Not good old days

EDITOR: My father always wanted to go back to the “good old days.” It seems to me that there are hundreds of people, especially those in elected government positions, who think that all our problems will be solved if we could just return to “how things used to be.”

I hear educators talking about the days when they could paddle kids, as if that somehow would stop the gangs, drug addiction and the family problems that students bring to school. Others want to put women back in the home to cook, clean and answer to their husbands. ...

But the worst thing I see happening is the president trying to return to the 1798, when John Adams, angry about the critical press and afraid of immigration, forced the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Those unconstitutional acts made it more difficult for any immigrant to become a citizen, allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who he deemed dangerous, and criminalized making false statements that were critical of the federal government. Fortunately, these acts were allowed to expire under the next president, Thomas Jefferson.

Get some spunk Congress, and stop President Trump from taking us back to 1798. Those were not the “good old days.”

Maryann K. Nunnally, Wilmington

In perspective

EDITOR: Politicians throw the figure $1 trillion around as if it is nothing. Chances are not 1 percent of your readers gras the immensity of the number, a 1 followed by 12 zeros. One trillion dollars equates to $15.72 per second since the crucifixion of Christ. Don't believe it? I didn't either until I ran the numbers. Try it for yourself: 1 trillion / (divided by) 2017 years / 365 days / 24 hours / 60 minutes / 60 seconds. What do you get, besides screwed?

Ric Nipper, Wilmington

Dropped the ball

EDITOR: After a season of boycotting the kneelers in the NFL, I learned four valuable lessons:

1. The game is long in duration, but very short in action. I learned that there is less than 20 minutes of actual action in a 1 hour game that takes 3 hours to complete. In the rare occasions that I travel to watch in person, 8 hours of travel time, 3 hours to complete the game and only 20 minutes of action. No more

2. My Sunday afternoons have become much more peaceful, as I am not assaulted, insulted and demeaned by the stupid commercials.

3. There are many other sports that are full of action and much more enjoyable to watch, such as basketball, and “real football” played in Europe. I hope the players will just play and spare us their drama.

4. They get hit on the head too many times: Starting in elementary school and continuing through middle and high school, college, then the pros. And in the rare occasion that a player completes a reception, scores, or successfully completes a hard-head-crunching block, their teammates congratulate them by hitting some more on the head. Do I really want to follow the thought process coming from those heads? I think not

Samuel Ibrahim, Wilmington