LETTERS: All is fair with Hillary and horse races

Hillary and horse races

A year ago, at the outset of the Breeders’ Cup Classic horse race, the favorite, Shared Belief, was essentially knocked out the race by Bayern, who eventually finished first. The foul was obvious, and every savvy horse racing fan waited for the inevitable disqualification. Lo and behold, Bayern was allowed to keep the prize, most likely because it was the biggest race of the year, and race officials didn’t have the guts to make the right call.

Now we see Hillary Clinton obviously violating the rules regarding handling of classified information. It was revealed early this month that Mrs. Clinton, despite her previous denials, had indeed signed a nondisclosure agreement that stated she could be criminally charged if she mishandled classified materials or materials that “could be” viewed as classified. So far, reports tell us that two documents on her personal server were marked “top secret” and/or “classified.” In addition, hundreds of documents have subsequently been marked “classified.”

Thus, it is obvious she breached the agreement that she never publicly acknowledged having signed, but has now been uncovered with her signature attached.

The bottom line: Anything goes at the start of a race, be it among horses or politicians. If U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch does not file charges against Mrs. Clinton, the law against the mishandling of government documents might as well be thrown in the trash, as anyone fired for such offenses can just refer to the Clinton escapades and beat the rap. No charges will ever be filed, and we will see that politics and protecting a Democratic nominee named Clinton is far more important than our national security.

Joseph Schillmoeller

Las Vegas

Student misbehavior

Regarding the incident at a South Carolina high school, no “pupil” — I avoid the word student here — has the right to keep teachers from teaching and students from learning by being disruptive and uncooperative in class and elsewhere on a school campus (“‘Disturbing’ arrest of black student sparks probes,” Oct. 28 Review-Journal). School administrators at the building level are charged with maintaining a disruption-free learning environment for students, teachers, staff and guests. When school police officers are summoned to quell a classroom or campus disturbance, it demonstrates complete loss of control at every administrative level, from the school itself to the superintendent’s office and members of the school board.

School principals should be supported in an effort to have parents and the recalcitrant child sign a contract of understanding that the child will be prohibited from attending any class in the building unless behavior is conducive to a productive educational environment. The understanding being that the parent will be contacted, at work if necessary, to come to the school and remove the child for any incident of negative behavior.

If upper-level administrators are gutsy enough to support the principal in this regard, school police and other disciplinary figures would not be at risk of losing their job for doing what is 100 percent the function and responsibility of the parent. If the parent declares an inability to control the child, then perhaps the parent needs to abrogate responsibility and contact juvenile court authorities for assistance.

School is not a place for behavior modification. It is where learning takes place to enable students to develop skills needed for future success.

Robert S. Tobias

Las Vegas

Move to Denmark

For the life of me, I cannot understand far left-wing, ultra-liberal people who want to turn America into a socialist nation. If socialism is all that great, and you are determined to achieve it in your lifetime, wouldn’t it be easier to pack your bags and move to Denmark, instead of trying to impose your beliefs on the rest of us?

Tim Hicks

Las Vegas