If residency ID is needed at Obama Presidential Center, it’s needed to vote | Opinion
An absurdity
Democrats keep railing against voter ID, yet most people must show identification cards on a weekly basis for the most mundane tasks. The latest example of this was learning that the new Obama Presidential Center requires a picture ID to prove Illinois state residency for admission discounts. An ID is required for discounts and proof of residency at a Democrat’s presidential library but not to vote?
At some point, claiming people are somehow “disenfranchised” because they don’t have ID becomes absurd.
- Frank Green, Kansas City
Native lesson
On July 3, Donald Trump said, “There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country.” (July 5, 8A, “Trump extols America, rails at communism in US 250th event”)
He spoke on the 163rd anniversary of the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. In that battle, the forces engaged in an insurrection against the United States were led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, second in his class at West Point, scion of one of the first families of Virginia and son of an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. During the battle, Col. Patrick O’Rorke (or O’Rourke), an Irish immigrant and first in his class at West Point, died defending the United States.
Sometimes, the newcomers need to remind the natural-born Americans what the United States is about.
- Robert B. O’Rourke, Leavenworth
Dead letter
I’ve recently had two negative experiences with the U.S. Postal Service, convincing me that Sen. Josh Hawley is correct to launch an investigation. The July 3 story “’Poor service for years’: Hawley investigating USPS after spat with top official” (6A) refers to the senator’s concern about “potential criminal activity related to the abandoned pile of mail.” Hopefully, The Star will conduct its own investigation into recent practices in this region.
Twice over the past three months, letters containing my renewed driver’s license were delivered to the main USPS distribution center for this region on Cleveland Avenue. My address was correct on both envelopes, as was the return address of the Kansas Department of Revenue. I have proof because of “Informed Delivery.” I never received either piece of mail.
I waited and then phoned the state agency, which assured me that neither letter was returned as undeliverable. So, what did the USPS do with these letters, official mail from a state agency? The office of my U.S. congressional representative intervened and asked the USPS to examine the matter. The USPS replied that after “investigating” the situation, a “mail watch was conducted on that address” and that “all mail received was delivered.” But those letters were not delivered.
- Mark Kaufman, Prairie Village
FIFA justice
It would almost certainly have cost him his job, but U.S. men’s soccer coach Mauricio Pochettino missed an opportunity to do the right thing. Out of respect for the game and its rules, he could have benched star player Folarin Balogun for the U.S.-Belgium World Cup game for the now-reversed red card he received against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I am not in any way an expert in soccer or its rules, but the consensus seems to be that it was a bad call. In sports, bad calls happen. Ask a Cardinals fan. Political intervention has no place in sports, especially in international sports.
Maybe FIFA would have reversed the call on its own. That would have been the best outcome. Political intervention, had the U.S. beaten Belgium, would have forever put a black cloud on the result in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Some team somewhere, recognizing Pochettino’s coaching skills and respecting his integrity, would have given him a new start.
- Tom Mahoney, Prairie Village
No comparison
A grand jury has indicted a former Olympian and veteran for $1,000 worth of damage to the $16 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (July 8, 18A, “Government to use same company for Reflecting Pool repairs”) He is charged with a felony for supposedly intentionally removing some of the blue paint from the surface of the pool.
I was struck by the severity of this incident and charges compared with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, which killed at least seven people and totaled more than $2.7 billion for repair work, upgrades, increased security and other long-term changes.
More than 1,500 people were charged with various crimes, including breaching the Capitol, destroying property, carrying guns and causing injuries. All these convicted felons received pardons or commutations from Donald Trump in January 2025.
I struggle to understand how a felony charge for damaging the Reflecting Pool can rise to the level of disgracing and damaging our nation’s Capitol.
- Andy Hickerson, Leawood