THE WASHINGTON TIMES

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Soldiers can be atheists, too

Atheism is a non-belief in a god, while humanism is an ethical view ("Navy rejects 'non-theist' for chaplain corps; lawmakers warn against changing core mission," Web, March 27). Being a humanist chaplain would not mean, as some seem to believe, jumping at the chance to tell soldiers who believe in a deity that one does not exist.

April 11, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Recognize Israel’s right to Golan

As President Trump weighs a response to the latest deadly Syrian chemical-weapons attack on civilians, he should consider formally recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights ("Trump unleashes anger on 'Animal' Assad over apparent chemical attack in Syria," Web, April 8).

April 11, 2018

EDITORIAL: All’s fair in love, war and the pursuit of Donald Trump

Alas, these are not happy days for the fundamental civil rights we've always taken for granted in America.

April 10, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Facebook censors Diamond & Silk

I recently saw an interview with Lynnette "Diamond" Hardaway and Rochelle "Silk" Richardson on FOX News. I've seen both conservative women in interviews before, telling the public their opinions while giving support to our president. I always cheer them on because considering the left's continuous assaults on everything President Trump says and does, it is refreshing to hear from people with common sense.

April 10, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: North Carolina worker-friendly

A recent ranking by Business Insider puts North Carolina in the top 10 states for wage growth in 2017, and it's clear why: Wages in the state grew at an average rate of 3.8 percent last year.

April 10, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Ironic result of ‘conservation’

Cheryl K. Chumley is correct about private-property rights being a volatile issue ("Private property rights still very much a fight, circa 2018," Web, April 5). The fight has consequences, and the unintended ones often result in environmental harm. Ms. Chumley mentions a bunch of federal laws and regulations that directly affect private property, but the indirect impacts can be even more profound.

April 9, 2018

EDITORIAL: Sadiq Khan gets a late education about murder in the streets

Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London, who now sees the error of his earlier ways of enforcing the law. London is suffering a wave of murder, which is no stranger to Old Blighty, as fans of "Midsomer Murders" and other popular imported British television fare well know. But this murder in London is up close and personal, mayhem is often random, and there's getting to be more of it.

April 9, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Djibouti a U.S. partner

"Djibouti's president for life moves towards China, threatening U.S. security interests" (Web April 3) is an erroneous and grossly misleading headline. Djibouti does not have a "president for life," nor does op-ed writer L. Todd Wood say it does. Djibouti is a democratic country with a Constitution.

April 9, 2018

EDITORIAL: Navy says there won’t be a ship for atheist chaplain

If the U.S. Navy appointed its first atheist chaplain, as the organized atheists demanded (twice), what could his duties as a chaplain be? Perhaps he could tell a sailor seeking spiritual solace in the face of death not to worry, he has no soul, anyway.

April 8, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Reinstate the draft

After listening to about 10 minutes of National School Walkout speakers rail against guns, I've come to realize that these foolish children -- who are just screaming to have their rights taken away -- need a big dose of reality. It's time to bring back the draft, and not just for boys.

April 8, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Sugar the real money maker

A California judge's recent coffee ruling is so strange you have to wonder if Starbucks actually bribed the plaintiffs to bring suit in the first place ("The Hysteria State," Web, April 5). The fact is that the most prominent sources of acrylamides are in processed foods (e.g., potato chips, cookies, crackers and practically all foods containing toasted grains).

April 8, 2018

EDITORIAL: Now a California court wants to make coffee safe for lab rats

The judge who ruled the other day that coffee purveyors in California must put a cancer-risk warning label on their beans calls to mind the old joke about the man, getting a little long in the tooth, who was told by his doctor that he would have to give up wine, women and song. "But Doc," he replied, "if I have to give up wine and women, what will I have to sing about?"

April 5, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: What ‘Christian privilege’?

As a second-generation Irish Catholic immigrant, I was shocked to learn that some think Christians in this country used "privilege" to achieve success ("George Washington University to host seminar tackling 'Christian privilege,'" Web, April 3). I recall my father telling me how, when he was a young man looking for a job in the early 1900s, he saw "Help Wanted" signs with the addendum "No Catholics, no Jews." The Irish, who were mostly Catholic, were discriminated against when they first arrived in the late 1800s after the Great Famine in Ireland. Next came the Italians and the Eastern Europeans (Hungarian, Polish), who were also mostly Catholic — and likewise not warmly received.

April 5, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Foreign aid an investment

If you belong to the category of people who do not believe in the idealist concept that the most prosperous country in the world has a moral responsibility to help other nations, or that American influence around the world depends partially on foreign aid, here are a few concrete reasons why we should all support foreign assistance.

April 5, 2018

EDITORIAL: Trump could still win a smashing victory over unpopular spending

President Trump is disgusted by his signature on the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill he signed last month. He said so when he signed it. He noted, correctly, that the new law appropriates tens of billions of dollars of spending that the agencies don't need and even in some cases, don't want. (Who says bureaucrats can't push themselves away from the trough?)

April 4, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Stick with amendments

While the concept of having an Article V convention of states sounds very appealing, it is deeply flawed. Proponents assume that people of the caliber of our Founding Fathers would be the only ones making changes. The reality is that in today's political world, we would have many factions fighting to change our Constitution to fit their own agenda. As a result, we would easily lose many safeguards, such as parts of our Bill of Rights. It is much less risky to stick to the tried-and-true amendment process that has worked all these years.

April 4, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: ‘Free-range’ means abandonment

The new idea of letting children to go out and about by themselves, stay home without supervision and travel alone on public transportation — all in the name of raising "free-range kids" — is basically abandonment and endangerment. It will turn out to be a far worse and more deadly practice than letting the public and businesses fly drones in our airspace, and self-driving cars.

April 4, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: End gerrymandering for good

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wants to repeal the Second Amendment. He does add, though, that this probably has no chance of happening. What does have a chance, I think, is an amendment requiring states to draw up their congressional districts symmetrically and as nearly equal in population as possible.

April 4, 2018

EDITORIAL: Winnie Mandela traded on a patriot’s name, left a legacy of fire and blood

Winnie Mandela, who died Monday at age 81 after a lengthy illness in her native South Africa, was different things to her family, to Africa and to the world. CNN described her as an "anti-apartheid crusader." The BBC called her an "anti-apartheid campaigner." Some newspapers described her merely as "controversial." The Rev. Jesse Jackson said she was the "face of hope and courage." For years after her husband's imprisonment she was the unfortunate face of a just cause. The kindest description was "the former wife of Nelson Mandela."

April 3, 2018

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Improve NFL helmets

I worked in precision manufacturing for 42 years. We worked with industrial designers for new products. About 25 years ago one Buffalo, N.Y.-based designer I knew spent time with a neurosurgeon, a Buffalo Bills trainer, and a physics professor at Syracuse University. They came up with the idea that two hard items, crashing together like two NFL helmets, had nothing to absorb the energy (in the same way that car manufacturers learned that soft vinyl/rubber car bumpers caused less damage to each other than the old, hard, steel or chrome bumpers).

April 3, 2018