Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

In November 2002, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 25 studies of the costs of injuries from motorcycle crashes “consistently found that helmet use reduced the fatality rate, probability and severity of head injuries, cost of medical treatment, length of hospital stay, necessity for special medical treatments, and probability of long-term disability.”

Automobile drivers and passengers must wear seat belts. Are those riding motorcycles a privileged class because they like to experience the rush of air over their heads?

Going without a helmet places added stress on medical personnel who must care for the injured. They know that many of these injuries are preventable by simply wearing a helmet.

Nuff said. The Missouri House has approved a bill that would exempt adult riders from wearing helmets if they have appropriate insurance. Missouri-side readers, please contact your legislators and request that they vote for motorcycle helmets to be used by all riders at all times.

G. David Dixon, M.D.

Leawood

Here is Conrad Black's latest column.

It was a great honor to welcome Atlanta's heroic first responders to the White House this afternoon! pic.twitter.com/ZtC14AJ0xs

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2017

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Here is Ann Coulter's latest column. My take on Coulter: She tends to fall head over heels in love with political candidates. Remember her love affair with Mitt Romney? Remember her infatuation with Chris Christie? And now she feels jilted by her lover-boy Donald Trump. Just as there is no ideal lover, there is no ideal political candidate or politician. You must take the bad with the good. And by the way, what's wrong with humanitarian military intervention, especially when no Americans are in harm's way? Has Coulter gone pacifist? Is she an isolationist? The United States is a force for good in the world. That we sometimes act wrongly or foolishly is no reason to refrain altogether from acting.

Here is Kurt Schlichter's latest column.

Get Your Wings (1974). Wow. This song takes me back to high school. What a great album!

This boy has a future as a race-car driver.

I was offended by the Op-Art illustration that accompanied the April 11 editorial “Legislature acts to protect victims of sexual assault.” I’m disappointed to see The Seattle Times perpetuates the narrative that the black man is a danger to society. This narrative has been falsely portrayed since the end of slavery and continues to be perpetuated today in many ways through the news media.

The newspaper has a responsibility to think critically about racism and racist viewpoints. This illustration has a racist slant, and the editors should have caught this, especially given the fact that sex offenders are more likely to be white. Please stop the racist narrative that portrays the black man as a danger to society.

Joey Mertel, Shoreline

Editor’s note: The writer has a point about the illustration that was missed by editors. Rest assured, the illustration will not be used again.

Here.