Reader says Josh Hawley’s thoughts on Trump dangling Jan. 6 pardons ring hollow | Opinion

Look, a camera!

Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley says he would not support a blanket pardon for those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (March 21, 1A, “Hawley opposes blanket pardon for Jan. 6 defendants”)

Who thinks the senator’s opinion would carry any weight should Donald Trump be elected and choose to issue such a pardon? Not me. Empty words, Senator, but they did get you on Page 1, above the fold.

- Robert G. Stewart, Gladstone

Why we work

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders recently said, “The sad reality is that Americans now work more hours than the people of any other wealthy nation,” citing statistics that U.S. workers on average work many more hours than their counterparts in Japan, Britain and Germany.

Perhaps the fact that we work so much contributes to why we are a wealthy country. If we work fewer hours per week, would this not decrease our country’s wealth? Is that the goal of Sen. Sanders?

- Stephanie Hamil, Leawood

Landfill location

In her March 22 Star guest commentary, “Kansas City needs to deal with trash reality” (7A) Jenny Monheiser writes that the site of her proposed new landfill in south Kansas City is “about a mile from the nearest neighborhood.” I am not sure exactly how far “about a mile” is, but I can say there is a school just over a half-mile from the location. My neighborhood is three-quarters of a mile away and another neighborhood is even closer.

She also states that her facility “would avoid harming communities.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The people living in the area bordering this proposed site would be significantly harmed, seeing their hard-earned property values plummet, development in the area stopped and, most important, in the health and welfare of their children and seniors.

The harmful health concerns for people living near a landfill are too many to list here. They are well documented and include the risk of fires that we see in the news.

I will leave the debate on when a landfill is needed to others, but this site is not where it should be located.

- Robert Jones, Raymore

Set an example

Thank you, Maxwell Kail. Your March 21 guest commentary “I’m a 12-year-old environmentalist. Let’s all dream big” was magnificent. (31A) As an environmentalist and protector of our beautiful Earth, I applaud you for educating Kansas City about the specific steps we can take to make our beautiful city shine.

Every day, I pick up trash when I’m walking. And every weekend, I hike in Missouri and Kansas state parks. While there, we never see trash along the trails. Now imagine this, Kansas City. What if we made our city like that?

Maxwell, you brought me hope this morning. As a teacher, I am in awe of your eloquent essay and your advocacy. You inspire me and make me believe that our future looks bright, like today’s morning sun shining through my window.

Now, Kansas City, let’s make it work.

- Liz O’Flaherty, Kansas City

Do the math

Remember the old saw about the inverse relationship between crowd size and intelligence? One version: To determine the IQ of a group of teenage boys, identify the least intelligent member of the group, and divide his IQ by the number of boys there.

Recent events at the Chiefs parade and North Kansas City High School suggest the need for a refinement of this formula. I submit that the divisor in this formula should first be multiplied by the number of guns present.

Other recent events also suggest that the age restriction implicit in this formula is unnecessary.

- Paul L. Schenk, Parkville

Vying for parking

Among so many other problems with Royals owner John Sherman’s downtown-area stadium fantasy, parking is a major concern.

His consultant points out that 40,000 parking spaces are within a 20-minute walk of the proposed location, while there are “only” 26,000 at the Truman Sports Complex. (Feb. 22, KansasCity.com, “If KC gets a downtown stadium, where will everyone park? Royals say it’s not an issue”) The consultant doesn’t mention that the T-Mobile Center, Bartle Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and many, many businesses also are within that 20-minute-walk perimeter. The competition for those 40,000 parking spaces would be intense.

The destruction of a swath of the vibrant Crossroads Arts District is also a major misstep. The county needs to put the brakes on this poorly thought-out plan.

- Larry Helsel, Raytown

Strongman control

Please do not follow Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson or their favorite media outlets when they share their enthusiasm for dictators and autocrats such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban.

Those autocrats’ governments violently stifle dissent, destroy personal freedoms and dismantle the free press. If their kind were to seize power here, they would take away your freedom to live in a country where you have a say in what happens and have individual rights. They kill political opponents and jail people who dare to speak out against them.

Putin invaded a free Ukraine to make it part of Russia again. His plan is to reestablish the Soviet empire by force.

If you believe all citizens have a right to enjoy the freedoms provided in our Constitution, resist those who prefer dictatorship or autocracy.

- David S. Evans, Kansas City