Editorial Roundup: Mississippi

Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:

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Dec. 10

The (Tuepelo) Daily Journal on fraudulent charities:

In 2018, Americans donated $427.71 billion in charitable giving. Fraser Institute, based in Canada, indicates that Mississippians gave an average of 1.67% of their incomes to charity each year, ranking the state 10th among 64 states and provinces.

Mississippians display their generous hearts through their charitable giving, but thieves sometimes take advantage of these soft spots in a variety of holiday scams.

Those donated dollars make attractive marks for the dishonest, according to Mississippi State University – Extension Service family resource management.

Their agents stress that consumers need to be especially careful about charity tricks and cheats during the holiday season and encourage doing research before giving.

Anyone can put on a Santa suit or make a phony charity call. Don’t succumb to pressure, so take your time. If you receive a call, request information by mail, and if you receive mail solicitations, check to determine if the group is real and how much of your donation actually goes to the charity. The Better Business Bureau holds the standard that at least 65 percent of income should be spent on the charitable activity.

Law enforcement agencies throughout Northeast Mississippi keep a close eye on scams, especially during the holiday season and can be a good resource when checking on solicitations.

Often groups will identify themselves with a name that closely resembles a well-known, reputable organization. Others will thank you for a pledge – one you probably didn’t make – and offer to arrange an immediate donation collection.

When selecting a charity to support this year, remember the following:

- Get the name of the person calling and the exact name of the charity. With so many charities in existence, mistaken identity is a common problem and sometimes intentionally done for confusion.

- Resist pressure to give on the spot, whether from a telemarketer or door-to-door solicitor. A responsible charity respects your right to make a thoughtful decision.

- Press for specifics. If the charity says it’s helping the homeless, for example, ask how and where it’s working. The caller should be able to tell you the organization’s purpose, whether contributions to it are tax deductible, how a gift will be used and how much of it will go to the charity’s program.

- Check websites for basics. A charity’s mission, program and finances should be available on its site. If not, check for a report at www.give.org.

- Never give your credit card number or other personal financial information to unknown callers.

- Always get receipts especially for cash contributions. These are important for tax deductions and provide a tracking mechanism for donations.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office oversees the registration of charities in Mississippi and all charitable organizations are required to register with the SOS’s Office and renew yearly at http://www.sos.ms.gov/charities

Mississippians give to charities to make a difference. It’s important to do due diligence to ensure your hard-earned charitable contributions are spent in the most effective way possible this holiday season.

Online: https://www.djournal.com/

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Dec. 10

The Greenwood Commonwealth on the impeachment:

The Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives seem determined to fast-track the impeachment of President Donald Trump, even while they know that, as it now stands, they are unlikely to get any Republican votes in their chamber nor secure a conviction in the Republicancontrolled Senate.

Even if you believe that Trump committed impeachable offenses, it is reasonable to question why the rush when more time and investigation could strengthen the case for what is perhaps the most damning part of this ordeal: the president’s belief that he is immune from congressional accountability.

Democrats in the House have made a strong technical case for impeachment. The evidence clearly suggests that the president abused his office by trying to barter a White House meeting and military aid for Ukraine for an investigation into the family of Joe Biden, one of the main Democratic challengers to Trump’s re-election in 2020. As constitutional scholars testifying in Congress have amply explained, misusing one’s office for personal gain does fall under the impeachable catch-all of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

But that argument is not compelling enough to win over any bipartisan support for impeachment, much less the support of the majority of Americans. Nor will a totally partisan impeachment followed by a Senate acquittal do much to stop Trump, or those who come after him, from behaving in a similar manner.

If Democrats in Congress really are interested in deterring autocracy in the White House, they need to slow down, find out more of what happened in the Ukraine scandal and compel those who know the most to provide documents and to testify. They need to know precisely what was communicated to the Ukrainian president in that fateful July 25 phone call and what the president’s own inner circle understood to be Trump’s motivation. Also they need to know how the president responded after he learned of the whistleblower’s complaint about that phone call and whether he tried to cover it up.

Chris Truax, an appellate lawyer in San Diego and an adviser to a group of lifelong Republicans disturbed by Trump’s disregard for the rule of law, makes just that argument for a more deliberate process in an op-ed column he wrote for USA Today.

He says what’s at stake in this impeachment is not just Trump’s political fate or the congressional elections in 2020. Even more important is what this case means going forward for the system of checks and balances in our democracy.

Trump has taken the attitude that the House inquiry is illegitimate, and thus he and anyone who has worked for him can defy it without legal consequences.

“Trump,” writes Truax, “has made two breathtaking claims: That, as president, he has the power to forbid Congress from questioning any witness about conversations with him by claiming executive privilege, and that he can, by fiat, render both current and former administration officials immune from congressional subpoenas. Taken together, this amounts to a claim that Congress may only investigate the president with the president’s permission.”

A one-sided impeachment inquiry won’t check such arrogance. Court rulings that compel compliance with congressional subpoenas would.

Admittedly, waiting on judicial reinforcement will take time and push the resolution of the impeachment process closer to the 2020 election. Something as serious, however, as the attempted removal of a president should not be done in haste anyway.

Congress should be as methodical as it takes to unequivocally establish that no president is above the law.

Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com/

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Dec. 9

The Vicksburg Post on citizens doing more to stop crime in the community:

There’s an old phrase that says “like a broken record” when referring to something that happens over and over again, or something that is said over and over again.

When it comes to crime in our community, there are some reports, some dispatches and some incidents that are “broken records,” meaning they are ones that are happening at the same time, happen with the same people or involve the same places.

It is the latter that raises the most concern.

When dispatchers ask officers to respond to the same business or the same apartment complex over and over again, the problem no longer solely lies with the individuals involved, but the owners of that business or the managers of the apartments.

Law enforcement can only do so much to clean up or curtail crime in a particular area, but if those in charge of that establishment, or the managers and owners of that complex, do little to change the surroundings and the situation, then they are in many ways complicit to the crime and the disturbances that occur.

There are addresses that 911 dispatchers call out so much that it is quite likely officers or deputies on patrol can finish the call before the dispatcher does. They know a call is coming and they know where it’s coming from.

That is both sad and disturbing.

Again, there is only so much law enforcement can do.

To really curtail crime, it is up to those who live in these areas, those who frequent these establishments and those who live in these complexes to demand change, not just of the owners, but their neighbors.

The same can be said for certain neighborhoods and streets, where officers and deputies are routinely asked to respond.

At the time deputies and officers, they are responding to a situation that has already occurred. It has happened. Real change must be proactive; it must come before there is a problem, before the call is made.

When it comes to the “broken records” in our community, they must be fixed, they must stop playing the same old song, and begin playing a new tune.

Law enforcement can only do so much.

Online: https://www.vicksburgpost.com/