Railroaded

Re “Do those in Sacramento even think?” (March 24): Jon Coupal’s article pointing out huge blunders by those we voted for to represent us in Sacramento was excellent.

My favorite blunder by our noted elected officials? The Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed (220 mph) all-electric “Bullet Train.”

Us taxpayers voted for this project way back in 2008 for $9.95 billion. Now our Sacramento brain surgeons estimate the cost to be $128 billion! And, as we all know, they have scaled it back to merely servicing us from Bakersfield to Merced.

On a recent driving trip to Northern California, I noted it took 2 1/2 hours to go from the L.A. to the outskirts of Bakersfield and that was only one way. Just how many are going to be willing to invest that much time to drive, pay to park their car get on the train and wait for it to get going ... to Merced?

Perhaps the current administration in D.C. will do us taxpayers a favor and will stop sending our tax dollars for this Train-to-Nowhere boondoggle?

— James McKellar, Arcadia

Mainstream media

The consistent bashing of Trump while looking the other way on Biden’s many failures (his own party pushing him out the door) by mainstream media had a backlash with the public on honesty, and Trump was elected.

Did the media learn anything? No, it continues with the same coverage — get Trump — while no coverage of a complete mess of a Democratic Party ( 21% approval). Get back to basic and report all the news!

— Dennis Cito, Arcadia

Setting Trump straight

Last Sunday’s Opinion section contained a provocative staff editorial. After it noted that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is a man of few words, I quote the editorial: “Roberts issued an unprecedented Thanksgiving Day response to an unprecedented attack: ‘We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,’ Roberts wrote. ‘What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.’”

Words well said! The editorial stated recently Roberts was forced to set Trump straight with: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that (as Trump had implored) impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Our Constitution’s Article I establishes Congress, Article II the executive branch and Article III the Supreme Court. The Constitution further delineates for each branch their duties, obligations, and rights — and how the three are interrelated so each will effectively provide brakes against overreach by another. As the editors point out, now it is essential that the judiciary proactively assert its rights and responsibilities against likely transgressions by the executive branch, namely Trump. But Congress must do likewise! Need I note that Mr. Trump appeared before us citizens just two months ago and swore that he will “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”?

The editors’ conclusion was apt: “The president is not a king. If he wants to successfully implement his agenda, Trump needs to start governing in a presidential manner.”

— Lee Willard, Whittier

Brave Ukraine

Re: “Macron: Proposed European force may ‘respond’ if attacked by Russia” (March 28): First of all, I am happy for the brave little country of Ukraine, which has been fighting for their lives against big-bully Russia for the past three years, and doing quite well. War-criminal Putin could never quite gain the upper hand in his illegal invasion of Ukraine, despite the numerical advantage, and Russia has so far lost 172,000 killed, 611,000 wounded (Wikipedia). Ukraine is said to have lost 80,000 killed, 420,000 wounded.

Since Donald Trump has never shown any support whatsoever for our friend Ukraine, and in fact has openly supported his close friend Putin in the conflict by recently ambushing their mutual adversary, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, in the Oval Office, Ukraine could have conceivably been left out on their own. Thankfully, another player at that poker table has called “all-in!” French President Macron will be “hosting a 30-nation summit in Paris, proposing a European armed force for deployment in Ukraine, in tandem with an eventual peace deal.” European armies are extremely well-equipped, with modern, powerful weapons systems, a huge amount of warplanes, and well-trained troops. Trump has played America out of this card game. His ego-driven, cynical “peace plan,” which would have certainly given Putin Ukrainian territory, has now been rejected by those directly involved, and is no longer relevant in any way. Glory to Ukraine!

— William Stremel, South Pasadena