Letters: Readers discuss Gorsuch, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation and the Midwest

Oppose Gorsuch

Republicans in the U.S. Senate gave President Donald Trump a huge gift when they blocked former President Barack Obama from getting anyone confirmed to the Supreme Court for the entire last year of his presidency. Now, Trump is cashing in by nominating Neil Gorsuch, a judge with an extreme right-wing record, to the court.

Trump evidently hopes that Gorsuch will provide him with a rubber stamp as he attacks the rights of immigrants, women and minorities. As a judge, Gorsuch ruled that employers could deny women access to contraception coverage in their health care plans based on religion, and he has complained about LGBTQ people seeking equality in the courts. He has also tried to make it harder for workers and consumers to seek justice through class-action lawsuits and workplace discrimination laws.

Neil Gorsuch isn’t someone we can trust to be a check on Trump’s unconstitutional agenda. Sen. Claire McCaskill should oppose his nomination.

Jermaine Reed

Councilman,

Third District

Kansas City

Solution to crime

In reference to the recent article regarding the good Samaritan who came to the rescue of a metro bus driver (Jan. 30, 4A, “Passenger uses cane to protect KC bus driver”), we don’t need more police. Simply give everyone a cane.

Dick Horn

Overland Park

Our immigrants

While serving as executive director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation from 2001 through 2005, I had the privilege of visiting our wounded troops and their families while they recuperated in hospitals.

I arrived at the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, in 2005 as our critically wounded were being admitted at a quick pace. As the patients were off-loaded from ambulances, teams of medical technicians took over.

It was poetry in motion: Skilled teams comforted the patients with the care that they deserved.

As I met with the medical commander, I commented how quickly they worked with such a precision manner. I learned that the team of 30 personnel was an Army Reserve Unit from Los Angeles, and they had been on this assignment for over six months, along with surgeons and nurses.

To my amazement, I learned that more than 75 percent were of Latino heritage, with many serving in the military to gain their citizenship. At that moment, I could not have been more proud of my country, our military and our new citizens.

God bless our immigrants. They built this country.

Mike Meyer

Overland Park

Right to work

The passage of, and Gov. Eric Greitens’ signature on, the right-to-work bill makes the second time recently that our elected state officials have overpowered the will of the people of this state.

The people of Missouri a few years back voted on and passed with a majority a proposition concerning the operation of “puppy mills” in the state. Our elected officials evidently did not feel that We the People had enough intelligence to govern and regulate ourselves and overrode the desires of the majority.

Again, after the defeat of the 1978 right-to-work proposition on the ballot by the people of Missouri, the people’s choice has been overridden by our elected officials. Do they think we are so ignorant, that we elect them to protect us from ourselves?

Have they forgotten? “Of the people, by the people, for the people.” I will remember.

Curtis Thompson

Cameron, Mo.

Central idea

I have often felt it wrong to say that Kansas City is in the Midwest.

I understand that Midwest is a historical term, not an accurate geological term.

I feel that we live in the Central Region. A recent trip to buy an up-to-date map revealed a Rand McNally map of the Central United States. They have given up the term Midwest. The Star could lead the way for this change.

If the West now starts with the Rocky Mountain states, some of the western states like Nevada and Idaho could become a new “Mid West,” leaving room for the coastal states to remain the coastal west. If you want to stay a Midwest state, then identify which states must be the Eastern West.

Best wishes from a Central Stater.

Rob Hornstra

Lake Quivira

Health care

The health debate is simple: If you cannot afford to live, die. This is the crux of what insurance is in a capitalist society, plain and simple, including me if I was not a vet.

James Kilpatrick