Letters: Readers discuss The Star getting it wrong on the press, John Brennan and payday loans
You’re not news
As a 20-plus-year subscriber to The Star, I am offended by your Thursday editorial, which was shared by the other papers of your parent company. (12A, “President Trump, we are not ‘enemies of the people.’ End your war on the free press”)
You are exactly what President Donald Trump is referring to when he talks about the dishonest press. When is the last time your organization reported not a positive but a neutral report on the Republican Party or a conservative?
McClatchy’s 30 newspapers are a propaganda machine for its liberal views. You hide as a local newspaper but truly are a national messaging organization. You constantly reprint articles from The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The people of Kansas City and America deserve better. Your parent company does not have the right to assume that its political agenda can be passed off as news. You should be ashamed.
Tom Bachkora
Overland Park
Who needs it?
I object to the way President Donald Trump canceled former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance. (Aug. 16, 1A, “Trump revokes security clearance for ex-CIA chief”) It was a crass, unethical retaliation against someone who objects to his presidency.
However, I also do not understand why Brennan still had top security clearance, because he was no longer in a “need-to-know” position.
Once people have left an organization, they normally no longer have reason to access continuing internal operations. I’m pretty sure that many former executives of companies are no longer privy to current business secrets.
Then why do ex-political appointees still have privileges to our country’s secrets?
Paul S. Zolotor
North Kansas City
Should go two ways
There is something I have not seen addressed about the situation with former FBI agent Peter Strzok. (Aug. 14, 8A, “FBI fires senior agent who criticized Trump in texts”) The Hatch Act, which prohibits some partisan political activity by federal employees, including FBI agents, nonetheless guarantees their right to hold and express opinions about candidates.
I am a former federal employee who retired after nearly 30 years with the government. At every federal election, we were reminded of our rights and responsibilities under the Hatch Act. It appears to me — as someone who is not a legal expert — that Strzok was engaging in protected legal activity in expressing an opinion to a compatriot about a candidate during the 2016 campaign.
The Hatch Act offers guarantees that one does not give up one’s First Amendment rights upon becoming a federal employee. Strzok needs to hire a lawyer and pursue charges of violation of the Hatch Act against President Donald Trump’s administration and the Republicans in Congress covering for him.
The flip side might be to investigate and fire all FBI agents who expressed personal opinions supporting Trump during the campaign.
Charles Wilson
Raymore
Financial injustice
I’m shocked and disgusted. Richard Moseley Sr. reached a settlement with the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection on his $227 million payday loan scam to pay only $1 in civil penalties, claiming he can’t pay a larger fine. (Aug. 12, 4A, “What is civil penalty in $227 million payday loan scam? $1”)
Profits on his crime were $69.6 million. He was charging illegal interest rates, took money from accounts of unknowing consumers and disguised an enterprise as off-shore when it was actually based Kansas City. He only got 10 years in prison.
This man and his partners caused extreme financial damage to many people. He should have gotten much stiffer penalties for this white-collar crime. And he should pay back his entire $69.6 million in profit.
Kansas City Star, please investigate further how he got off with paying just $1 in civil penalties. Who in that government agency permitted this? Anyone who allowed it should be fired and never allowed to work in any government or financial position.
Restitution should be made to every customer of Moseley’s scam. What a miscarriage of justice.
Penny Zadeh
Overland Park
Find other work
Anthony Piercy, who was fired as a Missouri trooper after Brandon Ellingson drowned in handcuffs while in Piercy’s custody in 2014 on the Lake of the Ozarks, should never be allowed back into policing work. (Aug. 16, 9A, “Former trooper in drowning case wants police license back”) He is an insult to law enforcement.
Ken Henderson
Kansas City