Atlantic editor’s actions were unethical
I write to address the article by Josh Meyer, “Damage from Signal case hard to assess” (March 28).
As Meyer writes, there is no question the Trump team screwed up by inadvertently including Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg in their chat about their planned attack on Houthi rebels. But Meyer does not ask, nor have the Democrats who immediately used this mistake to disparage Trump and his team, why Goldberg did not interrupt the chat and identify himself. Any of us would know we were being privy to sensitive info that we should not be included in. A person with any integrity would have warned the participants so they could take remedial action to prevent any possible adversaries from getting this information. But Goldberg chose to be silent. That’s very unethical for a journalist of his stature.
It is not news that Goldberg is anti-Trump, so we should not be surprised he went public to make President Donald Trump look bad. But he is not a hero as some Dems have suggested. He is a journalist who did not act with integrity, is guilty of spying on our government, and let his hate for Trump get in the way of doing the ethical thing.
Stu Phillips, Westerville
Beaty’s response to Trump lacking
The leadership of the Democratic Party is an unacceptable drag on our society’s ability to mount an effective resistance to the authoritarian takeover of our government by fascist Republicans and must be replaced immediately for the good of the country.
The decrepit state of the party also extends to the rank and file members. For example: Is there a safer Democratic congressional seat in the country, occupied by a more ineffectual politician, than Joyce Beatty’s?
I’m what you might call an activist, someone who would respond to virtually any call to do something, anything to respond to the brazen lawlessness of the Trump regime. I’ve received several dozen emails from Joyce Beatty’s office since President Donald Trump took office. The vast majority of them have been about two topics: Joyce Beatty’s birthday (fundraiser) and the “Congressional Art Competition.”
Is this why we have been sending her to Congress for the last 12 years by 40% margins? She is barely even left of center. At 75 years old, with no discernible agenda or motivation for holding public office, there is simply no excuse for continuing to occupy a gerrymandered seat that literally anyone with a pulse could win with a D after their name.
Ms. Beatty: Thank you for your service. Please do not run again. Make room for someone who has a stake in the country’s future. Or who at least has the courage and energy to mount an energetic defense of our Constitutional order.
Judson Dunham, Columbus
Religion is just a tool for politicians
Here we go again. One way or another, Republicans are going to weasel their way into pushing religion into public schools. The latest ploy is to require a “moment of silence for prayer, reflection or meditation, for moral, patriotic or philosophical reasons,” as reported in the Dispatch (“Bill requires daily moment of silence in Ohio schools,” March 27). This, according to Rep. Gary Click, who’s decided with his proposed House Bill 187 that all students lack this opportunity in their daily lives due to the many distractions they endure.
I didn’t see any supporting evidence for his conclusions, and by painting all students with one broad brush, he’s addressed a grave issue in his role as a public servant. I recall that in school, I got a lunch break during which I could choose to pray, stare into space, do stand-up comedy — whatever — and I needed no government mandate to dictate that I should stop and reflect upon the meaning of life.
Politicians of certain stripes use religion as a tool to market themselves to voters by claiming that they are on their team. They wear it on their sleeves like badges of honor, but one would be hard pressed to see them putting their piety into practice. It buys votes. Look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Steve McLoughlin, Reynoldsburg
Sin of empathy?
I recently heard a term — “the sin of empathy” — that is growing in popularity among the political right. Of course, empathy is not, and has never been, a sin. Quite the opposite; our empathy is one of the key things that make us human. When we reject empathy, we reject the humanity of others — and our own humanity as well. It’s no coincidence that empathy, the caring for others, lies at the heart of Christianity, of Judaism, of Islam, of Buddhism — and the list goes on.
Calling on us to reject empathy is a way for the power elite (you know, the billionaire oligarchs) to divide us, and keep our attention away from their own inhumanity. It makes it easy for officials on the political right to marginalize the weakest among us, to write entire groups — gays, trans folks, Blacks, native peoples, the poor, and women — out of our history books.
It makes it easy for these same politicians to ignore the millions of American children who go to bed hungry most nights, or the continuing lack of access to health care by other millions. Rejecting empathy makes it easy for Elon Musk to call Social Security a Ponzi scheme as a justification for taking away the safety net for millions of elderly Americans.
I call on readers to contact your elected representatives to demand that they reject actions by the Trump administration that weaken social safety net programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP); and also, to reject attacks on all marginalized groups.
Tom Baillieul, Columbus
Trump needs more oversight, not less
Sen. Bernie Moreno recently wrote an op-ed in The American Conservative criticizing federal judges who rule against the president. The truth is that President Donald Trump needs more oversight, not less.
Has any other recent president created so much unnecessary chaos in his first few months of office? Executive orders that violate the Constitution and federal law, haphazard mass firings of critical public servants, insulting and threatening foreign allies, allowing inexperienced kids to mess with our personal data. It’s appalling.
Mistakes abound in Trump II. Despite claims by Moreno, the hasty deportations in March included some who were here legally, with no evidence of gang membership or criminal activity.
The judiciary is an essential check on executive power. Every president, no matter how honorable, must be held to account. That’s especially true for a reckless one with a long record of lying, cheating and disregarding the law.
Kermit Lancaster, Westerville
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg not the hero Dems say he is | Letters
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