Religious experience

Dear Editor:

Claremont residents take great pride in the general appearance of our town, houses, colleges and commercial buildings.

Currently, the Claremont School of Theology landscaping is a disgrace. Are they running a “heaven” (south of Foothill) and “hell” (north of Foothill) contrast?

Perhaps someone in code enforcement should have, as they say in the deep South,  a “Come to Jesus” talk with CST.  

Paul S. Wheeler

Claremont

Hitler and Trump

Dear Editor:

In calling Randall Gonzalez’s drawing of parallels between the rise of Adolph Hitler’s regime and the current administration “slanderous,” Margaret R. Shearer (July 13) is apparently practicing law without a license.

As to the six specific actions Mr. Gonzalez recites, did Donald Trump say and do these things? Yes, he did. We may therefore dismiss the charge of slander, truth being an absolute defense.

As to whether the comparisons to that odious regime are fair, or at least arguable, Ms. Shearer dismisses even the possibility without argument, evidence or care with the absurdity “…fallacious statements like these cannot be proven logically….” Comparisons are not syllogisms. Neither are they statements of fact and so cannot be “slanderous.” In this case, they are recognition that “this has happened before.”

We’ve seen more than one regime that claims an “enemy” is “vermin,” is “infesting” the country; where personal loyalty to the leader trumps loyalty to the state, the law and the people; where that leader systematically destroys an independent state by replacing its members with those loyalists; where reporting of actual events becomes “fake news;” where the regime lies constantly and the loyal just nod their heads; where, in the end, the leader is not just above the law, but is the law.

We know where such a regime leads, and it would be foolish to pretend that the current administration does not share disturbing parallels. Ms. Shearer’s attempt to bring down the force of law to suppress this recognition is without merit and cannot be allowed to succeed.

Brian Williamson

Claremont

Funding the police station

Dear Editor:

It was interesting to see how the negative votes came from the northernmost precinct, where we live. My husband and I voted no because of the disparity produced by the mode of funding.

We have been here for 40 years and would have paid less than $100 annually, while our new neighbors with young families would have been slammed with a huge bill. We are retired and living on a fixed income, a huge bill would be a financial burden for us as well.

Maybe the committee reviewing this measure will find ways to carve the total bond down and have the sense to choose a funding mechanism that would be more equitably distributed.

In general, a new police station won’t make our city any safer. If you want to make Claremont safer, you hire more officers. A modern facility is needed, but at an appropriate cost.

James and Lisa Doose

Claremont

A rose by any other name would smell like treason

Dear Editor:

After President Trump’s disastrous NATO summit followed by his alarming statements of support for Russian president Vladimir Putin, it is clear our country is in grave peril, perhaps equal only to the years leading up to the American Civil War.

If we are going to save our republic it is important that Americans come to terms with what has been obvious to some since late 2016; the fact that Mr. Trump and his greedy band of co-conspirators are traitors.

There are knowledgeable people who assert that assisting Russia in their cyber attack does not fit the technical definition of treason, because a cyber attack is not considered an official act of war. But there is no doubt American citizens assisted this assault on the 2016 election and on our election process in general. 

To understand this is to read the indictments issued Friday by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and announced by Assistant Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. While not indicting any Americans for treason or other crimes (yet), it is clear that the Russian army, undoubtedly under orders from Mr. Putin, had the cooperation of all too eager Americans connected to the Trump campaign and the Republican Party, and Mr. Mueller has the goods on them.

It does not take a degree in criminology to know that more indictments are coming, and this time they will be coming for Americans. And one doesn’t need a PhD in psychology to read the strangely dismissive tone and disturbing lack of outrage at the Russians and Mr. Putin, as a refusal to admit, at best the 2016 election was tilted in favor of Mr. Trump, casting the long shadow of illegitimacy on his presidency; or at worst, Mr. Trump, those in his campaign, the NRA and the Republican Party worked willingly and with malice to conspire with a foreign government to attack our electoral system, and are therefore traitors.

One only needs to compare President Trump’s comments and tone during the NATO breakfast in Brussels with his comments and tone standing next to Mr. Putin in Helsinki, to know which side he favors and whose interests he is advancing.

While the President has been aggressively voicing his displeasure with those involved in investigating the hacking of the 2016 election, the one thing he has not done is criticize Russia for attacking us. Can you imagine if President Roosevelt had refused to criticize the Japanese for bombing Pearl Harbor?

Can you imagine if instead of declaring that December 7, 1941, to be “a date which will live in infamy,” President Roosevelt instead expressed ambivalence and even admiration toward the Japanese Emperor, suggesting he might potentially be a good friend and thought the best way to find out was by holding a private summit while the Japanese Army continued their attacks?

Can you imagine him standing next to Hirohito and saying that both sides were to blame for the attack and it was the stupidity of the United States that caused the tension between the two nations in the first place?

Neither can I.

It is not hyperbole to say that we are one election away from a full-blown plutocracy, if we are not already there. Even if control of the House is wrested from the Republican majority this November, and even if the president is either removed or voted out in 2020, the American brand, our nation’s reputation, has been deeply damaged for at least a generation, long after Mr. Trump is dead and gone.

The fact that our system could elect this con man and present him to the world as our leader has shaken our allies to the core. Perhaps the last best chance to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the free world is for our system of checks and balances, so badly tattered by years of abuse and complacency, to actually prove it can correct this massive blunder by removing the president through legal means and for the politicians responsible for supporting and enabling him to be voted out legitimately in November.

Michael Boos

Claremont

Wishes for the earth

Dear Editor:

Do you ever wonder whether our children are paying attention? These wishes make it abundantly clear that, yes, they are. Let the voices of children, all the children be heard. The following quotes were collected from kids ages three to 10 by Lynne Juarez of Claremont at the city’s Earth Day celebration.

I wish for a clean place, Shaler;

People to use less cars, Gianna;

The earth is well for many years, Lindsey

The earth to stay healthy, Nat;

Everyone to recycle, Lily;

A clean future, Ian; More baseball, Jai

Lots and lots of flowers, Annie;

Good air to breath, Benjamin;

The world not to have bad things, J.C.

Save endangered species, Eleanor

Advances in medicine, Isaac

No: trash, yes: clean, Realle;

Love the world, Ivyhu

Slugs, Azeneth;

More butterflies, Mara

For big playgrounds to go high and no trash, Mauricio

Everything to be nice, Lynne;

Dinosaurs to live, Alex; No litter, Ethan

Healthy play, Layia

The earth to stop having wars, Ryan

The trash to be gone, Emilia

Everybody to be nice to each other, Lucia

More mariposas, Victoria

No robbers, Adrian;

Clean water for all marine life, Giselle

World peace, Eliot;

The atmosphere to grow back. Flip you, pollution! Lateef

Gas to go away, Josh

The whole earth to live, Alex

The earth to receive more love, Mary

Leaves, Aubrey; Less trash, Kaiden

Valentine’s Day for the earth, Maele

Everything was eco-friendly, Emiko

The environment to be healed, and kittens! Abby

Green earth, Jose;

Animals not to be hunted, Jenny

The world to be happy, Simone