Disregarding life
In the United States, “thoughts and prayers,” a phrase intended to offer comfort and hope, has been transformed into a symbol of a society that values gun ownership over the life of a child. If you are a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt or even a friend or neighbor of an individual that has a child, would you be willing to give up gun ownership if doing so was a required condition for a doctor to save the life of the child that you know?
If you were in a position to vote on universal background checks for all gun purchases and transfers, would you vote “yes” because such checks have the potential to save a child’s life? Or, would vote “no” because you or someone else might be mistakenly turned down for a gun purchase. I know how I would vote. How about you?
Elizabeth W. Lett, Norfolk
Hostile takeover
Please stop parroting White House talking points by referring to the current events in Washington, D.C., as a crackdown on crime. If this administration and this president were concerned with crime, they wouldn’t have slashed security funding to the district recently by 44%. If this administration and this president were concerned with crime, National Guard troops would be found in high crime areas rather than on the National Mall. If this president were really concerned about crime he would have called in the National Guard to stop violence in the city on Jan. 6, 2021, instead of twiddling his thumbs and enjoying his handiwork on TV. If this was about crime, he also would be threatening to send National Guard troops into cities in Republican-ruled states rather than just in states governed by Democrats and cities run by people of color.
Pull out your thesaurus and call this what it is: a hostile takeover, a personal retribution campaign, a blatant attempt to intimidate any who refuse to bend the knee, a trial run for a coup. Many other terms would suffice, but cracking down on crime would not be one of them.
Dale Timmer, Newport News
Electricity crisis
I appreciated the Aug. 21 Associated Press article about the approaching electricity crisis in Virginia (“Trump blames renewable energy for rising electricity prices”). A 19-year vendetta against windmills is a poor basis for U.S. national policy.
This is actually just a simple matter of supply and demand. The data center boom in Virginia creates a massive demand for new electricity in our grid. And the Trump administration effort to kill wind and solar is blocking the cheapest way to meet that demand. There is a lot of nonsense being spouted about natural gas handling all our needs. But methane prices are rising, and there is a five-year backlog on gas plant turbines. I am dubious about the “methane peaker plant” that is proposed to start operation a few miles from my home in Chesterfield County in 2030 with a cumulative price tag of $4.5 billion by 2064. The annual carbon footprint of 2 million tons also threatens the declared climate targets for Virginia.
I accept that many of us don’t focus on climate change, but the fact that a promised 50% decrease in energy costs is now being replaced with a likely 50% increase in energy costs in Virginia should interest all of us.
Chris Wiegard, Chester
Important topics
What a relief. I just heard that, due to public outcry, Cracker Barrel will keep its original logo. Thank goodness. I can finally sleep at night again.
Now that we have that settled, we can move on with more important issues … like where are Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce registered?
Pamela Hammer, Chesapeake
