EDITORIAL Editorial voices from elsewhere

Editorial voices from newspapers across the United States:
The Providence (R.I.) Journal
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the “mainstream media,” saying time and again that the coverage is slanted and often devoted not to presenting facts or the truth, but to selective, agenda-driven accounts that amount to “fake news.” However, Trump crossed a line that surprised even some of his critics last week, and turned what had been an ongoing spat into something more disturbing.
Responding to an NBC News report that he had expressed a desire to see a tenfold increase in the United States’ nuclear arsenal, Mr. Trump, true to form, took to Twitter: “With all the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their license? Bad for country!”
Apparently he wasn’t joking (even if he doesn’t understand that it is individual TV stations, not the networks, that are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission). He followed up later in the day, tweeting that “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”
In fact, what would be unfair to the public, and bad for the country, would be to do anything remotely close to what Trump suggests. A free press is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. In doing its work, the media is going to stir things up, and its not surprising that the president of the United States is going to be, at times, critical of news coverage and the entities that provide it. But as Thomas Jefferson said: “The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.”
The Journal Times of Racine (Wis.)
Dear Congress: Please give the next victims of a crazed gun-wielding madman a fighting chance: ban bump stocks or anything similar that is designed to increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic weapon.
The ingenious and lethal device doesn’t require additional trigger pulls to unleash a stream of deadly fire. To use it, the shooter simply keeps the trigger finger steady and puts pressure toward the front end of the weapon. The recoil from shooting bumps the weapon back and in less than a blink of an eye the forward pressure brings it in contact with the trigger finger. Again and again and again.
The effectiveness of the device was demonstrated horrifically in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock rained fire and death from his 32nd floor perch at the Mandalay Bay on 20,000 concert-goers penned in across the street from the hotel.
Just fix this. Pass narrow legislation that bans bump stocks and any other devices that effectively make semi-automatic weapons into the near-equivalent of automatic machine guns.
Give the next victims of a gun-wielding madman a fighting chance to live.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Many Minnesotans were shocked and repulsed to learn that Danny Lee Bettcher, a chronic alcoholic, recently racked up his 28th DWI while in possession of a valid driver’s license – despite 27 previous drunken-driving offenses and nearly a decade in and out of jail.
In some states, Bettcher’s license would have been permanently yanked long ago. But not in Minnesota. Here, the state dutifully reissues licenses again and again to chronic offenders who meet a standard that is not nearly high enough.
Driving is a privilege, not a right. Chronic offenders deserve to lose those privileges – permanently.
No one should underestimate the crippling hold addiction has over many. There should be compassion for that struggle and help with treatment. But that generosity cannot extend to jeopardizing innocent lives that are ended or irrevocably changed because some choose to drink and drive.