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Commentary this week addressed issues including workers forgotten on Labor Day, Richard Nixon’s resignation, U.S. foreign intervention and limiting elected officials’ terms. Other contributions discussed presidential debate formats, a proposed amendment to ban corporate involvement in elections, the presidential race and immigration, among other topics.
As always, we welcome readers’ contributions to our public forum, and thank those who have done so.
Change debates
Fact checking a debate.
In presidential debates Donald Trump lies and rambles but never answers the moderator’s questions. His aim is to filibuster and create chaos so that only the corrupt candidate wins. He has corrupted the entire news media with his lies and now even the presidential debates. Third country leaders shut down newspapers and kill reporters who oppose them. Trump did worse; he labeled all news as “fake news” and gullible folks believe him. They do not fact check. He creates confusion and chaos and promises everyone that he alone has the answers.
No more traditional face-to-face debates is the answer: Put each candidate in a separate room, no assistants, no phones, no ear pieces, no crib notes and no contact with the outside, just paper and pencil. Questions will be given over a speaker or written. Candidates will have a reasonable amount of time to answer. Misspelling and grammar will be allowed as long as a real attempt at the answer is made. The moderators will then show and read the answers immediately afterward over the air so that everyone can see the actual written answers, not an interpretation of the answers. No more filibustering, no more talking over each other and no more putting up with timid moderators.
With Trump traditional debates cannot be held.
Do you have a better answer? Think.
Arnoldo Gonzalez
Brownsville
Putin’s misstep
Ukraine penetrates Russia for at least 25 square miles and Russia is stunned, does not react. Vladimir Putin does not want to destroy his own country; Russians will hold him accountable for all the destruction in their own country. It seems the Russian bear is just a paper bear with no bite.
In Ukraine, no problem. Putin kills thousands of Ukrainian innocent civilians men, women and children without batting an eye. And he on to destroy billions of dollars of Ukraine infrastructure to include people’s homes and buildings and yet, holds back when Ukraine enters and attacks inside Russia, Putin’s home. Putin chickens out, doesn’t react. That is kind of odd; what is wrong with this scenario?
Ukraine has stood firm against Russia’s attacks and made the Russian Bear blink; very soon after Ukraine penetrates inside their perimeter. That is a sign of weakness.
Russia has run out of resources to continue to fund the war in Ukraine. Time is running out for Putin to deliver this victory to Russia on a silver plate to its people. Instead he is delivering a dull plate of disappointment to its citizens, a disappointment of the destruction of the Russian economy due to Putin’s unrealistic war of ego to steal land from Ukraine for selfish reasons. What a disappointment for Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin.
Rafael Madrigal
Pharr
Amendment supported
As a proud Brownsville native and the national co-director of Move to Amend, I am committed to advocating for our community on a national level. I traveled to Chicago to participate in significant events surrounding the Democratic National Convention. My goal is to urge the Democratic Party to incorporate House Joint Resolution 54, the We the People Amendment, into their platform.
HJR 54 seeks to address the undue influence of corporate money in politics and restore power to the people. This issue is crucial not only for our community in Brownsville but also for the entire Rio Grande Valley and the country as a whole. In our region, the looming threat of fracking projects, combined with the impact of high-profile ventures like SpaceX’s launch sites, poses serious risks. While fracking projects are still under development, their potential to disrupt our environment and contribute to pollution is a grim reality that could soon affect our community. Additionally, large-scale developments often lead to gentrification, pushing up property values and making housing less affordable for local families.
By supporting HJR 54, we can advocate for a system that prioritizes the needs of our communities over corporate interests, ensuring that our voices are heard and our environment is protected. This amendment challenges existing Supreme Court doctrines that equate corporations with people and money with free speech, doctrines that have allowed wealthy interests to dominate political discourse and policy decisions that impact our daily lives. Vice President Kamala Harris took the pledge to support the We the People Amendment while serving as a California senator. Additionally, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has shown his commitment by cosponsoring HJR 48 (the precursor to HJR 54) and supporting related state legislation during his time in Congress. Currently, HJR 54 has 86 cosponsors, including its lead sponsor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal. To advance this important amendment, I urge readers to contact their representatives, such as Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, and ask them to cosponsor HJR 54. You can also sign the Move to Amend petition to show your support for this critical legislation.
Your involvement helps ensure that our call for a more equitable system that addresses corporate influence and protects our environment is heard.
Alfonso Saldana
National co-director
Move to Amend.org
Brownsville
Reporting on Gonzalez
Excellent story about Ms. Gonzalez dying. I knew her many years and wrote two books about her and her boy, and received a big medal from the Marine Corps commandant in 2009 for my service and my work as a civilian for the Navy and Marine Corps. He was Gen. James Conway, and he honored me with the U.S. Navy Meritorious Public Service Award for helping Dolia and Freddy and keeping his memory alive.
I was on board the USS Gonzalez when we went through Hurricane Josephine in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico from Norfolk to Corpus Christi for commissioning.
Freddy Gonzalez Elementary School will miss her. She was like a mother to all the little kids there over the years on a site where Freddy once promised, “I will build you a house right here, mom.”
And he did, in a way.
John W. Flores
Albuquerque, N.M.
Trump guilty in Capitol riot
Regarding Mr. Longoria’s letter of July 30 absolving Donald Trump of any responsibility for the invasion of the Capitol, the ensuing damage and the loss of life, I give you the following.
Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., used witness testimony to piece together Trump’s actions the afternoon of Jan. 6, as there was not an official call log from the White House that afternoon and nothing included in the presidential daily diary.
“President Trump sat in his dining room and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff closest advisers and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president,” Luria said. “When lives and our democracy hung in the balance, President Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power.”
I then ask you: If a fully capable man with the ability to, without any risk to himself, prevent, stop or minimize a situation resulting in damage and/or loss of life refuses to act, is he not as guilty as those breaking the law?
Hopefully a moral person will say, “of course”!
Ned Sheats
Mission
Construction takes too long
The RGB needs to try and focus on finishing the 281 to 83 freeway as well as the 83 freeway construction. That has been going on for far too long. It took Katy less time to start I10 construction and expansion, and they started after RGV started their work.
Alfonso Zuniga III
Houston
Increase medical research funding
Washington has pledged to boost biomedical research funding. But lawmakers should also be working to maximize the bang for their research buck.
Health nonprofits have long been expert advocates for their patient membership. But more recently, patient-centered research foundations have been moving toward a more active role in medical research. Staffed with former R&D veterans, they are increasingly devoting resources to facilitating progress from initial discovery to clinical benefits for patients.
They provide seed and bridge funding, forge collaborations and invest their expertise to accelerate approvals.
Most importantly, these public-private partnerships provide a model for how Washington can work directly with the nation’s top disease experts to spur breakthrough medical research — which could save the lives of millions of patients in years to come. Bringing foundations into the research and development ecosystem has delivered outsized results. My organization partners with a Defense Department research fund — Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs — to research neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis, a group of rare genetic disorders that cause tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body. This work also provides clinical insights for the military on phantom limb pain and how wounds heal.
Other nonprofits are also building public-private partnerships. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, for instance, has collaborated with government partners on research to determine molecular changes that cause ovarian and breast cancers. Some nonprofits have embraced a strategy of “venture philanthropy” to support researchers pursuing riskier novel approaches. Nonprofits like the American Epilepsy Society are seed-funding small grants to help researchers get started and compete for larger grants. Collectively, nonprofits now make up the fourth-largest source of biomedical funding, contributing $3.8 billion annually.
Foundations have created centralized clinical databases where researchers can quickly recruit trial participants and share their data in real time. Foundations are also encouraging greater scientific collaboration through “platform” trials, in which researchers collaborate to test multiple therapies for efficacy against each other at the same time.
In some cases, foundations are investing in providing pharmaceutical companies with a specialized service offering disease expertise and easy connections to clinic networks, preclinical hubs, platform trials, and the like. As Congress discusses its 2025 budget, lawmakers must not forget how effective public-private partnerships have been at leveraging donor and taxpayer dollars.
Annette Bakker
President
Children’s Tumor Foundation
New York City
Progeny of dreams
We are the children of immigrants, settlers and exiles — descendants of dreamers and of dreams that link the passion that was to the obsession that is.
From the stepping stone at Plymouth Rock to the giant leap at Tranquility Base on the moon, dreamers and their descendants have defied the boundaries of imagination — and reset the compass of human ingenuity, creativity and vision.
It is descendants of dreams who have kept the torch glowing, while expanding the dream and the vision, by erasing the boundaries that once divided and separated one from another because of diversity — color, ethnicity, creed, sexuality.
We are the seeds of the passion and obsession that has inspired and motivated not just a nation but the world, and the destiny of man. And despite the adulterated dreams conceived by warped and twisted minds that have spawned the nightmares of generations past, and nightmares that have defined heroes who sacrificed for country, honor, duty, the descendants of dreams always pick up the torch, relight the flame, and march forward. Not backward. Not into the darkness of despair and regret, but into the light of day, and into the path that leads back onto that stepping stone at Plymouth Rock, and onto that mystical stardust on Tranquility Base.
Children of immigrants, settlers and exiles — descendants of dreams. Linked by imagination and inspiration to the magic of an expanding universe without end. If only we could keep the dreams from becoming nightmares that deceive and destroy. Imagine what other stepping stones and milestones may lie beyond the boundaries of our imagination. Beyond the rainbow of galaxies. And beyond time itself. All yet to be revealed and exposed by the descendants of dreams — our dreams.
Al Garcia-Wiltse
San Juan
Delusional disorder
Recently, John Bolton was interviewed by CNN’s Katlan Collins following Donald Trump’s recent news conference. As you may know, Bolton served as the national security adviser to President Trump and had many one-on-one conversations with Trump. After listening to Trump during his extended news conference, Bolton told Collins that Trump has trouble differentiating between fact and fiction.
“Look, Trump can’t tell the difference between what’s true and what’s false,” Bolton said. “Its not that he lies a lot, because to lie, you have to do it consciously. He just can’t tell the difference.”
So, what is Bolton describing? He is describing a person with a delusional disorder. A delusional disorder is a mental condition in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined. A delusion is an unshakable belief in something that is untrue. For example, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Trump honestly believes he didn’t lose the 2020 election. He believes the election was stolen from him, although there is no credible evidence this occurred.
There are many types of delusional disorders, including grandiose. People with this type of disorder have an overinflated sense of self-worth, power, knowledge or identity. Remember “I know more than the generals,” “I alone can fix it, no one else can,” and other such statements.
How can a person with this disorder effectively negotiate with other foreign leaders on the numerous critical issues of the day? Entering into agreements based on false information could have disastrous consequences for us and for the world. The North Korean leader already knows how to soften up Trump: flattery!
Melchor Chavez
Harlingen
Secret Service garners praise
In reference to David Mellinger’s recent letter (“Trump a hero?”, Letters, Aug. 9), I give Mr. Mellinger high marks for his interpretation of what real heroes are all about.
I’ll be glad to let everyone know who emerged as true heroes in light of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump that took place on July 13th in Butler, Pa. They are the gallant members of the U.S. Secret Service.
When the U.S. government established the Secret Service in 1865, no one ever said the agency itself was going to be perfect. When Secret Service agents were tasked with giving full protection to presidents and presidential candidates starting in 1901, no one also said their job was going to be easy.
As a matter of fact, those agents work long hours every day while placing themselves at high risk to shield our political leaders from all types of danger here and abroad. We may never know them on a first-name basis, but all members of the Secret Service are willing to go above and beyond the call to preserve the life of one who serves in the most prestigious office in the free world.
From frustrated politicians who attempt to grill them through hearings on Capitol Hill to media critics who claim the agents aren’t doing enough of a better job, the U.S. Secret Service has survived it all through the test of time and will continue to do so.
All members of the Secret Service should be praised more often for their tireless efforts in maintaining safety in the name of national security.
Roberto Lopez
McAllen
VP choices evaluated
To attract women voters, John McCain chose Sarah Palin for his running mate and it cost him. To attract evangelical voters, Donald Trump chose Mike Pence for his running mate and it helped him. When Trump lost his reelection bid, he urged Pence to ignore the election results and declare him the winner. Pence ignored him and on Jan. 6, 2021, the angry mob that stormed the Capitol got even angrier, and thus the call to lynch Mike Pence began.
This time around Trump chose J.D. Vance for his running mate. Yes, the guy who called him “America’s Hitler.” Some Trump supporters thought this was an odd choice, but Trump assured them that J.D. would not be like Mike Pence. Vance will gladly do his bidding. Besides, the MAGA crowd will be voting for Trump, not J. D. Vance. Nothing to worry about, unless of course he croaks. Then America will worry.
As for Democrats, we know Biden’s choice was brilliant! As for Kamala Hariss’ choice, what’s not to like about Tim Walz? Heck, the guy even resembles a favorite GOP hero, the late Senator John McCain. Talk about the icing on the cake!
So, Mr. Trump, don’t be lying to the American people that vice presidents are just pawns. Didn’t Mike Pence already teach you this? Hoo-boy.
Italo J. Zarate
Brownsville
Build cities for migrants
We don’t need to hire more Border Security personnel who are told not to do their job and use them to bus or fly illegals into cities anywhere in America on our dime.
We need to privatize this immigration invasion by using Uber and other forms of transportation to speed up the pace. Border security is understaffed for this task.
Cities need to be built to house all the people who are coming in. Government jobs need to be created so they can work. Health services provided for their health. Retirement programs provided to encourage others to follow in their steps.
And as for our veterans and homeless in America, you are on your own.
Rafael Madrigal
Pharr
Editor’s note: We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas 78502-3267, or emailed to [email protected].
