The Star should not have run cartoon falsely suggesting Jan. 6 riot wasn’t ‘organized’

Yes, organized

Normally, the best response to a Lisa Benson editorial cartoon is to grin and bear it, but her June 13 entry (7A) calls for more than passive resistance. It depicts a man watching the Jan. 6 hearings, holding a newspaper that says “Aug. 2021 news: FBI: No organized plot to overturn election.” Is this what the FBI said?

A single Reuters report from that month cited four unnamed current and former law enforcement officials who claimed the FBI had “scant evidence” that there was a “grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol.” That story was met with skepticism at the time and was at odds with other reporting from Reuters itself, as well as from many other journalists.

To learn what prosecutors think now, search “seditious conspiracy” on The Star’s website. Among the articles that come up is “US charges Proud Boys members with seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6” from Bloomberg News. It quotes an indictment saying that the members “conspired to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote.”

The Jan. 6 congressional committee continues to reveal more organization behind the attempted coup.

- Robert O’Rourke, Leavenworth

Give it back?

It sounds as though Johnson County Community College does not believe it rightfully owns the land on which the campus sits. A statement on the JCCC Midwest Trust Center website declares: “We reside on the ancestral territory of several tribal nations, including the Kanza, Osage and Shawnee peoples, and specifically, JCCC occupies land taken from these nations.”

If JCCC believes it does not rightfully own that land, it seems that the college should do the right thing and give it back to the tribal nations from whom it was stolen.

If that doesn’t happen, I wonder if those nations could sue for the land, given JCCC’s admission that it’s not rightfully owned. Or, it may be better if those nations sue for their share of funds received in perpetuity since the statement also declares, “The success of Johnson County and the Community College is a result of our location on these lands.”

I look forward to seeing how JCCC makes or is forced to make restitution, given its admission.

- Kathryn Lawler, Overland Park

Product safety

Two U.S. senators lately explained why American citizens should have assault rifles. South Dakota’s John Thune says they are practical to kill prairie dogs. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy says they are needed to kill feral pigs. If they didn’t have these weapons, people might have to take longer to kill these varmints, and that’s a shame. Why should law-abiding citizens go without these useful weapons?

Hmm. Our country has a population of about 332 million people, and about 212 million are between the ages of 18 and 64. If 99.999% are law-abiding, that would leave 2,120 who could go off the rails and use these weapons of choice to kill children, minorities or anybody else. How can we identify them? Do we clamp down on people’s freedom by monitoring everyone closely, or do we outlaw these weapons?

If a car has a defective part that could cause injury or death, the company recalls the cars to fix the problem. If a certain area’s lettuce causes illness, it’s recalled. Why do we treat assault rifles so differently?

Why should we place the efficient killing of prairie dogs and feral pigs above the lives of innocent children and adults?

- Don Schoening, Lenexa

In the lead

Al Franken resigned as a U.S. senator on Jan. 2, 2018, after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. He is done as an elected representative because of those allegations.

Eric Greitens resigned as Missouri’s governor after an account by his hairdresser of sexual assault and invasion of privacy was found to be “overall credible” by a Missouri House committee (made up of five Republicans and two Democrats). Recently, his wife accused him of spousal abuse and forced captivity and of striking at least one of their children hard enough that the child lost a tooth. He was also accused of violating campaign finance laws.

Greitens is currently Missouri’s front-runner for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. The front-runner. To be U.S. senator. Let that sink in for a second.

That, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, tells you everything you need to know about the Republican Party.

- Lane Sekavec, De Soto

This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.