Letters to the Editor: Bill Clinton argument is a red herring that distracts from Trump’s misdeeds

Re: “Letter writer found rebuttal dismissive”: Letter writer Juli Hayden, who previously said she was a victim of sexual harassment, surprisingly avoids directly addressing and strongly justifying her contradictory support of President Trump while claiming to oppose sexual harassment.

Instead of directly addressing the contradiction, she redirects the reader to the past, unacceptable sexual misconduct of President Clinton and the hypocrisy of his supporters.

This tactic makes use of “what-about-ism.” What-about-ism is a logical fallacy that attempts to charge someone with hypocrisy without directly refuting their opponent’s argument. In other words, it is employed as a red herring because it takes the heat off someone, like Hayden, from having to strongly defend their position, such as, supporting Trump while opposing sexual harassment.

Charles Mooney

Costa Mesa

Pay equity remains a lingering issue

Recently several women, while admitting to be subjected to sexual harassment, objected to the Women’s March on the grounds that it was politically biased against President Trump, whom they supported. Perhaps if they became aware of past history they would be more aware of its significance.

The initial Women’s March took place in 1913, with the issues being the right to vote and equal pay which was certainly politically biased against the then-sitting president. After repeated marches and rallies, women were finally granted the right to vote in 1920 , but the equal pay issue is still in play after nearly 100 years. Clearly, there is still much to be done and accomplish and the women’s marches serve to keep the issues in the forefront.

R.C. Armendariz

Huntington Beach

Stop talking and start undergrounding utilities

Enough, already (“Laguna prepares to talk more about undergrounding utilities in the coming months”). There is no reason for more studies and for wasting more money on consultants. At least two of the recent, devastating wildfires in California were caused by overhead power lines. Underground utilities cost initially but in the long run are saving precious resources. During the 29 years I lived in Germany I did not experience a single blackout, not one.

Eberhard Neutz

Laguna Beach

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