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Letters To The Editor

Trump badly missed mark

To the Journal editor: (Recently), I witnessed, televised from the Oval Office, perhaps the most deplorable example of diplomacy in American history. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelinsky, was seeking renewed U.S. support in a three-year war of aggression against Ukraine by Russia, under the leadership of President Vladmir Putin and offering the U.S., in return, access to Ukrainian mineral resources. President Trump and his vice-president assumed the role of bullies, attacking President Zelinksy with untruthful (fact check it for yourself) statements and comments belittling his ...

He who would be king

To the Journal editor: I used to be a Catholic. I drifted away after high school and college, but then returned to the church after some difficult times in large part due to an inspiring and compassionate Father Charlie here in Negaunee. I left the church again because of a not-so-inspiring pastor who couldn’t help but preach partisan politics. Now I am inspired by a diminutive female Episcopal Bishop Budde who stood like a giant in humbly asking the new president, he who would be king, to have mercy on the poor and dispossessed who seek shelter and security in our great and ...

Musk, DOGE are out of control

To the Journal editor: DOGE is not a department; it is an extension of the executive branch attempting to circumvent the limits on presidential authority. The creation of a U.S. government department or agency requires at least four things: 1) legislative oversight 2) a narrow set of authority, mission and accountability 3) transparency and 4) review and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Because a billionaire created a clever acronym (department of government efficiency) does not mean we should trust his competency or his motives. The enablers of DOGE, Trump and his party ...

Trump out of line

To the Journal editor: Wow, what did I just watch! A U.S. president doing a commercial for a car company, on the White House driveway!? And who stood with him? The car company’s owner and his 4-year-old son. Just another example of how far this president will go to new and his supporters. Was he paid for this commercial or were the networks who ran it? Oh, wait a minute, he was paid since Elon Musk donated $280 million to his 2024 campaign for the presidency. And now I have read, Musk will donate another $100 million to two political groups associated with Trump. This is ...

Musk has too much power

To the Journal editor: Did anyone vote to have Elon Musk run the government? He has many conflicts of interest, and one of the world’s richest men is now free to act in a way that benefits his businesses and hurts his competitors. And he has access to our personal data and the data of his business competition. And he can weaken regulatory agencies that he doesn’t like. This is not about efficiency at all. Just greed. Sincerely,

Changes not for the better

To the Journal editor: Looking back 40 years, phones were still on the wall, the internet was mostly a concept, Ronald Reagan was president, and “Ghostbusters” was the biggest box office hit. In 1984, the U.S. economy was just barely over $4 trillion (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP), and the U.S. population was around 237 million. The federal government, our nation’s largest employer, had 2.92 million employees (https://statista.com/statistics/204535), representing 1.2 percent of the U.S. population. Today, our pocket-size phones are our computers and we can use ...