Mueller’s cost
By some estimates, there are 100,000 foreign agents in the U.S. One can only imagine how much the $25 million wasted on the Mueller investigation might have made a difference in apprehending even one of these spies.
Glenn Mclellan
Lincoln
An important distinction on Israel
Imagine a peaceful democratic Jewish homeland living side by side with a peaceful Palestine. J Street, a pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying group, has long encouraged this “two-state solution,” open discussion and concern for the safety of both Israelis and Palestinians. There is deep concern that Israel can remain either a democracy or a Jewish state but cannot remain both.
President Donald Trump’s tweet supporting an annexation of the Golan Heights tips the scale against democracy and encourages religiously based, growing authoritarianism in the region.
Using the attack of anti-Semitism to silence debate, as was done with Rep. Ilhan Omar, distracts us from what needs to be discussed — our American policy toward the region. As J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami states, “There is a distinction between being anti-Semitic and being critical of the government of Israel.”
Joyce Schelling
Orland
Moving away from weapons of war
In April, another Zumwalt warship, costing more than $4 billion dollars to U.S. taxpayers, will be christened at Bath Iron Works (BIW). The destroyer may soon travel to foreign ports, like the one constructed in Gangjeong, on Jeju Island, South Korea, despite strong local resistance.
When the port was built, Gangjeong villagers were frustrated in their nonviolent struggle to preserve the area’s unique marine ecosystem and their traditional community life. Nevertheless, villagers have persisted in working for a sustainable, peaceful world. They have created the Hope School, where Yemeni and Korean youth share their language, culture, and history. These Yemenis, having fled bombs and starvation, seek asylum in South Korea.
The skilled BIW workers could also be working for a peaceful, sustainable future — and enhance their job security — if BIW converted its facility to building solar panels and high-speed trains instead of destroyers. A 2017 University of Massachusetts at Amherst study reports that because the U.S. spends billions of dollars on war, it loses the opportunity to create even more jobs in other sectors and “improve educational, health, and environmental outcomes.”
Converting BIW from building weapons of war to green technologies would benefit BIW workers and people worldwide.
Carolyn Coe
Orland