Letters: Pasco homeless, impeachment, climate change and more | Jan. 30

What’s Pasco telling homeless?

The Jan. 23 Tri-City Herald cover story about the Pasco City Council voting down the homeless shelter says that Martinez realizes that the homeless will be affected with the council rejecting the proposal but said, “reality is we’re here to serve our community.”

Is Pasco’s mayor suggesting that the homeless are not his community? And is this the way to serve one’s community? To me, it sounds like the three-fifths compromise. Since the poor and vulnerable can’t stand up for themselves they don’t deserve the same representation.

It does not require complex thinking to guess that the occupants of all 52 units in the Pasco Haven would be in favor of this proposal.

One day after honoring Martin Luther King on MLK Day and ringing bells at public events, is this how public officials live up to his legacy? And is this the message the City of Pasco wants to send to its vulnerable?

Throwing stones from glass houses

As I read the headlines on Sunday, I was shocked that a neighborhood would deny a home for victims of sex trafficking. They’re worried about their real estate values? Really? Because I’m sure they believe no one with money could ever be a victim of this horrendous crime.

I know the Sagemoor Kennels and I’m sure it’d be a great place for them to live for a while to heal and get back into the community with a bright future ahead of them. If any of you neighbors had ever been a victim of a sex crime, you may have a more generous view.

Shame, shame, on all of you! Better be careful throwing those stones in your glass houses.

Intending to keep following Trump

I am so proud of the Republican party, especially those in Congress. When President Trump was elected, they did not know him nor did they trust him. However, little by little they agreed with him enthusiastically. You can understand why. Congressional Republicans watched as their president grew more successful. Since his inauguration, more than $17 trillion has been added to the stock market just in 2019. All Americans benefit from low unemployment, including minorities and women. In fact, unemployment is at its lowest level in half a century. He has cut redundant regulations. This benefits small business and his decrease in federal taxes helps everyone and is a benefit to the US economy. We no longer have ISIS terrorists in our backyards slicing our throats almost every month. This was the norm with the last administration.

During the impeachment process, congressional Republicans carried the torch to show that the accusations against President Trump were completely false and just plain idiotic.

Thank you, President Trump, for your leadership. We intend to keep following your lead.

Cutting emissions good insurance

Life is full of uncertainty: we don’t know how long we’ll live, how healthy we’ll be, how much snow will fall on the mountains this winter. Yet we all make decisions in the midst of such uncertainty.

We don’t know exactly how much the climate will warm in response to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, or how much damage will be caused by the warming. But because most of the emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, we must decide how much to limit emissions before the most damaging warming occurs.

The Earth surface might warm just 3 degrees Fahrenheit after the CO2 concentration doubles (which will occur in 2050 at present emission rates), or it might warm as much as 8 F.

Adapting to a 3 F warming would be expensive but manageable. An 8 F warming would cause many compounding catastrophes.

A prudent risk management strategy for climate change would prevent the full range of outcomes, because the most damaging outcomes would be so devastating that they must be prevented. A wise climate change policy would serve as a global insurance policy. That means reducing emissions as fast as practical.

Choice is between tribe and cult

Question: Neglecting that the Democratic Party has devolved into a tribe and the Republican Party has devolved even further into a cult, what is the most significant difference between the two “parties?”

Answer: Their souls are owned by different plutocrats.

Prayer for our country: Dear Lord: You are undoubtedly aware of the current abysmal state of politics in this great country, especially at the national level. Truth and integrity have never been a characteristic of politicians, but now independent thought and loyalty to country have been replaced by loyalty to tribe or leader of the cult. Corruption is rampant. I pray that you deliver us from these politicians. Send a plague that destroys the tribe and the cult. Even if we start over with a bunch of total neophytes in office, it will be an improvement.

Reader wants his witnesses called

With already tens of millions spent and thousands of hours wasted on a useless impeachment trail that goes nowhere, now they’re going to add even more taxpayer money and hours to those same numbers by holding a trial when they should vote to dismiss. More on this in a minute.

In the hearings there were absolutely no credible congressional witnesses called that had any documentation, none. They had no supporting or collaborating information that supported anything that any of the so-called witnesses had to say. What they had was opinion, supposition, innuendo, insinuation and highly misleading allegations, completely unsupported by any “facts” whatsoever.

No high crimes or misdemeanors were discovered, which should result in immediate dismissal as the economy, employment, military, nation and its people continued to flourish at the hands of our President, Donald Trump. However, now that the articles of impeachment are in the hands of the Senate and if they decide to call witnesses over my objections, then here are my four choices under oath and penalty of perjury; Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Adam Schiff and most importantly the whistleblower. Now let the trial begin.

Too many don’t accept differences

I think the Tri-Cities has too many people who are unaccepting of differences and who honestly feel they’re better than others and show it in many, even subtle, ways.

I used to attend school here in the Kennewick School District and in middle school and especially high school, I noticed that the more affluent, popular kids were mostly white and they also viewed themselves as better than the poorer kids, which of course are a more racially diverse group and to which I belonged. They never talked or hung out with the poorer kids, only other rich kids like them and only gave the less fortunate kids glares. Their superiority complex also manifested itself in that they wore nicer more expensive clothes than other kids.

I also noticed many kids liked to show off their talents more than others and upstage others, always felt a need to appear better or smarter than others. Finally, the popular kids dominated school sports and the Honors and Advanced Placement classes and leadership positions.

I find people like this very annoying and unfair and really wish the Tri-Cities would change in these areas.

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Pasco homeless, impeachment, climate change and more | Jan. 30."