Letters: Readers discuss the Porter family at MU, witch hunts and Mike Pompeo’s hearing
Media asleep
The University of Missouri should be condemned for the wholesale giveaway to men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin and the massive contract to Michael Porter Sr. — ostensibly to coax his privileged offspring to appear in Tiger uniforms.
For readers unaware of developments down the road in Columbia, oldest son Michael Porter Jr. was a prime recruit but a ghost the entire basketball season. Injured in the first game, he didn’t start to earn his keep until the postseason tournaments — as if that were the proper moment to demonstrate rehab and rust.
This month, younger brother Jontay, also a freshman player, declared himself eligible for the NBA draft but didn’t hire an agent, so he might or might not return to Columbia for another season.
Assistant coach Daddy Porter extracted almost $400,000 from Mizzou for the past year. (His $1.125 million contract goes for two more years.)
Bolting several schools previously, here’s a family akin to traveling roofers. Buyer beware.
This farce had many engineers: Missouri’s administration and athletic director, the coach and the complicit media, all of whom aided and abetted the Porter family’s fleecing the university.
Such is the reality of the sports-media industrial complex, with the Missouri Tigers just another desperate participant.
Will Ross
Kansas City
On the hunt
President Donald Trump, I’m afraid I disagree with you. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is not a witch hunt. It is a “which” hunt: Which of your associates will be investigated next?
Enough is enough.
If there is evidence of collusion with Russia, Mueller should lay it out there. And then let’s get back to the business of running the government for the people.
Steve Kottman
Olathe
American duty
Thank you to Mary Sanchez for her advocacy for minorities, who many times are afraid to speak up for themselves. And thank you to The Star for supporting her.
We are the richest country in the world. With the turmoil and suffering now in many countries, we have a duty to welcome some of these refugees. We’re a nation of immigrants, and not just European ones.
If an uneducated, unskilled man or woman has the gumption to come to a strange country, learn a difficult new language and strive to improve himself or herself, that person should be welcome in this country.
Marilyn Bynum
Kansas City, Kan.
Smoking gun?
This probe of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens certainly smacks of a political assassination.
John C. Lovelace
Olathe
Empathy, please
People are confused about why the woman Gov. Eric Greitens allegedly assaulted might have gone back and had consensual sex with him, using this fact to dismiss her claims.
First and foremost, there is no universal response to being sexually assaulted, molested or raped — none. But there are common responses.
“Repetition compulsion” is a common response. Returning to the scene of the crime and attempting to relive the trauma with more control over the situation — to rewrite history with a more acceptable outcome — is not uncommon.
This is the root of why some victims continue to engage with or be social with their attackers. It’s why they may willingly choose to be alone with them. It’s a way to regain control and re-establish a sense of autonomy.
I implore those with a platform, instead of saying, “If it had been me, I would have …” to be more careful about how they critique victims’ actions. Trauma manifests itself in ways that even victims sometimes don’t understand, and this type of uninformed analysis is detrimental to the healing of existing and future victims of sexual violence.
Taylor Hirth
Kansas City
Holding back?
I thank God for our guaranteed freedom of the press and the opportunity to have local, state, national and worldwide news on a daily basis. Wow, what a privilege.
In listening to Mike Pompeo’s confirmation hearings, I was impressed with the depth of the questions that members of the Senate committee posed to the secretary of state nominee. (April 13, 1A, “Pompeo promises to confront Russia, dodges questions on Mueller”)
His answers were interesting, to say the least. Some showed a knowledge of national and world history, and some showed a reluctance to say what he really thinks. Political expediency seems to rule the day.
My question is: Can the leopard change his spots?
Mary Jane Houston
Liberty
Of a feather
No wonder Gov. Eric Greitens was once considered a rising Republican political star. He fits right in.
Larry A. Schaffer
Kansas City
This story was originally published April 13, 2018 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss the Porter family at MU, witch hunts and Mike Pompeo’s hearing."