US held hostage by hard-right twits | Letters to the editor: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2022
US held hostage by hard-right twits
Anatomy of GOP’s destruction:
About 2009, the once-proud GOP is infected with the Tea Party virus. In 2016, the virus turns into a cancerous MAGA mass. Jan. 6, 2021, the cancerous mass turns into a seditious QAnon, Proud Boy, Oath Taker militia trying to overthrow our government.
In 2022, with the help of 20 neo-neanderthal mental midgets, aka the Freedom Caucus, the GOP wins the House. In 2023, Republicans are unable after 11 votes to elect unliked and unwanted Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. America is held hostage by the Freedom Caucus twits and their GOP brothers who cannot control them.
There are words to describe the Freedom Caucus, Big Lie followers and truth deniers elected to represent the once-moral GOP. Being a family newspaper, those words cannot be printed.
GOP voters: Hope you are happy with your choice.
Brooks Judd, Turlock
So much wasted rain
Over eight years ago, the Water Quality Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act was passed by Californians by a 67% to 32% margin. This proposition authorized $7.12 billion to go toward state water supply infrastructure projects. Since its passage, there has been little to no movement on any water storage projects.
In the San Joaquin Valley, we understand the importance of updated water infrastructure and specifically water storage — pleading with Sacramento to deliver on projects that increase our ability to capture and keep water in wet years to better provide for our thirsty communities in the dry years. Our calls have gone ignored.
Many of us witnessed the closure of Highway 99 due to flooding — this caused thousands to change or cancel travel plans, and some were left stranded in water. Vast amounts of this rain has flowed out into the Pacific. This is water that could be used to provide thirsty Valley communities and give our farmers the opportunity to grow more crops.
As we head into another large storm this week, we will see more evidence of our failing water infrastructure. I hope this will move Sacramento to finally make water infrastructure a priority.
Nick Dokoozlian, Modesto
Modesto garbage service stinks
We now have three trash cans and we get to pay for that extra can. That made sense until I saw that we place the green can one week and the blue the next, while the black one is every week. So we now get to share the green can service with the blue can service. We used to fill the green can every week but now we apparently will have less green waste. So we’ll pay for three cans and get two-can service.
Jeffrey S. Diehl, Modesto
Sympathy for Southwest fliers
I feel really bad for all the passengers who had to suffer through Christmas because they chose to fly Southwest Airlines. They had to spend days in airports hoping to get the next possible flight to see their loved ones, or worse, just get home. Some did not know if they would get their luggage returned to them or when. This led to passenger frustration, anger, disappointment, and most importantly a lost Christmas. Media covering the mishap kept asking “how could this have happened?”
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan has come out apologizing for all the trouble Southwest has caused its customers and they will attempt to reimburse customers for any financial difficulties . Mr. Jordan has also stated Southwest will upgrade its computer system so this situation does not happen in the future. That is a very nice gesture, however, I think the big question that should be asked is will Bob Jordan return his year-end bonus for keeping the stock price up? I doubt it. Will COO Andrew Watterson, who should have prevented this entire incident from happening, return his bonus? I doubt that as well. Both of these gentlemen will keep very large sums of money while making the lives of its customers a living hell. That is just wrong.
George Carr, Hughson