Trump’s ‘mythical’ wall: Letters to the editor, Jan. 19, 2019

Mythical solution to real problem

History tells us that Roman Emperor Nero fiddled as Rome burned and blamed it on the. Christians. History will record that President Donald Trump fiddled with a wall and blamed it on the Democrats.

Nero wanted to rebuild Rome to his liking, but could not get the Senate to approve, so he burned it. Trump can't get his wall build by Mexico or Congress, so he shuts down the government.

Why does one man or emperor have the power to impose on millions of citizens his mythical fascination with a fantasy solution to a serious problem?

Census goal is really leftist one

The Fresno Bee editorial states that the U.S. Census is a big deal. If not accurate, The Bee states we would be shortchanged politically and financially. I agree we must know exactly how many citizens and noncitizens reside in California. The political left could care less about California (United States) citizens or illegal aliens, the goal is leftest votes. The goal is all illegal aliens be allowed to vote (San Francisco school district illegal alien voting was the first step), therefore being counted in the census is essential, elimination of the citizenship question is essential.

Attributing the quote to right person

I appreciated Austin Donovan’s letter (Dec. 27) calling us to greater unity. I hope that there are many more young people like him and that they will help make a difference.

I would, however, like to call one thing to his attention. The quotation spoken by Abraham Lincoln about “a house divided” was actually a citation from the Bible, quoting the word’s of Jesus. Lincoln didn’t need to make attribution because his audience was mostly Bible literate and recognized those words. But modern readers don’t share that literacy, so they only remember the quote as belonging to Lincoln. Perhaps other writers and commentators I’ve heard might instead say something like, “As Jesus said. . .” or “As Lincoln quoted from Scripture. . .” Let’s give credit where credit is due.

Need accurate facts about inmates

Ms. Montes’ recent estimates of that annual cost of housing a convict in prison is inaccurate. The cost is more in the neighborhood of $35,000 to $40,000 a year.

However I would like to address the consequences involved when releasing convicted convicts to the prison general population. Releasing such prisoners would endanger general population inmates to these “Lifers” individuals that, due to their life sentences with no possibility of parole, could commit murder or other violent acts against other convicts since their sentence could not be changed.

Yes, there have been some individuals executed for a variety of reasons; no system is perfect. However, when viewed to the many that have been convicted and executed, the numbers are minute; to say otherwise is misleading. There are too many individuals that due to ignorance or other influencing factors view convicts as oppressed, who life has dealt a bad hand. My grandfather would say, “ayudate que to ayudare,” help yourself and I will help you.

As one who has worked the California prisons, as well as the “mean” streets, the majority of convicts, for the most part, are there because they freely made the choice to accept that lifestyle. Today folks with no, or limited knowledge of such behavior, live in a world of make-believe. The sad part of this is that folks in position to make decisions that may negatively affect the majority, who truly want to live in peace, fail to make those types of decision in a knowledgeable manner . For example, changing the Department of Corrections to include rehabilitation is misleading, and I strongly submit, a disservice to the public.