West Newsmagazine 12-14-16

4 I OPINION I
December 14, 2016
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Rebuttal to
‘A letter to Ann Wagner’
To the Editor:
I’d like to inform Mr. Stoeffler [“A letter
to Ann Wagner,” West Newsmagazine, Dec.
7] that most, if not all, of what he wrote is
total fabrication.
First of all, the Democrat-controlled
Senate is pure fiction. If you would start
reading actual newspapers and stop subscribing
to “fake news” as put out by the
right wing establishment, you would know
that Republicans control both the Senate
and the House. You are guilty of perpetuating
falsehoods and for what reason? To
show people “you are in the know?”
Well, this just one more instance in
which you have been led astray, along with
all the other Trump supporters who have
witnessed that campaign promises are
beginning to bite them in the butt. A perfect
example is the tax rate for the middle
class, which Trump campaigned on as
the greatest tax roll back ever for people
making less than $75,000 – it’s not going
to happen. Trump posted on his website
information contrary to those campaign
promises immediately after he was elected.
Another hard fact is that Clinton is not
going to be investigated and “drain the
swamp” is not happening, as you can attest
to from his appointments thus far. As for
all the Carrier jobs being saved, well, you
already know that was another outright lie
by Trump.
You got taken, Mr. Stoeffler, as did the
62-plus million other voters.
If you are waiting for the wall, don’t
bet on it. Are you curious as to why these
things are not happening? Write to Donald
and leave poor Ann alone.
Lastly, where did you get the information
that Obama encouraged illegal aliens
to vote in the general election? Where do
you come up with these fictitious facts?
Wherever that is, you must check out these
“so called facts” before communicating
them to others. Your letter to Ann Wagner
makes you look foolish. If you are wondering
why she doesn’t respond to you, look
no further than your own total misinterpretation
of facts. For her to respond to your
fake news would make her look foolish as
well.
Stu Leventhal
• • •
To the Editor:
This is a perfect example of fake news.
President Obama did not encourage illegal
aliens to vote, saying there would be no
consequences.
Please see www.snopes.com for the
complete explanation of how his remarks
were edited to give this impression. A
video of the interview this hoax was based
on can be found online at www.snopes.
com/obama-encouraged-illegal-aliens-tovote.
Maggie Eisenberger
• • •
To the Editor:
I think with all the misinformation floating
about, it would be a good idea for you
and your readers to check Snopes or Factfinder
or Fact Check to check that what you
are writing about is true. Advocating for
impeachment for Obama for saying that
he encouraged illegals to vote is entirely
wrong. He encouraged Latino citizens to
vote, not illegals. Also delineating all of
the reasons for impeachment would be a
good idea, so that others can set the record
straight.
Donna Rice
• • •
To the Editor:
West Newsmagazine on Dec. 7 contained
“A letter to Ann Wagner,” which repeats
the now-discredited fake news that President
Obama encouraged undocumented
illegal aliens to vote in the Nov. 8 election.
It is well-known that the interview
tape was altered at Fox News by someone
unknown to remove the word “citizen”
following “Hispanic.” The stories’ subsequent
circulation through unmoderated
social media sites such as Facebook was
to be expected. But a newspaper with an
editor should not repeat such fake news
without comment.
The editors of West Newsmagazine, in
the past, have been clear that the publication
is their newspaper and they feel no
obligation to be fair and balanced nor to
print both sides of issues. That is their
right. But no publisher who buys paper by
the ton and ink by the barrel should promulgate,
without comment or correction,
fake news – even if contained in letters by
the readers.
Richard Anderson
[Editor’s note: West Newsmagazine
makes every attempt to provide fair and
balanced news coverage; however, Letters
to the Editor are not news and, therefore,
are not fact-checked as news stories
are. Letters to the Editor are, as they are
labeled, opinion pieces that are written by
readers. Those opinions are not meant to
be construed as the opinions of West Newsmagazine.]
Negotiating lower
prescription costs
To the editor:
I sent an email to Sen. Roy Blunt and
Rep. Ann Wagner asking them to support
a proposal allowing Medicare to negotiate
with drug companies thus reducing prescription
drug costs.
Yesterday [Dec. 7], Sen. Blunt dismissed
a proposal to do just that, probably in part
because Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced
the idea.
Rep. Wagner replied that she, too, is
concerned and that several congressional
committees are going to start looking into
this next year in an effort to determine why
costs keep increasing. Maybe this is akin
to rocket science for them or they are not
aware that the issue has been investigated
for many years.
I can help get them started. One of the
reasons is that pharmaceutical/health
product companies spend more on lobbying
than any other industry [$238 million
in 2015; 50 percent more than insurance
companies, the second largest industry].
Roy Blunt can probably confirm this due
to his intimate knowledge about lobbyists.
Another reason is that drug companies
fill our media [TV, magazines, etc.] with
tax-deductible advertising promoting the
latest in new, improved and more expensive
medicines. Their marketing and
administrative cost are around 35 percent
of revenues. If they make minute changes
to a drug they can gain another 20 years of
patent protection.
It’s no secret why drug costs are higher
in the ironically named free market. Don’t
wait another two, four or six years – let
your elected officials know where you
stand.
Scott Risdall
Facebook.com/westnewsmagazine
Want to express your opinion?
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