All opinions are those of Marshall Miles, President of Tri-State Public Communications, and do not represent the opinions of employees, volunteers, or underwriters of Tri-State Public Communications, Robin Hood Radio Network or local access cable CATV–6 and CATV–252 on the Comcast system in Canaan, CT  

The following is the personal opinion of Marshall Miles.

Again, just one person’s opinion….I remember the first time I went to vote. Clearly like it was yesterday. My grandmother was a life long Democrat, and she gave me instructions to “just pull the Democratic Party Lever and vote for all Democrats on the ballot!”. I went, I voted by pulling the party line (does anyone else remember that!?) for the first and last time in an election.Over the years I have switched party affiliations several times, Democratic, Republican, Unaffiliated, and this year I re registered as a Democrat. I can say that over the years in every election since the first one I voted in, I have always split the ticket..and voted for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, etc. Not this year.The Republican Party is now officially dead to me. Congress and Senate members show full support for Donald Trump for one reason and one reason only…SCOTUS picks. And it appears their long journey into fascism will be complete with this SCOUTS nomination.Now, hear me out. I understand political parties working to achieve a goal. But I, for the life of me, will NEVER understand that for over three and a half years, Republicans have relinquished their party to supporting Q-Anon, White Supremacists, racists, replacing any Republican with whoever President Trump supports, and letting President Trump change the party of Lincoln, to the party of Hate And Fear.Only a few (mostly retiring party members forced out because of their willingness to stand up and not support what the President says) Republicans have had the intestinal fortitude to call the President out on his horrific hate filled rants.Our Generals who have led our military over the years, hand picked by the President to serve in his cabinet have had the correct moral base to say enough is enough, and speak out against the President, and leave the cabinet. Leaders of the FBI and CIA have been replaced, and re-replaced when they dare to speak of the weakness of the Trump administration. They ALL have spoken as to how they see the President putting this county in harm’s way in these challenging times.The President’s poor reactions to natural disasters: Hurricanes, floods, fires….The President raiding the Pentagon budget of millions and millions to pay for nine, yes only 9 new miles of border walls (ongoing repair of other parts of the wall have been occurring for years and continue to this day).The President’s abuse of power using the military to force peaceable protests to disband in Washing D.C.The President’s use of border agents in Portland to respond to protesters.The Presidents live and tweet comments on women, people of color, Black Lives Matters, LBGTQ rights…The President’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis (or lack of leadership) and his lying to the country of its severity when he could have made a difference in late February and early March.The President’s use of losers and suckers to describe military members who gave their lives to give him the opportunity one day to be president.Racist, sexist, bizarre, and just plain false, these Donald Trump quotes come straight from America’s President:”I will build a great wall–and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me–and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.””Our country is in serious trouble. We don’t have any victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don’t have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say China, in a trade deal? I beat China all the time. All the time.””I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” — Trump on women”Before a show, I’ll go backstage and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it…You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.” — Trump on the Miss America pageant“I have black guys counting my money. … I hate it,” Trump told John R. O’Donnell, the former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, according to O’Donnell’s account in his 1991 book “Trumped!” “The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.”In a New York magazine profile published in November 1992, a year after Trump divorced his first wife, Ivana, Trump was quoted dispensing his wisdom about how to handle the fairer sex. “You have to treat ’em like shit,” Trump said in the article to friend Philip Johnson, who responded, “You’d make a good mafioso.” Trump’s response: “One of the greatest.”On August 19, 2015, two white men (who later pled guilty to the attack assaulted a man who was sleeping outside a subway station in Boston. Police detained the assailants, and one of them confessed his motivation for the attack: “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.” Later that day, Trump, while at a news conference, was informed of the incident. He responded: “I haven’t heard about that. It would be a shame…I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again.Pardon of Joe Arpaio The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling in U.S. history. The illegal tactics that he was using included “extreme racial profiling and sadistic punishments that involved the torture, humiliation, and degradation of Latino inmates”. The DoJ filed suit against him for unlawful discriminatory police conduct. He ignored their orders and was subsequently convicted of contempt of court for continuing to racially profile Hispanics. Calling him “a great American patriot”, President Trump pardoned him soon afterwards, even before sentencing took placeAnd the President’s false ranting about massive voter fraud, how the election is “rigged” if he loses, and his use of top U.S. Postal officials to foul up vote tallies, and now packing the SCOTUS to possibly give him a win on a claim that has been debunked by the FBI, CIA, his own election fraud commission that he appointed, and house and senate investigations .Enough, I could go on.There is only one way to rid or country and our world of this President and make sure it never happens again…..PUNISH the Republican Party with being complicit, and stepping aside while the President destroys our long held relationships with our allies, while the President and his family loots America, while the President assails the constitution of our country. That means to vote for every Democrat or Independent running against a Republican candidate…from the local statewide elections up through the House and Senate, and Presidency. The whole party, from the state level on up, is complicit in this President’s attacks on our constitution, our election process, and finally his support of Russia interfering not only in 2016, but again now in 2020. When President Donald Trump appeared to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 election Monday, he was also disagreeing with all U.S. intelligence agencies; two congressional committees that investigated the issue; his own Defense secretary, director of national intelligence and national security adviser; and private cybersecurity experts.All the elected and potential Republican campaigns who have stayed quiet in the Republican Party, all those in elected positions who stood by without standing up to be counted, and simply telling the President he was wrong deserve to be defeated. ALL OF THEM. It is the only way to exterminate the fascism, racism, gender bashing, civil unrest supporting that is now a permanent plank in the Republican party. Real change begins at the grass roots and works its way up the chain. To get rid of this President, and to wake up the Republican party to eventually take back their party I urge you to support any candidate running against Republicans. And to vote. So this year…even though there is no party lever, I will be voting 100% against Republicans from the state level on up. As a county and world we deserve better. Back to the future.

See who just wrote this after you read it, and understand we are at the precipice

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

Written by Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis

Announcement of an arrest of a police officer in Minnesota on murder charges

This editorial will be short and sweet:

So police officer Derek Chauvin is being arrested ..bullshit! Al of the offices should be arrested who were on the scene and did nothing to stop it. And the officer with the bodycan with the best view should be top of the list..they are all accessories to the murder and should be charged and put on trial. Period. Remember,  That area is only four years removed from the death of Philando Castile, a black man who was killed by a police officer. (That officer was found not guilty of manslaughter.)#arrestthemall

Decision on Salisbury P and Z vs Lime Rock Park

We at Robin Hood Radio reached out for a reaction of the Connecticut Supreme Court Ruling on the Salisbury P and Z and Lime Rock Park. Skip barber replied to us with this comment.
““It was a mixed decision but certainly it went largely the Citizen Counsel’s way. They’ve said all along that what they wanted was to maintain the status quo and they got that. What we got was the correction of a major error that the trial judge had made. His decision said we could not race on Saturday and that got corrected. The special permit process is also a little less burdensome. We can go on doing what we were doing. What we needed and wanted was up to three Sundays for our major events. Racing has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. There are far fewer small events and the races held on the main events are longer and we are time constricted without Sunday afternoon.”

Again, the following is the personal opinion of Marshall Miles:

To myself ad many others, what this means is that the three major events at Lime Rock that bring in over 50,000 visitors to our area of each three day period will soon be in jeopardy due to changes in the racing industry. If something is not done about this millions of dollars will eventually be lost to the area economy. This area’s business rely on that income to survive. Just look around you, your neighbors rely on this income..not big business, but your friends and local neighbors. WIth the changing environment it is harder and harder to make a go of it..just look at the past five months….the winter that never came, the pandemic this spring, and possibly into the summer….it has been devastating to local hotels, motels, restaurants and shops.Just imagine if the millions of dollars in revenue from visitors to Lime Rock for the three major evens in the future vanish as well….it would be nice to do a survey of the residents who are complaining when they purchased their homes…before the race track existed, or if they purchased their home knowing that Lime rock was an operating race track. I also remind the Salisbury P and Z and the community group as well that Lime Rock effets the whole Northwest Corner..and yes, your concerns are vald, but so are the concerns of Lime Rock Park and the rest of the business and people that this decision effects.