Readers write: Letters to the editor, March 1, 2017

Trump redefines 'success'

A U.S. special operations raid in 1980 ended with people killed and aircraft lost. The president told the American people, "the responsibility is fully my own."

A U.S. Special Forces raid in 2017 ended with people killed and aircraft lost. The White House announced the raid was "absolutely a success."

Thank you, Mr. Trump, for redefining "success."

— Don Neal
Anchorage

Nation is in extreme distress and tearing families apart

It seems President Trump and Steve Bannon might as well wrap up the Statue of Liberty and ship it back to France from whence it came, since America won't be needing it in the foreseeable future. To spare shipping costs the short trip across the border to Canada would be more economical — plus it would be in a more deserving country.

It's puzzling to see how at odds stated family Christian values of conservatives with the present situation. Families of undocumented residents are being torn apart by a government instead spending those same funds and personnel to aid these people in attaining citizenship to remain in the country as hardworking and productive people. When forced to live in the shadows, folks don't have the support of billionaires and lobbyists to promote their cause in Congress. Of course, if they're allowed to stay and become citizens, conservatives would run the risk of getting fewer votes. Certainly couldn't run that risk.

Also, we can give up our claim of being champions of religious freedom, considering the present attitude toward Muslims, and more recently, Jews. The emerging terrorist threat now appears to be from our very own red-blooded armed American white supremacists, radicalized and emboldened by Trump's vitriolic rhetoric, Bannon's Breitbart news, hate radio and Fox. Time to fly the flag in the inverted position; this country is in extreme distress.

— David P. Werner
Palmer

Out of touch with ADN

ADN successfully hid the Sunday opinion and commentary in the TV news section. I looked all through ADN and had to go back to the index before I found the E-pages in the TV section.

This happened on top of the difficulty of separating the cheaper paper pages from each other and my sneezing allergy to something in the paper or ink, and your reprinting articles from other newspapers rather than paying for investigative reporters, helped me to prepare to react to what I found in the E-pages. I had not gotten to reading one letter, opinion or commentary. I got hung up on the first one I attempted to read and I realized ADN and I are out of touch. I also don't like paying a higher subscription for more corporate advertising. My question is: Should I pick up today's ADN and try again, or do I simply give up and add to the pollution in the Soldotna dump? The latter might save some trees. I see by this morning's TV news China is contemplating vertical trees as a creative solution to their coal-fired air pollution problem. Now that is good news and a great picture.

As ADN evolves, so am I.

— Hugh R. Hays
Soldotna

Hell has frozen over —
reader agrees with Jenkins

I'm very surprised to find myself agreeing with Paul Jenkins in his column in the Feb. 12 paper. In my opinion President Trump is disrespecting our courts and judges as well as the free press, which we need more now than ever. Jenkins is hard right-wing and I'm hard left-wing but apparently we both cherish this great country and our freedoms.

— Donna Grant
Anchorage

Legislature: Do your job

We are coming up on the halfway point of the 30th state legislative session, and it is time to ask: What have they accomplished? Too many senators continue to hide behind false claims there is more "fat" to be cut out of the budget. So, the Legislature continues to fiddle while Alaska slides deeper into recession, with tens of thousands losing jobs, leaving the state, and companies folding. Everyone sliding around on our highways because the Department of Transportation has been forced to cut its plowing budget, or waiting for the police to show up, understands "taxes are what we pay for civilized society."

Alaska is the only state that has neither income nor sales taxes, and our deteriorating infrastructure and worsening recession is evidence of what occurs when that happens. Hey Legislature. Time to: Do your job!

— Bob French
Anchorage

Every Alaskan should
be irate at flip answers

Our state, as everyone knows, is in horrendous financial straits. Serious analysis, communication, cooperation and intelligent decisions are mandatory in this current Legislature and administration. After reading ADN's recent article about Juneau legislators collecting $160 per diem even though their homes are in Juneau, I truly feel like throwing up.

Sam Kito justifies the $160 per day as replacement for income not received while working in the Legislature. Isn't a position in the Legislature a job itself? If you can't afford to leave your regular job, you shouldn't run for the Legislature. That's like collecting unemployment while holding another job.

Dennis Egan, described as "salty" in the article, claims he still has legislative expenses during the session: "Yeah, I gotta buy a g-damned tie and sport coat and all that stuff as I let my jeans rot at home."

Justin Parish states the per diem preceded his membership in the Legislature. He continued that the payments shouldn't be in question right now, and we should focus on the $3 billion budget deficit — not $10,000.

No words can describe how absolutely irate I am — and every Alaskan should be — at these three crass, flip answers to the question. This attitude toward "just $10,000" is indicative of people unconcerned about the bigger picture. As far as Egan is concerned, I have the following message: I don't have $160 a month for my g-damned food budget. Perhaps you should stay at home and rot with your jeans and put the per diem back in the budget.

Thank you to ADN for reporting these stories. Good journalists shine the spotlight on every move of our elected officials. I think sometimes they forget for whom they are working. It's our lives, our money and the future of our great state.

— Jacqueline Fries
Anchorage

United in the face of bigotry

Sadly, the past few months have seen a drastic increase in hate crimes against various communities in the U.S., notably against groups such as Jews and Muslims. On the bright side, this has resulted in a positive outpouring of support from all corners — a few that may be surprising to some. These two religious groups have long been stereotyped as enemies of each other. To the contrary, Jews and Muslims have routinely joined each other in solidarity when one is targeted. This is what we are witnessing today.

A few weeks ago, a mosque in Texas was destroyed by an arson attack. Immediately, their Jewish neighbors handed them the keys to their synagogue — welcoming them to use their facilities for as long as they needed. In turn, a week ago vandals attacked a Jewish cemetery in Missouri, smashing many gravestones. Two prominent Muslims set up a fund to raise money to repair the cemetery. Within a few days, they had raised over $130,000. And now this past Saturday, another Jewish cemetery was attacked in Pennsylvania. Again, Muslims arrived quickly to help clean up.

We must send a message loud and clear that good people throughout the country are united against bigotry and hatred, no matter our differences.

— Heather Barbour,
Islamic Community Center
of Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.