Letters: Readers discuss Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre excellence, Greitens and Roy Moore

Christmastime joy

There’s a wonderful holiday play at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre this week. It’s the story from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presented as if it’s being performed by the cast of a radio broadcast. For some reason, The Kansas City Star hasn’t sent anyone to review it, so it’s still a pretty well-kept secret.

For anyone looking to start a new tradition that’s a warm, bright alternative, the last four performances are Thursday through Sunday.

Rosanne Wickman

Kansas City

Calm it down

I was not surprised when I read Gov. Eric Greitens’ response to The Star’s question about his administration’s use of the app Confide to erase text messages. Instead of answering the question as any normal person would do, he vehemently attacked the questioner as a “liberal media outlet that is just desperate for salacious headlines.” (Dec. 12, 1A, “Greitens attacks media when asked about his use of secret texting app”)

Good grief, Greitens. Get control of yourself and just answer the darned question. The reporter didn’t ask for the life of your first-born child.

I fear that Missouri has elected a hyper-right ideologue who thinks he can out-Trump that poor, troubled man in the White House.

I’m glad I live in Kansas. All we have to deal with is the intelligent and moderate Gov. Sam “Shot of Adrenaline” Brownback.

Richard L. Warrick

Lawrence

Bitcoin intrigue

The unknown founding fathers of bitcoin created the perfect petri dish for unregulated speculation. (Dec. 12, 4A, “Bitcoin futures soar amid frenzy over virtual currency”)

Their product has no intrinsic value. Its “mining” remains a clouded mystery, and restrictions on this system cleverly added an artificial element of scarcity. Enormous price volatility has made their creation unsuitable for storing value.

Nonetheless, it has attracted many small buyers and sellers intent on winning a speculative adventure. To this mix, add futures trading — which has expanded the prevailing risk from between individual buyers and sellers into a systemic one — and what do you get?

Your worst nightmare, regulators.

Ginny Kudlinski

Overland Park

Smash the system

I think I’ve figured out the strategy of the anti-government extremists who are flexing their muscles all over our country. Their plan is simple: Remove the most dedicated, experienced public servants from their positions, and then complain that government doesn’t work.

A clear example of this tactic was recently demonstrated by Johnson County commissioners Michael Ashcraft, Mike Brown, Steve Klika and Jason Osterhaus. For no expressed reason, they recently fired county manager Hannes Zacharias, after they admitted he had provided a decade of exemplary performance, guiding the county forward for the benefit of all residents.

I encourage voters to remember those names at the next election.

Richard Voss

Overland Park

Question of degree

From the 2016 presidential election to Alabama’s special election, there has been a noticeable trend when it comes to the burden of proof for sexual misconduct, and that burden is becoming easier to meet.

While the legal burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt,” it ought to be much lower for elected officials. With the election of Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama — a state that was 27-plus points Republican in 2016 — it seems voters there agree.

There may be a concern that people are forgetting the importance of the concept of innocent until proven guilty. By no means should that change, but it’s different when an accused person is running for an elected office and are being judged by a “jury” of their peers.

Brendan Cirillo

Olathe

Youth issues

The current candidates for Kansas governor, Democrat or Republican, are not focused on issues that are important to young people. I strongly urge current and future candidates to empower millennials to engage in the development of their campaigns, to get involved in sharing the campaigns’ messages to their peers and to illustrate their ability to affect change at the ballot box.

Brandon Woodard

Chair

Johnson County

Young Democrats

Lenexa

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre excellence, Greitens and Roy Moore."