Letters to editor in Naples Daily News Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019
Ukraine and name-calling
An article in the Nov. 8 paper started with this:
"A senior State Department official offered some of the most pointed testimony to date."
It goes on to say that George Kent, a 27 year veteran, was told by Taylor, who had been told by Morrison who had talked to Sondland that Trump wanted "nothing less than President Zelensky to go to the microphone and say investigations, Biden, Clinton."
If this fourth-hand testimony is the most pointed testimony yet, it has been a big waste of time. Are our congressional representatives really spending hours on testimony from witnesses with fourth-hand knowledge? Is this really evidence? In a court of law, it would be laughed out of the room. ...
The left is outraged that President Trump called Pelosi a "third-rate politician." They talk about how disgusting it is for him to attack her with name calling.
However, in just one day's opinion pages of the Naples Daily News, Trump is called a despicable creature, a sociopath, a psychopath, a morally corrupt sycophant and bat-guano crazy. The left, with its extreme hate, calls Trump disgusting names daily, yet when he counters, he is being disgusting. Are you kidding me?
Ron Wobbeking, North Naples
Who supports Trump?
A letter writer recently wrote that Donald Trump supporters are uneducated and of lower income. I am neither uneducated nor lower-income.
It's typical of liberals to miss the facts as to who supports our president. We vote based on policy, and the presidents policies have enhanced our country's economy, employment and foreign policy.
The politicians whom liberals support will destroy our country and plunge us into unsustainable debt. ...
Listening to the Democrat candidates for president promoting free health care for illegals, Medicare for all, the Green New Deal, open borders. huge tax hikes, free tuition, job-killing regulations and reparations for descendants of slaves is mind-boggling.
If Trump doesn't win in 2020 in a landslide, I will be shocked. The Democrat Party has gone so far left they are doomed to remain in the minority for a very long time.
J.N. Miranda, Naples
'Do what is morally correct'
Democrat? Republican? Forget those two words.
It's the American citizens making the decision of right or wrongdoing in Washington. Not the Democratic or Republican parties.
We rely on our elected officials to do what is morally correct. Any official who chooses to vote because he or she thinks it might negatively affect his or her political future is just as guilty of that which we are accusing our president: using your political power for your own benefit.
David Hoefer, North Naples
Local authors' books
On Saturday, Nov. 9, Collier County's South Regional Library held its second author event, drawing 63 authors to help promote and sell their books to the public.
I was wondering as an author of 15 books myself why no one from the newspaper came to interview some of the published authors about their books. I feel that area residents would be fascinated to read about local authors and their books.
Donna M. Zadunajsky, East Naples
Support for charter school
I applaud the Mason Classical Academy folks for having their own study funded and conducted.
Sure, Collier County Public Schools is disputing the findings.
MCA does a good job of educating kids at a lower cost and with appropriate pedagogical oversight.
Keep up the good fight, MCA!
Sylvia Wong Herscher, North Naples
Remember to aid veterans
Regarding Veterans Day:
Today's veterans face many problems, such as insufficient affordable housing, homelessness, food insecurity, lack of health care, getting stuck in poor-wage jobs, and addiction.
They often suffer the effects of past stress and trauma and are plagued by drug use and thoughts of suicide. Their needs often go unrecognized.
Please remember veterans when you vote, and remember cuts in services, Medicare, Medicaid expansion and food supplements are all services that veterans use.
Lewis Robinson, Fort Myers
Free haircuts for veterans
On Veterans Day, the Great Clips store at Gladiolus Crossing did free haircuts for veterans and I was a recipient of one of them.
Other stores gave freely to veterans of their time and resources, and we should remember their generosity as we patronize them.
Jerry Gustafson, Fort Myers
Let the Dreamers be?
Dreamers arrived at an average age of 6. They are now working, in school or in the military.
When they became Dreamers, they came out of the shadows and gave up their locations and their personal information. ICE now has that information and if things go south, all these young people will be promptly disappeared.
I saw a White House tweet that said some Dreamers are criminals. But the Dreamers are monitored. Any lawbreaking or negative habits means a loss of Dreamer status.
They came as children. They are living clean lives. May the high court smile on the Dreamers and let them be. Just let them be.
Bill A. Beaumont, Fort Myers
Tax cuts and deficits
Kudos for Tuesday's op-ed on tax cuts and the impact of huge deficits.
Might have also added this trillion-dollar imbalance in the economy doesn't just hop in a time machine and teleport to future generations. When you squeeze the economic balloon in one place, it bulges out somewhere else in the here and now.
The bubble used to show up as inflation in goods and services, but there's excess capacity in those areas. Today the bulge shows up in exchange rates and asset prices (stocks and real estate). Did this in 2008-9 too, and when the bubble burst, we got the worst recession since 1929.
The GOP's fetish for tax cuts isn't a free ride. They don't pay for themselves in higher growth rates over the long haul.
Bob Schmidt, Sanibel
'Start over' on international deals?
Why can't the "Art of the Deal" maker renegotiate deals rather than cancel them, then have to start all over again?
With Iran, it made matters worse, with them going back to making nuclear material.
The real author of Trump's book has repudiated the six times bankruptcy business loser.
By the way, North Korea has been too quiet lately. Like quiet children getting into serous trouble, what are they up to?
Alice Mack, Fort Myers
U.S. abandoned ARVN?
I am a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. I was an Armor Cavalry Platoon leader. More than 58,400 of my comrades in arms died fighting for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. In the central highlands, they were useless. Before any possible action, they disappeared. They did not fight "alongside" us.
(Editor's note: This letter is a response to a comment in a recent letter about U.S. forces leaving Kurdish allies in Syria.)
Steve Goldstein, Fort Myers