Do Republican voters care about Jan. 6? They put Greitens in the lead for Senate, so …

Who cares?

The Jan. 6, 2021, riot hearings got under way Thursday. The question: Will the country care? The quick answer is that half the country does care, and the other half couldn’t care less and thinks the whole thing is no big deal. The “no big deal” half accepts everything Donald Trump says and doesn’t care if he was lying anyway.

These are the same people who have put disgraced ex-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in the lead for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator.

What does a person have to do to lose favor with Republican voters? I can’t think of anything.

- Tom Wolff, Overland Park

That’s bizarre

I read The Star’s story about the absurd judgment in favor of a Missouri woman who contracted an STD from her boyfriend while having unprotected sex in his car. (June 9, 1A, “Missouri court affirms $5.2M for woman who got HPV in car”) As a retired insurance executive, I could not believe what I was reading.

Are there any more details as to the policy limits available under the Geico policy and whether the insured carried an umbrella policy and what limits?

I cannot for the life me understand how the court can render a plaintiff judgment under an auto policy in the first place, and how it could hold Geico to an award that I am sure far exceeds the policy limits.

We have really entered the Bizarro World of D.C. Comics and “Seinfeld.”

- Jim Byrne, Rossville, Tennessee

Misplaced blame

I can’t believe what I just read in The Star. A woman gets an STD from having sex with a man in his car, then sues the man’s car insurance company and wins millions? As Yakov Smirnoff might say, “What a country!”

How in the world is this the insurance company’s fault?

- Shawn Richard Considine, Independence

Railroad safety

Unsafe behavior around railroad tracks caused hundreds of deaths and injuries last year, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. International Level Crossing Awareness Day was June 9, making this is a good time to focus on the need to always obey grade crossing signals, gates and other safety warnings around railroad property.

It is also an opportunity to highlight the billions of dollars being made available to states, localities, metropolitan planning organizations and others to improve grade crossing safety and freight mobility through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that took effect last November. The law provides record federal funding to improve grade crossing safety and even to eliminate crossings entirely by building overpasses or underpasses.

Local officials who may never have worked with Federal Railroad Administration need to understand that they are eligible to apply for these funds. All communities with concerns about crossings should take advantage of the opportunities available under this new program.

- Brett Sebastian, State director, GoRail, Jefferson City

The number?

How many good guys with guns does it take to prevent an 18-year-old bad guy with an AR-15, legally purchased, from shooting up a classroom of children or any other gathering of people? The answer to this question can best be answered by the Kansas Legislature.

- Ed Goulding, Shawnee

No chance

Has The Star been publishing any stories about Joe Biden’s successes? I know there aren’t any, but I thought you might make some up to shore up his failed attempt at being president. Thanks for your time. I know this will never see the light of day though, right?

- Bob Berry, Oak Grove

Religious laws

An open letter to our honorable Supreme Court justices:

Please do not overturn Roe v. Wade. If you are basing your reasonings on your religious beliefs, please consider the following:

Jesus was born a Jew. He studied Jewish theology. Jesus never mentioned abortion. According to many Jewish theologians, life does not begin until the head has emerged during birth.

Jesus was very aware of abortion, because it has been around since the dawn of humanity. If Jesus thought abortion was murder, he would have mentioned it.

The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Please follow the Constitution and allow me to practice my religious beliefs. Don’t dictate to me what my religion says is not a sin.

- Eva Foster, Lake Quivira

Lead, teams

Professional sports teams have a unique megaphone to reach their fans. Wouldn’t it be reasonable for the Chiefs, Royals and other local teams to work with local law enforcement on a gun buyback arrangement?

Philadelphia is doing it along with the Eagles. Why can’t the owners of Kansas City’s teams do the same? Who will be first to have the courage to take action?

- R.J. North Sr., Kansas City

Elder abuse

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15. There was no mistaking the crushing grief of Wanda, who called into a recent AARP Kansas town hall meeting broadcast. Her sister died from dehydration in a Kansas nursing home. Kansas attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt, the meeting’s guest, said he would refer her to someone who might look into it.

What happened with Wanda afterward? We don’t know. What we do know is if her sister had perished anywhere else, a thorough inquiry would have already been launched. But Kansas has no protocol requiring that all nursing home deaths be investigated.

Wanda isn’t the only one deserving answers and accountability for nursing home deaths. When my father ended up in the emergency room not long before he died in a nursing home, a doctor suspected foul play. Yet no autopsy was done, and legal requirements for his death certificate were not followed.

Even the Kansas Department of Corrections requires that all fatalities of those in its custody — inmates, work release participants — are investigated. So why aren’t all nursing home deaths?

This egregious discrimination qualifies as neglect and abuse. Will it change after this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day?

- Valerie Rouviere Harper, Topeka