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To the Editor:

Last night at a local restaurant a friend remarked that she had not seen my name in the Tidewater News lately. I replied that I was severely criticized not long ago about my essay on our Freedom of Speech. I am not a legal scholar, and I will refrain from making many future comments on the Bill of Rights. However, I still believe there are powerful people both in government and the big tech companies (and even foreigners) who very much want to deprive us of our police forces, and our First and Second Amendment freedoms, and if we do not make our voices heard loud and clear we will soon wake up and discover that we have been deprived of our guns, our right to peaceably assemble, our right to express our opinions, and other things we hold dear, such as our police men and women. I will comment on some more personal events lately.

Last month I saw another friend in her place of business. She asked me how I was doing, and I replied, “Fine, but I am disappointed in our president.” 

She responded, “I’m not … I’m thrilled!” Of course, I could not think quickly enough to ask her how many illegal Honduran immigrant children she planned of adopt, or if she had bought any gas or groceries lately. A few days ago I paid $3.19 per gallon for gas in north Georgia. Last night in Courtland I paid $2.92. I believe shortly before the election in November I had paid about $1.92, maybe a little more. That is about a 50% increase in a few months. Of course, the pipeline ransom hack is partly responsible, but gas prices were already increasing dramatically before the hack. Last week I paid $1.38 for a one-pound bag of dried black-eyed peas. Shortly before Christmas I paid $1.00. That reflects a 38% increase. My wife and I could dine in a local restaurant for about $25 more or less last fall. Last night the same meals cost $33, a 32% increase.

Almost everything we buy in our stores is delivered by truck and 50% increases in fuel costs are bound to affect the prices for just about everything we buy. Candidate Joe Biden said my taxes would not increase if I make less than $400,000 a year. I make way less than that, and food and gas price increases are not a direct tax … but they are definitely an indirect tax. And the costs we taxpayers will have to bear to support 178,000 illegal immigrants monthly (perhaps a million this year) for the free stuff they will receive might not be a tax, but it will certainly affect our bank balances. I am afraid Joe Biden’s signature on all those executive orders (surely written by someone else) will do more harm to our economy and our lives than anyone realizes. And by the way, Russians and Chinese and Iranians and most of the world’s citizens are laughing at us. How can anybody be “thrilled” by that?

Ash Cutchin

Courtland