Trump's Cabinet picks are a hit — with America's enemies

I don't understand why Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth's problems with alcohol and women are being discussed. In my mind, his nomination was dead before I ever heard about them. Like Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and other Trump nominees, Hegseth simply is not qualified for the job.

The Defense Department has about 3 million employees (military service members and civilian employees). Walmart has 2.1 million employees. Does anybody think that Hegseth could get within 100 miles of being the CEO of WalMart?

OK, his experience is in the military. What would be his chance of being hired as the CEO of Defense contractors like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin or Honeywell? Pretty close to zero, I think.

Is this brilliant businessman Donald Trump's idea of running the government like a business? If he had worked for a real company, the board of directors would have dismissed him just for his terrible hiring record. Over and over he has hired people, then decided later that they were rubbish. Trump has to be the worst human resources person on the planet.

I can read a résumé, So can America's enemies. They are more enthusiastic about Hegseth's, Gabbard's, and Patel's résumés than I am.

Curt Fredrikson, Mokena

No more taxes on bottled water

In today's paper, the following opinion essay appeared on Page 19: "City Council Should Say No To Raising Tax On Bottled Water," and it caught my attention.

I was appalled that some City Council leaders would consider increasing the tax on bottled water. There is already a 5-cent tax per bottle, and now some City Council members want to raise the tax to 15 cents per bottle. This would make a standard 24-bottle case priced at $3.49 increase to $7.09 per case.

The article goes on to mention that no other city in the nation has a bottled water tax. Way to go, Chicago! The article states that the tax increase would particularly punish Black and Latino residents. It also punishes everyone else who drinks bottled water, and that's a lot of people.

Given the state of the water lines made of lead and other concerns, I totally agree that this regressive water tax would make the cost of bottled water go from bad to worse. While those who don't drink bottled water couldn't care less, it's just another way to tax the citizens of Chicago who are already being taxed to death. Everyone should be concerned about it and say no to those City Council leaders who are considering this tax increase.

Dale May, River North

lllinois government is ineffective

With the election now a month old, it is clear Illinois is way out of touch with many Americans. It is even further isolated from our Midwestern neighbors. The gap between Chicago and downstate has widened.

Illinois will have no influence with the new administration and Congress. Donald Trump owes us no favors. We have only 17 House representatives, down from 25 a century ago. These career politicians accomplish little.

Our senators are equally ineffective. It is almost humorous to hear people shaking in fear that President Trump will again enforce laws that are in place. The notion that Chicago will become Trump-proof is comical. We have so many things wrong here that we make Indiana look good. Forget about the federal government bailing Chicago out of debt.

And it was pathetic to hear Gov. JB Pritzker say DJT will have to go through him to get to Illinoisans.

Illinois government remains ineffective — as I wait 10 years for new highway signs to be installed.

After Jan. 20, I look to a new era of peace and prosperity for everyone. Sign me as a white, non-college-educated man who voted three times for Donald J. Trump.

Steven J. Bahnsen, South Commons

Remember, Dexter Reed shot a cop

It is absolutely shameful to offer the family of Dexter Reed a settlement. Hopefully, the wounded officer will sue them and take every cent. It is sad that someone on release for gun charges, who commits another gun charge and shoots a cop, gets anything. Blame the gun. Blame the National Rifle Association. Blame the Chicago Police Department. But don't blame Dexter Reed (?)

Jim Lanham, Joliet

Mayor isn’t telling whole story about ex-spokesman

The mayor is denying any knowledge about the actions of his former communications director Ronnie Reese, even though Reese worked with the mayor previously at the Chicago Teachers Union along with Stacy Davis Gates.

The mayor sent a cryptic message to Reese and Davis Gates four days before he was terminated, and the mayor refuses to elaborate what that message means.

So are we to believe that Johnson knew nothing of this man's personality or actions? Given the long list of failures and missteps by this mayor, it’s my opinion that when it comes to this matter, the mayor is either incompetent or lying.

Tony LaMantia, Logan Square

A thought on ranked choice voting

I have been a fan of ranked choice voting for a very long time. ("Honor will of people who want ranked choice voting" — Dec. 9).

Under most election rules, we allow people to win elections without getting more than 50% of the vote, and we are stuck with a two-party system because any new candidate will split the vote of one party and give the election to the other party. Ranked choice voting solves both problems.

But we need to beware. Ranked choice voting often is sold as the need for nonpartisan primaries and elections, which is wrong. The single most important piece of information we need about a candidate is their party alignment, and this version of ranked choice wants to eliminate that.

So this issue is not whether or not we should have ranked choice voting, but which version is being promoted.

Larry Craig, Wilmette