Editorial voices from elsewhere
Editorial voices from newspapers around the United States as compiled by the Associated Press:
The cellphone has evolved into an entire person’s life in miniature, with not just the ability to communicate in countless ways but shop, snap photos and a myriad of other applications.
It was probably only a matter of time before weaponry was next. If sensible heads prevail, that time has not arrived, and never should.
Kirk Kjellberg’s idea is the Ideal Conceal Pistol, which resembles a mobile phone but contains a trigger and two barrels. Whatever else this creation might be, it’s anything but ideal.
There’s no doubt frightened Americans who think life must be lived at the point of a gun will flock to this invention. Rational people will understand the obvious danger of this idea, and hopefully rational lawmakers will, too.
“This is for law-abiding citizens, not criminals,” said Kjellberg, a Minnesota native. Tell that to the criminals, and tell that to police who must already make instant decisions regarding immediate threat, and cannot possibly be expected to distinguish a phone from a gun if they look the same.
Tell that to cellphone owners who misplace their devices. That happens all the time. Tell that to kids who might innocently wind up playing with loaded weapons.
Kjellberg’s empty comment about the device posing no danger as long as owners follow current gun-carrying laws is not just wrong, it’s insulting. It ignores the dangers involved with flooding everyday society with more weaponry, and dismisses the potential life-ending confusion created by this invention.
Kjellberg sees a market from people “who want to make a priority of protecting themselves.” Doing it this way is not a priority, it’s an unhealthy obsession that puts everyone at risk.
In a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission voted to allow an estimated 40 million Americans on food stamps, Medicaid and other federal assistance to register for subsidies to put toward Internet service. For the first time, low-income Americans can qualify for a credit worth $9.25 a month. That money can be applied to broadband service as part of a voice bundle on cellular, fixed networks, or a standalone phone with no voice plan.
This is good news for the estimated 13 million people eligible for Lifeline who currently have no Internet service. With more educational courses and jobs requiring applicants to apply online, poor people are at an added disadvantage if they don’t have access to the Internet. As much as it may seem to some to be a useless extravagance, Internet service today is a basic utility – as necessary as water and electricity. This is a historic expansion of benefits that is long overdue.
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams drew a crowd to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Catoosa, Okla., Monday night. Thank the Oklahoma Legislature.
From Catoosa, he took his show to San Antonio but then he had a little time off. He cancelled the Biloxi, Miss., show scheduled for Thursday.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played at the Chesapeake Arena in Oklahoma City April 2. They did not play in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday in protest over the freshly passed law dictating bathroom use and limiting the rights of LGBT residents to litigate discrimination claims.
Apple, Google, American Airlines, Bank of America and at least 76 other companies publicly denounced the North Carolina bill.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on March 28 vetoed that state’s so-called religious liberty bill after two economic development projects went away, Disney threatened to stop using Georgia as a filming location and the CEOs of Salesforce, Dell, Microsoft, Virgin and Unilever opposed the bill. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce opposed it, too.
The message from the corporate community is crystal clear: Bigotry is bad for business.