Blue political ripples from Texas

Donald Trump, out of the mouth of Texans:  "...We have a huge elephant standing before us and one of our political parties says it’s a chihuahua."

Trolling the nation's newspapers and publications have easily revealed a trend where blue political opinions are expressed, even in what are stereotyped as deeply "red" conservative voter bases, like Texas.  My echo blogs give credit to hundreds of these opinions, where thoughtful individuals express their criticism and disdain for Donald Trump and his wrong minded (even dangerous) policies.

A cluster of blue politics from Austin, Texas, published in the Brownwood Bulletin

These patches of political blue are easy to find in nearly all media sources, but I rarely find a cluster of them in one place, like Texas.  

These following three opinion letters to the editor were published in the Brownwood Bulletin, a Texas newspaper. I often find the best opinion letters written in community news publications!

Letter number one: Guns

Common denominator in many mass shootings

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says not every mass shooting is done with an assault weapon and we need solutions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while protecting Second Amendment gun rights.

From Everytown for Gun Safety’s 2009 to 2017 report: 58% of mass shootings involved high-capacity magazines. Mass shootings that involved the use of high-capacity magazines resulted in more than twice as many fatalities and 14 times as many injuries, on average, compared to those that did not. In at least one-third of mass shootings, the shooter was legally prohibited from possessing firearms.

Polls have shown substantial support of background checks, red flag laws and an assault weapons ban.

Civilians can’t have machine guns, so why do we need military assault weapons with high-capacity magazines?

President Donald Trump says it is not the gun, it is the person shooting the gun. So is he saying people in the U.S. are worse than anywhere in the world?

From Don Hammond, Austin, Texas

Letter number two:  Science

Not accepting facts will be our downfall

I have often seen denial at work, but never so glaringly and distressingly as over the critical issues of global warming and environmental destruction.

We have a huge elephant standing before us and one of our political parties says it’s a chihuahua. We humans have measurably changed the acidity and temperature of the world’s oceans, are in the process of rapidly wiping out a large portion of the world’s species, over fishing the ocean to death, destroying entire rain forests, all earth’s coral reefs and glaciers, and warming the planet.

Hatred of government, love of money, and political tribalism are extremely powerful, blinding motivators. Man’s unfortunate characteristic of refusing to accept facts staring him in the face will be his downfall.

Mark Warren, Austin, Texas

Letter number Three:  Weather fiasco

Trump owes an apology for Alabama forecast fiasco

Donald Trump has told some whoppers in his recent years loaded with lies. Think about it! Crazy! Inauguration crowd size, Barack Obama’s place of birth, Mexico will pay for the wall, etc. Over 12,000 falsehoods or misleading claims during his presidency, according to the Washington Post. But, probably none as harmful to the American people as his (Sharpie!) fabricated weather forecast regarding Hurricane Dorian.

He really owes the people of Alabama, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and meteorologists everywhere an apology. However, admitting mistakes or issuing an apology are unknown concepts to this president. If indeed the truth shall set you free, looks like our president is destined to be imprisoned for life.

David Freeman, Austin, Texas