{"id":507500,"date":"2026-01-11T02:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T02:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507500\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T02:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T02:13:11","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-rainbow-steps-ice-arrests-capt-mark-kelly-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507500\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the Editor \u2014 Rainbow steps, ICE arrests, Capt. Mark Kelly, free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bravo to gleaming rainbow<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Re: \u201cRainbow steps stay, and Dallas keeps its soul \u2014 Landmark Commission had no choice but to say \u2018Amen\u2019 to Oak Lawn UMC,\u201c by Robert Wilonsky, Wednesday Opinion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">When power demanded that Texas cities and towns destroy painted crosswalks and art they view as promoting groups they consider less than themselves, they retrieved the coats of political animus they keep in their closets and put them on full display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">When the Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison responded with the art at the steps of Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in October, she spoke truth to power. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Bravo to the Landmark Commission. Its decision to grant a three-year permit to Oak Lawn UMC to display that truth is a right, and righteous, statement that no voice is less than another, and it brightens the feathers on the wings of that conviction with a rainbow gleam.<\/p>\n<p>Opinion<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Kimberly Macye, Irving<\/p>\n<p>Wake up to ICE\u2019s harm<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Re: \u201cMajority arrested by Dallas ICE in 2025 did not have criminal convictions, News finds,\u201d online story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Deporting the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d has been the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing talking point used to justify the ballooning of Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s budget and the ramping up of immigration enforcement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">However, this story highlights the falsehood underneath the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s marketing push, as The Dallas Morning News has found that most of those arrested by agents in Dallas have not been convicted of crimes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, a glance at the story\u2019s chart of deportations by criminal record shows that while the percentage of deportations for DUIs has increased, deportations for other serious crimes (like assault, drug trafficking and sex crimes) have all gone down. Whatever happened to removing the worst of the worst?<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">These trends show the results of focusing on quotas rather than prioritizing public safety. Instead of prioritizing deportations for violent criminals, ICE has instead terrorized hardworking neighbors, parents and community servants. This makes our communities less safe and erodes local trust in law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">These numbers should be a wake-up call to everyone that ICE is not working for us, but instead is harming us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Sheila Joiner, North Richland Hills<\/p>\n<p>Maybe arrests were warranted<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Were the majority of those arrested in the country illegally? Perhaps that\u2019s why they were arrested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Olan Knight, Murphy<\/p>\n<p>U.S. role in drug cartels<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">I never see any mention of the fact that if there wasn\u2019t such high demand here in the U.S. for illicit drugs, there would not be any problem in needing to deal with drug cartels and the associated crime. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Our country supplies the vast majority of weapons to Mexico that keep the drug cartels lethal and powerful. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">So our own country, the United States, has to bear much of the blame for keeping drugs constantly flowing into our country along with providing Mexico the arms with which to keep those drug cartels powerful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Makes ya proud, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Mary Clark, East Dallas<\/p>\n<p>Persecuting Kelly is wrong<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Following is the letter I just sent to my elected representative:<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">As one of your constituents and a veteran of Vietnam, I am asking you to do everything possible to stop the vindictive persecution of Capt. Mark Kelly as evidenced by the threat to reduce his rank in retirement. Attempting to reduce Kelly\u2019s rank and benefits is wrong and unlawful. Reductions are authorized only for offenses that are committed while an individual is on active duty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Not only was Kelly not on active duty when the alleged statements were uttered, but the statements attributed to him were legal and complied with his oath to \u201csupport and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,\u201d and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">If this wrongful persecution continues, I shall urge all my fellow members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Vietnam Veterans associations to oppose any member of Congress who supports or acquiesces in the persecution of Kelly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Donald J. Stevenson, Plano<\/p>\n<p>Dallas missed Valley View for AT&amp;T<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Re: \u201cAT&amp;T\u2019s shift to Plano leaves Dallas in limbo \u2014 Future remains fuzzy for firm\u2019s downtown Discovery District,&#8221; Tuesday news story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Months scouring North Texas for office space was what was printed in the opening of this story. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">I will quote part of the second paragraph \u201cThe site at 5400 Legacy Drive will span 54 acres.\u201d Did anyone and any person on the Dallas City Council realize or bother to look up the acreage of Valley View shopping center? <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">That space has about 110 acres and that would not include apartments as far north as Belt Line Road. Without moving to Plano, moving here would let the city retain all the tax benefits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The Galleria is nearby, as is Addison with many restaurants and additional apartments. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Does our City Council look any further than the tip of its noses? Evidently not. New development would be totally welcome in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">David McLintock, Dallas<\/p>\n<p>Free speech for all<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Re: \u201cTeachers\u2019 group sues to halt investigations \u2014 Organization wants TEA to drop complaints over Kirk comments,&#8221; Wednesday news story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Mike Morath, the complaints by some teachers were on their social media accounts. That is free speech and the complainers are entitled to their opinion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">President Donald Trump is unprofessional with his comments on television and on social media. Many complain about his remarks. Yet, it is his free speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">If a few nonpolitical leaders share their opinion, they should not be questioned until the president stops. Free speech should be for all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Anne Binns, Far North Dallas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bravo to gleaming rainbow Re: \u201cRainbow steps stay, and Dallas keeps its soul \u2014 Landmark Commission had no&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":507501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,409,7281,20716,398,11210,80,345,358,8973,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,32322,36790],"class_list":{"0":"post-507500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","12":"tag-lgbt","13":"tag-media","14":"tag-oak-lawn","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-social-media","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-texas-education-agency","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-venezuela","27":"tag-veterans-and-military"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115874051361426518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}