Clinton’s emails, Sanders’ ego, Trump’s taxes, Pearl Harbor and internment camps

Clinton’s attitude about rules is scary

Re “Clinton broke rules for private email, feds say” (Page 9A, May 26): How many times do parents tell their children, “just because Johnny did X, doesn’t mean you can do it.”

Parallel today: Does the Hillary Clinton spokesperson’s statement saying that her email practices are “consistent with those of other secretaries and senior officials at the State Department” make it right?

Absolutely not. The person at the top is the one who sets the tone. And obviously the tone was that of making technology staffers into sycophants – to keep their mouths shut.

Furthermore, the Clinton attitude that it is easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission once again surfaces.

I get the feeling that she has an attitude that she can do whatever she wants, whether or not it means breaking rules. It scares me that someone like this could be president of the United States.

Sanders’ ego now running campaign

Re “Bernie’s bid to play the victim won’t help anyone but Donald” (Insight, May 24): The assessment of Bernie Sanders’ self-indulgent campaign reveals insights that many veteran politicos couldn’t express as well as Erika D. Smith.

Sanders is starting to believe his own press releases, as we say in the trade, and fell in love with the persona he, his followers and the media created when his “revolution” gained steam. Believing this a historic quest, they must have missed the 1970s partisan revolution, waged by Shirley Chisholm and George McGovern with stature and integrity.

The 2016 campaign is now about Sanders, not his policies. Smith nails the self-indulgent, ego-pumping, reckless pronouncements in speeches and media appearances. The victim persona reveals that Sanders, like Donald Trump, also missed Political Science 101 about political parties and nominating conventions.

Smith’s sharpened political eye also notes that Sanders’ record has yet to be attacked. If Republican campaign professionals went to work on Sanders and his record, he would experience a real burn.

Shame on Trump over his taxes?

Re “What tax tricks is Trump hiding?” (Viewpoints, May 25): Dana Milbank suggests that Donald Trump pays no federal taxes because of loopholes and dubious deductions. Shame on Trump for using the federal tax code to avoid paying his fair share to offset America’s $19 trillion debt.

But wait a minute. Who wrote and passed the laws that make up the tax code? Politicians from both parties who decry the incomprehensible code that all agree needs a complete overhaul. So who is at fault here? Congress, who created the loopholes, or Trump, who used it?

Learn lessons from internment camps

Re “Remember Pearl Harbor; I do” (Letters, May 24): Norma Loudenslager is correct to condemn Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. We Americans of Japanese ancestry do, too.

But don’t confuse President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s locking up 110,000 innocent Japanese Americans in what he called “concentration camps” with acts of a foreign power. Isn’t that guilt by association?

Andy Noguchi’s father, a World War II U.S. soldier, was too busy fighting for America to be a threat. Marielle Tsukamoto, then a 5-year-old, and her farmer parents weren’t a danger either.

Haven’t we learned anything from history? President Ronald Reagan did. He recognized the racism, war hysteria and failure of political leadership of those times. In 1988, he signed the law apologizing and paying token compensation for those years of imprisonment.

Now, let’s hope that we don’t blame all Muslims for the crimes of a few since the 9/11 attacks. Have we learned anything?

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Clinton’s emails, Sanders’ ego, Trump’s taxes, Pearl Harbor and internment camps."