Editorâs Note: Due to length, MSDN unfortunately cannot publish all the letters we receive, some regretfully so because they often present a great perspective on a current affair that doesnât deserve to find its final resting place in our archives of unpublished material. But such is the way of printing. Topics are researched, considered, written, only to die in the depths of a computer server. However, every now and again, we find ourselves with a little breathing room in an edition and can resurrect some of these old pieces that never got the chance to be read. Such is the case with this edition.
Below you find some reader submissions of 2023 that never made it into print, but we have a chance to print now. Some, most, may appear out of date or out of context, so they may demand some patience, but that doesnât diminish their importance.
I just finished reading a beautiful, but antiquated theory in the Daily Herald that gun crime is described as a health problem by the scientific community. I have a novel idea! Treat the gun topic as a Law Enforcement issue and let the scientific community tend to climate change. Guns are almost always single handedly related to crime, why not use empirical knowledge from law enforcement professionals who deal with guns on a daily basis. The ACLU, leftwing activists, and liberal politicians have emptied the police officesâ tool bag when it comes to fighting gun violence. They have eliminated stop and frisk, foot chases, automobile chases, and the broken window theory. The removal of these vital police tools was simply to reduce police contact with people of black or brown skin color, which by the way are responsible for 85% of Chicagoâs violent crime. This plan was motivated by political agendas coupled with a false narrative of over policing in these communities by the ACLU where the law-abiding people are begging for more enforcement. The elimination of these policing tools served their purpose, no more proactive policing: just arrive on the scene, write a report, and proceed to the next assignment without incident.
To describe this elimination of Supreme Court sanctioned tools for the police, I explain it as taking the wheels of off a car. You still have the car. The engine still runs. But it is useless. This is what these overaggressive do-gooders have done with our local police departments. They are still visible in professional uniforms, driving flashy cars with lights and sirens, BUT they have been neutered and are not allowed to do their primary jobs of protecting their citizens.
Gun control is a vital in reducing gun violence, but people must understand that the vast majority of the gun violence comes from a small percentage of the population and almost always with illegal guns. Legal gun owners are rarely involved in illegal activity. So put the onus where the onus is due, on criminals who carry guns illegally. Put them in jail.
Uncuff the police. Allow them to hunt down gun-toting criminals and protect them from the overaggressive leftwing amateurs. Let the police to be the police, and allow them to protect you and your families once again.
Larry Casey
Sun City resident
Words do matter. Words do hurt, even if you do not want them to. Drayke Hardman was a 12-year-old-schoolboy from Tooele County, Utah, who tragically passed away on 10 February 2022 after reportedly trying to take his own life in response to bullying from a classmate. Writing about her bereavement on Instagram, Ms. Samie Hardman, Draykeâs Mother, said: âThis is the result of bullying, my handsome boy was fighting a battle that not even I could save him. It is real, it is silent and there is nothing absolutely nothing as a parent you can do to take this deep hurt away. There are no signs, only hurtful words of others that ultimately stole OUR Drayke from this cruel place. How does a 12-year-old who was so knowingly fiercely loved by everyone think that life is so hard he needs to take himself from it.â Look up Draykeâs story.
Let us continue to deconstruct the term âMAGA.â It is a slogan used by a politician whose opinion is that the United States has lost its greatness. It is an opinion. Personally, I do not share it. There is no country in this world where I would rather live. That is my opinion. Is there a need for change? Most surely, change for growth. When people in seats of power/ authority or political parties are allowed, even encouraged, by constituents to misrepresent the truth, to insult and degrade those who differ in opinions, to withhold basic human rights and to silence voices, then this great country has a problem.
The âBlack Lives Matterâ slogan was coined out of frustration over the violent treatment of black persons. Like everyone else, the life of a person matters. If we truly agree that âall lives matter,â then we ought to show it by our collective actions. The ân-wordâ and all the other words and lies we use to demean and degrade persons of other races, ethnicities, religions, physical attributes, educational levels, or any other way a person differs from their neighbor is what needs to be banned. Words do matter. They are an outward expression of oneâs inner thoughts. We say what we think and believe. Then too, as Mom taught me, two wrongs never made a right!
âWokenessâ is an awakening, a coming to a new or different understanding of a person, place, thing, or idea. It is a revelation, âI never knew that!â or, âOh! I did not understand it that way.â When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they have experienced wokeness. When history teaches that change is needed so it is not repeated, this is wokeness. When one does research and investigation, gaining knowledge that dispels half-truths, this is wokeness.
Because I oppose police brutality does not mean I do not âBack the Blue.â I checked out âBooks Banned in Texas,â there are a lot more books than simply those with âexplicit sexual details targeting young children.â There is no requirement to be 100% supportive of the LGBTQ. Just do not call these people pedophiles. Teachers do not recommend puberty blockers etc. They do assist young girls experiencing their first menstrual cycle. Teachers want to teach. Ask one. Their words matter.
John Zeller
Sun City resident
