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Letters to the Editor

The real consequences of Trump’s lack of focus

DEAR EDITOR: The other day, I was reading an analysis by former foreign service officer and ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer of President Trump’s foreign policy during his first term and a phrase struck me: Trump’s “lack of strategic focus.” What phrase could better describe Trump’s first year of his second term than a lack of focus, strategic or otherwise? The consequences of Trump’s lack of focus in his second term will be catastrophic and long-term. The damage he is doing to the reputation this nation built up over 75 years as a stabilizing, if imperfect, force in the ...

School districts dropped the ball on Jan. 15

DEAR EDITOR: The Howland, Niles and Warren school districts made very poor decisions in not canceling school on Jan. 15. Absolutely nobody belonged on the roads. Students being made to walk to street corners and have to stand and wait for the buses was wrong — 100% wrong. Especially where there are no sidewalks. I pray as I write this that no accidents of any kind happen. I hope parents criticize these people big time. RAYMOND WEBKER Niles

Trump administration using Nazi blueprints

DEAR EDITOR: Do you wonder where this administration is getting ideas for policy? Go online and read Project 2025 — it is clearly laid out for America. Did you really think it would never happen? Then you need to read the poem “First they came” by Pastor Martin Niemoller. This was written in 1946. Go to the library and read a history of WW II and look at the pictures of the Gestapo and the “brown shirts” look familiar? Can you see how much they resemble ICE agents? Never be so arrogant as to think this can never happen in America, because it already has. Remember ...

A few random thoughts for you to sit and ponder

DEAR EDITOR: After spending millions of dollars, and inconveniencing people for two years, the diverging diamond is reality. It is certainly no better than what was before, and in some areas is worse. Many things in this world are good in small, controlled quantities, but very bad in large quantities; such as fire and water. The internet is one of those things. Books are great. And newspapers. And some magazines. We are destroying this planet, the only one we have. The biggest problem — there are too many people. It amazes me to read that some of the Founding Fathers thought ...

Are we not entertained by Donald Trump?

DEAR EDITOR: “Are we not entertained?” This letter is written especially for my Catholic priests and bishops. Let’s go back a few years when Sen. Mitch McConnell refused to vote on President Barack Obama’s choice for a liberal justice to the Supreme Court. Make no mistake, this was the beginning of Project 2025. “Are we not entertained?” Jan. 6, 2021 Trump instigates thousands of his followers to stop a joint session of Congress, which was certifying the electoral votes of the 2020 presidential election, shouting, “Hang Mike Pence. “ This was Trump’s attempt to ...

A return to 1958 author’s ‘The Ugly American’

DEAR EDITOR: In 1958, the political novel, “The Ugly American,” was released, authored by William Lederer, captain in the US Navy, and Eugene Burdick, political scientist. One reviewer indicated that this very popular novel dealt with officials and Americans abroad who were “ignorant of local customs, social norms, and cheerfully insensitive” to the citizens of another nation. Allegedly, a 2026 mini-docu-series of this political novel, a sad sequel one might say, is coming out .... like Yogi Berra observed, “Deja vu all over again.” The title is yet to be determined. ...