Letters: Not giving up on finding cat shooter; Thompson owes constituents the truth

Not giving up on finding cat shooter

It has been over three months since my white cat Sampson got out of my home and got shot by a neighbor close by.

Just wanted to say I have not given up on trying to find the person responsible for the shooting.

You can’t mistake my white cat for any wildlife!

Sampson has recovered but as most animal lovers know it is quite an adjustment when an animal has lost a limb.

The expense was huge, but when you are an animal rescuer of 50 years you don’t dwell on that ... You stay focused because that person also broke the law.

I’m happy to hear that Centre County has finally hired an animal control officer.

He will be (in the future) a very welcome addition to Centre County.

Lana Philippi, Houserville

Thompson owes constituents the truth

Pennsylvanians in the 15th Congressional District deserve a Representative who respects and represents their interests — and Glenn Thompson does neither. Month after month, his partisan online newsletter peddles subtle, and not-so-subtle, disinformation aimed at triggering his base, not informing his constituents.

Consider his bolded declaration in April’s newsletter: “Americans Are Worse Off Today.” Citing a Fox News poll, with 52% of Americans claiming to be worse off today than four years ago under Trump, he adds, “House Republicans understand that Americans rightfully feel like they are worse off today than they were four years ago because they are…” Really?! That’s ridiculous on its face — April 2020 was the beginning of a devastating pandemic with the economy essentially shut down.

We don’t need opinions to show that Thompson’s claims of “skyrocketing Bidenflation” and “surging violent crime” is untrue. Actual data contradicts his pronouncements.

The U.S. economy is humming: unemployment continues at record lows; 303,000 jobs were added in March, the 39th straight month of significant job growth; real wages are increasing; and inflation, despite fluctuations, has improved in every sector. What Thompson conveniently never mentions is the underlying cause of rising prices: corporate gouging or greedflation!

Does Thompson, a sitting Congressman, really not know that murder increased almost 30% between 2019-2020 under Donald Trump — or that in 2022, under President Biden, violent crime (murder, rape, robbery and assault) dropped nationwide and continued to fall throughout 2023?

He does know! But peddling disinformation serves his political purposes.

Norita Chyle, State College

McCormick always checking wind’s direction

If the Democratic Party is looking for an ad campaign to use against Republican Dave McCormick, they might use the theme that worked against their 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry. You may recall that Kerry once famously said that he was for the war in Iraq before he was against it, handing Republicans a chance to label him as a flip-flopper and show him in a commercial as windsurfing in one direction and then the opposite.

When it comes to China, McCormick seems to be on the same surfboard.

According to news accounts, when McCormick ran Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund, the firm had more than $200 million in stock in multiple Chinese companies later sanctioned by the United States as being tied up with the Chinese military. When U.S. sanctions were imposed, Bridgewater stopped the investments.

One could praise him for following the law but on a deeper level one could question his judgment to begin with. China has hardly been a beacon of freedom in this century and the military’s ties to many corporations is an open secret. Wouldn’t it have been ethical not to invest even if it was legal?

Now McCormick opposes investments in China. But one wonders how he’ll surf if the rules change.

Like Pat Toomey before him, McCormick seems more interested in serving in the Senate to watch over his own financial interests, not yours and mine.

R. Thomas Berner, Bellefonte

Pro-dictator behavior

Donald Trump has predicted a “bloodbath” for the country if he is not elected later this year. His supporters tried to soften his message by saying he only meant the country would be in trouble without him in charge, and we should not take “bloodbath” literally. But they also claimed his January 6 directive to “fight like hell” was not to be taken literally, and look how that turned out.

It’s no secret that Trump admires the world’s authoritarian leaders, such as Russia’s Putin, Hungary’s Orbán, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, Turkey’s Erdogan, and China’s Xi Jinping, and has spoken longingly of their ability to easily silence their political opponents. While he praises and envies them, he refers to his own political opponents as “vermin.”

He has never publicly expressed admiration for Adolph Hitler (as far as we know), although General John Kelly has reported that he once said to him, “Hitler did a lot of good things.” He does, however, publicly make use of Hitler’s language, disparaging immigrants by calling them “animals.” His infamous line that “They’re poisoning the blood of our country” is right out of Mein Kampf.

Although he has promised to act like a dictator only on “day one,” his pro-dictator behavior suggests he is unlikely to keep that promise. If we want to retain our democracy and our decency, we need to stand up and say, “Enough is enough!”

Ross Adams, Boalsburg