Letters: Readers discuss family holiday disagreements and Mike Pompeo’s duties

Table talk

This holiday season, divided Americans will come together to give thanks and praise. I imagine that most will avoid politics, or at least avoid taking the bait if the topic is raised and change the subject. That is better than the alternative, right?

We should concur that racism is wrong, sexism is wrong, Nazis are bad, freedom is good, democracy is preferable to authoritarianism, and that our leaders should not operate corrupt, mafia-like schemes to advance their self-interests.

Unfortunately, the current president embodies no qualities I recognize as pro-American. Any mention of the above items could be perceived as a slight against the Dear Leader. To quote Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman: “Here, right matters.”

It should. Reason and objectivity should also matter, but they are in short supply these days. Maybe one day they will matter again. Maybe.

Until then, how about those Chiefs? What do you think the Royals’ roster will look like next year?

- Tony Weigel, Grain Valley

Poor leadership

It was nice to see an enlightened letter Saturday about Al Capone. It was quite unlike the Michael Ryan column on the same page about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (9A, “Don’t write Pompeo’s political obit yet, certainly not in Kansas”)

At the very least, Pompeo failed to protect his State Department employees as they showed true courage in Washington last week. So much for his time at West Point.

- Ann Johnson, Kansas City