Talent and creativity
Goodness, Mr. Mages. Your epistle in Tuesday's letters got my attention. You wrote disparagingly of John Deering and suggested he "raise [his] IQ to normal or average ..."
Every day, 365 days a year, Mr. Deering has two features in the comics section. Zack Hill is a family strip that covers everything from school cafeterias to road rage to online dating to old folks. Always funny, always true. His Strange Brew is just that. Zany, clever, nimble, with things the average person would never think of. Always good for a chuckle and sometimes a belly laugh. Plus his editorial cartoons several times a week. The thought, talent and creativity put into these features is far beyond being "average."
So it seems that your problem with Mr. Deering is that, perhaps because of his IQ, he hasn't and never will drink of Donald Trump's famous "Kool-Aid." Some folks just really don't care for it, you know? As far as courtesy and respect, John wouldn't be where he is without it.
Thank you, John Deering, for making my day better 365 days a year.
DICK BONA
Cammack Village
Who's greatest liar?
Where are all the pundits, amateur and professional, who railed incessantly in Arkansas newspapers that Donald Trump was the greatest liar of all time? What do you say about your boy Biden, the stumbling, bumbling and obvious epitome of lying? Does he suffer from a congenital-liar disease in which "Poor Joe, he cain't help himself"?
GERALD HOLLAND
Bentonville
A Commander book?
I see first lady Jill Biden recently co-wrote a children's book about Willow, the White House cat. Will she also write a horror story about the White House dog, Commander, and the 20-something biting attacks on Secret Service agents? Maybe Stephen King can help co-write it with her.
PHILLIP BASINGER
Conway
On the free market
I'm not sure the people writing letters to the editor in support of the law banning state entities from doing business with financial companies offering environmental, social and governance (ESG) financial products really understand how a free-market capitalist economy works.
The companies offering ESG products to their customers are simply supplying a demand from their customers for these types of products. They still sell financial products investing in gun manufacturers and oil and gas companies. People who want to buy stock in an AR-15 gun manufacturer or oil company can do so through these companies. A person who wants to buy financial products supporting wind and solar energy companies, either as a matter of conscience or because they want in on the ground floor of emerging technologies they feel will yield a big profit, should be able to do so, too.
Anti-free-market is when a financial company selling a variety of financial products to fit the wants of their customers is now banned from working with state entities. Our legislators voted in a law written by an out-of-state organization that harms the state's ability to work with large financial companies to get the best interest rates on bond projects and the best rates of return on investments simply because the financial company offers a product that supports emerging technologies. Just in the next few years, this piece of legislation will cost taxpayers and government/teacher retirement plans tens of millions of dollars in potential savings and earnings by reducing the number of financial companies who compete for state business. Texas government entities lost over $180 million in decreased annual earnings in 2022-2023 after passing a similar law a few years ago.
I hope our legislators actually read and think of the consequences of bills they pass in the future. The last legislative session saddled Arkansas with multiple laws, mostly written by out-of-state interest groups, that remove our rights and cause actual harm (i.e., disallowing local regulation of computer-server businesses). Please remember this when you vote in November.
MISSY PLEDGER
Fayetteville