Trump’s decisions are costing people their lives

Humpity Trumpity sat on his wall… Humpity Trumpity was worshipped by all… He lied and he cheated, embracing all sin… and sadly forgot whose house he was in!

It is agonizing having to see or hear the daily news generated by Donald J. Dope. It is agonizing, because I know that, in fact and in real time, the policies put forth by this sociopathic criminal are costing people their lives all over the world.

Those folks in the Middle East and around the world that rioted when Trump announced to the United Nations and the world that the United States was moving its embassy to Jerusalem are direct casualties of thoughtless State Department policy. There was no need for a pronouncement like that at this time. It is this malevolent miscreant’s way to bully his way through the presidency.

He and those around him who supported the proclamation are guilty of murder in the first degree for the lives lost protesting, and he is legally responsible for injuries suffered as well. This is nothing new! This is a creature who received five deferments from the military (four for education and the fifth for bone spurs that originated in his heels and matriculated to his brain). This criminal is now our nation’s commander-in-chief.

Ever since he placed his tiny hand on the Bible, Trump has sided with law enforcement’s shooting of defenseless Black Men and has fully endorsed the side of Breitbart BS and the white supremacist community. Human eyes and hearts are not equipped to experience some of the horrible behavior we exhibit in life. We ask too much and pay too little for the toll imposed on law enforcements’ psyche.

Unfortunately, Trump is using the social discontent his policies create to further divide us. I have to admit I did not think that the majority of the American people would put up with this president a year into his first term. I am hopeful that the Mueller probe will remove him from the White House.

This is about the decision 67 million people made on election day. Trump is openly prejudicial to Muslims, Mexicans, Africans, the homeless, LBGTQ community and women et al – essentially, anyone he perceives to be weak and defenseless who does not agree with him. Trump is creating unbelievably cruel and inhumane conditions around the world. There should be criminal repercussions for his behavior!

We are a young country. We need young leaders in Congress. We have to have term limits and do away with the Electoral College. The earliest we could get that on the ballot in all 50 states is 2020 given the number of signatures required. This can be done, and there is no time like the present to begin.

A dear and trusted friend of mine said to me 30 years ago, “These less than complete people, these public parasites, saw only an opportunity to satisfy their egos and greed beneath the chameleonic costume of one who ‘aspires’ to political office.”

My “Brother” entered this country illegally and enlisted in the Marine Corps, as I had. I was running away from home while he was trying to find one. He signed on for a second tour and was killed in Khe Sanh in 1968.

I wrote his mother in Mexico to tell her how sorry I was. She replied that he was just trying to improve his life and meant no harm. He was never granted citizenship.

DAVID HAYDEN, Lahaina

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Bypass plans will make Keawe Street worse

Thank you to Rep. Angus McKelvey for stepping up! I hope Gov. Ige and HDOT’s Ed Sniffen LISTEN to what Rep. McKelvey and the people of West Maui are saying. Today, I had to drive into the Lahaina Industrial Park area (Emerald Plaza) and shop at Lahaina Gateway (Foodland Farms). It was a nightmare to come out of those shopping areas. People were FLYING up and down Keawe street… so what now? What are the police going to do? Put in a speed trap? Nobody’s going to read the speed limit of 25 MPH uphill and 20 MPH downhill.

Is the state going to put stoplights when you come out of Lahaina Industrial Park or Lahaina Gateway? Speed bumps for downhill? I doubt it. State HDOT really screwed up on this Keawe Street-Lahaina Bypass-Honoapiilani Highway project. State HDOT and governor, listen to the people!

NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST

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Atomic attack scare – deja vu

The recent bogus missile attack scare in Hawaii flashed me back to my experience as a STRATCOM ITALY crypto officer and company commander stationed at Camp Darby, 1971-74.

I was in my office when an urgent phone call came from our STRATCOM site in Coltano: “RED ROCKET, RED ROCKET,” meaning that the Soviets had launched a missile toward the United States. I responded: “Have you informed the STRATCOM commander?” The answer was, “The colonel is playing golf with the site commander,” who was a major, “and all of the captains are with him as well as all of the other officers.”

Of course, there were no cell phones or means of communication with the entire command other than Lt. Russell, who refused to participate in flag football, golf or other silly sporting events ordered by the STRATCOM commander. Thus, Lt. Russell was the ONLY officer in command of one of only seven STRATCOM sites worldwide.

Our task was to handle all U.S. Government strategic communication in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which in my opinion warranted at least one senior officer at the helm at all times – rather than being “AWOL” playing games, isolated from any means of emergency communication.

So, that being said, I was obviously stressed to the max, because the sergeant left in charge by default had no instructions about what to do if the “RED ROCKET” alert arrived at the site. Of course, my only order was to “find out if the alert was an actual Soviet missile on its way to vaporize Washington, D.C., or some other part of the planet, or was a test.”

I felt certain that the major in charge of the signal site would have been versed on what to do and how to transmit the message worldwide (if in fact the threat was real), but since all officers other than the virtually “insubordinate” Lt. George H. Russell were playing golf, I felt like the atomic bomb had been thrown into my hands like a hot potato.

Fortunately, the alert turned out to be a test of our strategic communications system, and just like the fiasco in Hawaii, the test was an obvious failure. Also, it was fortunate that no one had any idea about how to alert anyone either in Italy or America, so there was no panic other than the stress of wondering just how competently our military defense structure is able to operate in a genuine atomic threat.

GEORGE H. RUSSELL, Huntsville, Texas