The Readers' Forum The Readers' Forum: No Medicare coverage

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No benefits

Following the midterm elections, there are now seven states in the U.S. that have not expanded Medicare coverage for their citizens. North Carolina is one of them. That means that over 600,000 North Carolinians continue to be denied essential health coverage.

But this also means that the federal taxes that we pay are going to support citizens in the other 43 states that have this coverage. Folks, we're already paying for our expansion and not getting the benefits!

Art Gibel

Winston-Salem

Random thoughts

Not surprisingly, it takes much longer to take political signs down than to put them up.

There needs to be a massive vehicle recall, across all makes and models. Turn lights are just not working!

Red lights are becoming increasingly dangerous. If your light turns green, it is best to check that someone is not going to completely ignore their red light.

Stop signs are another hazard; some people at least slow down while others choose to totally ignore them.

Our state Republican monopoly apparently doesn't mind that we have hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians without medical insurance/Medicaid. "I think we'll deal with that next year," Senate leader Phil Burger says ("GOP pushes Medicaid expansion into 2023," Nov. 11) - not a problem for them as I am sure they and theirs are well protected.

Oak trees hold on to their leaves a loooong time.

Speaking of trees, the color this year was really spectacular.

Bill Vaassen

Rural Hall

Humorous news

It's heartening to see the Journal continues to innovate in journalism - in this case, by expanding humor into the Nov. 12 front-page headline on T.W. Garner being sued because Texas Pete isn't made in Texas ("Texas Pete seeks to dismiss suit").

Perhaps we will discover copycats in barrator-wannabes as they are shocked - shocked, I tell you - to find that their order of fries at any fast-food place is not really made in France. We are fortunate that no one is marketing Welsh rarebit in the states.

Roger N. Kirkman

Winston-Salem

Something better

The Nov. 13 Journal had Eugene Robinson's column, "Trump is never, ever going to fade away." Robinson is right as long as the Journal, other papers, TV and radio keep giving former President Trump free publicity. Maybe now that the election is over, you'll find something better to write about as you did with the front-page stories about medical costs and debt ("'It feels unbearable sometimes,'" "'It can completely destroy a family'").

Michael Woods

Kernersville

Use the cameras

We are elated that Winston-Salem is planning the use of automated license-plate cameras ("License plate readers proposed," Nov. 12) to assist police in tracking criminals. Now, if we can only convince our City Council to use this system to issue tickets to all drivers who:

Drive through red lights.Drive through stop signs.Exceed speed limits everywhere.Follow too closely.

We will sleep better!

Benjamin C. Wilson Sr.

Winston-Salem

Overturning education

I fear your Nov. 13 editorial "Educators must remain vigilant" is too optimistic. I would lay odds in Vegas that the new Republican-leaning N.C. Supreme Court will easily be persuaded to overturn the Leandro ruling that orders $1.75 billion go toward the "Leandro" education remedial plan.

Courts are too partisan these days. They shouldn't be. But it's become a Republican Party specialty. They're most open about it with the nation's Supreme Court, filled by right-wing extremists after former President Trump promised he would fill it with right-wing extremists.

The N.C. Supreme Court won't hesitate to overturn the "Leandro" ruling first chance it gets.

Republican authorities are not only opposed to funding public schools, but they also criticize college education.

They'd rather fill the state with plumbers than lawyers and doctors.

Why do they dislike education so much? Maybe because educated people - people who learn a little more than Republicans want them to know - vote more often for Democrats.

Marcellus Hinton

Winston-Salem