Letters to the editor: FBI needs overhaul; appreciating women's rights
Director needs to fix the FBI
Unfortunately, Director Wray’s FBI is broken despite tremendous work by many FBI agents around the globe. Crime is spiking, police departments are underfunded, undersupported and underappreciated and public support, trust and confidence in law enforcement is tanking.
In this regard, the Director of the FBI as the leader of law enforcement in the free world must set the example and lead from the front. He must stand up and speak up strongly and often on behalf of cops nationwide and equal justice for all. He must promote due process, respect for the rule of law and the Constitution.
He must designate prevention of violent crime as the FBI’s No. 1 priority. He must make our communities safe again. He must promote fidelity, bravery and integrity within the FBI.
And politicized investigations must stop. Ignoring serious crime at our borders and in our cities must stop. Spinning crime stories must stop. Stifling free speech must stop. Wasting precious law enforcement dollars must stop.
Please Director Wray, fix the FBI.
Scott Nelson, Westlake Village
Thankful for women’s rights
I’m thankful for a lot of things in my life: my family, my health, my friends, my freedom to move about and do work that is meaningful for me. As a woman, I’m thankful for all the rights afforded to me over the past 50 years. These include no fault divorce, outlawing housing and credit discrimination based on sex, the Women’s Educational Equity Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and women finally being included on the Supreme Court.
Sex discrimination was outlawed in membership organizations such as Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions clubs, the 19th Amendment was finally ratified in Alabama in 1984, sex discrimination was outlawed in promotions for partnership positions in law firms, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the passage and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
We can also be proud of our first woman and African American woman becoming Secretaries of State, the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first female Attorney General, the first female candidate for Vice President of the United States on a major ticket and the first African American woman sworn in as Vice President.
This weekend, which should have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, one of the most consequential Supreme Court cases for women in the United States, I am thankful for the voters in California which enshrined the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution.
I’m thankful for my community, which will participate in a sister march of the national Women’s March on Saturday to emphasize these rights for all of us and to support the democracy we currently enjoy.
Only with everyone’s help and active participation in local and national elections, civic organizations and their own personal communities can we continue to be thankful.
Shane Meserve, Ventura
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Letters: FBI needs overhaul; appreciating women's rights
