My husband and I are longtime Times Free Press subscribers who live in Cleveland.
We both read the newspaper every morning, and between us, we read it cover to cover.
Recently, we have had to relocate temporarily to Nashville for four months for medical treatment for my husband so we subscribed to The Tennessean via home delivery and continued our online reading of the Times Free Press.
What a difference we have found between the two papers. The Chattanooga paper has much more in-depth reporting and thorough coverage across local, state and national issues. We have come to describe The Tennessean as "newspaper lite."
While I may not always agree editorially with the Times Free Press, I am grateful that we have access to such a great newspaper. Thank you for the excellent work!
Leslie A. Haywood
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Senate gave away its trial oversight
Feb. 6 letter writer Terry Stulce is on to something. His super sensitive nose smells the stench of a strangling Constitution, a slow death brought on by democracy killers. He has generously shared the results of his political proboscis probe. Terry has named names and identified the "killers." His nosology can be trusted. He is not a "Pinocchio."
Please permit a little commentary.
First, what happens is that the Senate amputated its constitutional equality, leaving us with only the House and the presidency. All Senate oversight was given away, including its exclusive powers of impeachment.
Secondly, the senators took a special and very solemn oath, pledging impartiality and a consultation with "God." The Constitution killers (and the rest of the Senate) simultaneously got on the direct line and in less than 10 seconds swore that "God" was good with the deal.
Lastly, the oath was our last chance to save the checks and balances, a chance to seal them from those "killers" who do not understand democracy and are stinking up the place.
Thanks, Terry.
Blake Moore
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On coronavirus: God is faithful
Praise the Lord for the qualified group of Americans who are working together to rid us of the coronavirus. I believe the Lord is using this for good. After all, "God is love." So what should we do? Pray!
Despite our political differences, we are still one nation under God. So let us form prayer groups in our churches, homes, schools and offices, and really pray! God will hear us and answer according to his will. He tells us in his word that "by his stripes (wounds) we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus's death on the cross covered this, and we need to claim it.
I am a senior senior citizen and have lived long enough to know that God is faithful through many difficulties. So let us praise him and follow directions from our leaders.
Marge McNutt
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Expunge socialism from our landscape
I share the concerns expressed in the Feb. 25 letter, "Sanders' socalism hardly inocuous" and think we need to expunge it from the American landscape. I'd start with TVA, but too many of our state and local Republican, pro-TVA, pro-socialists support it.
How about American agricultural welfare? In 2018, Trump provided $19 billion of taxpayer money to farmers who suffered as a result of tariffs he imposed on various agricultural imports. Ninety-eight percent of the bailout went to white farmers, and 54% to the wealthiest 10%. Rather than cutting these socialist bailouts, Trump wants to cut $80 million by pushing people off Social Security disability insurance.
In addition, by instituting stricter work requirements and making the enrollment process more difficult, he plans to slash $3.8 billion from food stamps. In 1995, 62% of poor children received cash aid; by 2015, this number had fallen to 18%. Most adults who receive food assistance are already working. This is a classic case of free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich.
Let's ask the same of others who receive bailouts: Perhaps agribusinesses could work for one of their brethren who did not receive any subsidies.
Michael V. Woodward, Hixson
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Trump should let FEMA do its job
Senior military officers and government officials attend a yearlong course of study at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces to learn how to support the national security strategy. It was there that I learned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) exists to coordinate federal response to emergencies.
Emergencies could be hurricanes, floods, fires, epidemics, maybe even zombie apocalypses, I suppose. FEMA coordinates DoD, DHS, HHS, CDC, USDA, any 3-4 lettered federal agency efforts with professionally trained managers applying established policies and procedures.
So here we are with a politician, with dubious emergency management acumen, charged with pulling the nation and his president's proverbial posterior out of the fire. This national medical emergency is turning into a zombie apocalypse!
Once more, we have the tools, but they remain in the box.
Joseph E. Huber, Soddy-Daisy
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Please help register citizens to vote
I am writing to briefly share my experience in volunteering for League of Women Voters. I am currently a social work graduate student at Southern Adventist University, and I volunteered at Howard High School with a table set up to help people fill out the voter registration forms, learn how to check if they are registered to vote, and to know about upcoming election dates and who is on the ballot.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization that encourages people to be informed about elections and exercise their right to vote. I believe this is very important work because everyone has a voice and every citizen should be able to exercise their right to vote and sometimes there are barriers and hardships that get in the way.
We spoke with many people about how to check if you have been purged from the voter rolls, which is an issue some people are dealing with where they believed they were registered to vote and were not. We also helped people re-register due to change of address, and helped sign up some seniors in high school to vote for the first time.
I wanted to share this and encourage everyone here in Chattanooga to volunteer to help register people to vote and also to check if they are registered so that their voices can be heard.
Nawal Habib, Ooltewah
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Is Gov. Lee guided by biblical principles?
What Bible does our governor read? Did yesterday's verse say that we need more guns, freely accessible guns, or that we are under attack and need to have them right away without background checks, permits or training?
I know it's a reach but I interpret "Do not kill" as not allowing people to kill women, children and other Americans. If the 2nd Amendment is so clear, where is the militia?
Meanwhile we are warned of a pandemic and people are worried and scared. With so many uninsured in Tennessee, will they seek testing and care if they develop symptoms or could the coronavirus sweep through our rural areas?
Caring for the sick doesn't show in the governor's Bible either.
Sandra Rice, Sewanee