Today's JG rants PDJT's "incompetence" and racism...again...and again...and again...

Roger Blansit takes foolishness to a new level.  Blansit uses the word “incompetence” to describe PDJT and his 2016 campaign staff.  That’s rich.  Blansit’s 2016 candidate was by far the most incompetent in the history of American politics. Not only was she sick, slow and lazy, she wasted a 3 to 1 spending ratio and an Electoral College advantage of about 70 votes at the beginning of the process. By the way, did Blansit or any other Democrat complain about the Electoral College when they were thought to be the benefactors of that process?

Far from incompetent, PDJT, a political novice, beat the experienced Democrat legacy candidate like a drum.  PDJT figured out his path to 270 Electoral College votes and out worked the Democrat nominee toward that goal while his incompetent opponent relied on name recognition and massive amounts of money to carry the day.  That’s the very picture of incompetence.

Blansit, like most anti-Trump sad sacks, is in a funk because the only evidence Russian collusion points to his side.  It was his own incompetent candidate who hired a foreign agent (Christopher Steele) to collude with another foreign state’s intelligence community (Russia) to produce a ham-handed fake dossier to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.  Incompetence?

With all of the clues of Russian collusion pointing back to his candidate, lawyer Blansit confidently informs us that obstruction of justice can occur without an underlying crime.  Tell that to your long-time hero Robert Mueller who studied the issue for 2 ½ years while blowing through 25 million dollars and was too incompetent (since we’re using that word) to arrive at a decision on that question.

Incompetence no defense for Trump

Tim Sauder (Letters, April 30) says The Journal Gazette is biased because it didn't jump on the “no collusion” bandwagon. The fact that Donald Trump and his aides are too incompetent to actually collude is not proof that they didn't try. If it were me and Mueller was investigating me – and if I hadn't done anything wrong – I would encourage the investigation, not do everything I could to scuttle it. He tried to get multiple aides to fire or push Mueller out. Why?

Sauder is just doing what all of Trump's supporters do: distract and change the subject.

Trump has and still does act like a crime boss. He doesn't have a clue how the government works or how limited his power as president is. He is a government employee, not a king.

Obstruction can occur if there was no original crime. The obstruction becomes the crime.

Roger Blansit

Fremont

If Chris Francois wants to feel some real discrimination, I suggest he/she take to wearing a MAGA hat everywhere he goes or try to get a conservative commencement speaker or heck any conservative speaker on campus or try to get a conservative idea past the editors of this small newspaper. 

At first I dismissed Francois’s claims as the rantings of an over-sensitive child always looking to be offended by something or a typical liberal hack striving desperately to reach for the new liberal golden ring of victimhood status or even a Juessie Smollett type race baiting hoaxster that conjures up faux events to stir the racial pot and not in a good way.

Then I considered that Francois spent most of his/her time among hypocritical liberals in North Manchester, and now it all makes sense. Of course Francois thinks Indiana is a hotbed of racism. He/she’s spent a lot of time with self-loathing liberals who think the same thing. 

Francois would have been so much better off if he/she had spent time in America studying with Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA.  First he/she’d have gotten a true and positive view of opportunity in America.  Second, while traveling with Owens and Kirk, Francois could have witnessed real hatred and racism where it exists in America – among campus liberals.    

International student has bittersweet time

As I end my fourth semester of studies in Indiana, I have begun to reflect on my experiences as an international student living, working and studying in the Hoosier state.

I have been welcomed into the homes of many great friends and, for the most part, I have been happy to call Indiana my second residence. The relationships I developed form lasting connections that I will forever cherish.

Yet, I also experienced discrimination and, sometimes, physical threats as a result of my background as a black international student from a small Caribbean island nation. I've encountered many surprised by my English language ability, despite the fact that I am studying at an English-language university in the U.S. and have native proficiency in French and Creole. I was also at the receiving end of derogatory language. I have been accused of coming to steal jobs in America and of being unlawfully present, despite solid documentation of my legal presence.

Unfortunately, my experience is not singular, nor is it an isolated case in the United States. Plenty of international students, while experiencing culture shock, are also at the receiving end of hateful comments simply because of their background. Furthermore, thanks to the color of my skin and where I was born, I am considered by some to be lesser than, or worse, subhuman.

When my younger cousins asked me about studying in Indiana, I was disheartened to tell them not to come because of all the negatives I've experienced. As I analyze my experience and the stories peers have shared with me, I believe cultural competency is critically needed if the state is to thrive, and foster a sense of equality and hospitality for the immigrants, international students and minorities who call it their home.

As I approach my last year of study, I hope to bask in the bittersweet feeling I get driving through the cornfields, maintaining hope that the negatives in my experience will no longer happen to future international students.

Chris Francois

North Manchester