Helping Houston, a bad headline choice and the border wall

A precedent?

As I read the front page of Tuesday’s Star with the picture of a flooded Houston street with numerous rescue boats, first responders and good citizens helping other Texans escape this tragedy, Dunkirk came to mind.

During the Dunkirk evacuation in World War II, British citizens manned hundreds of private boats to help rescue British, French and Indian troops trapped on the English Channel shore with Nazis at their backs.

The similarities are striking. People from all over the U.S. are bringing their boats and their bodies to rescue fellow Americans of all backgrounds, races and creeds.

This is America as it should be, not the divided country we have witnessed the past couple of years.

Although the tragedy unfolding in Texas will remain with us for years, so will this memory of people helping people, simply because it is the right and moral thing to do.

Perhaps this momentous storm will be a turning point for our country when we realize that it takes caring people, good local, state and federal government and, yes, government money (our taxes put to good use) to help our fellow countrymen in need.

Ted Steinmeyer Jr.

Overland Park

Headline choice

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the quotation, “Kill all white people,” in the top headline on Page 1A, above the fold of The Star on Aug 31.

The use of those glaring words was inappropriate and irresponsible, if not incendiary. You can bet it will feed the appetites of white nationalists, not to mention other racists.

Rudena Mallory

Kansas City

Crime is colorblind

Thank you to all the police involved in working on the killings of five white men in south Kansas City. (Sept. 1, 1A, “Trail killings suspect’s stolen gun reports were red flags, expert says”)

Hate crimes are hate crimes, no matter who the victims are.

Glen Byerly

Raymore

We need tax cuts

Missouri has more than 500,000 small businesses that employ more than a million people. Nearly half of all working Missourians are employed by small-business owners, from farmers to restaurant managers.

But these job creators are crushed by the current tax code, which inundates them with high rates and a complex filing process.

As a fifth-generation Missouri rancher, I know that high taxes take valuable resources away from business expansion and job creation. The estate tax and other costs hurt employees who depend on small businesses.

Missourians should heed President Donald Trump’s words and pray for tax cuts — and the jobs that come with them.

Kalena Bruce

Chairwoman, American

Farm Bureau’s

Young Farmers and

Ranchers Committee

Stockton, Mo.

Denounce antifa

First, let me state that I am not a racist, not a Nazi, not a fascist, not a member of any hate group. I am against all hate groups regardless of which side they claim to be on.

Once again, Berkeley has allowed rioters to assault people for exercising freedom of speech. (Aug. 28, KansasCity.com, “Anarchist rampage in Berkeley renews free speech debate”) The police chief there is a fool to think that letting in the left-wing militants called antifa would mean no confrontation.

Antifa always confronts and commits violence. By telling his officers to stand down, the chief has left himself, his department and his city open to a massive lawsuit by the victims. He should be fired for willful negligence and dereliction of duty. No matter how much he disliked the demonstrators, his job was to protect them, not to let a mob in to attack them.

The last time I wrote about this subject I limited my remarks to the leaders of the Democratic Party. I now address the entire Democratic Party, from the highest leader to the lowest rank-and-file member: When are you going to condemn the violent, left-wing hate group that calls itself antifa?

David Lund

Kansas City

Border wall plans

In anticipation of President Donald Trump’s border wall being constructed — at a cost of $22 billion versus the $3 billion originally touted, which Mexico would pay — I plan to buy stock in companies that would supply 19 million tons of concrete, drug-delivering drones and extra-long ladders. Also those teaching pole-vaulting.

All that aside, the wall would take a catastrophic environmental toll on the hundreds of species that span the frontier.

Once the wall is proved to be ineffective and we determine it should be torn down, I plan to invest in companies that manufacture jackhammers.

Rolland Love