Blatant censorship
CBS ended the Emmy-winning The Late Show with Steven Colbert after settling a lawsuit about Sixty Minutes from Donald Trump. Now ABC is taking off the air indefinitely The Jimmy Kimmel Show because of comments about Charlie Kirk. It seems the conservative take on the First Amendment applies only to what they want said. It is blatant censorship.
A fan of our Constitution, I’m deeply concerned about this administration’s disregard for it. As a girl, I recall history teachers placing enormous emphasis on habeas corpus, something that is ignored daily by Homeland Security with ICE round-ups and arrests. Habeas corpus provides that we can’t be detained or imprisoned without due process. The wording refers to persons, not citizens, which includes foreigners in our country, because if anyone on our soil is denied due process, any of us can be denied this right.
On free speech, conservatives can say controversial or hateful things, but that right is now denied to liberal thinkers. In forcing show cancellations and pressuring writers, it’s possible state-run TV and newspapers like Pravda in Marxist communist countries will follow.
Congress, corporations and we must stand up to this hobbling of our democracy.
Opinion
Susan Giardina, Allen
Free speech attacked
What a swing and a miss by The Dallas Morning News. Jimmy Kimmel’s show is shut down by the Federal Communications Commission, and it is just a blurb on Page 2A. Wow!
The president’s continuing attacks on free speech aimed at silencing his critics has reached new lows with this blatant violation of the First Amendment. Criticism is free speech.
Moreover, what Kimmel said was true when he said that the White House and the Republicans are using Charlie Kirk’s assassination as grounds for the government going after left-wing radicals. Both the president and vice president said almost immediately that left-wing radicals were responsible for the attack.
Republican members of Congress announced the formation of a House Un-American Activities-like commission to investigate left-wing radical groups. Truth, let alone critical opinion, must be protected, not suppressed by our government.
Fred Moss, North Dallas
Guns and divisive rhetoric
An unrelenting flood of deadly weapons in the U.S. is having the result any reasonable person would expect it to. A small number of Americans are having a disastrous effect on the public when they make a choice they should not have been able to make. With an easily accessible weapon, they can determine whether or not another citizen will live or die.
Politicians using social media are aggravating this position with their divisive rhetoric and now look to place the blame on segments of the public they disagree with. All the while the public is being desensitized to it all by daily exposure to mass murder in Gaza and Ukraine.
We should be talking about reasonable solutions and then acting to stop or change this aggressive behavior.
James R. Fitzpatrick, Richardson
Homeless problem isn’t over
We need help. We continue to have a homeless problem in our city. I will be the first to say there has been a significant improvement over the last year, however, there continues to be homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks near retail businesses.
I live in the lower Greenville area, a wonderful place, but I have witnessed homeless people who litter, break into businesses and panhandle. I have contacted my City Council member’s office and the police department about the homeless, and they do nothing. I believe our police are understaffed and cannot send an officer to make arrests.
I asked one homeless man to not leave trash around as he was picking through my garage can. He said he has been going through the trash for years. The homeless are entrenched and will not sleep in a shelter until they are forced.
There are also a lot of homeless sleeping on the Santa Fe Trail in the woods. Our city should be proactive and get them off the streets.
Linda Knowlton, Dallas
My mind, my vote
Re: “Power Goes to Texas GOP’s Heads — Proposing closed primaries cuts against our independent spirit,” Thursday editorial.
As an independent-minded native Texan, I resent being told who I can or cannot vote for.
If the Texas GOP requires me to swear allegiance to the party, I’ll gladly do so. But I also retain my God-given Texas right to make up my own mind about right or wrong acts, and no one will tell me I can’t change my mind when my conscience dictates a change, at the polling location or anywhere else in life.
Daryl Davis, East Dallas
Lewis larger than life
Re: “Two-time champion and an ‘awesome dad’ — Cowboys great played in 27 playoff games over 13 seasons,” Thursday SportsDay obituary.
In 1980, I was just 6 and taking gymnastics classes at Heights Recreation Center in Richardson. Being that age, I was not really paying that much attention to the gentleman picking up his daughter from the same class wearing a Dallas Cowboys windbreaker, but my mom was. Especially since his windbreaker had “D.D. Lewis” stitched across the front.
In somewhat awe, she asked “Are you the real D.D. Lewis?” He said he was. For the next class, she brought a couple of Dallas Cowboys ringer T-shirts she bought for me and my younger brother. He graciously signed both, and they were worn until they no longer fit.
Being signed, they got put away for years, until my mom decided to have them framed. To this day, my Dallas Cowboys T-shirt signed by the “real D.D. Lewis” still hangs in my house and is just another reminder of when the Cowboys were larger than life but still lived next door.
David King, Richardson