Donald Trump only wakes up when he can bully, lie and denigrate Americans and people he wrongly perceives as being weak

Echo opinion letter published in The Virginian Pilot newspaper:

Trump’s ugly coercive style rarely has positive results

Donald Trump is the American bully — and nobody likes a bully. Throughout his political career, his communication style has heavily relied on public humiliation, aggressive behavior and personal attacks. When dealing with individuals — including political rivals, journalists and private citizens — he frequently uses derogatory nicknames and targeted social media campaigns to isolate and disparage his targets.

Internationally, this confrontational approach translates into a transactional foreign policy — everything is a deal.

What kind of deal can he make❓ Rather than relying on diplomacy using professional negotiators, he frequently uses public threats, tariffs and the withholding of foreign aid to pressure both adversaries and allies. This behavior often undermines international agreements and strains traditional diplomatic alliances.

This pattern is starkly visible in Latin America, where his playbook is designed to force sovereign nations into submission. His approach in Venezuela was to arrest President Nicolas Maduro on narco-terrorism charges and then dictate the terms under which Venezuela can participate in global oil markets. 

In Cuba, he has boasted about an imminent friendly takeover or military intervention. Trump recently used federal indictments against former Cuban President Raul Castro to try to force political collapse in the country.

This bullying coercive style usually just makes people mad and want to dig in their heels. It rarely results in positive outcomes.

From David M. Grochmal, in Virginia Beach, Virginia

Donald Trump and maga Republicans are responsible for illegally supporting the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping Maduro with his wife

 Echo opinion letter published in the Virginian Pilot newspaper

The recent strike (invasion) against Venezuela, and the forceful removal of President Nicolás Maduro with his wife Celia Flores, by Donald Trump, is a violation of our Constitution. 

Although it is true, Maduro is corrupt and an authoritarian, the fact is, Human Rights Watch describes abuses by rulers violating human rights that occur globally in nearly 100 countries — not just in Venezuela. 

Consider places such as North Korea. If Trump was really concerned about abuses, he would offer Ukraine more support against the Russian war crimes that have been committed.

The decision to use military force is in the hands of the Congress because the consequences will not end with an initial strike. The decision should not be in the hands of Trump, who is using the U.S. military as his own strike force. 

(By the way, the illegal U.S. invasion and kidnapping of Maduro and his wife caused the deaths of 80 people. Reports from Venezuelan officials and media, including The New York Times, state that at least 80 people were killed, including both civilians and military personnel, during the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela.)

Consider his initial use of the National Guard in U.S. cities against citizens, the boat strikes in the Caribbean, the Nigerian airstrikes and bombing Iranian nuclear sites — all without congressional oversight.

As we review responses regarding the illegal Venezuelan strike, the GOP, including the wrong minded Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, praised the operation. ❓ They used the excuse that drugs were arriving in the U.S. from Venezuela and it needed to stop. A small percentage of illegal drugs are traced to Venezuela. (In fact, no illegal drugs have been produced to provide evidence to support this claim.  No drugs were confiscated from any of the destroyed Venezuelan fishing boats sunk at sea, no drugs were reported to be found on the empty Venezuelan oil tankers taken over by the U.S. military, and Maduro and his wife were not in possession of illegal drugs when they were kidnapped.)

The reality is that cocaine arrives from Colombia predominantly by way of Mexico. More than 80% of the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl come from China and is made into fentanyl in Mexico. Then the drug make is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border.

What Venezuela has is oil. That is what Trump desires. Congress must act to stop his unbridled use of our military. If it is legitimate, then get approval from Congress. The Constitution demands it❗

From Patty Bates, in Virginia Beach, Virginia 

Yes there is a solution to gun violence

What will it take to stop America's gun violence?

An opinion editorial published in The Virginia Pilot and reprinted in The Sun Chronicle, a Massachusetts newspaper.

Virginia Beach, VA- Twelve hard working innocent people were murdered in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach, on May 31, Friday afternoon.

The Virginia Beach community is now going through a process New Englanders know all too well because of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, — remembering the lost, struggling with incomprehensible grief, wondering if life will ever return to normal and asking, over and over, “Why?”

But for too many, this is normal now. (A heinous "new normal")

The Virginia Beach shooting bears some resemblance to other workplace shootings, including the massacre at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, almost nine years ago, when a deranged and disgruntled shooter sought to take out all his frustrations on his coworkers.

The “why” question will echo — nobody will be able to satisfactorily pin down what motivates people to do this. 

But the “what” question can be answered: The shooter had easy access to deadly weapons. And that problem has a solution.

The Virginia Beach shooter is said to have purchased the weapons he used legally. Two .45-caliber handguns, one of which had a “suppressor” that quiets the weapon when fired, and several empty extended magazines were found at the scene.

Saying they were purchased legally doesn’t say much. 

Virginia’s gun laws are among the loosest in the nation, according to the Giffords Law Center, which gives it a grade of “D.” Even after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, when 32 people were killed, the state didn’t tighten up its gun laws as much as it could have.

Handgun purchasers in Virginia must undergo a background check to insure they are not convicted or indicted felons and that they do not have restraining orders.

There are few other restrictions.

There is no waiting period.

No license is required.

The only restrictions on the purchase of assault weapons are age and citizenship.

Machine guns must be registered with state police.

The looseness of the law might explain the Giffords Law Center finding that “in 2017, Virginia ... supplied crime guns to other states at the 12th highest rate among the states.

Virginia exported crime guns at nearly twice the national rate and nearly three times the rate at which it imported crime guns from other states.”

That underscores the need for legislation on the national level.

It’s plausible that the Virginia Beach shooter would have claimed fewer lives if he didn’t have access to those extended-capacity magazines. But engaging in an argument about hypotheticals is a distraction.

The concrete question is simple: Would stricter gun safety laws erect reasonable barriers to keep military-spec weapons from getting into the hands of madmen without infringing on the Second Amendment rights of responsible gun owners?

Yes. They would. With better federal laws, there would be fewer deaths from firearms.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam made stronger gun laws part of his 2017 campaign, but efforts to pass legislation that would limit gun magazine size and give local governments broader authority to ban guns in city buildings couldn’t get any traction in Virginia’s legislature.

In January, the legislature killed a bill that would have banned sales of large-capacity magazines such as the ones found in the Virginia Beach massacre.

But this is not a state-level problem. This is a national problem.

As of Monday, 167 people have been killed in 156 mass shootings just this year. The number will continue to grow.

It’s time to continue the push for national legislation similar to what Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut already have — a ban on assault weapons and extended magazines, among other smart restrictions.

Given the number of guns already in circulation in the country, it’s unlikely that legislation will end gun violence. But we cannot let it continue unabated.

The nation needs to look in its mirror and acknowledge the facts staring back at us: If we do not enact better gun safety legislation at the federal level, we share the responsibility for what comes next.

Thank a veteran with "care for veterans" - echo veteran's opinion

https://pilotonline.com/opinion/letters/article_cecba91c-e949-11e8-be85-7b793c677320.html

Echo opinion letter published in The Virginian Pilot


I AM A U.S. NAVY veteran who served from 1964 to 1968.

In the past week or so, I have noticed a lot of fanfare, photo ops, parades and other events related to Veterans Day. TV news shows, The Pilot and other outlets gave our veterans lots of attention.

Now that Veterans Day is over, we need to turn our attention to what really matters for our veterans.


I don't want people to thank me for my service. I don't want to see veterans' organizations supporting political parties or particular politicians.

I watched a TV news report recently that Veterans Affairs hospitals are proud to report how the wait of number of days for a veteran to see a primary health care provider has been reduced. Days! And the VA officials were proud of this progress!

If I need medical attention, I can drive a short distance, go to a "walk-in" clinic, see a doctor and be treated quickly. The comparison with how our veterans are treated is ridiculous. Could a draftee or enlistee tell the federal government that he or she would like to wait days or weeks before they would enter the military, when they are called to serve?

These are the men and women who volunteered to serve our country. And this country (USA- Defense Department alert!) has a defense budget that is larger than the defense budgets of all the other developed countries on the Earth. We can send people off to war, it seems, but we cannot provide them proper medical attention when they need it.

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) has always been a factor for our veterans. I know a World War II veteran who could no longer see food being thrown away after he was part of the liberation of Jews from concentration camps. And I personally knew a man who returned from duty in Southeast Asia, left the barracks at Oceana on a sunny day in 1967, drove to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, sat on the steps leading to the beach and took his own life.


When it comes to veterans' benefits, talk is cheap. I'm tired of the rhetoric. It is a disgrace.

Harold Smith  Virginia Beach

Guns opinion ~from the Virginian Pilot news

In my opinion, this letter published by a Virginian is a succinct and convincing argument about the gun regulations debate.

I own a deadly weapon that I operate almost every day. 

It is my car.

In order to drive my car, I had to be a certain age. I had to pass a written test and an operator’s test to prove that I knew the rules of the road and could operate the car safely. I had to purchase a license, which must be renewed periodically.

I am required to maintain insurance, which costs several hundred dollars a year, to protect other people in case I injure someone or damage others’ property with my vehicle.

But I can walk into a store and purchase many types of guns, including assault-style weapons, without any proof that I am mentally stable, know how to operate the weapons safely or have any insurance to protect the innocent people I might maim or kill either by accident or deliberately.

I shake my head in wonder at how anyone could continue to defend such irresponsible laws.

Elaine Scholl-Iglecia, Virginia Beach VA

Wrong GOP tax cuts for the rich- echo from Virginia Pilot

"...individual tax cuts go away in seven years." David Murphy Virginia Beach.

Republicans don't deserve kudos - wrong on tax cuts for the rich:

An echo from The Virginia Pilot letter by Annette Thompson Markham, in Portsmouth, Virginia.

It's amazingly easy to find lots of opposition to the Republican tax cuts for the rich, a wrong minded reform bill. This "echo" is a re-blogged letter to the editor, published in The Virginia Pilot newspaper:

PORTSMOUTH, Va- The platitudes that Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress are bestowing on themselves for having advanced a (wrong minded*) tax “reform” bill defy logic and common sense.

Let’s recap: The Senate bill passed 51-49, by the smallest of margins, and was written and passed in extreme haste and secrecy. Who knows what else contributed to this so-called victory?

Most people don’t question the need for tax reform, but this bill is wrong and should be defeated. The issue needs to go back to the drawing board with serious consideration and input from all members of Congress.

Annette Thompson Markham, Portsmouth, Virginia

*MaineWriter comment