Trump indictments, guns and abortion pill among Herald letter topics | Opinion

GOP furor over Trump indictments

The recent indictments of our former president caused some conservative politicians and pundits to bemoan how unfair it was that he is being charged with 34 alleged criminal acts.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed the sealed charges a day after completion of the grand jury’s investigation of Trump’s suspected $130,000 hush money payment to adult film entrepreneur Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. But Thursday’s development revealed that there is much more to what Bragg is pursuing.

Meanwhile, and without knowing what the indictments are, Republicans and Trump allies on Fox News deplored that Trump’s legal battles herald the end of the American experiment. While indicting a U.S. president for criminal actions has never happened before, over 75 heads of state who left office have been prosecuted or jailed, including such strong democracies as Israel, France and South Korea.

Many GOP politicians and pundits continue to defend our former president, who has twice been impeached, is accused of dozens of crimes, refuses to return classified documents, is accused of rape, is a pathological liar, incited an insurrection, and supports many people unfit for office. Is it because they fear going down with a sinking former Ship of State?

Bill Petrie, Richland

Guns harm more than abortion pill

The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine was successful in having the abortion pill Mifepristone, banned by a Trumpian Texas Judge. The Alliance claims that they are protecting women and children’s lives, and that the FDA erred in approving the drug.

The Alliance claims they are protecting women and children in Texas by banning this pill.

Is that true?

Texas is No. 1 in the country for gun deaths with 4,164 deaths in 2020.

Guns are the number one killer of children in Texas. In 2020, Texas was the leader in child deaths from guns, with146 children killed.

The maternal mortality rate in Texas is 34.2 per 100,000. That’s the eighth from the bottom in our country, and worse than Uzbekistan and Syria for context.

And gun-related homicide is the number one killer of pregnant women in Texas as well. Yes, read that again.(BMJ 10/22)

Mifepristone, the abortion pill, has been approved for 20 years. It has been prescribed to 2.75 million people, with only 24 deaths in that 20 years. Less than 1 death per 100,000.

Mifepristone doesn’t harm women and children; guns and misguided Texas Judges do.

John Anthony Fisher, Richland

Saving water for our hot, dry days

Possible dry summer/fall due to low snowpack? Could be! We will continue our “water frugal” lifestyle. When we lived in Kennewick on property with a well, we began saving water in a quest for “hot” water. That saved water was used for laundry, watering houseplants, or any other miscellaneous use of cool water.

That habit came with us to Pasco, except we now live in a community where landscaping and water come with the land/home. We have no say in how much or little watering is done on our lawn and landscaping, including patio plants. No water the day before and of lawn maintenance. On a hot dry day, this can be a disaster! We maintain a five-gallon bucket of water on the patio for “emergencies.” Takes just a wee bit of planning, works like a charm, and we feel good.

Dorothy Rawson, Pasco