David E. Smith channeling 'Chicken Little' on stagnant population growth

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David E. Smith, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, has sure fallen on hard times with his doomsday scenarios for US population growth (Lombardian Letter, January 19). A decade ago it was gay marriage that was threatening the US economy, claiming that allowing gays to marry would ding the 2.1 replacement birth rate necessary to maintain a thriving economy. Smith spent years railing against gay marriage, imagining its legalization

would inspire all those fertile heterosexuals to forego procreation with an opposite sex person to enjoy their newfound freedom to marry a non-reproducing partner.

Alas, gay marriage finally came to Illinois and the nation; and those fertile heteros have largely forsaken the gay lifestyle to make babies at an increasing rate. Demographers attribute the rise to a rising economy, which tends to influence population rates infinitely more than bizarre theories like legalizing gay marriage. Not to be distracted from tilting against windmills, Mr. Smith has come up with a new theory: a US Dept. of Agriculture report claiming the cost of rising a child to age 17 is $233,610. Somehow this will inhibit sufficient

procreation. Of course, Smith doesn't advise that USDA statistics are affected by education, income and location. A poor Appalachian couple won't earn $233,610 in 17 years, much less spend that amount to raise a child. A billionaire like the current governor can drop a $233,610 donation on a charter school to help get his daughter admitted without blinking an eye.

For Mr. Smith's theory to hold water, the entire population of child bearing couples have to read it to even consider foregoing child bearing to avoid its hyped long term cost? Besides David E. Smith and me, I can't imagine another one in the entire country who will.

The man in the White House needs the men in the white coats

Donald Trump is crazy. He displayed crazy the moment he entered the presidential race in June, 2015. He campaigned crazy for the Republican nomination and won. He campaigned crazy as the Republican nominee and won. At that point many hoped he was simply 'acting' crazy to get elected. Then as President Elect he continued to display crazy. Many now hoped against hope he was still just acting. A week into his presidency it is clear he isn't acting. He's certifiably crazy.

Of course, crazy is a simplistic word to define deeply aberrant behavior. What is more specific is that Trump is intellectually, morally and temperamentally unfit to be president. Intellectually, he may have a high IQ, but he disdains any pretension to intellectual study or curiosity, essentially nullifying whatever intellectual potential he possesses. Morally, he fails on every measure imaginable: compulsive lying, sexual predation, unending personal attacks against critics, ravenous greed, unquenchable egomania. Temperamentally, he is so erratic the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists cites his erratic temperament as one of the reasons they've moved the Doomsday Clock, the harbinger of potential nuclear annihilation, to two and a half minutes to Doomsday, the closest to Doomsday since 1953.

Article 4 of the 25th Amendment provides two avenues to remove a president for aberrant intellectual, moral and temperamental behavior; one by the cabinet and one by the Congress, both in conjunction with the Vice President. That is both a long shot and unlikely at this early stage. But what is clear to those of use with sound minds, morals and temperament is that the man in the White House needs to be taken care of by the men in the white coats.

Thousand police vehicle procession for fallen officer impinged upon public safety

I was one of hundreds or maybe a thousand or more motorists caught on the wrong side of Roosevelt Road Wednesday during the 1,000 plus police vehicle procession for a fallen officer. Cars were racing to find an outlet only to be blocked at major intersection after major intersection. Didn't see any accident during my time in the traffic labyrinth, but wouldn't be surprised if one occurred. After about 30 minutes trying to find a north-south cross street I remembered the Route 53 Roosevelt underpass and finally made it home. 

I honor and respect folks paying tribute to a fallen family member, friend, or work colleague. But shouldn't some restraint be exercised by the folks hired to protect public safety from causing a monumental traffic jam in the middle of the afternoon? 

Trump enables slow genocide of Palestinian people

Just two days into his presidency, Donald Trump has inspired a building boom. Alas, it's not in the US. Israel announced two massive housing settlement projects on Palestinian land they are systematically gobbling up; 566 in East Jerusalem and 2,500 in the West Bank. Israel had put those projects on hold due to rightful pressure from the Obama administration, which included abstaining from the UN Security Council's recent condemnation of Israeli settlements in violation of humanitarian and international law.

Trump's total support for Israel's inhumane treatment of Palestinians' efforts to gain their humanity through statehood was signaled early on as President Elect when he picked David Friedman to be his Israeli Ambassador. Friedman is to the right of extreme right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's got Trump's blessing to argue these despicable settlements on Palestinian land are legal, that the two state solution is dead, and that the Israeli capitol should be moved to Jerusalem. Such a move would surely create more havoc in the region as the Palestinians also claim Jerusalem as their capitol.

Even the Russians couldn't be happier Trump was elected. When you've got the leader of the so called free world enabling your slow genocide of the Palestinian people, no one could be more ecstatic.

Roskamspeak only response to renewable energy advocates

Over 200 Sixth District folks gathered near my Congressman Peter Roskam's office Monday to protest his continued denial of climate change and need to focus on renewable energy solutions. While Roskam's decade long support in Congress of the fossil fuel industry, in lieu of renewable energy, is well known, the protesters' action was promoted by Roskam's support of his 'wild card' Trump, who alludes to roll backs of Obama administration renewable energy programs.

Neither Roskam nor an aide negotiated the few steps from Roskam's office to the protest site. But a Roskam spokesman offered this in defense of Roskam's environmental record:

“American ingenuity has made it possible to rid ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil and eliminate a major national security threat. Each year, new advancements in technology and research allow us to better provide for our energy and security needs while safeguarding our natural resources for the future.”

The fossil fuel lobby, which helps fuel Roskam's lifetime congressional sinecure, loves that version of what we in the district know as Roskamspeak: in this case 49 words that say absolutely nothing of substance to 200 constituents in desperate need of a substantive response to possibly the biggest threat to our long term survival.

Trump evil Trojan House returning Republicans to power

Few Republican congressmen embraced the Trump candidacy. Fewer still outright rejected his cynical appeals to racism, xenophobia, misogyny and utter contempt for decent political discourse. The vast majority blanched when he grabbed the Republican brass ring with the glee he's long enjoyed grabbing certain lady parts, and went all in for his election. They had no choice. He embodies their values: redistribution of wealth to the already wealthy, xenophobia of foreigners, utter disregard to women's reproductive rights, loathing of the LGBT lifestyle, endless buildup of the world's most obscenely bloated military, and denial of climate change to name a few. They disavowed his most egregious comments; some like my congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6), calling them 'slap and dash from a wild card' while promoting his election nonetheless.

They dishonor the profession of politician and lay no claim to statesmanship. They no doubt shrink from examining the pleas of the millions; women and their male compatriots, who took over America's public squares yesterday to vent outrage against a moral monster assuming the presidency. But they don't care; ensconced in the bubble of their safe district or state, thrilled, no doubt, at the prospect of implementing the Trumpian and their agenda for America.

The only remaining question is: now that they used the Trump Trojan Horse to capture the government, how quickly will they move to discard their vehicle to power.

Trib Editorial Board's violent crime surge solution: "Can't we all just get along?"

Every couple of weeks the Tribune Editorial Board trots out another meaningless editorial on the Chicago crime problem, devoid of any sensitivity, substance or solutions. The January 17 version 'What's behind Chicago's surge in violence' follows that tired script. Almost the entire editorial simply cites a University of Chicago Crime Lab study knocking down the usual suspects such as increased gun availability, warmer weather, drastic decline in police 'street stops', growing teenage gang members, release of police shooting unarmed citizen videos, and comparison showing Chicago little different from other high crime cities.

The editorial than comforts its privileged, middle class readership by reminding them much of the bloodbath is occurring in five poverty stricken neighborhoods their readership will likely never encounter. That precisely symbolizes how out of touch the Trib is to the festering shame of America: throwaway people and throwaway communities left to rot in a land where all the wealth rises to the top. Never does the Trib call for a reversal of trillions for perpetual war around the world to rebuild that shame which leaves generation after generation of disaffected youth with no avenue out except crime. Never does the Trib call for a concerted effort to curtail the gun lobby so effective controls can minimize the shooting gallery those poverty areas have become. Never has the Trib called for financial reforms that have expanded the redistribution of wealth to the very rich never before experienced in our 241 years.

But the Trib Pundits in The Tower have a solution. Better relations between the beleaguered police and the law abiding folks locked into the shame of America will foster "better cooperation and less conflict". The Trib does allude to unnamed 'other' changes but those pesky 'better relations' are Priority One. The entire editorial could have been accomplished by quoting LA police beating victim Rodney King: "Can't we all just get along?"

Walt Zlotow

Glen Ellyn