Release Miss Willie
Re Mike Masterson's column concerning inmate Willie Mae Harris: What an excellent article! It seems that true justice was never accomplished for Miss Willie. I am praying that Gov. Asa Hutchinson has read the article and will sign the papers to free Miss Willie immediately. God forgive the justice system for such a miscarriage of justice. God bless.
RON SNIDER
Jacksonville
How does that help?
I don't ordinarily write to dailies' opinion pages. I find it wasteful of my time, and accomplishes absolutely nothing. Perhaps so in this case.
I saw it coming. To fund his border wall--guess what--Trump is going to reduce funding for food stamps. Doesn't affect me; I'm a senior citizen and have never had to apply for them, fortunately. But I wonder how many needy voters put this buffoon in the White House? He's not my president, nor will I ever refer to him by that title!
DARRELL JENSEN
Shirley
Wrapped in flag, fire
Expect President Trump to do more than rattle sabers any day now; expect more remote drone killings, or fleets of cruise missiles to be unleashed on someone for some concocted reason, or an invasion of Marines to liberate Venezuela (it played well on the State of the Nation Show). The minute he sees bad poll numbers that predict his defeat, he'll wrap himself in the flag and fire.
If you think I am wrong, you haven't been paying attention. Our president is not merely unleashed, unrestrained and dangerous, he is positively encouraged by the mild and insignificant rebuke of a few Republicans.
Trump is a true narcissist. He is the center of the universe in his mind, and the proper purpose of government is to illuminate his "stable genius" and greatness. He will continue to bend our foreign policy to fit his needs for power with no doubt of the rightness of his cause--himself and his own self-aggrandizement.
DANNY HANCOCK
Lonoke
What the job entails
U.S. Attorney General William Barr, you say that Trump's tweets "make it impossible for me to do my job." What job is that, Bill? Preserving the appearance of impartiality while carrying out the payback agenda so clearly revealed in your boss' daily tweets? Pretty hard to keep up appearances of impartiality, truth-seeking and even-handed justice while committing the DOJ to pursue Trump's impeachment revenge fantasies and Russian-spawned conspiracy theories about the Bidens in Ukraine.
And you thought it was going to be easy to cover up for someone who insists on proudly broadcasting his criminality to millions of people every single day? Because that's the job you signed up for. Jeff Sessions at least had the smarts to recuse himself from the Russia probe.
Clever fellow, that Sessions. You should take a page from his playbook and resign before (a) committing an actual crime in the service of "der Furor" or (b) getting yourself fired (he likes to do that) for complaining about his "perfect" behavior.
ALEX MIRONOFF
Fayetteville
Democracy is done
You may have heard the story our senators are telling. They like to say that now that the impeachment trial is over, they can get back to doing the people's business. It's sort of an inside joke. What they don't want you to know is that there are a few hundred bills that have been passed by the House and are now sitting in the Senate, going nowhere. Why not? In a democracy, isn't the government supposed to reflect the will of the people?
Well, we don't really live in a democracy anymore. The president wasn't elected by a majority of the people. The majority party in the Senate doesn't represent a majority of the people. The unelected majority on the Supreme Court was appointed by presidents who did not get a majority of the vote. So the majority of the people aren't really represented in our government.
A bipartisan majority of the people agree that Congress needs to act on health care. Instead, this administration is working to end health care for tens of millions of people. A bipartisan majority agree something needs to be done about gun violence. The unelected NRA says no. There's no denying that prescription drug costs need to come down. The pharmaceutical donors say no. People in every area of the country could benefit from having an infrastructure bill passed. Think of the jobs that would create. Even Republicans agree that something more needs to be done about election security. And yet, nothing happens. Why not?
Well, as I said, we don't really live in a democracy anymore. Think of it this way: A democracy is where the Democrats try to respond to the will of the people. But, as Ben Franklin told us, we have a republic. That's where the Republicans are too busy trying to please the king to worry about taking care of the business of the common people.
MICHAEL FOX
Conway
A Hogs man crush?
OK, I get that Razorback fans are desperate to see their football team win. But this obsession with Sam Pittman, and how everybody loves Sam Pittman, is getting freaky. Anybody who knows me will tell you I could do more for the Razorbacks than Pittman, but nobody sings my praises. (Granted, I'm not loved by my enemies, and that's OK.)
Anywho, what do I have to do to get an audience with the U of A the next time there's a coaching change? (In about two years.) Will I need to gather up all of "Heaven's Host" to hail my arrival? I mean, WTFootball!
P.S: I don't love Sam Pittman ... not that there's anything wrong with that.
ROBERT BEMIS
Little Rock
Editorial on 02/16/2020