We can take steps to reduce hacking

I respond to the Tuesday Dispatch article “Ohio GOP won’t take oath to avoid hacked info.” Please, let’s not waste any more ink about solving the problem of hacking individuals’ mobile (or otherwise) devices, because there is one simple solution:

Don’t post anything.

If one cannot stop using one’s cellphone, well, it’s a phone, so phone calls and texts are a natural. But everything a cellphone and its user can do after that is where things get a little dicey.

At a higher level, disconnecting oneself from the internet is easier said than done. So, I just don’t post. I have accounts at the major apps, but I rarely use them, so there’s little chance the Chinese or Russians or that former disgruntled girlfriend will be able to have their digital way with me.

They cut out cancer to cure the patient. Maybe the same should be done with posting.

Jef Benedetti, New Albany

The doctor is right: Tramadol is dangerous

For those who did not read the Feb. 8 op-ed “There’s trouble with tramadol that patients should know” by Dr. Adriane Fugh-berman, they should dig it out or get a copy from The Dispatch and read it.

I know first-hand how bad this drug is. I had skin surgery to remove a cancerous (basal cell) spot in my nasal area. For pain I was given a prescription for tramadol.

After dinner that night, having some pain, I took two pills and retired for the evening. I woke up around 12 a.m., didn’t feel too well and tried going back to sleep, I couldn’t. As the night went on, I felt worse.

I had a severe headache, nausea and was very weak. Around 5 a.m. I woke my wife and told her I was feeling worse. Later that morning, my wife called 911 and I was transported to the ER. The only time I may have been sicker was years ago when I had radiation and chemotherapy for throat cancer.

Bottom line is tramadol was the cause of my 30 hours of suffering. It’s an opioid and it’s very dangerous.

I spent the night in the hospital, but it could have been worse. Read the op-ed. Doctors should not prescribe it, pharmacies should not dispense it and drug companies should not be allowed to make it.

It’s time our elected officials outlaw the drug, period. Miles Treece, Columbus

‘Resisters’ are determined even against great odds

For any reader who might wonder whether “the resisters” are becoming weary, the obvious answer is yes. But weary by no means translates into defeated (“In Trump country, the resistance meets the steel curtain,” New York Times article, Feb. 6).

Like any hard march to a noble destination, the march is long, difficult and sometimes seemingly futile, but I only have to look to my left and right and see who is marching beside me and I can and will soldier on.

The people marching beside me that keep me moving, nourished and inspired are people hungry for an America that still believes that right matters. Locked arm in arm are people who are neither bigots nor braggarts; they are not the bullies but the brave hearts who march for families of all faiths, creed and color.

We march knowing that the banner we are marching behind is the singular tenet of all faiths — ”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And behind that banner, we win.

The march is long, but steeped in the faith that America is still a country we can recognize and our footsteps are strong and loud to ensure that is how America will remain — home of the free and the brave (not the bullies).

Myra Molnar, Columbus

It’s up to voters to stop the US bully in chief

Amen to Robert Connor's letter last Monday: “Trump’s Republican Party has lost my confidence.” It will surely provoke a lot of thought.

I believe there is a silent movement growing across our country of people who are appalled by our president and know what they must do in November. Most Donald Trump supporters did not have a clue as to what depths this man would stoop to satisfy his monumental narcissistic ego.

While our schools are trying to combat bullies, the president of the United States is setting the "how to" bar at unprecedented levels. If someone disagrees with you, fire them. If they have a disability, make fun of it. And, if you pout, whine, lie, cheat, throw money and power at it and surround yourself with minions, you can have anything your way.

The supporters scream "but look at the booming economy, the stock market and the unemployment rate." At what costs do these things matter, as our country is distancing itself from the rest of the world and becoming a joke to our allies and enemies alike?

The only way this tyrant will be gone is when enough voters speak up in November. There must be a renewed commitment to the essential elements our nation's citizens wish to prevail. Among them are love, kindness, morality, fairness, honor, forgiveness and dignity.

Gloria Butler, Plain City

Letter writer is confusing justice with vengeance

I respond to the Thursday letter “Maintain death penalty for the worst of the worst” from Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. The arguments he presents are not convincing.

First, he stated that the death penalty should be used for “the worst of the worst.” Who decides who falls into that category? A recent study shows that the race of the victim and the county where the crime took place are more reliable predictors of a death penalty sentence in Ohio than the severity of the crime (www.otse.org).

Second, Tobin noted that arguments about lack of fairness are used by those who are morally opposed to capital punishment in order to convince those who aren’t hampered by moral qualms.

So what? That’s called using facts to persuade someone.

Third, Tobin wrote that even though the death penalty is more expensive, justice demands death in the most heinous of cases. He is confusing justice with vengeance. A life sentence without parole provides justice and protects our communities.

The death penalty is barbaric and is outlawed in most industrialized countries. The tide is turning and one day we will look back and be horrified that it was countenanced in our lifetimes. Carol Rafferty, Columbus

Upgrade transportation so city can reach its promise

While I thoroughly enjoyed the Columbus Business First Power Breakfast last week, I was disturbed that during a twohour lovefest for Columbus, its potential and more, not one person mentioned our primitive and woefully inadequate transportation system.

If we are to actually succeed as predicted, we must have modern mass transit systems: high speed shuttle along I-670 from the airport to the convention center, light rail, streetcars and free public transit of all kinds or we will continue to be slaves to the automobile and unable to compete with cities that have such systems.

We are the largest city in the country without such systems.

There also is never any discussion of the inefficiency of our bizarre collection of fractured townships and independent suburbs preventing any kind of true regional planning, etc.

It takes more than tech, sports and apartment buildings to create a city that can succeed in the future. Jerome Smith, Columbus