Contributions this week expressed concerns about increasingly autocratic government officials, Medicaid drug pricing policies and the possible threats brought on by the growth of artificial intelligence technology.

Other writers weighed in on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, the presidential debate and a suggestion for a new Democratic Party presidential nominee.

As always, we welcome any thoughts you’d like to share with your fellow readers, and thank those who have done so.

Comments appreciated

Mr. Ned Sheats’ commentary of June 19 offered very useful information for the community on the power grid. Much appreciated.

Thank you!

Imelda Coronado

Mission

Electing autocrats

After the first presidential debate, the whole nation is panicked because one candidate can’t stop lying and the other can’t stop stuttering … because all we have left is a choice between a mad man and an old man.

We have fallen hard into the trap of investing our dignity, our hearts and minds, and the future of our children and grandchildren in one faltering man or the other. We are looking to only two possible saviors to solve all our problems and heal the nation. We are looking to autocracy as our new form of government, not democracy or republicanism.

The two candidates aren’t the problem, folks. We are the problem. In a representative government, the real issue is the capacity of the people to solve problems locally and to send capable folks to state houses and to Washington D.C. to make good laws. We can’t do either in 2024. We are a terribly backslidden people, and our leaders are drawn from our ranks.

The networks interviewed voters before and after the debate, and — big surprise — not one of them could articulate a serious legal or political/constitutional issue. All were stuck either on personality concerns or grocery concerns.

We have been taught to believe we are grocery deprived by the political pundits who don’t want us to understand the real issues. We are taught to think with our wallets, not with our brains. Until we learn more about the real issues in a democracy, we aren’t of much use to God, family or country.

ABC’s David Muir says, “It’s how the voter feels.” No, it isn’t, David. It’s about what is between the voters’ ears. The challenge for America is to increase the number of adults in the voting booth, in our workplaces, in our statehouses and in our homes.

The two candidates, for their part, framed every statement about an issue in terms of what “I did” or “He did,” not in terms of what we the people need to do. Trump at one point said, “I changed that.” He alone enacts policy, and he alone will enact policy if he is elected again. Biden does not lag far behind in his self-image as the “decider-in-chief,” as George W. Bush was fond of calling himself.

The people don’t do democracy by electing one autocrat or the other. The people do democracy by participating in local government. Today, the American people have very little interest in participating in government. They want to holler at sports games, eat out at restaurants, and make enough money to live in luxury like celebrities do.

The political priorities of our incapacitated people boil down to either one of two things: raiding the public treasury to make things easier on themselves (Democrats) or skewing the tax structure so the other guy must carry the burden of government (Republicans). That is a me-me-me approach to life. We need to start thinking about our neighbors and the young people who will inherit what little we have left to leave behind.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Alarming immunity

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution about immunity. The legal maxim, no one is above the law, is no longer true. Donald Trump asked for absolute immunity “so he could do his job.” More than one commentator has said the Supreme Court gave him more than that.

The president of the United States is now immune from prosecution if he commits a crime.

In addition, what has been legal until now is no more: Prosecutors could use what the accused said or related actions that go to intent (motive), as evidence. That has been erased. Does that mean Trumps threats, insults, and the things he says he intends to do no longer matter?

Neil Katyl, a noted prosecutor, said the court delayed this immunity decision for months and months so that Trump could not be prosecuted before the election. He explained in a newscast an example of an Official Act: Pressuring the Dept. of Justice when he called into question the 2020 election with the insinuation that the November election was false was an official act.

Katyl said exceptions for unofficial acts were “itty bitty,” or of no consequence.

If you want to see what else is in store for the people, check out Project 2025, the GOP platform. It contains more rights to be taken away from us.

We still have the power and a majority that believes Trump should never again walk into the Oval Office. We can weather this.

Shirley Rickett

Alamo

Grave plaques for military

June 29 marked the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, and we are grateful to have all our U.S. veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time during the period of Nov. 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975, regardless of location, receive our Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin as a lasting memento of our nation’s gratitude! This pin and commemoration was awarded at most American Legion posts in the United States.

We are all very grateful for this heartfelt gesture and ceremony that occurred all over our country, but we remain saddened by the laws, 38 USC 2306 and 38 CFR 38.631, that make it impossible for our veterans to receive a military plaque at their gravesite simply because they have a family funeral marker already in place. If we as a nation are truly grateful for our military veterans and their sacrifices, they should not be denied this significant distinction of honor of their service at their gravesite in spite of having a personal family marker. Let us all join together to insist that Congress revisit these laws to find out when and why they were enacted.

Especially now that we are at our 2024 July 4 Independence Day Celebration, let the guiding principle and prayer of this nation that has been, is now and shall ever be “In God We Trust.” I hope you and yours had a blessed and happy 4th of July. Please continue your prayers for our nation, a country that seems to have lost its way, but with God’s help this nation, under God, shall have a renewed birth of freedom and that government Of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. Celebrating Our great nation, and may God, in whom we trust, continue to shed His grace on us.

Joe L. Longoria

Stafford

Democrats draw attack

From a 1948 speech by Winston Churchill: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

I’d like to add some context to some of the comments in Kimball Shinkoskey’s “Republican voters have become slaves to their party bosses” (June 26). The first paragraph: “America has experienced some embarrassingly cultic, racist and repressive moments over the last couple of hundred years: the Mormon polygamy experiment in the 19th century; Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow politics in the south after the Civil War; the anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco in the late 1870s; Woodrow Wilson’s crackdown on free speech during World War I; internment of Japanese-Americans; MaCarthyism’s ‘liberals are pinko Communists’.”

A. According to Wikipedia, Mormon leader Brigham Young “supported slavery” and was a member of the Whig Party. He was appointed governor of the Utah Territory by Millard Filmore and reportedly had 56 wives and 57 children.

B. Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America and all the governors and all the U.S. senators from the states that seceded from the Union were all Democrats. The KKK, which was active all across America, not only in the south, was the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party from after the Civil War until at least the mid-1960s.

The hatred and violence wasn’t restricted to former slaves. Mr. Shinkoskey may not know that white Republicans and other suspected Union supporters in the south were also targets of Confederate sympathizers and lynch mobs. In October 1862, 41 suspected Union supporters were executed by hanging while other suspected Unionists in Gainesville, Texas, were shot. Look up and read the Wikipedia article, “Great Hanging at Gainesville.” I also encourage everyone to look up and read the Wikipedia articles on the “Ku Klux Klan” and “Lynching in the United States.” Read and learn a little about the evil and racist history of the Democratic Party that many of you support.

C. The mayor of San Francisco during the anti-Chinese riots in 1877 was Andrew Jackson Bryant, also a Democrat.

Before continuing to add context in a second letter to other comments made by Kimbel Shinkoskey, Joseph McCarthy was absolutely correct in referring to liberals (Democrats) as pinko Communists. While many liberals (Democrats) were/are pinko Communists, many others were/are “Reds.”

Natividad Rodriguez

Harlingen

Compromise is beneficial

Hank Shiver’s letter to the editor on July 6 said:

“Bill Clinton gave George W. a booming economy and it was driven into the ditch.”

Mr. Shiver fails to mention that President Clinton worked with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in particular with Speaker Newt Gingrich, to create the “booming economy.” They knew the only way to get things done to help America was to compromise.

Mr. Shiver also fails to mention that our economy went south when the Democrats took back the House of Representatives after Clinton’s and Gingrich’s success. Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House in 2006. The stock market crash beginning in the fall of 2007 and crashing in 2008 is the result.

In our capitalist system compromise is necessary to keep America functioning properly. Without compromise America will cease to exist. Our two major political parties are so far apart today I’m not sure if we can ever recover.

Darrell Williams Sr.

McAllen

Presidential permission

According to the Supreme Court ruling on July 1, if the president uses his official power to commit crimes, he’ll likely not be prosecuted. If he orders the assassination of a political rival, if he organizes a military coup to hold on to power, if he takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon, he’s immune, immune, immune.

Why are these supposedly intelligent Supreme Court justices acting so stupid? Do they feel the need to reciprocate to the man who appointed them? Were Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito influenced by their wives to sympathize with Donald Trump’s stolen election claim? Was their coffee tainted with something that deranged their thinking? Who knows?

President Joe Biden’s official duty is to protect America from foreign or domestic enemies. With this newly acquired power, will President Biden be tempted to order Team 6 to make the Donald disappear because he’s a threat to our democracy? Would Biden stoop so low? Nah. He’s more inclined to do the right thing and respect democracy.

Whether President Biden is on the ticket or not, Americans should do the right thing and vote Democrat. Because no matter what some people say, the reasons are obvious. And in ones’ heart we know it’s true, voting for the Donald doesn’t seem like it’s the right thing to do.

Italo J. Zarate

Brownsville

Democrats draw attack

A recent letter writer is guilty of overspeculation. He writes about scenarios where a vindictive President Donald Trump is somehow behind Hunter Biden’s legal woes. I wonder if this letter writer realizes how much his fiction borders on irrational paranoia. This same letter writer brands anyone supporting President Trump a bunch of trembling little sycophant soldiers, and others have branded MAGA as a cult and the list goes on, so it begs the question: Are the millions who voted in 2020 for President Trump a bunch of supporters eager for dictatorship, as the letters imply?

No sir, says I. Speaking for myself, I am a voter who is tired of a Democratic Party that claims that democracy is in danger, yet condones secret meetings to overthrow an election, where you have high-ranking FBI agents in Washington, D.C., speak about the “insurance policy” back in 2016 should candidate Trump get elected. Is that not a plot to subvert a valid democratic election?

Then you have the Steele dossier, paid for by Democratic operatives at the behest of Hillary Clinton, again another plot to derail the Trump campaign and upend the Democratic process.

I understand that politics is a dirty business and underhanded tactics are the fare of the day, but Democrats seem to embrace this with a fervor and push lies ahead of truth, especially where the current resident of the Oval Office is concerned, dealing with his mental fitness for the office of the presidency.

If anyone has surrounded themselves with sycophant soldiers it is Mr. Biden. They hid his mental decline, which at the debate was in full view, and perpetuated the lie that all was well, and were in damage control mode to ensure he remained in office.

Jake Longoria

Mission

Let’s cancel court rulings

True Americans should do everything possible to overturn Citizens United.

In 2010 the Supreme Court made one of its first anti-American rulings. They allowed corporations to, without the knowledge of all citizens or even their employees, donate billions of dollars in dark money to candidates whose views the corporate boards, CEOs and largest stockholders prefer.

There is nothing in the Constitution that provides the privilege of one person, one vote to corporations and up until 2010 it was not allowed. The Federal Election Commission lost its case and gave us the “buy the politician” situation we have now.

Dissenting Justice John Paul Stevens said it was “a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government.” The results can be observed now in how the mega oil, pharma, religious and agricultural corporations control our economy and society. President Barack Obama stated that it “gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington.”

Fellow Texans, no matter your party, join the liberals in doing away with not only Citizens United but also the Electoral College. Let’s go back to the one person, one vote the government was based on.

Ned Sheats

Mission

America’s Armageddon

Imperfection is a study in faults and weaknesses, in limitations and deficiencies. And when recognized and comprehended, imperfection serves as the foundation of realization and appreciation of human failings and flaws that inspire and motivate.

And America, with all its imperfections and faults, is still an embryonic idea, evolving with the passing seasons and with the ever-changing tides of human passions and distractions.

Two hundred forty-eight years of striving, struggling, grappling, brawling and laboring, each a step forward toward a horizon that beckons from beyond the bounds of dreams and timeless memories. Each a moment defined by sweat and tears, triumphs and sacrifices.

Yet, it is written in the Book Revelation that a final battle between the forces of good and evil will occur at a place called Megiddo (or Har-Megiddo). And I have but to ask what MAGA conspiracy theorists make of this: Har-Megiddo — Mar-a-Lago. Good and evil. Witch hunts, indictments and prosecutions against the genius of all things great or small. What can one deduce but that Armageddon itself is about to be put on the November 2024 ballot in America, home of Mar-a-Lago — or is it Har-Megiddo in the book of Revelation?

A revelation made in the same book held upside down, and outside the grounds of a simple church yard — not long ago, by a man some perceive divine. A prelude to what was to come? A clue to the faithful, the Evangelicals, the disciples of immoral moralists? Only time will tell, as the time nears and the crescendo of vengeance rises rises in tenor.

In the meantime, blinded by the arrogance and greed of politics and politicians, Americans blindly and pathetically continue to take the 248th step – that one last step to Armageddon at a place called Mar-a-Lago. And so, it was foretold. And so, it may yet come to be in our lifetime.

Al Garcia-Wiltse

San Juan

Court now OKs crime

The Supreme Court says a president cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed while he is conducting his “official acts.” Those acts include things like discussions with administration officials, military decisions and policy decisions, according to The New York Times.

I like this ruling. It makes life a lot easier for someone who is just super smart about enhancing his career as an American leader. I can see why former President Donald Trump is ecstatic.

This decision says the president can’t commit private crimes like rob a bank while in office. He can, however, steal funds all day long from the public treasury because managing public funds is “acting within his constitutional authority.” He would be foolish not to take a cut of the action.

Also, if he is nominating a judge for the court, it is OK if he takes a bribe to decide which nomination to make, because nominating judges is his duty. You’ve got to find some way to distinguish one judge from another, haven’t you?

If he discusses plans with other administration officials to send Green Berets to assassinate the president of Mexico because that guy pissed him off, that is OK because those conversations are protected, and he is in charge of the military. This is a little different way of doing things than in the Roman democracy we used to base our democracy on, however. In Rome, military malfeasance was prosecuted or impeached in numerous cases, because Rome didn’t want their public servants acting out of personal passion and injuring the interests of the nation. But, oh, we..

A former president can’t break into the campaign offices of a political opponent while he is in a private capacity. But if he is in office, this is excusable because there is a natural urge inherent in every powerful position that makes one want to stay in that office for a lifetime. Richard Nixon didn’t get away with this, but times have changed.

The thing about crimes related to “policy changes” being OK is just a little curious, because policy changes are the bailiwick of the legislative branch. The actual Constitution says that making laws, declaring war and raising revenue are not a part of the president’s job. But the Supreme Court has long looked the other way while presidents have been quietly switching those duties over to themselves. Today, it’s OK if the president decrees a new revenue policy taxing liberal billionaires in order to finance a personal presidential hot war against a liberal prime minister in Canada. That’s all OK, because the Supreme Court doesn’t consult the Constitution anymore.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Vote for Obama

America and all true Americans, it’s time to save our democracy, freedom and Constitution. Vote for and elect Michelle Obama for president of the United States of America. She will defeat a criminal racist liar opponent by a huge landslide.

Joe Biden has proven he does not have the intestinal fortitude to deal with controversial issues. He needs to let a true leader with more guts take over. God Bless America and all true Americans!

Andy Elizondo

McAllen

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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].