Raleigh police did not overreact when they used tear gas against Floyd protesters

Raleigh police

Regarding “Police bodycam videos show reactions to Floyd protest,” (Sept. 29):

As a Vietnam veteran, I have heard many comments of people faced with extremely exigent situations and I can unequivocally state that the comments reportedly made by Raleigh police during the protests were remarkably restrained under the circumstances.

It is patently absurd to imply that the use of tear gas, etc. to control crowds that refuse to obey orders to disperse and are throwing objects injuring police is somehow an overreaction.

The N&O can’t ignore the fact that police officers across the country have been injured during “protests” and that this fact intensifies the atmosphere during these events, causing police to be ultra-cautious. That should be perfectly understandable.

Paul Duffy, Rocky Mount

Amy Coney Barrett

President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, has given no indication that she will recuse herself from any election-related deliberations.

Barrett purports to be a highly ethical and religious person. But why would a truly ethical person even want to be nominated by a lying, highly impeachable president? The only ethical action on her part would be to decline the nomination, let alone participate in election deliberations.

Can she not recognize the moral choice now before her? She seems to have failed this test.

Howard Partner, Durham

USPS delays

It is very alarming to learn of postal system delays in the United States, and especially within North Carolina.

My mother is a U.S. military veteran and she relies on her medicine to be shipped to her monthly to help save on costs. She already struggles with medicines coming in late and having to call constantly to inquire about deliveries, so this makes us both greatly worried of what is to come if the U.S. Postal Service continues to remain congested, or if postal delays become more severe.

Samuel Hardison, Raleigh

Health care

Across North Carolina, and here in Franklin County, we’re seeing our families, friends and neighbors go without proper health care.

Having worked in free clinics for the last 16 years, I’ve often seen the unnecessary pain and suffering that happens when someone falls short of cash and avoids seeing a doctor. I see patients unable to afford co-pays or very expensive medicine and supplies needed to treat chronic illnesses.

We are one of only 12 states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion. More than 500,000 residents are suffering because of this. It’s time to tell our legislators to put aside partisan politics. I’m begging our lawmakers to please make Medicaid expansion a reality.

Beverly J. Kegley, Louisburg

The next debate

Here is my recommendation for the next debate. Put each candidate in a soundproof booth on the stage. When a candidate is allotted speaking time by the moderator per debate rules, the other candidate’s mic is cut off so he can’t interrupt and the split screen is eliminated. That way, we viewers will be able to actually see and hear what each candidate is saying without constant interruption by the other party, and which candidate actually has a concrete plan for the future of this country.

Liz Johnston, Raleigh

A GOP canard

Hypocrisy, thy stench is rank. For eight years, citizen Donald Trump eviscerated President Obama for leading the country into the profligate abyss of runaway deficits, forecasting a Greece-like fiscal collapse.

Under Trump, the deficit exploded last year (before COVID-19) to almost $1 trillion in large part because his vaunted tax cut in 2017, at a time of otherwise healthy economic growth, did not come close to bringing in promised revenue.

In the fiscal year just concluded, Trump has thrown restraint to the wind and registered a record deficit of $3.7 trillion, pushing our national debt for the first time since WWII above our GDP and giving the U.S. the dubious pole position among First World countries ranked by deficit/GDP.

The Republican Party always claimed honors for being the defenders of small government and fiscal restraint. The unprincipled fiscal wasteland of federal finances today puts that canard to light.

Edmund C. Tiryakian, Hillsborough

War profiteers

I look through my window as I eat my dinner and enjoy watching how the changing light affects the nearby forest and its animals. All is quiet. There are no drones overhead directed by an enemy thousands of miles away preparing to release their munitions on their targets, not over Chapel Hill. But in Afghanistan, U.S. bombs fell and innocent civilians died.

Where are our countries’ morals? Our policy: either sanction a nation into starvation and death or bomb them to death. We must change the dynamics and take the power from the powerful — the war profiteers — and give peace a chance.

Ruth Zalph, Chapel Hill