Jayhawks fans showed KU knows how to celebrate without causing chaos in the streets

Celebrated right

Kudos to the Jayhawks fans who celebrated the men’s basketball team’s national championship win in downtown Lawrence on Sunday night. There were no cars burned, no vandalism, no shots fired. They proved it can be done.

Way to go, KU fans.

- Janis Morris, Overland Park

Yes, but …

Let’s hope that shiny NCAA basketball championship trophy doesn’t end up back at the NCAA headquarters with an asterisk.

Is it possible the ’Hawks might have the trophy taken away when the results of the pending investigation into rules violations (five alleged Level 1 infractions — yes, five!) are finalized and sanctions are applied? The investigation has dragged on almost as long as Mitch Lightfoot’s college basketball career.

- Rick Thomas, Kansas City

A way forward

Since Newt Gingrich and the neoconservatives declared outright war against the Democrats, the Republican Party has shown an increased impatience with democratic processes. The evidence ranges from its consistent tax and regulatory favors to corporations and the mega-rich (who also prefer fewer obstacles from Democrats), to the support of the autocratic Donald Trump, to attempts to restrict voting rights and nullify elections.

For pro-democracy Republicans who are disillusioned with their party but can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, there is a now a third party that might provide an alternative. It is called the Forward Party. It won’t be represented in all states for this year’s midterm elections, but it will definitely be on the ballot in the presidential election of 2024.

A one-time shift of your votes to Forward Party candidates would send a strong message to the GOP to begin restoring its integrity.

- Patrick Shannon, Lawrence

Some friends

As the war goes on in Ukraine, gas prices seem to keep going up. It amazes me that gas prices rise when Russia is involved. The United States imports only about 8% of its oil from Russia, yet the market says prices for gas should go up. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and OPEC nations will not increase oil production during our time in need. They are our so-called friends but won’t help the United States when we need them.

It seems that oil company profits are more important than helping the USA. I guess the next time any OPEC nation asks for our help, we should remember these times that cost all Americans extra money at the pumps. Profits over people never turn out well.

- Michael Jay Tutorino, Kansas City

Who wrote it

In his April 1 column, “Go right ahead, confirm Jackson as a justice,” (8A) Jay Ambrose wrote: “Democrats on and off the court tend to prefer the fraudulent way out, as in concocting a nonexistent constitutional right for mothers to kill their unborn children any time prior to viability in pregnancy.” Five of the seven justices in the majority on Roe v. Wade were appointed by Republican presidents. They included Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion.

- Robert O’Rourke, Leavenworth