Letters to the editor: Defunding police, masks, protests
Defunding police
Saying “ ‘Defunding the police’ is a terrible misnomer because it mischaracterizes its intent” is either dishonest or terribly naive. Next you’ll tell us, “ ‘What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!’ or ‘Pigs in a blanket - fry ‘em like bacon!’ actually mean ‘Assign social workers to teach police to be more empathetic.’ “ What AOC, and Ilhan Omar, and the denizens of the late lamented “CHAZ/CHOP” and the Minneapolis City Council, and the crowd that spray painted the Idaho State Capitol, and that BLM “activist” all over TV yesterday mean is “Disband the Police Department. No more cops in our neighborhoods.”
Boise isn’t NYC, Chicago, or Seattle, thank God, but the last thing we need is less funding for our police. If you and Ms. McLean want to add social services, pay for them out of the existing Medicaid budget, not by reducing spending on the police. But you both should be on your knees begging forgiveness for being Caucasian, not trying to reduce our police protection.
Stephen D. Leonard, Boise
Patriots
A true patriot acts in the best interests of his/her country. He/she acts to protect fellow Americans. The Greatest Generation were patriots that made enormous personal sacrifices for the greater good. They accepted curfews, rationing, black-outs and safety drills. They collected scrap metal and rubber. They lost lives on foreign soil. They accepted this as their duty and they did this for YEARS. This is how they answered when their country called.
How have you answered your country’s call in this crisis? As we deal with a pandemic, record unemployment and economic crisis, what does your country ask of you? You are asked to wear a mask in public for a few weeks. You are asked to do this to protect those that made America great these years ago and are now in peril. They need you to protect them now. Are you going to step up and act for the greater good? Or are you going to throw a tantrum, stomp your feet and whine about your “freedom”? Don’t you dare wave our flag and claim to be a patriot if you are not willing to protect your fellow Americans.
Sherri Randall, Eagle
St. Louis incident
Leonard Pitts’ opinion piece in the July 10 edition was simply wrong. The good fellow wrote “One Patricia McCloskey came out of her home in St. Louis awkwardly holding a handgun as a group of Black Lives Matters protesters marched down the street toward the mayor’s house. Her husband had a long gun.”
Absolute, bovine excrement. The author sort of forgets to note that this poor group of righteous “protesters” smashed open a serious iron gate and moved toward the McCloskey home screaming death threats at the then-unarmed homeowners and even death to their dog!
No mention of the homeowners’ fearful calls to 911 which were ignored. Then the folk armed themselves and confronted the mob. How dare they interrupt the not so harmless ‘protest’ and dare to upset the trespassing mob!
This is not in dispute. There is a video. Folk can see the damage, hear the threats and watch the obviously terrified homeowners.
A “Karen” does not need be female. It can be a propaganda minion armed with a pen and having access to partisan media. I contend the worse threat to the country is the propagandist.
Jim Verdolini, Boise
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 5:51 PM.