Letters + Opinion

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:  In Mark Larson’s article “High Water and ‘Old Boys’ at the Trinidad to Clam Beach Run” (Feb. 13), he states that Vince Engel set the Humboldt State University record in the “880 meters.” He didn’t. My husband Pete Haggard (who, by the way, co-writes a column with Jane Monroe for the NCJ) set the […]

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 […]

Editor: After a four-year “trial,” Trump is again trying to end democracy (Mailbox, Feb. 3). Publishers, please, please let us know when it’s over. Please, put out the headline, “Democracy Officially Ended.” Everyone needs to know. Let those who voted for this know so they can cheer … or be horrified. “We the People” want the truth! We need to […]

Editor: Don’t assume your Democratic member of Congress is doing everything they can to oppose Trump’s agenda (Mailbox, Feb. 3). Their voting records show otherwise. Senators Padilla and Schiff both voted to confirm Marco Rubio, who shut down and is now dismantling USAID, leaving millions of hungry children in the lurch along with trafficked women […]

Editor: President Trump loves tariffs. He has already imposed them with some exceptions on items from Canada, Mexico and China, although, at this time, the first two tariffs are paused for negotiations. Soon Trump will be proposing more tariffs with the “Reciprocal Trade Act” (RTA). The act would place U.S. tariffs on all imported goods […]

Editor: I agree that a compassionate, supportive and responsive community is a good ideal (Mailbox, Feb. 2). History doesn’t show that happens just yet. Meanwhile, I am worried that resisters to bullies and tyrants may not have the support of our whole communities. We have just elected a bully who surely knows how to take […]

Editor: So let’s see If I understand this. The westward migration of the invasive European human species resultedin trees being planted all across the Great Plains. Those trees, in turn, paved the way for the barred owl to migrate westward across the continent to invade the old growth forests on the West Coast (“‘Complex Tradeoffs’,” […]