I’m going to expend slightly more effort than Gene Lyons did in his column “Mass deportations won’t happen. We need immigrants.”
The primary issue — the one to be addressed — is not whether Trump is “that crazy” to mass deport immigrants (and then to conclude, as a blogger who is quoted in the column does, that this is “all theater”).
The issue is whether Trump is that depraved to contemplate and perhaps attempt mass deportation (and what the implications are in other spheres of civic policy), regardless of whether he would actually succeed.
The only thing Lyons accomplished with the column was to add his own excuse to the ever-expanding arsenal of rationales MAGA trots out to continue their support for this monster (“It’s hyperbole,” “He’s just being Trump,” “It’s locker-room talk”).
It is not hard to imagine there were like-minded commentators during the late 1930s and early 1940s who might have predicted that industrial-scale mass slaughter was not achievable and that Hitler would be “too crazy” to devote so many resources, including frontline troops, for that purpose.
And it’s not difficult to observe the increasing number of emerging parallels between MAGA and 20th century European fascism. Hitler was perceived as a manipulatable clown by many during his rise to power.
And now I understand that leading newspapers, like the Los Angeles Times, are not making endorsements in this election, as if this is merely a rerun of Jimm Carter versus Gerald Ford in 1976. How about a column on this journalistic surrender, Mr. Lyons? Hint: it’s not a question of journalistic cowardice. It’s worse than that!
Gregg Mumm, Oak Park
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Bulls, Blackhawks fans lose without Comcast deal
Kudos to Jeff Agrest for his continuing coverage of the reasons most fans are unable to watch Bulls and Blackhawks games on television (“Substandard Media: Chicago Sports Network’s broadcast partner isn’t doing channel, fans any favors”).
The dispute pits the corporate behemoth Comcast and its near-monopoly of the city’s cable market versus two of the most odious entities in American business: professional sports team owners and a hedge fund.
Thanks to Jeff’s reporting, we sports fans can be comforted by the idea that all the parties involved have our best interests in mind and are certainly not trying to filch every last nickel out of our pockets.
Jim Bruton, Avondale
Orders of protection fall short for domestic violence victims
The murder of Maria Lazaro-Castillo is news I’ve seen over and over again. Women who rightfully have an order of protection are killed every single year.
An order of protection simply is a piece of paper that says someone, usually a boyfriend or husband or stalker, is ordered to have no contact with the woman.
I often thought, “What does that do? It’s a piece of paper that is no real protection.” People need something more that they can do to protect themselves and their children from a very real threat.
Besides that order of protection, they need to move, maybe to another city or town, change their name, and carry a legally obtained gun for protection and a concealed carry permit. Then the police should hook them up to a school that teaches a woman how to hold a gun, handle a gun, clean a gun and spend time at a shooting range so that if they ever need it to protect themselves or their family they know how.
If they cannot afford a school to learn how to handle a gun, one should be provided for them, along with a way to obtain a gun for protection.
Criminals and mass shooters have guns and kill people and children for no reason; a woman who needs to protect her life and her family has a reason to carry a gun.
I’m so tired of hearing for decades about these women being killed, these children having no mother and in many cases now no father (now he’s in prison) because she could not protect herself. An order of protection does not actually protect anyone.
Connie Orland, Plainfield
Many Israelis support Trump
If, as Kamala Harris and other Democrats say, Trump is a Hitler sympathizer and a “fascist,” why have the Israelis named a Golan Heights community, square and train station after him?
John Houston, Ocean View, Delaware
What a fascist looks like
I find it curious that people think it is unfair to call Trump a fascist. Let’s look at the facts.
Trump continues to deny that he lost the 2020 election despite all evidence to the contrary. He has cast the attack on the Capitol as a peaceful protest. Election workers have been threatened and assaulted by his supporters, as have judges and lawyers.
Trump has called for jailing his political opponents. He has demonized minority groups and uses them as scapegoats. He has called for pulling the licenses of TV stations that have criticized him. And he has consistently disregarded the Constitution. Sorry, but put all this together and you got a fascist that Hitler would be proud of.
Peter Felitti, Ravenswood