North Coast Journal Staff

Editor: So, it turns out that the scourge of cats killing wildlife might now be as bad for cats as it is for wildlife. According to Tanya Schrum’s article in last week’s NCJ, “cats appear to be the first extra-host to suffer the most significant mortality” from avian influenza (grammatically nonsensical, but it sounds scary). Will […]

Editor: I found Robert Argenbright’s letter (Mailbox, Feb. 20) to be yet another example of muddled thinking and fear-filled scapegoating.  I’m most disappointed when people like Robert propose that his fellow humans be treated like livestock, lacking the right to make our own medical decisions.  Furthermore, it is perplexing to observe the cognitive dissonance embodied […]

Editor: It is my opinion that Measure O funds should be directed toward its primary intention, as described in the load of marketing materials I received from Humboldt County during the last election (“Election Results,” Nov. 6). That marketing said while funds could be spent on anything, the breadth of it stated the goal was […]

Editor: Inefficient, ineffective, illegal and immoral. That describes the first month of the new administration (Mailbox, Feb. 13). It’s inefficient to have workers dismissed midday or on a Friday night and then oops, “not you, nuclear safeguards,” prison guards, firemen, park rangers, etc. If only we knew who they were and how to find them! […]

Editor: This party in power is moving fast to shred the fabric of our society and nature (Mailbox, Feb. 13). We’ll all be living homeless in tatters, stranded, awaiting the flying saucers to another planet. Communication is forced to yield to silence or petty retribution and surveillance. Culture is dismissed as elitism. But whether it’s […]

Editor: During Trump I, Kellyanne Conway famously called falsehoods “alternative facts.” Now, with Trump II, alternative facts are in vogue again. An example is in the news today (Feb. 19). Despite abundant evidence to the contrary, Trump claimed in an executive order that everybody is either male or female. Today, the NY Times reports that JFK Jr. is claiming […]

Editor: I enjoyed reading the recent “Field Notes” by Barry Evans on Jared Diamonds’ Guns, Germs and Steel (Feb. 6). Reminded me of reading it 25 years ago. The deep history of humans expanding around our planet over tens of thousands of years, reaching the climate calming period of the Holocene and agriculture, developing cities and […]

Editor: Anti-vaxers are like drunk drivers, maybe worse (Mailbox, Jan. 16). Both anti-vaxers and drunk drivers think that what they want to do is more important than other people’s lives. Many drunk drivers acknowledge that drunk driving is wrong. But they delude themselves: “But I’m not drunk” or “I can handle it.” Anti-vaxers don’t even admit they’re doing wrong. Some get […]

Editor: In asking how 300 people could be wrong in their support of another elite retirement community in McKinleyville, I’m reminded of the 77 million that just voted to put billionaires in charge of national policy (the advertisement for Life Plan Humboldt, Feb. 13). Any institution, small business or “nonprofit” accessing public resources and subsidies […]