Let’s let God decide on Marcus Lamb. But headline seemed to endorse the televangelist

Headline looked like high praise

The Dec. 8 front-page headline about the COVID-19 death of anti-vaccine televangelist Marcus Lamb included the phrase, “great man of God.” (“Daystar founder Lamb remembered as ‘great man of God’”) It’s in quotes but misleads by appearing to be an endorsement. The story is about a memorial service, but is this how readers will understand the headline?

There’s no need to address the sinful behavior of Marcus Lamb. It is available on the internet. But is this front-page journalism?

- Glen B. Smith, Arlington

Don’t look back too closely

In September, former President George W. Bush said of the Sept. 11 attacks: “If there’s something we could have done, I’d like someone to point it out to me. You can only act on the intelligence you’ve got.”

In August 2001, Bush was warned that terrorists wanted to attack the U.S. using airplanes. But instead of issuing alerts to airlines and to the military, he turned the matter over to then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Bush later said, “We are at war,” but he never asked Congress for a declaration of war. Instead, he used a broad congressional authorization to direct military action against Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11.

I don’t think Bush wants to remember his flawed actions. He has too much blood on his hands.

- Edward Lindsay, Fort Worth

The actual facts about COVID-19

Asian countries have a history of masking. The current Johns Hopkins University of Medicine COVID-19 mortality analysis shows the U.S. with about 240 cases per 100,000 people, versus about 14 per 100,000 in Japan. The death rate of those who catch the virus is 1.6% in the U.S. versus 1.1% in Japan.

The Japanese do a superior job of following their doctors’ advice, as well as contact tracing. Did I get this information from our governor or Tucker Carlson? Not likely.

- Philip J. Klein, Granbury

How police are doing right thing

On the unfortunate shooting of Mitchell Davis on Dec. 7 by a Fort Worth police officer, I found the transparency of Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes in releasing video and other information refreshing. (Dec. 10, 1A, “Fort Worth police release audio, video footage of fatal shooting”) The 911 operator was awesome in her approach, too. It’s just sad that this had to happen.

- John Fee, Fort Worth

Get specific on handouts

When you report on a new company being lured to Texas with “tax incentives,” would you include the exact terms?

Which state, county and local governments are giving the incentives and what is given? What do the average homeowner and business pay in comparison?

The justification is often jobs. What happens when the promised jobs do not happen? Are there any consequences, or do the locals get caught holding the bag?

- Gabrielle Gordon, Unincorporated Tarrant County

Tell me: How is this leading?

We like to say that our country leads the world, but it offers no universal health care, no paid family leave, no universal child care, no free birth control and no mandatory comprehensive sex education nationally. It takes unimaginable levels of audacity for the lawmakers who are instrumental in upholding these realities to fight for forced pregnancy and birth.

Roe v. Wade was not the beginning of freedom to have abortions. It was the end of dying from them.

- Dyanna Lawson, Aledo

Not in the Constitution

The author of a Dec. 2 letter stated that it made no difference how Supreme Court justices viewed abortion because it is a “constitutional right,” not what’s in a Supreme Court “justice’s head.” (9A) The operative phrase is about what’s in the Constitution. It has taken 27 amendments to our Constitution to establish the base for our laws.

Nowhere in the Constitution itself nor the constitutional amendments is a right to abortion mentioned. It was something in the justices’ heads back in 1973. Look at freedom of speech, religion and assembly, the right to keep and bear arms. All are covered by amendments.

If you want the right to an abortion, I suggest you get it done the constitutional way, by amendment, as prescribed in Article V of the Constitution.

- Carroll Cawyer, Stephenville