Letters: Readers discuss the free press, Missouri’s COVID-19 fight, KC police budget
Turn them off
COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, a contested presidential election, unequaled income inequality, record debt and 20 years of failed wars with thousands of dead civilians: America is not bent, cracked or broken — it’s shattered. Our best chance for return to the American experiment is an active, unrestrained free press.
Why should I believe some politician standing behind a microphone without the reporting and questioning of a free press? A relatively free press contributed to the success of the American Revolution and the new United States of America, even though President George Washington, as a politician and former general, personally hated the press. He knew it was essential to keep one of his successors from becoming a dictator.
The next time a politician insults the free press — especially if he or she uses the violence-laden term “enemy of the people” — every camera should be shut down. Imagining the ego of many politicians, I don’t think this legal protest would need to be repeated very many times.
- Randall Jones, Independence
A coin toss?
Whether the Chiefs win against the Buffalo Bills this weekend depends on which defense shows up.
- Michael Grabowski, Kansas City
In the way
If Missouri’s governor and attorney general don’t do something about starting mask and vaccine mandates, they will be responsible for more deaths and closings of businesses and schools.
My family has stopped going inside restaurants for any longer than picking up to-go orders. Some restaurants have closed because they don’t have enough employees — too much COVID-19. I am so sad for teachers, students and staff members of all the schools.
I don’t know where Gov. Mike Parson and AG Eric Schmitt got the medical degrees that apparently grant them the qualifications to make public health decisions. What they are doing to all the people of Missouri is borderline criminal.
Why do the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have more rights then I have? Now we have schools closing because they don’t have enough teachers, or they’re asking parents to run classrooms. Give me a break. Children aren’t learning under these circumstances.
This state is a mess. Wake up, Missouri. Demand that our leaders take the well-being of the people into consideration in their decisions and stop thinking of that next election.
- Terri Cox, Kansas City
How to help
Missouri state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer’s proposal to increase the portion of Kansas City’s budget that goes to the police department clearly shows the only thing he knows to do about policing is to throw money at the problem. (Jan. 19, 12A) And if some of that money is to come from the water and sewer departments, then the city would have to raise rates for water and sewer services. Imagine how happy Kansas City taxpayers would be be about that.
If Leutkemeyer really wants to help — to make a positive, constructive difference — he needs to quit grandstanding and learn how local governments are structured and financed, and how decisions are made. He also needs to study what police actions and services are most successful and which are counter-productive — something the police commissioners also need to work on.
Mayor Quinton Lucas and others are very keen on making improvements and, I suspect, have much better suggestions than Sen. Luetkemeyer.
- Charles E. Downing, Roeland Park
Run the numbers
I do hope Sen. Roger Marshall can uncover Donald Trump’s complete income tax records while attempting to prove Dr. Anthony Fauci’s alleged financial windfalls. (Jan. 13, 8A, “Roger Marshall’s COVID games are worse than moronic, Dr. Fauci”)
While Marshall enlightens American taxpayers on this information, I would like to know if Fauci paid more than $750 income tax these last few years — the amount The New York Times demonstrated Trump paid in 2017. I think it fair to assume a true American patriot would contribute more than $750 yearly to support our troops, schools, infrastructure, social services and more. Only a moron would find this morally acceptable.
I hope Sen. Marshall can uncover records that will inform the American public.
- Marjorie A. Livingston, Overland Park
This story was originally published January 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.