Who needs extra pay
I normally don't get upset when people get extra help. However, I do not understand how come people getting unemployment get an extra $600 a week. I know they lost their jobs and it's really sad. Why couldn't they just get the same amount as their normal check? Can you help me understand why they're getting that extra money? And they're safe at home. I'm a vendor for Walmart and work around the public all day, exposed to all kinds of things. I haven't seen my grandkids in a month because my kids are so afraid I may give my grandkids covid-19.
I know I should be thankful that I have my job, and I am very thankful. Also I'm very lucky I'm not in the medical field because they're exposed more than me. If anyone needs extra pay, it is the medical field. Thank you for letting me comment. Have a wonderful day and stay safe.
SHERRI JOHNSON
Farmington
Errors made, maybe
Before we can ask this country's Donald Trump supporters to reconsider whether they made a mistake by voting for him in 2016, those of us who voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 may need to pause and ask ourselves if we could also have possibly made a mistake.
To reconsider does not mean to change your mind. We all make mistakes, and there is a deep spiritual need in each of us to periodically "reconsider" decisions we have made in the past that brought us to where we are today. Is it possible in this world of possibilities that America might be better off today if Bush 41 had gotten a second term? No one can answer this question definitively. However, I believe that if America falls, the presidency of every leader all the way back to Roosevelt will be remembered as one of the dominoes.
We have a brief moment in time right now to quietly reflect and perhaps reconsider.
GENE REID
Little Rock
No soldier left behind
We are at war, and the front-line soldiers are the medical professionals with support from the grocery workers, police and firefighters. They are fighting the good fight and at times are overwhelmed by casualties and lack of fire power and intelligence support. Make no mistake, this is a real-time battle against an invisible enemy.
When someone says it is time to open up the economy, they are saying it's OK to leave those soldiers behind and accept their "smaller" daily battles as an acceptable sacrifice for the greater good. Without massive testing, these soldiers will die and we will be right back here, and the battle lines will be even more blurred by our leaders' blind faith and greed. I pity our elderly, our sick and our children, and apologize for our weak-minded and heartless leaders.
Leave no soldier behind; test, test, test!
DAVID BURROW
Fayetteville
It no longer matters
Despite the novel pandemic, some Americans traveled to Mexico anyway for spring break and Dia de Pascua (Easter). Unfortunately, travelers this year were met all along the border with the strange phantasm of Ronald Reagan shouting, "Mr. Trump! Tear down this wall!"
But seriously, Ronald Reagan no longer matters. It appears Republicans have outgrown Reagan and his values. Republicans have outgrown the post-World War II institutions which solidified the powers of the United Nations and the European Union.
Today, President Trump says he's cutting funds to the World Health Organization, this after Trump submitted a budget cutting $451 million from the Centers for Disease Control during the advent of covid-19.
Republicans have outgrown the Statue of Liberty, too: "Give me your tired, your poor ... The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Republicans should send that statue back to France where it belongs, and replace it with a Trump colossus saying, "Give us your brightest and best. Don't be a charge on our treasury."
Apparently the good Republican steals from the poor and gives to the rich. Stealing from the rich gets Republicans voted out of office, so Republicans have outgrown the poor. Republicans just need to stay in power long enough to survive the second and third waves of this pandemic. Trump actually expects covid-19 sufferers to take hydroxychloroquine. Maybe Republicans can outgrow covid-19 by drinking lots of hydroxychloroquine and investing in snake oil.
GENE MASON
Jacksonville
Must be accountable
It has been some time since I've written a letter to the editor; however, I find it more difficult each day to contain the complete outrage I feel toward the occupant in the Oval Office and his administration. I cannot give him the title he received as he considers himself a monarch. He admits this in his daily briefings, and I believe there is more chaos and division created by this person than any other tenure in our lifetime.
I am not blaming him for the pandemic, but for the slow response.
Even if true, as he claims, that the shelves were empty when he arrived, he had 3 ½ years to fill them. He fired the pandemic staff as he couldn't see beyond his next campaign and thought they were just sitting around. He was given a book by the prior administration that detailed any pandemic, 69 pages, yet he didn't have time to read it or even listen to the warnings.
There are far too many grievances to mention, in my opinion, for the space in this section. To have a leader occupying the Oval Office that cannot be accountable for any of his actions/non-actions is reprehensible.
And now, to add insult to injury, he wants his name on the assistance aid checks? The dollars aren't coming from him, it's our money.
Come on!
TERESA LOVERN MARACEK
Sherwood
Editorial on 04/20/2020