Letters for August 3, 2017

Orrock vs. McCain

Re “McCain death sought” (Upfront, July 20):

Wait, what?!

A pox upon Johnstone and Orrock. As we now know, Senator McCain is unlikely to survive long with the virulent and aggressive cancer with which he has been diagnosed, but to speak of anyone in such terms is despicable and shameful. Apologies will be reluctantly accepted. Standing by, but not holding breath.

Steve Walco

Carson City

Report card

Alright! So here we are at the half year juncture. Let’s see what’s happening!

Southern border wall to be paid for with Mexico’s dinero? Ain’t gonna happen, folks!

Simplifying a horribly complex tax code? Too hard, lets move on!

A crumbling infrastructure? Avoid bridges!

Trumpcare? Do not get sick!

4 a.m. tweeting as a method of mass distraction? How very presidential!

Nepotism in the White House? Not a good idea!

Collusion with the Russians? Da! (Yes, in Russian)

Probable obstruction of justice, treason, solicitation, perjury at the Executive Branch level? Almost certainly!

Mental incompetence, a.k.a. insanity, at the very top? Sure as hell!

Mr. Trump, playing dictator may have worked just fine in a family-run real estate gig, but it simply doesn’t cut it at the highest echelon in the greatest country in the world. Politics, while filled with horrendous spin, vagaries and partisanship, has a certain necessary rigidity, and decorum that must be abided or negative ramifications will surely result—as you are now finding out. Making America great again? We’ve never stopped being great, and now it’s high time for you to step aside, and allow us to continue to do so!

Mark Murray

Reno

Stacked deck

Re “The big boys plan more deregulation” (Newsview blog, July 19):

A day after Dennis Myers’s column on myopic deregulation, Sen. Dean Heller provided another example by cosponsoring S.J. Res. 47, a bill that would let Wall Street go wild. In the past few years, forced arbitration clauses became near-ubiquitous in financial contracts.

Under these clauses, if a bank, payday loan store, or other lender breaks the law through illegal fees or unauthorized withdrawals from your account, you are blocked from taking that malicious company to court to get your money back. Instead, you are shunted into arbitration, where the deck is stacked against you. The arbitrator is often handpicked by the thieving company and there’s no right to appeal.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), our lone watchdog on Wall Street, studied the matter and—in an approach rare in Washington today—used this evidence to create a policy. The CFPB issued a rule that will prohibit financial contracts from blocking class action lawsuits. This will let consumers have their day in court and hold scammers accountable. Senator Heller wants to repeal the rule and let financial firms continue to run roughshod over American consumers.

Laura Martin

Las Vegas

Clarification

Re “Summer skies” (Arts & Culture, July 27):

Due to a layout error, this article about August astronomy events as visible from Reno was truncated. The article appears in its entirety on RN&R’s website at www.newsreview.com/reno/summer-skies/content?oid=24711805.

Our apology to anyone frustrated by the mistake.