Letters to the editor | Sunday, March 6, 2022: Putin and Trump, BFFs

Putin and Trump, BFFs

A sizable percentage of Trump’s financial holdings in Russia have Putin’s borscht-stained fingerprints all over them. Trump is using this atrocious disaster upon the Ukrainian people to pad his Russian portfolio. Sadly, there are GOP congressmen who refuse to condemn Putin. There is no morality in Trump’s world.

Supporting Putin will once again guarantee his help in the 2024 election. With Russia’s vast cyber advantage over the U.S. and the GOP’s dismantling of our legal voting process it will be 2016 revisited, Putin and Trump making America great again.

Break out the vodka, caviar, diet Coke, and cheeseburgers. Happy days are here again. Moscow and the GOP are ecstatic. Da!

Brooks Judd, Turlock

What would Reagan say?

I have been opposed to our narcissistic, uninformed and potentially criminal former president Donald Trump ever since he descended the escalator five years ago. However, I found myself finally agreeing with him recently when he said publicly that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine would not have happened during his presidency.

Based on Trump’s fawning behavior toward Putin in Helsinki, he would have bowed to this Russian autocrat and let him “have” Ukraine, thus avoiding war with a dictator whom he recently called a “genius.” After annexing Crimea, the Donbass and now Ukraine, would Putin stop in his quest to recreate the USSR? What would Ronald Reagan say?

Readers of history will remember“appeasement,” a policy decision by Chamberlain that granted Hitler the right to “have” Czechoslovakia in order to achieve “peace in our time.” But Winston Churchill was at hand, and he led the Western world in combating the Nazi domination of Europe.

There are appeasers like Trump, Pompeo, Tucker Carlson, and various senators who argue that we have no national interest in opposing Putin and his greed. We have every reason — in order to preserve democracy. Freedom signifies our way of life and must always be defended against autocrats and fascist dictators.

Paul Neumann, Modesto

Freedom is at stake

Putin of Russia, invader of Ukraine. This example of a dictator — with, greed, brute force mentality, abusive talk, no respect for ordinary humanity or their life improvement — is very telling. Shooting and bombing people is in all languages barbaric and stone-age practices.

Those in the USA with like tendencies caused the Jan. 6 insurrection in D.C. Voting in Russia is a farce. They kill their opponents. Here, some states install laws that limit voting freedom and help destroy democracy. Putin rules with fear, money and greed. The capitalistic USA tries hard, but from the beginning, money ruled. Plantation owners were rich because of inhumane slave labor. In the south and north, poorer people were and still are on an unbalanced teeter totter that favors the rich. Freedom has been distorted to an almost unrecognizable meaning.

I have to wonder where we, the USA, are on the timeline to be democratic in name only. In other words, losing our freedom.

Diane Kroeze, Modesto

Biden is a disaster

A lot of people are asking the same question: Where is Trump when I need him?

This administration has demonstrated grave incompetency with one disastrous, failed policy after another. To list a few of this administration’s blunders: soaring debt, the worst inflation in over 40 years, a border crisis, escalating crime and violence, mishandling of the pandemic, the disastrous pullout of Afghanistan, shutting down the Keystone Pipeline, a compromised presidency due to ongoing investigations of Hunter Biden and other dealings with Russia and China, and, now the invasion of Ukraine.

President Trump has been out of office for over a year, however, he is still blamed for the nation’s problems. An article stated the most common GOP criticism is that “Putin is supposedly emboldened because he sees Biden as weak,” and the “precise opposite appears to be true.”

It is time for this administration to take responsibility for their failed policies and incompetency. Furthermore, it is time to stop the blame game.

Greg Silva, Keyes

Modesto needs workforce housing

Our state is moving to decrease California’s contribution to global warming by lowering our methane emissions, with SB 1383. Good. Let’s do it.

I just met (a woman) living in the low-barrier shelter who commutes to work at Tesla on the weekends. She illustrates another powerful and easy-to-understand way to lower our emissions: Construct more workforce housing within Modesto so thousands of our residents don’t have to commute to the Bay Area to earn enough money to buy or rent a home here. The retired Municipal Golf Course would be an ideal site to build workforce housing.

We can slow our urban sprawl by building upward in Modesto. As an elderly retired person, I admire the three-story developments I see out toward Pleasanton where retired folks can take an elevator down and walk to their Peet’s Coffee then on to other shopping.

Innovative city and county planning can direct more workforce housing to be built. That would be a win for Modestans as well as the environment.

Richard Anderson, Modesto

Steep cost for Modesto stadium

A recent writer opined on opposition to a downtown stadium. Take financing: $85 million to $125 million is the stated cost. That’s a rather wide range and realistically a low estimate. Projects such as these seldom come in below budget.

The city and county are asked to provide 90% of the financing. If this is such an attractive concept, why not finance it privately and reap all the benefits with none of the hassle of a government partner? True enough, there is no reward without risk, but the most creative risk takers always allow for the downside. Where is the hedge for the city and county taking most of the risk?

The site as pictured shows no parking. Other attractions involve considerable rework of the field. None of those events take place at John Thurman now, even though it is relatively easy to get to and has spacious parking.

Here’s my offer. Mark Cuban is a sports team owner and smart investor. Get him to be a silent partner and advise on the project and I’ll rethink my opposition. Better yet, go on Shark Tank and pitch your idea. If they are in, I’m in.

Richard C. Cato, Modesto