Readers sound off on guns, Trump, VA, Apple, Kansas City-area drivers
Guns, terrorists
I received an email from U.S. Rep. Sam Graves stating that more gun control won’t stop radical Islamic terrorism. I believe that comprehensive gun control would go a long way in reducing gun violence in America.
Jared Lee Loughner shot Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six people Jan. 8, 2011. Loughner was not an Islamic terrorist.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. They were not Islamic terrorists.
On July 20, 2012, James Holmes killed 12 people at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Holmes was not an Islamic terrorist.
On Dec. 14, 2012, Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Lanza was not an Islamic terrorist.
Using “Islamic terrorism” as an excuse to ignore gun control in America is just another bow to the gun lobby. As one of those “anti-gun liberals” Graves referred to, I believe that we must do more.
Charles L. Beucher Jr.
Kansas City
Voting flu
While standing in line at my voting site in south Kansas City, chatting with neighbors and acquaintances, I got the distinct impression that some people were voting not for the presidential candidate they favored, but against the person they disliked more.
A nice touch at our voting site was the complimentary barf bags handed out to voters.
Tom Karczewski
Kansas City
VA thanks
As a Korean War veteran, I hate to hear of veterans who are not receiving necessary services from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
I served in the Army as a medical corpsman and was wounded and medically discharged with two Purple Hearts in 1952.
I received a degree in education from Southern Illinois University under the G.I. Bill, which paid for my tuition, books, supplies and housing.
I have received services at the medical centers in Leavenworth and Kansas City. I found the personnel in both locations to be respectful, cordial, qualified and responsive.
The VA has provided hearing aids, eyeglasses, a walker and other adaptive devices. The Vision Impairment Services Program provided me with an electronic reader and audio newspaper/book services, enhancing my quality of life, all at no cost to me.
The VA provides low-cost prescription medicines, saving me hundreds of dollars every year.
I have gotten timely appointments, but when I visit one of the medical centers and witness the massive number of veterans being served, I can see how there could be delays.
I have nothing but accolades for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Joseph Mayo
Blue Springs
Liberals’ beef
Just because a conservative does not agree with everything a liberal believes, he is labeled a bully, mean-spirited, bigoted and the fall-back default criticism — racist.
Even when a conservative capitulates and, to keep the peace, agrees to everything a liberal wants, the liberal denigrates the gesture with “It’s a good start, but it’s not enough.”
There will never be a time when liberals say, “It’s good enough,” until complete socialism is achieved, when everyone has the same income and all amenities. That would last about one day.
It’s a shame that retaining power by promising everything to everyone is so important.
Would that public servants were just that.
Edward Barnes
Prairie Village
Apology expected
Some of Donald Trump’s campaign statements would be sufficient to get me fired. Taking his words at face value, it is easy to see him as a misogynistic racist bigot.
I hope his words don’t reflect who he really is. I hope the majority of people who voted for Trump don’t approve of his derogatory statements.
I believe a few are OK with his attacks. The election has validated their racist beliefs.
It’s OK to pick on Muslims, immigrants and Hispanics. It’s OK to deride women who don’t meet his appearance standards.
Worse, Trump’s validation could embolden another group to try blowing up a Kansas mosque or go after immigrants in Montana. Most won’t go that far.
I worry many in this group believe it’s OK to express their hatred in public and teach their kids it’s OK to bully. If it’s OK for the president to say, it must be OK for me to act that way.
It is not.
Trump needs to own and apologize for his comments. More important, he must convey that it is not OK to treat each other as he has indicated.
If he doesn’t, then he really is the person that his words reflect.
Brian Petrie
Independence
iPhone Apple hold
I recently wanted to replace the battery in my iPhone, which was lasting significantly less time after three years of ownership. I took it to the Apple store and requested that the battery be replaced.
I was told that I needed an appointment and that they would notify me when my place in line had arrived. After occupying myself at a local restaurant, my turn arrived.
I was greeted by an iPad-carrying young person who took my information and sent me to another line. Here, a genius (nice guy really) evaluated my phone and told me my battery was shot. I needed to come back in the next four days for a replacement.
I returned to drop off my iPhone and was placed in a line, presumably to find out what I wanted. I was then greeted by a second person who found another genius for me. The phone was re-evaluated, and I was told I could leave it if I could get it out of its case, which was next to impossible.
Luckily I succeeded. On a third trip to the store, I was able to pick it up.
Business idea: I drop off stuff. You fix it. I pay you.
Stephen Kunz
Overland Park
Embracing people
If I left an office where I had applied for a job and I saw a black person sitting in the waiting room, I could feel a sense of relief. Inside of my liberal self, the knowledge that the black person was not as likely to get the job as I was could rise unbidden.
I’m glad things are changing, but I know others who have benefited from this kind of privileged existence are not.
We have plowed through American history, a juggernaut that need not concern itself with other cultures or races that would, we guessed, just sort themselves out in our wake as best they could.
I understand you may see recent trends as “us” being in trouble. The birth rate for whites is down, immigrants are settling in and whites find themselves in an ever more evenly matched regatta.
But what are some saying? That people in white culture can’t compete in a fair competition?
It’s going to be OK, folks. It’s not the end of the world.
It’s not even the end of your world.
If you can avoid the siren call of reactionary authoritarianism, this could turn out to be a race you can be proud of.
Thomas Hall
Rea, Mo.
Differing freedoms
Liberals interpret the Second Amendment as narrowly as they can, wanting to limit gun ownership to members of a state militia.
But they want to interpret the religious freedom clause in the First Amendment extremely broadly, to the extent of turning it into freedom from religion and making the slightest, generic reference to a religious subject an attempt to establish a state religion.
This seems very hypocritical to me.
Robert Reimers
Gardner
We’re worried
In Friday’s “Short Take“ (11-11, 11A, “Short Take: Trump didn’t win because of racism”), Ramesh Ponnuru argued against the idea that Donald Trump was put into the White House by racists. Perhaps not, but I think that’s not ultimately the “race question” that worries most of the people who are dismayed by his victory.
What worries us is that he tolerated it. That he didn’t repudiate the white supremacists, that he could say such vulgar and offensive things about women and not seem to understand that “locker room talk” of that type is as offensive and wrong as using the “n-word” as an epithet. That the things he said about Mexicans, Muslims, disabled people and many others could even pop into his head.
Whatever mental world he lives in, it’s one we had hoped we were leaving behind. Instead, we apparently are sending it to the White House. That’s what worries us.
Jan S. Gephardt
Westwood
Free-speech threat
The insidious attitude of today’s law enforcement thinking that free speech is not a public right is as scary as any development in the last half-century.
Even in the protests of the 1960s, officials acknowledged this basic of all human rights. The shift in thinking is an almost unbelievable outcome until one fully considers the acceptance of today’s militaristic law-enforcement practices that have produced an us-against-them mindset.
This is a major element resulting in much of the mistrust many feel when approached by any officer.
M. Rex Strunk
Independence
Polite drivers
In both Kansas and Missouri, slower traffic is to move to the right on highways. As a side note, fog lamps are designed to be used in fog, not daily on your truck to artificially inflate your manhood.
Carla Akins
Kansas City
Suckers
I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to Donald Trump. He has managed to pull off one of the greatest political scams in modern history.
To all of you middle-class citizens who voted for him so he can lower your taxes, enjoy your time in Fantasy Land while you wait for that to happen.
And while you’re looking forward to the wall being built, you might want to check out the famous quote about suckers that’s closely tied to P.T. Barnum.
Diana Brinsko
Overland Park
This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Readers sound off on guns, Trump, VA, Apple, Kansas City-area drivers."