Entitlements keep growing and growing

I’ve always believed that you could stand on a corner each day and hand out $20 bills to passing strangers and get an amazing result when you suddenly switched to $5 bills: ā€œWhere is the rest of my money?ā€ would probably be the most common response. Well, we have a similar system in place now, but the idea is to switch from $20 bills to $50 bills. They are called ā€œentitlements.ā€

RON SLADE SR., COVINGTON

Perdue’s indifference to tweet troubling

I am deeply troubled by Sen. David Perdue’s apparent indifference to (at best) or support of (at worst) President Trump’s tweets announcing a ban on transgender people serving in the military.

In a July 26 article on Mic.com titled ā€œRepublicans are offering full-throated denouncements of Trump’s military transgender ban,ā€ Perdue is highlighted as the only senator interviewed willing to defend the move. Perdue is quoted as saying ā€œI don’t think this is the time to have a social agenda conversation.ā€

Sen. Perdue, there is hardly a more appropriate time to have a social agenda conversation than when the rights of American citizens (not to mention citizens in service to the country) are being infringed upon. Transgender servicepeople have made tremendous sacrifices to protect our freedoms, and your words lack the appreciation and respect these soldiers deserve. Concerns over high transgender healthcare costs and unit cohesion are bogus arguments – a 2016 Rand Corporation study concludes costs would be a maximum of 0.017 percent of all Defense Department health-care costs, while transgender participation would have a minimal impactā€ on readiness.

Sen. Perdue should immediately condemn this tweet and, instead, defend the rights of these selfless soldiers, just as they’ve defended our rights so many times before.

ADAM BRANHAM, ATLANTA

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