Toxic stew of bigotry lies beneath massage parlor shooting spree

The combination of hyper-religiosity, misogyny, racism and white supremacy has done it again.

The newest spree killer apparently believed that he was justified in killing people to save his fellow sex addicts. The Asian American women he allegedly murdered were not his equal, they were “temptations” that he wanted to “eliminate.” This alludes to a thinking process that indicates he thought of these women as subhuman and unworthy of the same rights and freedoms as him.

Not holding these people accountable leads to the belief that they are an exception to the rule. And it sends a message that a person can literally get away with murder.

Rosemary Callahan, Uptown

An open letter to the Illinois Republican House leader

Dear Rep. Jim Durkin,

I am concerned about my state and the Republican Party in it. The Republican Party seems non-existent. I think about the ballots I cast in the elections and how so many races are uncontested because there are no Republican candidates running.

I have a recommendation for our legislative branch. I hope the Republicans will embrace it and show the nation by example how important this is for the life and well-being of our nation. I am suggesting that all legislative bills be as short as possible. One item, one bill. Let bills be one page, two pages, at most three.

Then all bills will be read by all legislators and they can be fully discussed and debated. No hidden agendas, no compromises where you permit something you hate to get something you want.

I don’t expect the Democrats to accept this, but if the Republicans did this, this would soon gain national attention and bring the issue to the nation’s attention.

For far too long, politicians have been trying to make bills as large as possible, so they cannot be read let alone debated, and you cannot get good things without taking a lot of the bad. This one simple change can transform our state and our country.

I hope you agree.

Larry Craig, Wilmette