Letters: Readers discuss fire department overtime, Trump Jr. and health care

Run the numbers

Pardon me if I seem a little incredulous toward the report by accounting firm BKD that uncovered that one Kansas City firefighter recorded and was presumably paid for 3,240 hours of overtime in fiscal 2016. (July 13, 6A, “Report examines large overtime totals run up by KC Fire Department”)

How is that even humanly possible? My simple calculation equates those hours into 405 eight-hour workdays of overtime, meaning above and beyond normal time.

So let’s compare: Five days a week times 52 weeks equals 260 work days a year. You’re telling me this person worked a full-time job and then the equivalent of another full-time job and a half in one year? Really?

So what actually happened?

Paul Cox

Kansas City

Paper trail?

The emails from a Russian intermediary to Donald Trump Jr. promised incriminating documents about Hillary Clinton. (July 12, 1A, “Emails: Russian offer excited Trump’s son”) So where are the documents?

Were they given to Don Jr., but adoptions were discussed instead to cover up the exchange in case someone was making recordings of the conversation?

Why is no one asking what happened to the incriminating documents?

Wili McKinney

Lenexa

This isn’t TV

President Donald Trump has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Trump has sent warplanes and naval vessels into territory claimed by Xi.

Will Xi help Trump rein in Kim? Xi might be abetting Kim.

China and North Korea have been very close since China fought the United States to a standstill in Korea.

Is Xi sly? Will Trump continue his rightful way?

Tune in for the next episode.

Gerald Barker

Spring Hill, Kan.

Nobody cares

The U.S. has for decades been fighting wars and killing hundreds of thousands of people in attempts to remove foreign governments we consider unfavorable and install governments more to our liking.

Is there really a question why the public is not greatly excited about possible foreign meddling in our elections?

E.W. Stalnaker

Leavenworth

Nobody cares?

So what’s all the fuss about Junior’s meeting with the Russians? Collusion, cooperation, conspiracy?

Who cares? He and his bro-in-law will get presidential pardons anyway.

Dennis Weber

Shawnee

Insurance idea

A major sticking point preventing the passage of new health legislation is the issue of pre-existing conditions.

Can you buy car insurance immediately after you have an accident? Of course not.

Can one buy home insurance just after your house has been flooded or destroyed in a fire? Of course not.

Then why do people think it is reasonable to buy health insurance after you become ill at the same price as before you become ill?

Then it would not be insurance.

The idea of insurance is to buy this protection from future events before the event, hoping that you never need to use it.

One way to overcome this problem would be to incentivize insurance companies to offer patients to buy insurance — no questions asked — for six to 12 months. After this grace period, insurance pricing would go back to prior rates.

No, it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a consideration. What say you?

Michael Sweeney,

M.D.

Leawood

Newsworthy event

I’m disappointed The Star did not cover the 2017 U.S. Deaf Golf Championships, which were held at Tiffany Greens Golf Club in Kansas City, North this week.

It would have been a great story for our town.

Ron Grebowiec

Kansas City

Warm-weather help

Many of us feed the birds in the winter but neglect to do so in the summer. Seeds won’t be plentiful until September or so. Consequently, the birds really have to hunt during the hot weather.

With the ground hard as a rock, worm-eating birds struggle for food. I put raisins out for these birds, and they gobble them up.

Then there are the mother birds with four or more additional mouths to feed, while temperatures are in the 90s.

And no, I don’t own a bird store.

Kaaren M. Jones

Kansas City

This story was originally published July 14, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss fire department overtime, Trump Jr. and health care."