It’s no wonder America is doing so poorly. Many, even most, adult Americans have given up on life. Together, we make up “fat America.” We can’t ride a bike, swim in a pool, work in a yard, let alone dedicate energy to making changes in the community.
We are so overweight, we put every ounce of energy into getting through the work day and have little left after getting home. Exercise is out of the question. Participation in democracy is unheard of.
Our disposable income and time are spent on sedentary activities like video games, cruising the internet, texting friends and family, photo-bombing porn sites, filming goofy scenes and sharing photos of restaurant plates.
We are no longer American the Beautiful. Our amber waves of grain have burned to the ground. Americans pledge allegiance to themselves alone. God can’t shed his grace on thee, because he has fled the scene.
Our frustrations as a people are rooted in ourselves as much as our leaders. We are a people insufficient for democracy. Democracy requires a people committed to the education, health and welfare of others. That is not us. We are committed to luxury and personal glory. We are committed to pleasure and entertainment.
We are fit only for autocracy, aristocracy, oligarchy. Those systems invite the very few elite among the people to form their ranks, the ones who are physically, emotionally, socially, financially and intellectually fit. Their only real problem is that they are spiritually and ethically challenged beyond all repair.
So, to sum it all up, America has no leaders and no followers, only wallowers.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Story play
draws fire
It’s disappointing to see The Monitor burying news of the House select committee’s findings on Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn last November’s election. On June 22 one of The Monitor’s front-page headlines was about a program at Quinta Mazatlan.
The article about the hearing the day before was relegated to page A9. It minimized the importance of that hearing by focusing on the horrific pain Trump brought down on one election worker and her elderly mother. It glazed over other findings, including testimony from Republican elected officials who had been pressured by Trump to overturn the election results in their states. These were officials who had voted for Trump themselves but who refused to violate their oaths of office and comply with his demands to overturn the results of a free and fair election. There was never any evidence of voter fraud, as Trump still alleges. Eighty-six judges, including some Trump appointees, have found that his allegations have no merit.
Your readers deserve better from The Monitor. Not highlighting important news contributes to the disinformation that has been so prevalent, thanks to Fox News and other far-right “news” outlets.
Many people are not paying attention to these vital hearings. Not fully reporting on them seems to indicate that The Monitor prefers that its readers are uninformed. People can draw their own conclusions as to why this would be the case, but I would encourage The Monitor to carry full coverage of these hearings and to publish the committee’s website at: https://january6th.house.gov/ where they can watch all of the hearings and judge for themselves whether they are important.
Cory Raymond
McAllen
Court
wrong
The Supreme Court in my view has made a horrible mistake in their cockamamie opinion. When the Second amendment was passed, muskets were the main weapon in use at that time. The people at that time could not see into the future, where we have the ability to wipe whole nations off the map with just a keystroke, sending weapons to their target and killing all living things.
The conservatives, mostly Republicans, say the Constitution is not a living document and should be interpreted as written. Except when it come to abortion, guns and religion, and then it’s OK to broaden their agenda!
I say, let everyone who wants to bear a musket under the 2nd Amendment. No AR-15 rifles, no bazookas, no missile launchers, no tanks and no atom bombs.
Show us the pictures taken of those children killed in Uvalde, show us the horrible death that those babies suffered when that teen killed them while the 96 Texas troopers stood around picking their noses. Local police, school police and even marshals stood around for what those children deemed ages begging for help! Their parents would have stormed those classrooms and stopped the carnage with no regard to their safety if they were allowed to! If those pictures were made public, the public would never forget, ever.
Bill Williams
Palmview
Letter
upsets
I take great umbrage with the letter written by Mr. Richard T. Grant of Brownsville in the June 23 issue of The Monitor. His wide brush of discontent for Republicans, relative to the Uvalde shooting disaster, “being defenders of the Second Amendment trumps human life and empathy for victims,” is not only a gross misinterpretation on his part, but salacious in content and abusive in nature.
None of my friends, be they Republican, Democrat or Independent, many of whom are gun enthusiasts, carry for their protection, hunt or compete in shooting events, etc., were not totally heartbroken, outraged and sorrowful for the terrible events in Uvalde!
There is no rational justification for this shooting, evidently perpetrated by an antisocial, mentally disturbed individual. But to insinuate that Republicans, or anyone else, lack respect for human life, or empathy, because they choose to purchase and own a particular firearm, is not only ludicrous, but insulting.
If the AR-15 had not been available to the Uvalde shooter, he most likely would have chosen some other semi-automatic weapon or handgun. Semi-automatic rifles, of many descriptions, have been available for public purchase for more than 70 years, and should M-16 look-alikes be banned, then those who fit the mold of the Uvalde shooter will just adjust their purchases to suit their demented, perceived needs.
Mr. Grant’s assertion that there is some allure provided by the Second Amendment in relation to mass shootings is additionally incorrect. Firearms, regardless of the type, are inanimate objects that can be abused by humans, just like drugs and alcohol can, many times with the same result.
We need better ways of identifying those who should not own firearms, not political rhetoric!
Sherwood D. Uhrmacher
Palmview
Illegal crossers
bring devastation
Legal immigrants have always been a part of our culture and fiber of our country, but lawless open-borders immigration has brought devastation to all.
The unlawful crossers and the American people, in terms of suffering; i.e., unreported or maybe covered-up COVID-19 spread, sexual abuse of women and children, and other unreported crimes against innocent people.
Some prefer to ignore the obvious in disgusting complicity. That is anti-humane and anti-American.
My only concern is for everyone’s one-tier justice; also for the preservation of our country’s rule of law.
I’m not beholden to subsidies or self gain of any kind; not now or ever. Just beholden to a fair shot for everyone.
“ Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy
Imelda Coronado
Mission
