Regarding executive order: Fact check, please

The First Amendment to the Constitution specifically prohibits Congress from any law abridging freedom of speech or of the press, but that amendment does not promote abuse of the right.

Your article “Executive order banning U.S. entry sows fear in Kitsap” (Feb. 2 Kitsap Daily News) certainly strains the boundaries of abuse.

The headline sensationalizes the executive order as a “ban,” while the article identifies it more properly as a “suspension.” The reporter apparently could not resist noting the seven countries impacted are “majority Muslim countries” without also noting that those countries were identified by the previous administration and that they are the principal source of Islamic terrorists who threaten the safety and security of western democracies and the entire non-Muslim world. Just a bit of fact-checking would have sorted that out.

The spokesperson from the Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center tells that “people now live in fear.” Simple answer to that is, if you are an illegal alien in the United States, go home and your fear will be eliminated. If you are an authorized resident of the United States, do not let the fearmongers scare you.

For the school district superintendent, please consider your duty is to provide a basic education for students that will prepare them to function and grow in the world. You are not empowered to indoctrinate or otherwise impose on those students any political ideology. Let critical thinking and logical analysis of fact be the cornerstone of your efforts.

The superintendent might also take a refresher in civics. The U.S. Constitution is silent on the matter of education and there is no delegated authority in the Constitution for the federal government to have any dealings with education. The state Constitution indeed makes education the “paramount duty” of the state, but also identifies the education to be education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex. Please note that there is no protected category for “national origin” or “immigration status.”

The concept of “residing within its borders” must likewise pertain to legal residents because the Legislature has no authority to legalize or authorize the presence of illegal aliens in the state.

Most critical to the article is that it appears that neither the reporter nor any of the individuals providing opinion on the executive order have bothered to read the order or the underlying law. The executive order is clear as to purpose and intent and the law is also exceptionally clear as to the authority of the President to issue such an order.

It would be in the best interest of the citizens of Kitsap County and the reporter to occasionally step back from what appears to be a great story and do a bit of research and fact-checking first. You certainly do not have to emulate the press throughout the country. You have to do better than that.

Jack Hamilton

Silverdale