Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Sound Off

Sound Off: Jan. 19, 2025

Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources on the Coast, handed out “Make Seafood Great Again” hats at Gov. Tate Reeves’ cabinet meeting earlier this week. The hats, which the DMR is using to promote Gulf seafood, were a big hit in Jackson.
Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources on the Coast, handed out “Make Seafood Great Again” hats at Gov. Tate Reeves’ cabinet meeting earlier this week. The hats, which the DMR is using to promote Gulf seafood, were a big hit in Jackson. Tate Reeves/Facebook

Hats?!?!?!

DMR spent $3,000 on ball caps to give away, and is proud of it. Not one penny was spent on oyster spat or fish fry or fingerlings. Not one penny spent on every single demolished pier on the Coast from October of 2020. Yeah, order some hats to give away to folks who don’t care about marine survival. Where you at Shad White?

Not their fault

How did the Democrats start the fires in California? No one knows how the fires started, but we know that winds fueled the fires to burn out of control. Winds. Not Democrats.

Government efficiency

All they needed was a shovel to lean on. I watched a City of Diamondhead pickup truck arrive for the purpose of cutting off the tops of six fence posts, which should’ve been done when the posts were first installed. Three men piled out, only to get back in the truck minutes later and sit for at least 30 minutes until another pickup truck arrived, carrying two more “workers.“ It wasn’t until a third pickup arrived that seven men proceeded to do a job that one man could have done in the first 30 minutes that three city employees were just sitting around. And you want the government in charge of health care?

Why not?

There’s no law on the books that says one must be a retired general to be the Secretary of Defense. The failures of the current one proved that.

Biden’s legacy

President Biden spent over a half century in Washington D.C. During that time, he has been a failure at every turn. He, all by himself, took the Democratic party to the point it may never recover.

Income tax

I can’t believe that the governor is trying to pass a law to stop income tax in our state. This will only help the rich and will hurt the rest of the people. If he really wants to do something for the people in our state, he should eliminate the sales tax and pass Medicaid expansion in order to help all people in the state.

Not this

I usually agree with progressive ideas, but not the one on transgender athletes. They should not compete unless it is with their birth gender.

He didn’t do it

President-elect Trump is taking credit for the cease fire in Gaza. He hasn’t been sworn in yet, and President Biden’s staff has been doing the work.

What do we get?

I predict that President-elect Trump is going to let China have Taiwan, Russia have Ukraine, and North Korea have South Korea. What is the U.S. going to get from those concessions? Panama, Greenland, Canada, and maybe Cuba?

Women in combat

The real reason that Pete Hegseth, and men like him, are opposed to women serving in combat is not to protect women. It is their underlying fear that some women may prove to be better soldiers and leaders than they are. Time to let this go. Women have already proven themselves in combat.

Biden’s exit

One writer seems concerned that President Biden won’t leave the White House. You’re a little confused. That was the guy before him that went as far as inciting a riot to keep his job that he was thrown out of, and to clarify, choosing not to run and being “thrown out” are two entirely different methods for leaving the White House.

Sen. Wicker

Sen. Roger Wicker has endorsed Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is clearly unqualified for any appointed position in our government. What a terrible way to tarnish a career.

Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com.

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER