Letters to the editor: March 15-16, 2025

Published 4:00 am Saturday, March 15, 2025

CORRECTION, 3/17/2025: The Tyler Morning Telegraph published an editor’s note with this letter, referring to an upcoming town hall. That meeting date was outdated and therefore incorrect. We apologize for this error. Congressman Moran’s office said telephone townhalls and other public events are in the works, and they will be announcing those in the coming weeks once details are confirmed. Follow Congressman Moran’s Facebook page for the latest: www.facebook.com/RepNateMoran or visit moran.house.gov. 

Need for town halls

In this period of chaos and confusion radiating from Washington why are our elected representatives avoiding the voters? These representatives, like Congressman Nathaniel Moran, are there to serve as our voice. But they don’t seem willing to actually hear the voice of the voters. Why are these congressmen refusing to host more in-person town halls with their constituents?

David Crocker

Bullard

Truth versus fiction

Mr. Jeff McAlister’s March 7 editorial rightly states that the work of DOGE needs the Congress’s endorsement to be Constitutional. But a simple Google search of some of the findings he cited as gospel might have better informed his judgment before submitting something for public consumption.

His statements about the misuse of funds actually concern the State Department’s Diplomatic and Consular Programs, not United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These statements were also reported by and misrepresented by The White House. At best, Mr. McAlister’s statements either misrepresent the facts or are false.

Transgender comic books sent to Peru? Actually, the grant funded comic books about superheroes, titled “El Poder de La Educación” (“The Power of Education”). While the funds were intended to, according to usaspending.gov, “cover expenses to produce a tailored-made comic featuring an LGBTQ+ hero,” the comic does not specifically mention a transgender character.

What about the DEI musical in Ireland? The U.S. Ambassador’s Residence hosted a music festival — not a musical — with performances featuring American and Irish singers. Irish state bodies also contributed. The funds granted by the State Department were intended for a “live musical event to promote the U.S. and Irish shared values” of DEI and accessibility, according to usaspending.gov.

And “the promotion of atheism in Nepal”? A bit misleading. At most, there were concerns that a grant intended to promote religious liberty may have been misused.

The “millions of people no longer walking on this Earth” in the Social Security database likely is due to software limitations when the system was first designed decades ago, and anyway doesn’t mean dead people receive benefits. In fact, as of 2015, the SSA terminates all Social Security benefits at age 115, including to people still walking on Earth, according to the Social Security Administration.

We swim in an ocean of media today: true, false, and misleading. It’s all the more urgent to question and fact-check anything that appears odd or questionable. Multiple reliable internet sources, such as Snopes.com, make this fairly easy. I urge everyone to take advantage of them.

Claire Gibbs

Tyler