Letters: Readers discuss a good start to Trump’s administration, terrorism and The Star’s news judgment
Trump impresses
What did President Donald Trump accomplish in his first 100 days in office? The obvious includes selecting and having the Senate approve a Supreme Court justice to bring the group back to nine.
He has had most of his cabinet selected and approved, and 29 bills have been passed. The number of immigrants entering our country illegally has gone down drastically. He has met with several heads of state and has re-established the U.S. as a force to be reckoned with worldwide.
Critics say he hasn’t fulfilled his promises to the letter made during his run, but they need to get real. He has never wavered from his goals, even though he intelligently considers alternate paths to accomplish them. He has not altered his persona just to please conventional politically correct views but is consistent to a fault, much to the consternation of his natural detractors.
Like him or hate him, you must admit the man’s been busy and has not brought to pass all the chaos the opposition and media want the public to believe will happen. He deserves support and a chance to make his beliefs and love of country come to pass.
His first 100 days were busy and impressive.
Calvin Day
Kansas City
Providing ammo
In reading appraisals of this administration’s first 100 days in the April 30 Star (14A, “‘Phenomenal’ or ‘disastrous’? Assessing Trump at 100 days”), I am struck by the fact that many of the people who endorse the president do so on the basis of his perceived strengthening of our national security.
My electives in revolutionary warfare while I was at West Point, and my experiences as an intelligence officer in the Army thereafter remind me that one of the central tenets of insurgency doctrine has always been to provoke an overreaction.
It is therefore worth remembering that if we are more visibly bombing the you-know-what out of ISIS and al-Qaida now than we were under the previous president, that is what ISIS and al-Qaida want us to do.
Photos and videos all over the Arab internet of civilian casualties and destruction as a result of real or perceived American action provide an increasingly effective recruiting mechanism for the bad guys.
And if one or more of our enemies succeed in perpetrating another 9/11-scale attack on American soil, I am profoundly worried that those currently in power in the United States would use the ensuing outrage as an excuse to curtail our civil liberties to an extent this country has never seen.
Christopher Riley
Overland Park
Time trade-off
I was reading an article on the internet about the “horrifying” death of convicted Arkansas killer Kenneth Williams. (KansasCity.com, “Arkansas governor dismisses calls for full execution probe”)
This man was executed for the death of one of three people he killed. Media witnesses reported “coughing, convulsing, lurching and jerking” for 10 to 20 seconds. That sounds like a really bum deal.
I’ll bet those three people he killed were so happy and so ready for him to remove them from this life. They probably thanked him for his efforts, and they must have just loved him to death.
Arkansas officials shouldn’t have executed this man. They should have rewarded him for his efforts.
By the way, how would 10 to 20 seconds compare with eternity?
Neil Simmons
Bates City, Mo.
Front-page news
On April 26 and April 27, The Star published two separate articles that should be front-page news and read by every student and adult in greater Kansas City.
April 26’s article featured Michelle Melland, a courageous Kansas City wife and mother who reads books and publishes book reviews online by using only her eye movement. (12A, “Fully paralyzed, she writes book reviews — using only her eyes”)
It is the only action her body now allows because of the effects of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. Her husband and twin daughters also deserve to be recognized for their courage and compassion by ensuring that their love and support for her continues.
The following day, buried in the Local section on Page 3A, was the inspiring report of a minister from Eternal Life Church and Family Center in Kansas City, who dared to encourage students at Fort Osage High School to put a halt to racist behaviors by some students. (“Threat to kill black students leads 200 to protest”)
In my opinion, both stories are far more important and inspiring than those about restructuring the city’s taxi service and White House tax proposals.
Please, Kansas City Star editors, give us front-page news that inspires courage and compassion.
Marcia Manter
Shawnee