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Columns

  • We must return to the Constitution

    By Congressman Robert Hurt

    In our U.S. Constitution, our Founders meticulously designed three branches of government so that too much power would not be concentrated in any one branch because they understood that if one branch possessed unchecked authority, that power would ultimately diminish the inherent rights of the individual citizen. 

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  • Healthy competition needed in the health care industry

    Competition is at the center of the American economy. It helps promote a healthy and favorable market for consumers. It forces businesses to perform at their highest and best level, working for the consumers, not against them.

     

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  • Finding common ground on criminal justice reform

    Finding common ground isn’t always the headline story from Washington. But there are a number of issues where both Republicans and Democrats can agree. One of these is the need for reforms to the criminal justice system.

     

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  • Another mass shooting

    By Vicki Gardner
    Executive Director
    Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce
    vgardner@visitsmithmountainlake.com

        My heart is breaking upon news of another mass shooting in this country. Just more than a month ago, I was a shooter’s target. It was a terrifying experience that left me with a long healing process ahead. Since that incident, I’ve had plenty of time to contemplate this complicated social phenomenon and how it can be resolved.

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  • GOP clown car a bumpy ride

        As the nation watches –  in horror – the bizarre show of the Republican Party trying to find someone willing to be House Speaker, the presidential candidates continue on their own strange path.
        There’s still Donald Trump, of course, who is now alternating between “I’ll never drop out” and hinting that he will, indeed, quit once his poll numbers flatline.

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  • What’s Obama going to do?

        A saying, attributed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, that compares negotiating with Barack Obama to playing chess with a pigeon, has been making its rounds of Facebook for a couple of years now. It’s hilarious, but it appears that Vladimir Vladimirovich never actually said it.
        Right now, Vladimir Vladimir-ovich isn’t doing any negotiating at all. He’s presenting  Obama with some facts on the ground in Syria. His unspoken message to Obama seems to be, “Deal with it.”

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  • National security must remain a top priority

    By Congressman Robert Hurt

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  • Not one cent for Iran

    Abducted, beaten, tortured, murdered – no, this isn’t the plot of the newest crime drama on TV. Instead, they are all-too-real crimes committed against our neighbors and fellow Americans as a result of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism.

     

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  • Not one cent for Iran

    Abducted, beaten, tortured, murdered – no, this isn’t the plot of the newest crime drama on TV. Instead, they are all-too-real crimes committed against our neighbors and fellow Americans as a result of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism.

     

     

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  • Tea party fanatics devour Boehner

        The Speaker of the House has been swallowed.
        Technically, it’s more correct to say that he is resigning. But from the moment of John Boehner’s announcement last week, everyone knew what had happened. He’d finally been overcome by the right-wingers in his party who have made his life so miserable.
        His attempt to rein in the ultra-conservatives among the so-called House Freedom Caucus was probably always doomed.

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