Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, January 11, 2018

Wait — Trumpism's a thing?

According to Steve Bannon there is a new movement in the world. It's called Trumpism. When did he become an -ism and why wasn't I told?

— Rick Terry
Anchorage

Trump likely to feed Mueller lies

Many reputable news outlets report Trump and his lawyers are considering an interview with Robert Mueller, who is investigating the dealings of Trump and his associates with Russia. What is the point? Trump is known to lie and confuse reality with his alternative reality. It would only provide more of his alternative facts to confuse the issue. Would he have anything to say to convince me of his innocence? Hardly. I would rather hear Mueller's facts when he is ready to share them. I doubt if Trump's family knows how to be truthful either.

— S. Winfree
Anchorage

Voters will decide state's fate

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Sen. Tom Begich's Jan. 9 opinion piece identifies a vision for Alaska similar to a progressive state, Minnesota, whereas Sen. Pete Kelly's cut-to-the bone vision is similar to Kansas. Alaska voters will decide in November 2018 if Alaska wants responsible growth, or a decaying economy.

— Frank Rast
Anchorage

Let's work for clean, safe energy

Give Sen. Cathy Giessel the benefit of the doubt; she may even believe the stuff she wrote about oil development being good for everyone (Commentary, Jan. 9). History is full of naysayers about new technologies who cling to existing systems. The horse and buggy lobby just knew that the horseless carriage would never work out; the stagecoach industry knew perfectly well that relying on railroads was foolhardy; sailors accustomed to sailing vessels were certain the steam engine was a fad; slave owners fought hard against the newfangled cotton gin; and it goes on and on. All these naysayers fought hard to protect the investments in these older technologies, to the detriment of our society at large.

I do agree with her about one thing — we should roll up our sleeves and work. But dreaming about energy dominance or a cleaner planet through oil and gas development is a pipe dream (excuse the pun). We need to roll up our sleeves and work at what we do best — developing cleaner, more efficient, cheaper, and safer energy alternatives.

— Tom Nelson
Anchorage

Offshore leasing may lead to shenanigans by Trump's minions

Alaska's Native coastal communities are justifiably concerned about Trump's ill-conceived off-shore oil and gas leasing plans. After 21 years teaching in the Lower Yukon Delta, I understand how their subsistence resources would be devastated by an oil spill in Arctic waters.

In Rick Steiner's earlier op-ed about Trump's plan to lease most of America's coastline to oil companies for drilling, he implied broader-scale catastrophic consequences that would destroy not only coastal subsistence resources of Native communities, but eventually even their villages.

I'm worried about a possible script Trump's Machiavellian minions might follow in deciding which areas in the U.S. (and Alaska) to lease. Like the poker players they are, they have already begun to release leasing plans for almost the entire American coastline. Then closer to the election, after pushback from Native and environmental communities, they will do some hard-hearted political calculations. This would include which coastal areas could be hoodwinked into thinking of any exemptions to the plans as beneficent acts of the president's men, and in the November elections vote for politicians like Don Young who monetize everything and steal from our national treasury to subsidize already hugely rich corporations. Let's hope we are not that gullible.

— Frank Keim
Fairbanks

Road work seems unnecessary

Could someone please help me to understand why we are wasting time, equipment and money to remove snow that hasn't happened and will not likely be here until April. The pavement is being scraped down to potholes for no reason that is apparent to me. Am I missing something here or are we just making work?

— Christi Norquist
Anchorage

'Dreamers' analogy missed mark

In response to Don Shafer's letter to the editor of Tuesday, Jan. 9, I would like to share one definition of the word "analogy" with him.

Analogy: "A similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based." "Dreamers" are young people who have grown up here, attended school here, worked jobs here in order to go to college, and who are hoping to make this country, which is the only one they know, a better place.

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Does he honestly believe that the analogy of them being in a house, left to them by parents who didn't legally have the right to do so, compares in any shape or form? Well, guess what, it doesn't! If he educates himself on not only the definition of the word, but the facts of who "Dreamers" really are, hopefully he will see what an ignorant, erroneous analogy this truly is.

— Colleen Jepsen
Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@adn.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@adn.com.

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