Fresno woman, nearly 70, can pay off student loans now with Biden’s forgiveness program

Nurse glad for loan forgiveness

I am exceedingly grateful for the $10,000 student loan forgiveness.

Now I can retire in four years at age 70 without the loan I have been paying since 1997 still hanging over my head so I could become a nurse!

Paying off student loan debt

Our president will pay off $10,000 in student loans. What a great president!

In the 1950s and ’60s I drove a tractor for my dad, 11-1/2 hours a day, seven days a week all summer and weekends to save money for college. That was dumb.

I recall a recent interview with a woman who’d recently graduated college. To have $10,000 of her loan forgiven was a godsend since buying a house was out of the question. Now it’s doable. And to think my wife and I worked, scrimped, and saved for years to buy a house after paying for college.

I bet those that didn’t have the money go to college are proud to help cancel some of the debt of those that did.

When Biden is up for re-election, he will forgive college loans by another $10,000-$20,000, ensuring he, and all Democratic candidates, will be elected. What wisdom. I can’t believe the Republicans are not jumping on this bandwagon. What’s another trillion in debt?

I expect the next item on the agenda will be to pay off $10,000 in car loans to college graduates. They needed the car to get around campus, so why burden them with that debt?

Sick of political ads for gambling

Dear backers of Props. 26 and 27, you have convinced me. After suffering through months and months of constant ads, I promise never to vote for another gaming proposition again.

Thank you for helping me make up my mind.

No votes needed on 2 Republicans

On Oct. 10, early voting will begin for the November election. When it comes to congressional elections there are just two things on the ballot, MAGA extremism and a woman’s right to control her body.

It is likely that Kevin McCarthy and Tom McClintock will win their congressional elections. Republicans and independents need to be aware of what they are voting for. Kevin McCarthy had a moment of moral clarity on Jan. 6, 2021 when he condemned Trump for inciting an effort to overturn the election. Nevertheless in the wee hours of Jan. 7, after the MAGA thugs had been cleared from the Capitol, he voted with 138 other Republicans to reject the electoral votes representing millions of voters in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He was part of the plot to steal the election for Trump. A few days later he went to Mar-a-Lago and kissed Trump’s ring. He supports the Big Lie.

Tom McClintock and McCarthy both oppose a woman’s right to control her own body. McClintock has an A+ rating among right-to-life organizations. Given a majority in the House, both of these congressmen will vote to ban abortion nationwide. Don’t give them your vote.

Solar, wind power and landfills

It’s time to examine what the Congress approved in its most recent climate boondoggle. Two primary goals were promoted: solar power and wind power. A few weeks ago the LA Times published an expose on life span of solar panels, apparently about 20 years. The article stated that no one in the industry planned for this eventuality. Upon dismantling said panels, it was discovered that the various components were highly toxic. Off to the landfills they go, taking their toxins along.

Research has shown that with regard to wind power, a semi truck is required to transport just one used blade.The component materials of the blades cannot be disassembled nor can they be reused or recycled. Again the result is adding more useless material to the landfills.

Congratulations to this administration’s green machine. Yippee for our environment. Oh, on a side note, don’t charge you EV any time soon.

Education’s woes not COVID’s fault

The Sept. 2 article, “Nations Report Card shows plunge in math and reading,” assumes that the cause for this academic plunge is the effects of the pandemic. Just because this took place during the same time as the pandemic does not mean that the pandemic was the cause of the decline. There was no evidence provided that followed the effects of the pandemic to the behavior of the students that limited their comprehension in the subjects tested. Correlation does not mean causation.

There are other factors that should be considered: school violence, teacher shortages, and pedagogy. The worst period for violence has been in the 2021–22 school year, which saw nearly quadruple the average number of gunfire incidents since 2013. America’s gun violence epidemic, in the form of mass shootings, gun homicides and suicides, and unintentional shootings, has been infecting America’s schools.

Recent news suggests there are shortages of teachers in many parts of the country, and these shortages are detrimental for students. Lastly there are changes in teaching pedagogy that focus on teaching to the test, rather than deep learning and comprehension.

The pandemic does not deserve all the blame.

Faith vs. reason and abortion debate

When debating someone about abortion rights, there may come a point when they say “my faith tells me abortion is murder.” Thereafter, no argument of reason can sway an argument of faith. Debate then is impossible because faith and reason exist in separate realms. I’m not arguing against religion. Religion is important in so many lives, but once faith is invoked in a policy debate, no further debate is possible.

When Justice Alito stated seven months before the Dobbs decision on abortion, “A fetus has an interest in having a life,” he was not stating a scientific fact or reading from the Constitution, he was stating his faith. Debate over.

Today, the Republican party is a “faith” based party. Faith that, from Fox to Donald Trump to Alex Jones, all are truth-sayers despite having lied and lied and lied so many times before. How can consensus be met when this “faith” prevents an examination of reality? The lost opportunities on climate change come to mind. And yet, I’ve watched the Jan. h Hearings and been buoyed by something I thought impossible in Congress today: Republicans and Democrats efficiently working together, with decorum, and producing real substance.

Call out MAGA for what it is

Lots of opinions about Pres. Biden’s strong criticism of the MAGA segment of the Republican party. Just makes people more polarized. Should’ve sent out the welcome branch ... as he did the whole first year of the presidency, offering Repubs the chance to share in credit for better health care deals, starts on climate control. All he got was scorn, until he used only the Dems to pass these crucial bills.

Critics said he should have made a lovely “let us work together” speech as Pres. Lincoln did, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.” We all know what happened next. The kindest, most brilliant president in history was assassinated. The nearly illiterate vice president then became second-worst president we’ve ever had, and we had 100 years of significant portions of our country allowed to practice “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws and red-line behavior. The stain on our country may never be washed away.

Sometimes one must call out behavior — anarchy, autocracy, nazism — for just what it is!

This story was originally published October 1, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Fresno woman, nearly 70, can pay off student loans now with Biden’s forgiveness program."