Attempt to discredit
As a former law enforcement officer, I would like to explain how the system works when someone is arrested for a crime. The children were always removed and still are when someone is arrested. They are put in foster care. You are not allowed to take your children with you when you go to jail.
Last I looked, crossing the border into the U.S. is a crime. Why should this be any different? This is simply another attempt to bring discredit upon the presidency.
CURTIS R. FESLER
Mountain View
Ponder energy future
In the next few months, voters of various backgrounds will encounter several policy proposals fixated on the nation's health-care system, economy, and immigration policy. Unfortunately, there is an imperative issue being largely ignored: energy.
The energy industry is vital to both our nation's economy and the government. America is the world's leading energy producer in natural gas and soon to become No. 1 in oil. Through recent technological innovations, we have been able to reduce oil imports by about half since 2010. Currently projections predict that domestic natural gas production will be able to supply up to 60 percent of U.S. energy demands for decades to come.
However, there is an additional aspect that voters often do not consider when they go to the polls. As the U.S. decreases dependence on foreign oil, we also alleviate the need of American troop-led interventions. Of all the justifications of entering foreign conflicts, energy never fails to make an appearance. As our country enters the 15th year of our longest war, are we comfortable continuing to send soldiers overseas when we have the ability to keep them at home with their families?
In addition, for the citizens who deem environmental stewardship to be morally imperative, consider the following: Our natural gas portfolio helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, the United States is leading the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with CO2 levels nearing record lows.
The coming elections present an opportunity for our nation to become more energy self-sufficient. They offer the chance to build a safer homeland and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is an opportunity within our grasp, achievable through a vote. Therefore, when you are deciding for whom you are voting, consider whether the candidate can keep the lights on and our troops home.
BRANDT SMITH
Jonesboro
Rep. Brandt Smith represents state House District 58.
Honoring our cyclists
This past weekend in Augusta, Ga., Little Rockian James Hunter East won the National Masters Road Race for the fifth time, racing 60 miles in a field of 80-plus, while also winning the Criterium on Sunday, a shorter, faster event of approximately one hour. The stars-and-stripes jersey is a highly sought-after honor for amateur racers.
It is shameful that this newspaper publishes worldwide and local sports results yet ignores both the national and local honors of cycling Arkansans. These hard-training men and women deserve recognition.
LAETITIA EAST
Little Rock
Megalomania well-fed
It was certainly convenient for Donald Trump to solve a problem at the Singapore summit that he himself helped create by overplaying the threat that Kim Jong Un actually posed to the United States and the world.
I am aware that Kim has nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that are capable of reaching the U.S., but he has yet to prove that his nuclear warheads would survive re-entry into the atmosphere. Even if his warheads had such capabilities, he must know that North Korea would not survive the massive retaliation from the U.S. if he had the temerity to launch even one missile in our direction. He himself would no doubt survive in one of his bunkers deep underground, but he must know that he would never be able to return to a surface that would remain radioactive long after his death.
Kim has obviously enjoyed the attention he has received since becoming Fearless Leader, and that attention reached a peak in the summit he had with the leader of the world's most powerful nation. Megalomaniacs crave attention; it's their drug. The reason for that attention is that North Korea possesses nukes. The surrender of those weapons would instantly reduce him to insignificance in world affairs. We'll still be talking about those weapons in 2028.
I find it confusing that, after facing down the mighty USSR in the Cold War, we have seemingly quaked in fear of Kim and his minuscule nation.
Kim is so definitive of a megalomaniac that future megalomaniacs will have plastic statues of him on the dashboards of their limousines. This is, of course, a joke since megalomaniacs only allow statues of themselves.
ED CHESS
Little Rock
Consequences of act
Your business section reported that tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump on imported aluminum will cost the MillerCoors brewery more than $40 million per year. The brewery's CEO said that the impact of these tariffs will ultimately cost the American consumer. He added, "It's absolutely not what the president intended, in my view, but it's a consequence of what he did."
Can we afford a president who doesn't understand the consequences of his consistently stupid actions? Our Republican legislators are apparently too scared of him to squeak, and Democrats are a vanishing species. What to do? I suggest stocking up on beer and aluminum foil and bracing for the next "Trumpocity." God save America!
HANA MIRONOFF
Fayetteville
Editorial on 06/20/2018