3/10 Letters: Rev. Spearman’s comparison of Farr to Hitler is ‘egregious’

Regarding “Spearman equates Farr as judge to Hitler’s reign” (Mar. 6): Rev. Anthony Spearman’s comparison of federal judicial nominee Tom Farr to Adolph Hitler is irrational, irresponsible and reprehensible. It is also unworthy of a man who leads the North Carolina NAACP and a church.

Tom Farr is acknowledged to be one of the finest lawyers in North Carolina, has been nominated to the federal bench by two presidents and has earned the highest rating from the American Bar Association each time he was nominated. He is also the father of three boys, a former youth soccer coach and a faithful Christian. Farr is a graduate of Hillsdale College in southern Michigan, the first college in America, and perhaps the world, founded on the principle that discrimination on the basis of race or gender is wrong.

Spearman’s comparison of Farr’s nomination to the evil reign of Adolph Hitler is the newest and most egregious evidence of what is so wrong with political discourse in America.

Consumers ‘pay and pay’

Regarding “NC regulators weigh new Duke Energy rate hike” (Mar. 7): Let me see if I have these details correct: Duke Power merged with Carolina Power and Light knowing they would inherit deadly deposits of coal ash, the NC Utilities Commission fined Duke Power $30 million for coal ash problems, and Duke Power asked for and was approved an electric rate increase based largely on having to remove coal ash from various locations. Does anyone but me see a problem here?

Where did the $30 million fine on Duke go – not to the consumers who are now having to pay for coal ash removal and at an increased electrical rate to do it. Why did the $30 million get credited to the state of North Carolina and not Duke's electric consumers? Why are consumers being punished for poor engineering and business decisions by CP&L and Duke? Is there anyone on the side of the consumers?

Duke pays executives millions, pays stockholders dividends and we the consumers pay and pay for everything.

Adjust priorities

These days it’s nearly impossible to remain unaware of disturbing events and ongoing crises at many levels. First on many minds is the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at a high school in Florida; then there’s the continuing impasse about adjusting U.S. immigration policy; around the world, governments and humanitarian groups struggle to cope with massive flows of refugees fleeing war zones. So what’s being done?

I read in “As Trump presses for change, Congress delays action on guns” (Mar. 2) that leadership of the U.S. Congress has decided not to take up either reducing gun violence or immigration reform for the near term. Instead, they’ll debate a banking bill. In calendar year 2017, refugee admissions to the U.S. fell to their lowest level since data has been kept – just over 29,000; even less than in 2002, when admissions plummeted in the wake of 9/11. Is it possible our priorities need adjusting?

Secure devices

Regarding “How to make the ‘internet of things’ secure” (Mar. 8): Professor Kshetri makes terrific recommendations on the internet of things security, some of which include forced compliance by the manufacturers. While the professor says “their products won’t sell unless they are more secure,” 90 percent of drones are imported and I honestly have no way to tell that my drones are secure or that during one of the weekly updates via my smartphone to a company server, they don’t transform from a fun hobby to a threat.

Obviously this is far-fetched (at least I hope it is), but it does demonstrate shortfalls in the consumers’ ability to verify their own safety or vulnerability. In my non-technical opinion, we also have to ensure that the professor’s compliance ideas extend to the ability to somehow “virus scan” the ever growing devices in the internet of things.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 6:00 PM with the headline "3/10 Letters: Rev. Spearman’s comparison of Farr to Hitler is ‘egregious’."