Letters to the Editor: Why should a 4-year-old face deportation while Trump pardons criminals?
To the editor: If Deysi Vargas could afford a million-dollar-a-plate dinner at Mar-a-Lago, she might be able to save her daughter, like the mother of the tax criminal Paul Walczak ('4-year-old Bakersfield girl facing deportation could die within days of losing medical care,' May 27). He was pardoned after his mother bought a seat at President Trump's recent dinner.
If her daughter were a Republican governor convicted of campaign finance fraud like former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, she could be pardoned ('Trump issues pardons for politicians, reality TV stars, a union leader and a rapper,' May 29). If her daughter were a rioter who tried to overthrow the peaceful transfer of our democracy like the Jan. 6 criminals, she could be pardoned. But Vargas' daughter is simply a 4-year-old of Mexican descent who needs the lifesaving medical treatment she can obtain in the United States. Her daughter, by her innocence and lack of affluence and without allegiance to Trump, is apparently too much of a danger to remain free in the U.S.
Fred Burgess, Camarillo
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
39 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
What's Good for Politicians Is Good for General Motors
General Motors CEO Mary Barra earned $29.5 million last year, and it's hard to argue that she isn't earning her keep. The automaker sold more cars in the U.S. than any other company last year, and its profits have doubled in her 11 years as CEO. Credit her ability to please her most important customers—politicians. Their command is her wish. While doubling down on manufacturing profitable gas guzzlers, Ms. Barra promoted electric vehicles to ingratiate herself to Democrats who want to eliminate the products that churn out profits for her company. She again proved her flexible principles last week by praising President Trump's auto tariffs, which the company estimates will dent its profits by $5 billion this year. 'I think tariffs is one tool that the administration can use to level the playing field,' she said. What she omitted is that the playing field has been tilted in GM's favor for decades by a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, which gives domestic automakers an effective monopoly. Also: Mr. Trump's new 25% tariffs on all cars and parts not made in the U.S. will hurt GM, but they will wallop its foreign competitors even more. In 2018 Ms. Barra got a crash course in politicking when she announced a corporate restructuring that involved closing four U.S. plants that produced low-selling sedans. Her goal was to make GM leaner and more profitable. In this she succeeded, but she blundered by not throwing a bone to Mr. Trump, who thinks CEOs answer to him.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pat McCrory deserves better from North Carolina
Governors typically don't just ride off into the sunset. After they leave office, they move on — to board seats, fellowships, maybe even national office. They're senior statesmen, working to cement their legacy. They're celebrated, consulted, and remembered, if not always revered. Former Gov. Pat McCrory doesn't have any of that. Eight years after leaving the executive mansion, North Carolina's only Republican governor in two generations is still without a true second act. He's dabbled in radio, flirted with a third-party movement and picked up a few small business advising roles. He eschewed a winnable U.S. House race for a Senate run that turned into a humiliating implosion. He's now hosting a Friday night show on PBS Charlotte. There's no institute named for McCrory, like governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin each have. No Harvard fellowship, like governors Roy Cooper and Bev Perdue. Instead, McCrory's after-office chapter has been a slow, sad fade from relevance. He's the only former North Carolina governor in living memory to be so publicly adrift. Much of that is his own doing. McCrory came to Raleigh from Charlotte unprepared for state-level politics. After years of being beloved Mayor Pat, the brighter lights of the capital exposed a paper-thin skin and a reflexive insecurity that kept him from capitalizing on his 2012 mandate. He picked the wrong fights, ignored the right ones and aired his grievances in the press instead of behind closed doors. Most damaging of all, he failed to build the political relationships needed to succeed in a state where the governor is constitutionally weak. Along the way, he managed to alienate nearly every bloc — left, right and center. Now he's a governor without a political home, isolated at 'Lake Jimmy,' as he calls it on the radio, starting every other sentence with 'When I was governor . . . ' and ending with a complaint about getting screwed. But McCrory's marginalization isn't just about his mistakes. It reflects something deeper and more troubling in today's politics: the way a party discards anyone who no longer fits its mold. This is a man who helped lead Charlotte's rise into a major metro across seven terms. Much of the city's current vibrancy traces back to him. And as governor, he had real wins. McCrory wasn't the architect of the conservative revolution in North Carolina, but he was its public face. He implemented tax reform, slashed corporate rates, overhauled unemployment insurance, embraced regulatory rollback and expanded school choice. When he took office, North Carolina had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. By the time he left, it had one of the best economic rebounds. He also excelled in areas that require an executive's touch. During Hurricane Matthew, he led with calm and competence: daily briefings, real-time decisions and visible leadership. It was textbook crisis management that's been sorely lacking since then. And at the DMV, McCrory cut wait times and modernized operations. His reforms worked. Current Gov. Josh Stein, by contrast, is watching that progress unravel while offering no clear plan to fix it. Yet despite all that, McCrory has never been allowed, or able, to fully own the era he governed. That's the real tragedy, on both sides. Instead of transitioning into legacy mode, McCrory kept chasing relevance. He clung to the microphone when he should have changed his tone. It's not just sad, it's maddening. Listening to him now, whether on air or in interviews, the tone is still defensive. His skin is still thin. The old grievances are louder than the real accomplishments. His message is getting lost in the noise of pride. Punditry is beneath the dignity of a former governor, and hosting a public TV show is something you do in your eighties, when the work is finished. McCrory still had time to build a legacy, mentor future leaders and put the past in perspective. Instead, he grasped for the relevance he once had. The party hasn't helped. Former governors should be assets, especially in a fast-growing, closely divided state like North Carolina. They should guide, not disappear. Instead, McCrory's been left to drift while the GOP chases louder voices with thinner résumés. If the Republican Party wants to lead again — not just win elections, but actually govern — it should look harder at what McCrory got right. Put aside the hard feelings. Bring him back into the fold. Not to crown him, but to use his example. A few months ago, McCrory returned to the governor's mansion for the first time since his defeat, joining Martin, Perdue, Cooper and Mike Easley for a private gathering of former governors at Stein's invitation. 'It was fun being part of the old gang,' McCrory recounted on WBT radio in Charlotte. He'd driven up to Raleigh with Martin, swapping stories during the ride. The two arrived into town early and stopped by the old Capitol building, where the governor keeps his office — only to be frisked at security and told to check their phones. No one recognized them. 'You're forgotten very quickly,' McCrory said. For North Carolina, that would be a mistake. It might be too late for McCrory to script a second act. But we'd be fools not to learn from the first one. Andrew Dunn is a contributing columnist to The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer. of Raleigh. He is a conservative political analyst and the publisher of Longleaf Politics , a newsletter dedicated to weighing in on the big issues in North Carolina government and politics.
San Francisco Chronicle
40 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Putin is preparing for more war, US senators warn, urging swift sanctions and global action
PARIS (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is stalling at the peace table while preparing a new military offensive in Ukraine, two senior U.S. senators warned Sunday, arguing that the next two weeks could shape the future of a war that has already smashed cities, displaced millions and redrawn Europe's security map. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal spoke to The Associated Press in Paris after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and touring neighborhoods shattered by what they called the worst Russian bombardments since the full-scale invasion began. In Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron — who they say is '100% aligned' with them on the war — the senators warned the window to prevent a renewed assault is closing. A sweeping U.S. sanctions bill could be the West's last chance to choke off the Kremlin's war economy, they said. "What I learned on this trip was he's preparing for more war,' Graham said of Putin. Blumenthal called the sanctions proposed in legislation 'bone-crushing' and said it would place Russia's economy 'on a trade island.' 'It is crunch time for Putin and for the world because Russia is mounting a new offensive,' he said. At the heart of their push is a bipartisan sanctions bill, backed by nearly the entire U.S. Senate but still facing uncertain odds in Washington. It would impose 500% tariffs on countries that continue buying Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations like China and India that account for roughly 70% of Russia's energy trade and bankroll much of its war effort. Graham called it 'the most draconian bill I've ever seen in my life in the Senate." 'The world has a lot of cards to play against Putin,' he said. 'We're going to hit China and India for propping up his war machine.' Peace talks or stalling tactic? Peace talks are scheduled to resume Monday in Istanbul. But Ukrainian officials say Moscow has yet to submit a serious proposal — a delay both senators described as deliberate and dangerous. 'Putin is playing President Trump," Blumenthal said. 'He's taking him for a sucker.' The senator said Putin "is, in effect, stalling and stonewalling, prolonging the conversation so that he can mount this offensive and take control of more territory on the ground.' Graham added: 'We saw credible evidence of a summer or early fall invasion, a new offensive by Putin. ... He's preparing for more war.' Trump has yet to endorse the sanctions bill, telling reporters Friday: 'I don't know. I'll have to see it.' Graham said the legislation was drafted in consultation with Trump's advisers. Graham backed the president's diplomatic instincts but said, "By trying to engage Putin — by being friendly and enticing — it's become painfully clear he's not interested in ending this war.' Blumenthal hoped the bipartisan support for Ukraine at least in the Senate — and the personal testimonies they plan to bring home to Congress and the Oval Office— may help shift the conversation. 'He needs to see and hear that message as well from us, from the American people,' he said of Putin. A moral reckoning In Kyiv, the senators said, the war's human toll was impossible to ignore. Graham pointed to what Ukrainian officials and Yale researchers estimate are nearly 20,000 children forcibly deported to Russia — calling their return a matter of justice, not diplomacy. Blumenthal described standing at mass grave sites in Bucha, where civilians were executed with shots to the head. The destruction, he said, and the stories of those who survived, made clear the stakes of delay. 'Putin is a thug. He's a murderer." Both said that failing to act now could pull the U.S. deeper into conflict later. If Putin isn't stopped in Ukraine, Blumenthal said, NATO treaty obligations could one day compel American troops into battle. They see resolve in Europe After a one-hour meeting with Macron in Paris, both Graham, of South Carolina, and Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said they left convinced Europe was ready to toughen its stance. 'This visit has been a breakthrough moment because President Macron has shown moral clarity in his conversations with us,' Blumenthal said. 'Today, he is 100% aligned with that message that we are taking back to Washington.' Blumenthal pointed to the rare bipartisan unity behind the sanctions bill. 'There are very few causes that will take 41 Republicans and 41 Democrats and put them on record on a single piece of legislation,' he said. 'The cause of Ukraine is doing it.' Ahead, Ukrainian military leaders are set to brief Congress and a sanctions vote could follow. 'President Trump said we'll know in two weeks whether he's being strung along,' Graham said. 'There will be more evidence of that from Russia on Monday.'
