Readers’ Comments: September 19, 2025

DEI is patriotic

Dear editor:

A country of immigrants is and must be a country of diversity, equity and inclusion. USA!

Opanyi Nasiali 

Claremont

We’re all passengers on RFK Jr.’s dangerous ‘ship of fools’

Dear editor:

“MAHA” is a bad joke on the American people. Under this administration the Department of Health and Human Services has become “a ship of fools.” This week RFK Jr., head of HHS, released a report on the dangerous agricultural chemicals we are putting in the environment. A temporizing cave-in. A lie.

Some of us had held out a small glimmer of hope that his tenure at HHS might actually be a move toward a healthier America. When he spoke about the health of our children, we applauded his distain for highly processed foods. Until he caved. Another lie.

We thought that he was correct in his attack on “cancer alley” in Texas when he went after the refiners omitting cancer-causing chemicals that poisoned an entire swath of residents living near these facilities. Until he caved. And he has cancelled hundreds of millions in promising cancer research. The war on cancer?  All abject surrender.

When he went after the chemical industry for their disregard for the harm their products were doing to the environment we applauded. Until he caved. More lies. And we’re the chumps. Soon to be very sick chumps.

In the latest draft report on pesticides, Kennedy has not failed to disappoint. His proposals to rein in this industry are pathetic. Even his staunchest MAHA supporters are aghast at the backtrack. The worst, the glyphosates, widely used in pesticides that have been banned in Europe, got a pass here in America. Yeah, I know — socialist countries. MAHA’s a joke!

With former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez ousted for attempting to protect her staff from the quackery of RFK Jr., more and more prominent doctors and scientists are fleeing HHS, leaving us with a most dangerous “ship of fools.”

John C. Forney
Claremont

It’s time for introspection, not finger pointing

Dear editor:

It has been a horrible time for America, not just because of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last week, but also for the recent murders and attempted assassinations of other political leaders, including Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.

The reaction from many political leaders has been presumptuous and vengeful. President Trump was quick to blame “radicals [plural] on the left” for Kirk’s murder, before a suspect had even been apprehended. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) immediately blamed the murder on a “tranny” basing her accusation on the thinnest preliminary evidence. Elon Musk posted on X that “The Left is the party of murder.”

In a press conference, led by Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R), on Friday announcing the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, I was expecting more of the blame-the-liberals’ rhetoric and was surprised and heartened by his tempered message of empathy, humility, and introspection.

Governor Cox admitted that he had been praying the person responsible for the murder was an “other,” someone from another country, or at least not from Utah, and “sadly” acknowledged that his prayers were not answered and the suspect was one of “us.” Governor Cox stated that “There is one person responsible for what happened here and that person is now in custody.” He appealed to Americans to practice forgiveness and to lower the temperature. “We can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse.”

I was reminded of Senator Robert Kennedy’s (not RFK Jr.) calming remarks in 1968 to a primarily black audience in Indianapolis announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He emphasized that what we need in this country is “love.” I agree.

M Boos

Claremont

Comment on Readers’ Comments

Dear editor:

I don’t know the first thing about running a nonprofit community newspaper, but I’d like to make a small suggestion about the Reader’s Comments section. I’ve noticed a weekly leftist contribution by Opanyi Nasiali that amounts to no more than a handful of meaningless words. I find myself asking “Is that all you got?” I’m willing to bet that one could find more insightful and thoughtful words on the restroom walls and stall doors at El Roble Intermediate School. The bar seems to be set so low that an ordinary earthworm would be capable of crawling right over it.

How about, in addition to a maximum limit of 300 words, you implement a minimum word limit? I could be wrong, but I think the demographics of your readership would appreciate raising the bar a little bit.

Alex Pilz

Claremont