Readers talk about Halloween, FBI Director James Comey, Donald Trump, the Chiefs, Amendment 6
Halloween treat
I would like to thank the many groups whose hard work and thoughtful preparation led to genuine neighborhood fellowship and good will this Halloween.
To name just a few: Roeland Park police, fire department, City Council, neighborhood watch, office of the mayor, and especially Roesland Elementary and its students. This school showed what it means to be a school of excellence.
There are so many good people actively involved in our future. Kudos to you all.
Missy Taylor
Roeland Park
Words for Trump
The following are words that intelligent Americans use to best describe Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump: racist, narcissistic, unqualified, perilous, infamous, misogynistic, sleazy, depraved and buffoonish.
Laverne Hill
Kansas City
World Series
What a breath of fresh air in the midst of this foul-smelling election season: two teams that played hard, played fair, gave it their all and then accepted the result with respect for each other and for the game itself. I wish the donkeys and the elephants were more like the Cubs and the Indians.
Michael Harty
Prairie Village
Flip on Comey
Odd, but FBI Director James Comey was a hero in early July when he announced that he did not think there was a case against Hillary Clinton. The case never went to a prosecutor but was decided by the investigative arm of the Justice Department. It was not his job to determine if a case should be filed.
If you remember, this was just days after former President Bill Clinton spoke with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, whom he just happened to run into in Phoenix. Another amazing coincidence.
Now Comey has lost liberal favor by announcing the discovery of more emails related to Hillary Clinton — you know, the ones she denied ever existed. This time, he has “waded into political waters.”
My guess? Anthony Weiner, who cannot keep his pants up or his laptop closed, is being jammed up by the FBI for sending pictures to an underage girl across state lines via electronic device, which is a federal felony.
In a fervent effort to not expose his privates in a federal penitentiary, he is trying to work out a deal by trading the laptop of his estranged wife and Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, for a break on his case.
Larry Dickstein
Lone Jack, Mo.
Smith’s concussion
Alex Smith’s injuries Sunday expose the uncomfortable fact that the first concussion makes a player more susceptible to a second concussion, then a third and so on. The NFL’s concussion protocol masks this reality to ensure that the show will go on.
Where brain damage is concerned, what could possibly justify the player returning to the field? Another moment of glory? Another paycheck?
With the knowledge of this risk, the only responsible action is to terminate the player’s career to ensure his long-term well-being. And that’s a pill few fans and team owners will want to swallow.
Tom Owens
Kansas City
U.S. aid to Israel
Recently, the media reported the latest military and industrial grants to Israel of $38 billion over 10 years after the previous decade-long grant of $31 billion made during the Bush administration. In my view, these grants of more than $3 billion a year are folly when the U.S. has needs such as fighting poverty, expanding health care and contending with infrastructure problems.
Israel does not need all that money. That nation has a vibrant entrepreneurial and industrial society that makes and sells a variety of products, including weaponry internationally, and its percent of GDP is significantly higher than that of the U.S.
With our aid supporting Israel’s military needs, that country can afford to build more walls and housing on the West Bank and openly oppose our diplomatic moves in the region. How can Congress support such extravagant aid when legislators demand that public spending be reduced?
No wonder Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smilingly praised President Barack Obama on his recent visit to Washington, D.C.
According to online reports of the Congressional Research Service and Jewish Virtual Library, more than $124 billion of military and humanitarian aid has gone to Israel since 1949.
Leslie Page
Blue Springs
Lawyer’s advice
Do not be fooled by the anti-Supreme Court retention propaganda. As a lawyer who has practiced in Kansas for more than 30 years, I can attest to the fact that the justices on our Kansas Supreme Court are highly competent, experienced, respectful, fair and impartial.
The anti-retention scheme is simply an effort by Gov. Sam Brownback and other politicians to do away with one of the three branches of government. Groups outside Kansas have spent an insane amount of money trying to change the makeup of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Our justices are not activists. That is a term politicos use when the court does not agree with their views.
We need to stop the power grab by Brownback and the politicians to take over the courts of Kansas, and keep our courts fair and impartial.
The courts are the only check and balance on the other two political branches of government. Vote to retain all five of our Kansas Supreme Court justices. Vote to retain our Court of Appeals judges. Vote to retain our Johnson County District Court judges.
Anne E. Burke
Overland Park
Insurance lobbyists
If you have ever been in an auto accident, your insurance adjuster has probably told you that because your airbag deployed your vehicle is a total loss.
I have heard these words, and I’m betting others have, too.
I’m paying for full-coverage insurance” for the price of an airbag?
In my case, my vehicle was 10 years old. Yet, the insurance provider was very happy to provide full-coverage insurance knowing it would offer a way out of paying repairs by totaling the vehicle if the airbag deployed.
I think most of us think that if we insure our vehicle, it should be for the fair retail value to replace our vehicle. The sad fact is that insurance providers will pay you only a third to half of the retail value of your vehicle.
How can this happen?
We are constricted by Missouri law to have insurance on our autos and are at the mercy of the insurance carriers. Constricted? Yes, constricted; try driving without insurance.
Congratulations to the insurance lobbyists.
Dennis Winton
Springfield, Mo.
Voting amendment
The Missouri legislature is trying to push voter-identification laws when only a handful of people have tried to vote illegally. Thirty-one in the whole country since 2000 according to at least one report+.
Missouri legislators are posing an attack on voting rights with a ballot question this fall. It is officially known as Amendment 6.
It would require voters to present identification at the polls. What is wrong with that?
For those who don’t drive, people of color, working people with inflexible schedules, low-wage workers with tight budgets and seniors who are unable to travel to get an identification card, it might be impossible to get the required ID.
On face value, you may say voter ID is a good idea. But look at the number of people who would be kept from their fundamental right to vote.
Please vote no on Amendment 6.
Linda Dimond
Warsaw, Mo.
This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Readers talk about Halloween, FBI Director James Comey, Donald Trump, the Chiefs, Amendment 6."