Letters: I can guess why Apple didn’t come to NC.

The legislative leaders don’t understand why a major high tech company might not want to relocate to North Carolina. Really? How about gerrymandered districts, HB2, attempts to suppress voting rights, weakened environmental protections, attempts to destroy the separation of powers by weakening the office of the governor, requiring judicial candidates to run under a party affiliation banner, weakening traditional public education in favor of charter schools, attempts to reduce assistance to the poor, a failure to expand Medicaid to provide healthcare to the working poor and a cynical disregard for the basic principles of the democracy. Sadly, I do not encourage my grandchildren to relocate to North Carolina.

Maxine Dalton

Hot Springs

Armed guards

How many officials have to meet to fix what a bunch of hoodlums are doing to America. Indict Maya Little and those who resisted arrest and participated in the destruction of the Silent Sam monument. Have them all tried and, if convicted, sent to prison. Law enforcement and UNC officials have disregarded law and order. It would be more economical to hire armed guards to protect Silent Sam after it is repaired and re-erected than spend five million for a new building. These mobsters are not going to stop with this teardown. They will find some other destruction to their liking to destroy tradition.

I doubt that any of these protesters know the history of the all the wars fought at the hands of American servicemen, women and volunteers, including the Civil War under the administration of Abraham Lincoln. Will any of them defend America if Russia, Iran or North Korea attacks America like the Japanese did? Or will they flee to Canada?

A message to UNC alumni: stop your support to your alma mater until new common sense people are put in place.

Mary Lou Smith

Raleigh

Dane Foster detained

How can Congress think this immigration policy is a good policy? Now there are four children and a disabled vet who might end up on government support. The father is a legal resident but had a “disorderly persons” citation (no incarceration) four years ago for marijuana possession. Do Sens. Tillis and Burr and Rep. Price think this man should be kicked out of the country his lived in for 20 years because of a citation? How many of us would be kicked out?

This is not right! Dane Foster, a Jamaican immigrant who is a legal resident was taken by ICE as he drops his child off at daycare? This is the early days of the Gestapo. What are my elected officials going to do to stop this?

Lyric Kinard

Cary

Limited value

Your Dec. 11 story claimed that Alexa could help buyers find their next home (“Hey Alexa ... help me buy a home in the Triangle”). While it is true that Alexa will cleverly answer your inquiries and perhaps get your search started, she will not provide access to homes for sale, advise you about values, or help you deal with wet crawl spaces or rotted siding, etc. What Alexa does is capture your name and phone number and sell that to a realtor. Alexa is a lead generator, and the N&O should be educating consumers about how these transactions work rather than re-printing press releases about the latest gimmick to harvest and sell your data.

Consumers are using lots of “free” online resources such as Zillow and Hot Pads to search for homes. Alexa is just one more. Few consumers understand that the revenue model for all of these businesses is capturing and selling their data. If the service is “free,” YOU are the product!

Becky Harper

Raleigh

Bennett Place

Why not move Silent Sam to Bennett Place, where both sides ended hostilities and chose peace. That’s the path we need to follow.

Holly McDonough

Durham

Will of the people

The hypocrisy of state House Speaker Tim Moore and the Republicans is truly stunning. Moore says that Gov. Roy Cooper is ignoring the will of the people by vetoing the new voter ID law. The same election results which approved the voter ID amendment to the North Carolina Constitution clearly removed his party’s veto proof majority but they are rushing this legislation through while they still have power out of proportion to their public support. The Republicans in Wisconsin and Minnesota are taking similar, anti-democratic actions.

Republicans like to tell us that elections have consequences. What they really mean, and what we are learning, is elections have consequences when they win. When someone else wins, not so much.

This state and country need multiple responsible political parties and I hope that, someday, the Republicans can be one again.

Charlie Gunn

Creedmoor

Correction: A column on Sunday said that a study by McGill University found that Airbnb raised rents in New York City by $380 per month. The study, which was commissioned by the Hotel Trades Council, found that Airbnb rentals raised rents by $380 per year.