As we get ready for the one of the best events of the summer where millions will come to frolic at the lakefront — the Chicago Air and Water Show — I am reminded of the irony that there will be protesters at the show.
Just what will they be protesting? They claim each year that the show is a commercial for war, that it is a bad thing.
But what they don’t realize is that those very fighter jets actually protect their right to protest their own government. They forget that in much of the world, such protesters would be banned by their government or worse, killed.
Yet here, because of these powerful machines protecting us, they can protest. It should remind us all that a beautiful Constitution with beautiful rights doesn’t mean much without Uncle Sam’s muscle when needed.
To which I say, bring on the roar.
William Choslovsky, Lincoln Park
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ICE raids should target employers too
The recent ICE raids rounded up illegal immigrants in Mississippi, many of them working in a meat-packing facility owned and operated by the Koch brothers. Hundreds of workers were arrested, but not the employers. My one and only question is, why were the owners not arrested?
I’m all for arresting those illegal immigrants taking jobs away from legal citizens. But they would not be employed at the Koch plant without the encouragement and blessing of the Koch brothers seeking cheap labor. The Koch brothers are defying the law strictly to line their pockets with lots of money.
Perhaps a boycott of all Koch products would wake up our do-nothing lawmakers.
History has a way of repeating itself. Our nation is reverting back to the robber barons of the early 1900’s.
Bob Pritchard, Homer Glen
Releasing elderly inmates not in their best interest
Regarding the recent op-ed on releasing elderly inmates: Where are they to go? With many having been incarcerated for decades, family ties may be weak at best. We already have a tremendous problem with our social services system. If they qualify for Social Security, they would get a lower payout since they haven’t worked very much to pay into the system.
I understand the injustice of these inmates not having access to the parole system. However, setting them out on parole or setting them free at this most vulnerable time in their lives with a little medical support, which would still be paid for by the state, and the possibility of homelessness seems like a further injustice to me.
Lisa Yario, Lombard
