Letters: Readers discuss Trump in Springfield, football players and the flag
Money on his mind
I don’t know how a farmer in Missouri could say he likes President Donald Trump. He should be old enough to remember how his parents worked when they farmed their land. If your neighbor needed help, you went to help.
Do you think the Trump family ever did this? I doubt it.
The president’s mindset seems to be about only money. He came to Missouri last week to talk about money, not poor people in Texas.
But thank God people all over America went to Texas to help.
If you think this is fake news, I will pray for you.
Russell Taylor
Blue Springs
Respect the flag
It would seem that the NFL has a bunch of highly paid athletes who don’t understand what the U.S. flag is and why that flag deserves their respect.
The flag represents thousands of service members who have given their lives to protect it. These include soldiers crossing the Potomac, sailors fighting the British fleet, soldiers and sailors protecting the Union, soldiers on the Mexican border, GIs in the trenches of France and all over the world during World War II and GIs in the sandy world of southwest Asia.
They gave their all so these highly paid athletes could walk on a field of play without worrying about any action from an enemy.
So those who don’t respect that flag are telling the thousands of GIs who gave their lives over the years that they died in vain.
Think about that the next time you hear the national anthem and don’t stand and respect the flag.
David Napoli
Gladstone
Click away
When I recently saw a Seattle Seahawks player kneel during the national anthem, I refused to watch the game.
If those spoiled, rich children cannot show respect for the nation and the flag that so many men and women have given their lives for, then I hope all veterans would do the same thing.
Just change the channel.
Art Schlumpberger
Harrisonville
Trump’s targets
President Donald Trump’s swipe at Sen. Claire McCaskill was as understandable as it was predictable. Every member of the middle class who breathed an enormous, albeit temporary, sigh of relief when Trump’s and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s effort to deprive them of their health insurance went down to inglorious defeat by a single vote owes a monumental debt of gratitude to Missouri’s senior senator.
Not only was McCaskill a member of the 46-person Democratic caucus that, along with two independent senators, voted to kill the so-called skinny repeal bill, but her opposition to the insurance industry’s effort to maximize its executives’ compensation packages at the expense of middle-class access to health care was the most powerful and eloquent of any that resounded through the corridors of the upper house.
Now, while McConnell and the majority of his Republican colleagues have clearly signaled their intent to move on to tax reform, only Trump clings desperately to his dream of reversing every aspect of President Barack Obama’s legacy.
Trump couldn’t care less if 20 million or more people lose their health care.
All Trump cares about is getting even with his predecessor, who so thoroughly humiliated him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
Jeffrey Friedman
Kansas City
KC hospitality
The true test of a community’s values is not what you think they are, but what you show to others.
The residents of Kansas City created an outstanding experience for four Canadian baseball fans during our short visit Aug. 28.
It began at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which my friends Paul, Gerard and Paula Kennedy and I learned is closed on Mondays.
The security staff quickly made a phone call, and a museum staffer came by to let us take in the museum and better understand this chapter of baseball and city history.
Later, at Kauffman Stadium, staff and fans alike were incredibly welcoming as we donned the “wrong” blue of our hometown team, the Blue Jays, to watch the game.
Moreover, a stadium worker, on a generous whim, paid for our dinner of barbecue. This was above and beyond generous.
We think Royals fans have true hospitality that stands out among the 15 U.S. ballparks we have visited. Milwaukee and their Brewers fans had a tough act to follow as we continued our road trip.
Thank you to Kansas City and your Royals (and Monarchs) for a memorable visit.
Jane Hilderman
Toronto
This story was originally published September 4, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss Trump in Springfield, football players and the flag."