Nursing is a profession
I’d like to address our president’s view that nursing should not be classified as a profession, for the purpose of limiting access to student loans (“Trump administration plan to reduce access to some student loans angers nurses, health care groups,” Nov. 24). My sister has been a nurse for 30 years. She is a professional and knows almost as much as the doctors that she works with. Nursing is a profession and it takes many hours of study and clinical practice to become proficient in that field. I know that Donald Trump worked the fryer station at a McDonald’s but I would challenge him to do the same work as a nurse. I would like to see him start an IV, insert a catheter, access a patient’s port, give a patient their prescribed medication and make sure that the medication is correct in dosage and for the right need. I’d like to see our president take a critical value and know how to act on it ,and I’d like to see him try to save a life while someone is coding. Thank you to all of our nurses!
Joy Putnam Daytona Beach
Congress shouldn’t meddle in college sports
So former U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper believes that college sports somehow makes America great, and that it is a matter that should be addressed by our Congress (“Time for a conservative fix to college sports,” Dec. 1). You have to love a conservative calling for the government to intervene in a free market system. The hypocrisy would be amusing, were it not so typical of the modern-day “conservative.” His plea is not just tone-deaf. It underscores the priorities of the current Republican Party — culture wars, corporate grift and lies.
While we desperately need our government to address critical issues such as health-care access and affordability, immigration reform and preserving our democracy, Harper somehow sees college athletics as a matter of national importance. By his own data, this issue affects a fraction of 1% of our population.
College sports is a cauldron of greed, corruption and cheating scandals. It is the responsibility of the administration, students and athletes to force changes. What if every student-athlete across the country boycotted their next few games until a solution was brought forth? I’m willing to bet a deal would be worked out in a quarter of the time it would take for Congress to come up with legislation, a Congress that can barely even keep the government open at all.
Perhaps in Harper’s home state of Mississippi, college athletics is an important issue for voters, but in my opinion, it is not even in the top 20 things to worry about.
Tom Murphy Orlando
Congress video wasn’t insubordination
In a Dec. 1 National Viewpoint commentary (“Political stunt endangers Americans with insubordination”), Francis P. Sempa accused six members of Congress of making a video urging U.S. soldiers and the intelligence community to disobey presidential orders. He goes on to say that the Congress members claimed that the president is issuing illegal orders. But in the video, no one ever said to question and disobey orders of the president, secretary of defense (or war), or the director of the CIA. Nor did they claim that the president has issued illegal orders, or encourage insubordination. The intent of the video was to remind service members that they swore an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, and it is their obligation to refuse illegal orders.
Edward Quinn Celebration
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