The Signal has endorsed Steve Knight in the upcoming election. I found it ironic that so much of the endorsement focused on what was described as bullying of the paper’s staff by a local activist without a mention of the bullying behavior of the current occupant of the White House. He certainly has set the tone for elections and treatment of the press.
More importantly, the paper’s endorsement failed to explore several nationwide problems that need to be addressed by our representative in Congress.
On Saturday, Oct. 27, my family was in a Cleveland synagogue for the bar mitzvah of my cousin’s son. It was a great morning. Then we left the synagogue and heard the news from Pittsburgh.
We have a president who calls himself a “nationalist.” Jews know the origin of that label – the current occupant of the White House slings it around as a signal to the radical right. David Duke declared his appreciation for Trump’s comments last week.
We have members of Congress, Knight included, who continue to block common-sense efforts to rein in the gun culture by implementing universal background checks and banning weapons of war in the hands of civilians.
The Pittsburgh killings, in a place just like the one we were in on Saturday, were not committed by a “middle easterner,” coming though Central America, or a Muslim, or an ISIS member, or a person of color. Like over 75 percent of terrorist acts on U.S. soil, it was a homegrown, angry white male, this one with an AK47, now unleashed in a country where the president carelessly spouts dangerous rhetoric.
The answer is not more armed guards in houses of worship or schools.
These are just two of the major issues we face on a national level. There are many others that need to be considered by voters. A small step to return to sanity is a vote for those candidates who will clearly and unequivocally call out Trump for his dangerous words and his own bullying behavior, and those who will act to curb the ability of dangerous people to get their hands on weapons of war.
Steve Knight has demonstrated that he is not one of those candidates.
Marc Winger
Newhall
