Readers react to Kansas, Supreme Court, Sen. Bernie Sanders
Worse than film
Kansas has truly become the Land of Oz. Our leaders have no brains, no heart and no courage, and the wicked witch is in charge. Is it too late for Dorothy to save us?
Ronald Collins
Olathe
High-court pick
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pledging not to start the Supreme Court justice confirmation process because the Republicans are still letting public-interest positions guide their decisions with advice and consent.
Also, he said he wants the American people to decide whether to proceed.
Our president has spoken, and the people have spoken in a poll with 63 percent for and 22 percent against, so proceed now. The people will also be heard with our votes in November.
The people will vote for daily, working, qualified, compromising candidates.
The Senate should get on with business, letting the process and voters choose. We, the people, will start to re-establish a party of the people.
Jerry Brown
Overland Park
Candidate Sanders
It is unfortunate that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has been reduced to a shouting messenger of inaccuracies.
I have listened to Sanders on talk shows for years. He was a great guest and always had an easy, simple point of view.
Now we see him on the national stage, ranting, shouting, red in the face, with talk-show ideas but no way to implement them.
Listening to Sanders is like listening to your great-grandfather lambaste everything from A to Z over Thanksgiving Day dinner.
There are no reasonable solutions. I think I will turn him off for now and maybe revisit his line of thinking with a full turkey dinner. Sanders will be my second helping of turkey.
Robert Maurus
Kansas City
Legislative flop
State lawmakers have completed their 2016 legislative session, and once again our representatives failed to enact meaningful labor reforms for Missouri workers.
Government workers in particular were poorly served when legislators, by a narrow margin, failed to pass “paycheck protection” and recertification reforms as the session came to a close.
For years, public officials have promised to empower private and government sector employees and protect them from overbearing union bosses. Yet for years, it hasn’t happened.
It’s no wonder that labor reformers are running out of patience with a legislature that always talks a big game but consistently fails to deliver.
Patrick Ishmael
Director
Government
Accountability
Show-Me Institute
Kansas City
Unsettled Earth
Japan had two major earthquakes last month. Within days a major quake struck Ecuador. These events always raise questions about why and so close together.
Look up the “Pacific Ring of Fire.” It is a name for the faults and volcano activity at the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Major fault lines lie off the west coast of the Americas as well as Japan and Indonesia.
This old globe we are riding is still hot in the middle, and the cooling shakes it. It is not about what man is doing.
Richard Blaisdell
Kansas City
Fast-food pay
Just a quick FYI to all Mickey D’s patrons. McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook got a 368 percent increase last year over his 2014 total compensation of $1.69 million.
The CEO of McDonald’s made almost $8 million. Not bad, but also consider he gets a company car, company plane and health insurance.
A nice package if you can swing it.
However, if you have to get up at 3 a.m. to get breakfast started at your local McDonald’s, don’t expect a living wage.
Ken Strange
Kansas City
Aytulu columns
Thank you, Gokce Aytulu and The Kansas City Star editorial board, for providing a refreshing perspective on important issues (5-20, Commentary, “Why are the British people so angry about Angelina Jolie?”).
Instead of the typical, provincial reporting on the “border wars” between Kansas and Missouri, Aytulu is sharing broader viewpoints about real global border issues, the refugee crisis and what free speech really means.
Your perspective is humbling and appreciated. Thank you.
Marty Stanley
Kansas City
This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Readers react to Kansas, Supreme Court, Sen. Bernie Sanders."