Presidential overreach: Leftists asleep, or compassion matters? | Opinion
Two-faced
I wonder if Ryan Rusak ever feels as though he is a lone wolf crying out into the wilderness? His June 13 commentary on the “No Kings” protests is right on. But I’m willing to bet progressives won’t even read it. (star-telegram.com, “‘No Kings,’ eh? Where were those protests when Obama, Biden just made up policy?”)
The left’s blatant two-faced stance on executive authority is obvious to conservatives. Leftists quickly forgot that Joe Biden tried to dictate what we can drive, what we can eat and how we can respond to our child’s gender transition. Some would not even want us to be allowed to know about a gender transition of our children.
- Bob Pavelko, Arlington
The reasons
Ryan Rusak, trying to equate how Donald Trump has arrogated a king’s power to himself, cites just one policy by Barack Obama (creation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy) and one by Joe Biden (forgiveness of certain federal student debt). Rusak fails to note that both these executive orders were motivated by compassion, which seems never to be part of Trump’s motivation.
Rusak fails to acknowledge that Trump’s orders have been the subject of restraining orders by federal district courts, including ending birthright citizenship, targeting law firms, blocking federal funding for “sanctuary” cities and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Trump attacks federal judges as “hating” our country and calls his opponents “scum” just because they question his unconstitutional efforts to increase his power. There is no comparison between Trump and his predecessors in unconstitutional usurping of power.
- Brooks Harrington, Fort Worth
Honor heroes
Hard to believe my newspaper opens with an article on the “No Kings” protests rather than the obvious choice of the 250th anniversary tribute to the U.S. Army and all the heroes, current and past, who have won our freedom and still protect us. This celebration was educational and patriotic.
- Roger Shewmake, Haslet
NIL details
All the recent hoopla about name, image and likeness (openly paying student athletes) raises some questions: Will the players now have employee status? Will they be subject to wage and hour laws and leave policies? Will they be considered hourly or salaried? What about injury compensation? Will their workplaces be regulated for health and safety concerns? Can they engage in collective bargaining or go on strike?
The athletes will presumably have to pay income tax and into Social Security and Medicare. Will the schools match the contributions? How does all this affect the tax exempt status of universities?
I never got to vote on the nonprofit, tax exempt status of major college athletic programs in the first place, some of which net hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
- Owen Daniel, Fort Worth
Pay their way
Judge Tim O’Hare and his fellow Republicans on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court have a lot of gall first to rip off the taxpayers by paying an outside firm to gerrymander commission precincts to increase the Republican majority, and then do it again to pay to defend against a lawsuit. (June 16, star-telegram.com, “Tarrant County weighs spending $250K in legal fees to defend new precinct map”)
If this is so important to the Tarrant County Republican Party, let its members pay to defend this power grab instead of picking the taxpayers’ pockets.
- James L. Burt, Fort Worth
Help needed
As a parent of a child with a complex medical condition, I’m deeply concerned about proposed Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget currently being debated in the Senate.
In Texas, more than 2,000 people live with cystic fibrosis — a progressive, life-threatening disease. Of them, 44% are children and 16% are adults who depend on Medicaid for access to essential treatments. Private insurance often falls short in covering the therapies, medications, equipment and specialized care needed. Medicaid fills these critical gaps.
- Keenan Thornton, Mansfield