I’m happy that Judge Roy Moore didn’t get elected to the U.S. Senate. He was a terrible candidate with all kinds of sexual misconduct allegations hanging over his head that he never fully addressed. I’m just as happy for all the snowflakes and unhinged liberals in Hollywood, Congress and in the media. The day after the Alabama election had to be the first day these miserable sour-pusses have actually been happy since Trump got elected.

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Illinois needs to change the law regarding lottery winners. It’s too bad that winners are required to go public, which has every friend they never knew contacting them through social media. Winners deserve their privacy and right to stay anonymous if they choose.

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A big thank you to all our Villa Park neighbors who have put up such great Christmas lights this year — especially on South Villa Avenue. The village really looks like a place with lots of holiday spirit.

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To the group of three or four runners who were on the Prairie Path at Villa about 10:15 on the 16th, it's called a stop sign. You have one there. That means stop to yield to street traffic. It doesn't mean give drivers who have the right-of-way a little wave and keep running across the street, forcing them to abruptly stop. Maybe next time, the driver will be looking at something besides idiots who will never get across the street because they were too special to interrupt their run for 3 seconds.

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Please do not put plastic bags in the garbage can. They blow out of the truck and get stuck in trees, where they stay for years. Take them back to the store. Thank you.

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Hello, Lombard Park District. I'm glad to finally see an outside john at Lombard Lagoon at this time of the year. I hope it will be there year-round. It would be nice to have johns available during the winter at all parks.

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Someone called in SPEAK OUT before Sen. Al Franken resigned his job. You called him a liberal hypocrite remaining in Congress. It's extremely sad. What he has done was not right, I agree. But when you call the Democrats a white-privilege party, who do you have sitting in the White House of the United States of America? You have a president who made a tape, even though he wants to call it bragging, making vulgar comments about women and how he had to carry Tic Tacs in his pockets so his breath would be fresh in case he started kissing a woman. And who did you have running for a senator in Alabama? Someone accused of inappropriate behavior with teenage girls years ago. The Republican Party was backing this man; your president was backing this man.

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It never fails that the extreme liberals use name-calling and other tactics to express their displeasure at the Republican Party. While I am not a Trump supporter, calling our president a buffoon, fool or other label —as if it were a quantifiable fact, not your opinion — just tells me you cannot have a constructive conversation without detracting from the issue(s) at hand. You don't like Trump; I get it. I don't either. Saying "I am angry" and listing why will go a lot farther; I will listen to your point of view, but once name-calling and diatribe come into the picture, I will tune you out because it's irrelevant to the issues. Make your point without having to resort to immature behavior that doesn't help your cause. That's what children resort to when they can't express themselves any other way.

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This is all of you Obama supporters and apologists. You need to get over the election. Hillary Clinton lost the election. That's all there is to it. Get over it. As far as you Obama supporters, loyalists and apologists, that was your biggest problem right there. I know he came in and inherited two wars and a failing economy and he said he ran on change, but I didn't see any change. The economy didn't improve and we're still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before you start bashing somebody you ought to just look at yourself in the mirror and say that Obama and Hillary Clinton would not make very good presidents. Obama was not a very good president. Neither is Trump and neither would Hillary Clinton be. Get over it. Move on. Obama's not going to be president again.

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The Declaration of Independence is a powerful and meaningful document. The passage most frequently quoted: "All men are created equal." The Civil War and the loss of thousands of American lives enforce those words. Further it states, "endowed by their creator." We owe nothing to any man or government for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Later in the text it states, "Any form of government becomes destructive. It is a right of the people to alter." That is where Donald Trump comes into play. By electing President Donald Trump, we the people have altered and hopefully abolished the government of the establishment or old guard in Washington, making a truer government of the people, by the people and for the people. We should read the Declaration of Independence. It is inspiring.

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Verbal or sexual abuse is a terrible thing. I think you could address it the minute it happens, not weeks, months or years later. There have always been morons around. The one with the politician who held her too close and allegedly grabbed her backside, the husband was right there taking the picture. She was smiling cheek to cheek with the politician. Really? She was abused? They're not threatening you. If it's your career on the line, I would give that up instead of verbal abuse. Take responsibility for yourself. Handle it.

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Hello, I did not vote for Donald Trump, but I think people making comments in here about him are being a bit ridiculous. We are still members of the same country. The one person who says the stock rally is the result of Obama's efforts is way off point. The Obama rally was a correction created by taxpayer dollars infused into a stimulus package.

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To add to the holiday season with its sappy, cookie-cutter Lifetime and Hallmark movies are the TV and radio commercials taking a real Christmas song and changing the lyrics to fit the product. Garmin kind of led the way as I recall with its rewording of "Carol of the Bells" (give a, give a, give a Garmin) and now some other companies are putting their own lyrics to that song. "Deck the Halls" and "Holiday Road" are another few that are being reworded to sell cars. Bah humbug, use some originality. Those knock-offs are not humorous and get the mute button from me.

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This is Lombard calling. I cannot understand how Lombard really needs two firearms stores. It's bad enough we have one next to the Prairie Path on Main Street, now there's a new one coming up on St. Charles Road by Grace. I think it's a disgrace to have two firearms stores, and by the way, there's also the one north of North Avenue. Do we really need all these gun shops? We're trying to protect our kids, protect our families and protect the people in Lombard. Now we really need multiple gun shops to have more shooters, owners have more guns? Thank you.

Your comments were forwarded to Lombard officials. The response is as follows: "The Village of Lombard’s Zoning Ordinance does establish regulations regarding land use activities and firearms sales [that] have been historically permitted to be sold in Lombard, often as part of sporting goods stores and related business sales. Firearm dealerships are also required to meet the federal provisions of the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). With respect to the number of a particular businesses within a given community, the village (as well as other municipalities) do not place caps on the maximum number of a type of business.  

"When it comes to businesses opening, expanding, relocating or closing, the village’s role is purely as a facilitator and informational resource. For more information on the village’s role when it comes to businesses, please view our new online series titled “From Ground Breaking to Grand Opening: Retail in Lombard” available at www.villageoflombard.org/retail."

Editors' note: Due to the volume of calls to SPEAK OUT regarding businesses coming into, or leaving, the Village of Lombard, please refer to the above website for information and answers.—JAC

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This is in response to the leftist blowhard in last week’s SPEAK OUT who believes Donald Trump has destroyed America, and uses the same pathetic, worn out “oh, the sky is falling” leftist rhetoric that Social Security and Medicare will be at the top of the chopping block if a tax reform bill becomes law. When was the last time a Democratic president or a Democratic majority in Congress ever proposed tax cuts of any kind? Since the caller seems to love paying taxes so much, how about if I send you my tax forms for 2018? I’d also like to send you my monthly health insurance statements, and you can pay for my health care that has jumped substantially every year since your messiah, Barack Obama, shoved Obamacare down our throats. Yeah, I sure kept my doctor and health care plan all these years—what a crock that was! I also love how leftists have suddenly become deficit hawks and are worried that the debt will increase if these tax reforms go into effect. But you didn’t hear a peep out of them as the national debt nearly doubled under Obama’s watch.

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So Trump is still trying to please all his rich friends with tax cuts at the expense of most of us in Villa Park and Lombard. I hope and pray by the time this is printed that the program was voted down by sensible politicians. And don't forget — if we don't have mandatory health care, the expense for sick people will increase so much that many will not be able to afford any health care. Until this country figures out how to provide universal health care (like Canada and Europe), we at least need people to have some kind of care. And don't write in about the quality of care where it is free, because slow care is much better than no care — and the rich people still have their own insurance.

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Uh, those W flags aren't associated with the Cubs. Given the time of the year, they stand for Winter. Some people need all the help they can get.

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Peter Breen, when are you going to stop using religion and how the state of Illinois doesn't have money to fund HB 40? Remember, abortion in a woman's choice. It's my right; it's not your right. If I choose to have an abortion because I'm ill or the reason I choose, it is not your decision to control what I do or what any other woman does with her body. You Republicans have defunded Planned Parenthood, which gave free medical care to women in need, mammograms, birth control, things that prevent women from needing abortions.

Your comments were forwarded to Rep. Breen, who responded: "House Bill 40 forces the people of Illinois to take over payments for about 30,000 abortions per year, roughly 75 percent of our state’s current 40,000 abortions. The bill has nothing to do with the legality of abortion. The vast majority of our neighbors and friends object to paying for other people's elective abortions—we’re talking about any abortion, at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason.

"The state government is suffering under hundreds of billions in debt. We spend billions more than we take in. And taxes just went up again, with no end in sight. We don’t have the money for 30,000 abortions every year: that's tens of millions of dollars out of the pockets of hard-working folks in Lombard.

"The Planned Parenthood issue is a federal one, and is not in front of the state legislature. Instead of forcing Illinoisans to pay for 30,000 abortions annually, I'd urge that the state government focus funding on the most vulnerable in our society, including care and support for pregnant moms and their babies."—JAC