Instilling pure terror
Recently Trump tweeted an edited video attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar; many of his followers fell in line attacking her race, gender and religion online. So far at least two have been arrested and accused of making death threats toward her. Trump is too low to take down the video or defend a fellow American that he is putting in danger, even attacking her after one of his followers was arrested. His outlets are too full of "winning" to care about the damage they are doing.
Why, I ask: They are in power in the White House, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Because these people are fundamentally angry, just looking for an excuse to weaponize their anger no matter what. I won't pretend to understand why. But I will say this: If we do not vote them out in 2020, there likely will be bloodshed--a lot of it. It seems they are willing to kill so their fantasyland can came down from heaven.
To any right-wingers reading this: If you think this is OK, you are no better than Osama bin Laden, who you claim to hate so much. Terror of any type is un-American.
Wait ... maybe that is why they are so angry?
DANIEL GIPSON
Cherokee Village
An eggy little story
Nationwide poultry producers were caught off-guard last week by a shortage of eggs; Easter Egg hunts around the country had to be canceled for lack of eggs.
Officials investigating the shortage have discovered that many "mainstream news outlets" and Democratic congressional members were responsible for the huge lack of eggs. With the release of the "Mueller Report" last Thursday so many of them had egg on their faces. Perhaps the most responsible were CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and many others. These outlets and the chief egg-suckers of the Democratic Party Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and Chuck Schumer were found to be the biggest reasons for the shortage.
Many liberals and most Trump-haters were concerned there might not be enough eggs to go around. Rescue workers had to forcibly remove vast quantities of dried, foul (no pun intended)-smelling egg from the face of Democrat Maxine Waters, whose face was so encrusted she couldn't yell "Impeach 45" anymore. Not to be deterred by this man-made crisis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she could solve the problem overnight by requiring the vast hordes of illegal immigrants headed to our southern border to bring eggs instead of drugs and other contraband.
Many Americans were not affected by the shortage because many of them are now back to work or too busy to be concerned under President Trump's booming economy. Tyson stock was expected to rise.
BILL SOSEBEE
North Little Rock
Water needed in state
Arkansas needs water, especially for rice in the Delta. How about a system of lakes built across the northern part of our state? These could be for surface water for drinking, then for irrigation, and lastly for fishing and recreation. The multi-serving systems could serve most Arkansans' usage needs far into the future and provide employment at the same time. Interested parties should begin a campaign now for the fall election cycle.
ORVILLE CLIFT
Tontitown
Meanwhile, at lunch
Enrollment is down big time at UA Little Rock, which means a major drop in funding. From Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article: "In the meantime, he's contemplating a new plan to address one on-campus frustration--the presence of eStem students dining in the university's student center."
Let's see, you've sunk a huge chunk of money into the college experience and you wind up eating lunch with ninth-graders. As Bob Kelso would say, how could they not see this coming?
GENE REID
Little Rock
Don't fail our children
Access to sexual health education for Arkansas K-12 students has been in the news and letters sections in the past few weeks. There are differing opinions as to the benefits and the pitfalls. SB304, The Arkansas Healthy Lifestyle Education Act of 2019, was defeated in the House Education Committee. In response, Terrah Graves, a master of social work student, presented facts and statistics to support the inclusion of sexual health education for Arkansas students. Kay Hicks then raised some questions about how and by whom the subject would/should be taught in schools. She also suggested focusing on academics at school and relying on parents, churches, and synagogues to teach sex education.
In a perfect world, all students would focus on academics/good grades and families would provide guidance and facts in order for young people to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, that is not the case in our state. The Arkansas Adolescent Reproductive Health Facts published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that Arkansas ranked first on final 2016 teen birth rates among females ages 15-19. Remember that for every teen female there was also a teen or adult male involved in creating these statistics.
In 1964, a group of concerned professionals founded a nonprofit organization called Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Since then, it has become a recognized leader in the field of sexuality and sex education, publishing many books, journals, and resources for professionals, parents, and the public. SIECUS recently published the National Teacher Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education to help educators.
All Arkansas students deserve scientifically accurate, evidence-based sexual health instruction that is age- and grade-level appropriate. Anything less and we are failing our children.
SARAH THOMPSON
Fayetteville
Made a rare sighting
My wife and I enjoy walking, shopping and people-watching at Park Plaza. On a recent excursion there of two hours or so, we saw a person (one) without a cell phone stuck to their ear. Just amazing.
GEORGE McCLAIN
Little Rock
Editorial on 04/25/2019