Incognito Bern?
Was it a small bit of stealth campaigning, subconscious wishful thinking, or just poor proofreading, which led to Birnie Avenue being twice misspelled as Bernie Avenue, in Kristin Palpini’s excellent Between the Lines column “Should Kids Risk Their Health for an Education?” (May 12-18, 2016).
Kelvin Kindahl
Florence Editor’s Embarrassed Note: It’s the last one, Kelvin.
Keep Online Gambling Out of Mass.
The Advocate has done so much to keep us informed on the casino issue. Please let your readers know the gaming industry is now trying to legalize online gaming and sports betting. So far they have bills before 20 state legislatures.
In Massachusetts, Senate bill S191 could change the General Laws to allow the state lottery to implement online gaming for fantasy sports, poker, and other games. It’s obviously the first step toward full implementation in the commonwealth. The bill is under study for the remainder of this session, but will likely be reintroduced. The treasury wants this bill passed because they expect to lose lottery revenue to casinos. Casinos want it approved to tie in and target younger people not as interested in traditional gambling. With two granddaughters nearing young adulthood, we are very concerned.
Does gambling solve fiscal shortfalls? The Rockefeller Institute of Government studied this issue. Their April 2016 Blinken Report concludes: “If history is any lesson, gambling is only a short-term solution to state budget gaps. Gambling legalization and expansion leads to some revenue gains. However, such gains are short-lived and create longer-term fiscal challenges for the states as revenue growth slows or declines … Gambling is not a reliable and sustainable source of revenue for the states.”
Given this, do we really want to expand into gambling 24/7 with the potential to hurt so many young people? Contact your state senator and representative now. We shouldn’t be passive on this one!
David and Eileen Pratt
Springfield
Choose: President Trump or Nuclear Strike
Although many of us do not like Donald Trump, perhaps we should nevertheless grit our teeth and vote for him in this election. If it’s a choice between a Trump presidency and an Iranian nuclear strike, the lesser of the two evils is a Trump presidency.
If I am correct, the current agreement allows Iran to hide nuclear weapons at unknown, but suspected sites; it also gives Iran 24 days’ notice — time that could be used to move weapons to a site not being inspected. At first Trump wasn’t going to re-negotiate this agreement, but more recently he has indicated that he would. I don’t believe Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders have said they would.
If we elect Trump this time around, and stabilize the situation with Iran, then we can feel free to vote for someone more environmentalist and/or presidential in 2020.
Alex Sokolow
Santa Monica, California
