the lead actor (appearing as Bozo the Clown). Now they can tell the zombies that are their base they tried to stop his confirmation, but those rascally Republicans were scumbags and changed the rules.

However, they will neglect to add Sen. Harry Reid did the same thing when Obamacare was voted on in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve with none other than Bart (the Stupid) Stupak from the U.P., a man appropriately named after the “Bart” cartoon character in “The Simpsons” casting the deciding vote in the House.

• Education – Have you noticed two things over the past few years about education – sex by teachers with students and the retirement funding for teachers? Google the subject of sex with teachers and you will find male and female teachers being fired and arrested for having sex with their students. These are not isolated incidents — it is an explosion of this behavior, a national disgrace. It illustrates the lack of moral upbringing, our societal acceptance of bad actors within our midst, and the obvious influence of TV, movies, YouTube, etc., to glorify these spaceballs to act out their sexual desires on teenagers under their control and influence.

What is wrong with these teachers? If Wayland and other area schools have these incidents, please do the right thing and fire the teacher once it is confirmed they did indeed engage in sex with a student and support their arrest and conviction in court.

The retirement funding for teachers in most states exploded with the retirement of baby-boomer era teachers. If you look at the state and school budgets, you will see the large amount of retirement debt. Teachers, when they were teaching, had contracts, and promises of green pastures in the form of good retirements that awaited them when they were of retirement age.

I am not bringing this up to bring scorn on teachers, they deserve what they were promised, just focusing attention to what will happen when the retirement fund is being threatened as being unsustainable. The debt has exploded in recent years. Please view the problem: https://www.mackinac.org/pension

Much thought and conversation must take place in the state legislature and school boards to realize the problems involved and remedies to fix it. Higher taxes will not be the solution.

• Local government – LansingMayor Virg Bernaro (D) was on Tucker Carlson’s show recently because he and the city council voted to declare Lansing a “sanctuary city” – another symptom of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome). The mayor, when asked about declaring Lansing a sanctuary city, went on an undecipherable and idiotic rant about working with individuals and the police force to talking about being “pulled over while white.”

Mayor Bernaro was a poor Democrat candidate for governor a few years ago when he was beaten overwhelmingly by Gov. Snyder, however, the liberals within Lansing must love him, as he has served as mayor for 12 years. Thankfully, as reported, he has declined to run for another term. He is an embarrassment for the city of Lansing and the state of Michigan. See what he said here:

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/05/sanctuary-city- mayor-battles- tucker-carlson- lansing-michigan-police- easy-white- men

As I was viewing the program, I felt sorry for Mayor Bernaro, such a bad performance defending illegal behavior. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned “sanctuary cities” may have federal funds withdrawn because they are defying federal law. So be it. The law must prevail and be enforced. Build the wall as soon as possible and allow legal immigration.

A country without borders is not a country but open for mayhem and invasion by those wishing to do harm to citizens – both legal and illegal. I’m all for immigration – legal and with identity verification. I knew a young couple, he an American and she a Mexican in the U.S. on a temporary student visa. The rest, as they say, is history. They fell in love, married in Mexico, and fought to have her accepted as an American citizen. After years and large amounts of money to do so, she is now an American citizen. Her family (father, mother, and siblings) had applied to immigrate to the United States and were recently accepted as citizens.

It can be done, but please, do it legally and embrace your new country by learning and speaking the language, observing our laws, customs, and integrating into American society. Have a love for your mother country, but once you pass immigration entrance rules, you are an American – congratulations! We need you, we want you to become citizens, but do it legally.