‘A sad day for America’ and for Kentucky, whose leaders stand by Trump after conviction | Opinion
Trump verdict
“A sad day for America”. That’s what Senator Rand Paul said after Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies. I agree. It is a sad day for America but for entirely different reasons. Rand Paul, Andy Barr and a steady stream of elected Republicans have rushed to support a man who was first indicted by four separate grand juries and now convicted unanimously by a New York jury. This is the “law and order party? The “family values” party? It is indeed a sad day in America when Republican office holders who have sworn to uphold the Constitution have more loyalty to a convicted criminal than to our country.
Howard Stovall, Lexington
More on Trump
If only former President Donald J. Trump had been faithful to his wife and kept his barn door closed when he allegedly carnally experienced a porn star in times gone by, he would not have forced Kentucky’s Republican congressional delegates to have to come out with deceitful statements defending former President Barn-door’s moral indiscretions. Also, I feel sorry for all the religious leaders in Kentucky who will either ignore what has happened or make the same boisterous false statements from their pulpits about how former President Barn-door was wronged. Sorrow especially goes to all the spouses and partners of Kentucky citizens who have been the victims of unfaithful husbands or wives who have modeled former President Barn-door’s sexual thoughtlessness. Kentucky and America need authentic morality based leadership, and sadly we are not now getting much of that at all out of most our Republican Congressional representatives and so, so many of our faith leaders in the state.
Gene Lockhart, Lexington
Barr on Trump
I would like Representative Barr to respond to his constituents regarding his claim that Donald Trump’s NY trial was a sham and used “unconstitutional’ tactics. He needs to specify those tactics. I find it shameful that a trained lawyer would fail to uphold our judicial system, respect our judges and juries and demean our democratic principles with a purely partisan (and untrue) statement supporting a now convicted felon. You can decide that adultery and election fraud that deprived citizens of the information about Trump’s affairs is something you can overlook, but to say that he was unfairly convicted is anti-American. Shame!
Lynda Matusek, Lexington
Barr on Israel
I read with interest U.S. Rep. Andy Barr’s article about his unwavering support of Israel. I, too, support our ally.
But after the Israeli bombing of a Gaza safe zone that caused 47 civilian deaths, maybe we should reconsider providing US munitions. No question, if my neighbor ask to provide him a lethal weapon for his protection, I would provide the weapon. But if he began to use it on my other neighbors, I would stop him and relieve him of the weapon.
Man’s inhumanity to man has always amazed me. I have always felt my country, the USA, stood for humanity.
Sam K. Brown, Lexington
Woke culture
“The Office,” “All in The Family,” “Frasier,” “Married With Children,” “Seinfeld,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “M*A*S*H,” “The Don Rickles Show,” “The Honeymooners,” “Cheers,” “The Jeffersons,” and on and on. What did these shows have in common?
They were funny. They made us laugh and gave us something to ask, “Did you see?” at work the next day. These shows shared much in common. They were laced with sarcasm and insult. And it was what made the shows funny. Back to the days of the great bards, sarcasm and insult have been the basis for funny stuff indeed. We could sometimes see ourselves in these shows.
Well, the leftist mob decided that those factors had no right to be on television or in entertainment. Someone might be offended. Predictably our entertainment today is little more than mindless pap. No one is insulted. No one is offended and no one laughs.
What started out as PC rapidly morphed into a monster called WOKE and has created a new class of victims who are angry and in a perpetual snit. And never to laugh.
Wayne Burns, Lexington
Parking issues
The stated goal of LexPark is to provide customer-focused public parking and encourage economic and cultural growth. What a joke!
The only economic growth it is aiding is the Lexington Fayette County Urban Government coffers. Most cultural events that occur downtown last longer than 2 hours (movies, exhibits, dining out). Many people do not like parking in a garage because of the potential lack of safety and on-street parking is preferred. There are a limited number of handicap accessible spots for parking which precludes many from enjoying events held in the downtown area.
I recently attended a movie at the Kentucky Theater and although I could operate the meter, many of the elderly, who are not tech savvy, would have had difficulty. Therefore they are being discriminated against.
When one has to pay for parking while renewing licenses at the County Clerk’s office they are essentially paying extra to do something that is required to operate a vehicle. Paying for parking, increased property taxes to cover park maintenance and on and on-when will it end?
The paper says Lexington is one of the best places to live, I find that hard to believe!
Sara Wellnitz, Lexington
Compiled by Liz Carey
