Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., listens during a joint subcommittee hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington. A reader writes about Massie’s proposal to cut aid to Israel.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Spend taxpayer dollars at home
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie’s amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion in foreign military aid to Israel failed, but the bipartisan support it received should serve as a wake-up call to Washington. If foreign leaders are publicly discussing reducing their dependence on American financial assistance, Congress should take them at their word and begin that transition.
A simple online search shows Israel has universal healthcare, broad access to contraception and legal abortion. Yet, Congress continues to approve billions in military aid while many Americans struggle to afford healthcare and other necessities.
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With our national debt soaring and inflation hammering Texans, our taxpayer dollars should rebuild infrastructure, strengthen veterans’ care and support our own communities.
It is time to put constituents first. I call on Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, to put the American people first by prioritizing the communities and families they were elected to serve.
Babita Daware, Trophy Club
Voters need to pay attention
I do not find pleasure in bashing President Donald Trump. I would much rather not have to worry about the next harm he’ll inflict.
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Right now, we have catastrophic flooding in Texas again, a dangerous heat wave across the Midwest and East Coast and multiple raging fires in the west. I think we’re at the point where everyone can see we’re in an unprecedented weather environment. But Trump not only denies climate change, he has spent almost $3 billion in taxpayer money to stop clean energy projects already in process.
His crackdown on immigration is causing labor shortages and has been cruel and deadly. He’s reducing the number of skilled H-1B workers who can come in also. Where’s the balance between secure borders, meeting labor needs and treating people humanely?
He is cutting research funding, which will limit research into deadly diseases, reduce scientific innovation, damage universities and curtail the amount of brainpower we have traditionally attracted from around the world to our great benefit.
And I haven’t even mentioned election lies, his self-enrichment and the erosion of trust in our institutions, the rule of law and respect around the world. Voters, please pay attention.
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Reducing the deficit
Much has been made lately of the Dallas budget deficit of $30 million. I have an idea that might help. How about we stop giving massive tax breaks and abatements to large corporations and developers? The large corporations will probably come here anyway, and the developers will probably develop here anyway. Problem solved.
Actions speak louder
Thank you for your exhaustive and heartbreaking series “Abused and Abandoned.” Tragic doesn’t even begin to describe how these abused victims are victimized over and over by our state leaders, judges and prosecutors who truly don’t care to right these horrible wrongs.
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As I was reading, I could not help making the following comparison: These leaders do not care enough about protecting the survivors’ lives to ensure that the law is upheld and that they are provided the assistance they deserve. At the same time, in the name of “protecting life,” the stringent anti-abortion laws our leaders have crafted have put countless lives at risk.
Now Bible verses must be read in schools and the Ten Commandments must be posted in every classroom. I cannot understand how these things can even exist in the same space. How do they excuse the inexcusable treatment of the victims, extoll the virtues of Christianity and mandate its inclusion into our school curriculum while ignoring the teachings of that faith? While breaking the law?
They’d like us to just believe their words, but their actions belie those words. They should be ashamed of themselves. The victims deserve better.
Suzan Staley, Flower Mound
Judging deeds over words
As America turned 250, the loudest arguments about this presidency have been about words. The stronger case is about what actually happened.
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Consider what got done for causes progressives usually champion: mass incarceration reform, historically Black colleges, forgotten heroism. President Donald Trump signed the Never Again Education Act and the JUST Act, secured permanent funding for HBCUs and granted Black Vietnam veteran James Capers Jr. his long-overdue Medal of Honor.
He made First Step Act relief retroactive, cutting more than 4,000 federal sentences, 92% for Black defendants. He banned bump stocks over NRA objections, launched Operation Warp Speed, signed the Great American Outdoors Act and moved medical cannabis off Schedule I. Illegal border crossings fell to historic lows.
Abroad, the same pattern: results over rhetoric. He brokered the Abraham Accords, tripling the number of Arab nations with normalized ties to Israel, and the Washington Accords between Congo and Rwanda. He pushed NATO allies toward 5% defense-spending targets. And when diplomacy wasn’t enough, he acted: ordering the strikes that killed ISIS’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, and this year, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while overseeing the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro — a mission Nobel laureate María Corina Machado credited with liberating her country. Critics note the costs; the scope is not in dispute.
Strip away the name, and progressives would call this record historic. Attach the name Trump, and somehow it isn’t. Judging deeds rather than the man who signed them seems the fairer test.
Richard Romm, West Sussex, U.K.
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A beautiful world
Re: “Dallas needs vision for downtown to avoid costly choices — Leadership should put disagreements aside, develop clear strategy,” by Maggie Parker, Tuesday Opinion.
Wow, thanks to Maggie Parker for an enlightening, vision-filled essay on how Dallas could move forward on its path into the future. Now, all we need is for the city’s stakeholders (ahem, City Council members and the city manager) to sign on. What a beautiful world that could be.
Daniel Siculan, Royse City