Readers’ comments: June 13, 2025

‘Queer Rescue Project’ opens
Dear editor:
It would be difficult to find people in Claremont more compassionate and open-hearted than Susan Castle, Rose Wallace, and her dad, Dan Wallace. I admire their integrity as they demonstrate their acceptance and support of the LGBTQ+ community by distributing and displaying the progress pride flag.
I am also acquainted with a man of color who was outraged when stripes of brown and black were wedged between the transgender stripes and the rainbow representing what he calls “queers.” He believes LGBTQ+ people are mentally ill, weak, and potentially dangerous sexual deviants. He felt the flag was an offensive appropriation of his cultural heritage, and a direct attack on his moral convictions.
Many people see LGBTQ+ controversies as issues of human rights, requiring governmental anti-discrimination policies. Others view the subject as intensely personal and private, and promote “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Still others perceive an emotional discomfort, and strive for compassionate inclusion.
How can we find balance with such widely divergent perspectives?
My husband and I were trained as mediators through the LA Bar Association, and we enjoy bringing people 180 degrees apart to some accordance. They do not have to agree with, like, or trust each other, but at least they are not at each other’s throats.
For this reason, I opened the Claremontage concept garden with an art display entitled “The Queer Rescue Project.” Its deliberately ambiguous title and its multi-faceted, diversely-opinionated artwork are designed to build bridges so people can see perspectives other than their own.
I invite Courier readers to visit the Claremontage courtyard to experience the garden and artwork for themselves, and perhaps for the sake of someone else at 223 Bonita Ave. It’s free and open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Elizabeth Tulac
Claremont

Cheers for Condit’s ‘lunch lady’
Dear editor:
Thank you for your article about Ms. Sonja Lakin [“Bon voyage to Condit’s hugger in chef,” June 6], who is retiring as the lunch lady and “hugger-in-chief” at Condit Elementary School.
I will miss Sonja too, but not because of her work at the school. I am a neighbor of Condit and have had the pleasure of knowing Sonja since we met on a walk around the block — she on her morning break and me on a walk with my dog, Doolyn. She and Doolyn became great buddies and through our interactions with the dog I came to realize what a wonderful, giving, selfless person Sonja is. When she learned that Doolyn had passed away, she and I cried together and on our walked shared all our great memories of dogs long gone who brought joy to our (and others’) life.
Sonja deserves a long and adventurous retirement. She will be missed in so many ways.
Pam Hawkes
Claremont

Are you listening, Webster’s?
Dear editor:
Given our current political reality, I believe it’s time to revisit and update the definitions of a few terms and concepts. Here are just a few:
States’ rights: if you do everything the president wants and he likes your politics, he’ll leave your state alone, otherwise he’ll make your life a living hell.
Due process: an outmoded concept and, frankly, a pain in the butt to deal with.
Activist judge: any judge who rules in a way the current administration dislikes.
Rule of law: (see “due process” definition.)
Project 2025: the size of a Russian novel which few care to read despite its draconian vision for America. (see Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” re: Trojan Horse.)
Social Security: some conservatives call it a Ponzi scheme despite the fact we’ve paid into it for most of our working lives and collect benefits upon retirement. Of course, we all know security is overrated.
Right to die: not to be confused with assisted suicide; rather, the right of the poorest  Americans to die absent Medicaid or Medicare. One female senator recently suggested at a town hall that we were all going to die anyway. There you have it.
Hypocrisy: the assessment that Los Angeles protesters in June 2025 are anarchists and dangerous criminals whereas those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were patriots who deserved to be pardoned.
Don Linde
La Verne

Well done, Trump: America is for Americans now
Dear editor:
Tired of our country being overrun by foreigners? You may be happy to know that Trump’s crackdown on border crossings, and other policies like tariffs, have been wildly successful in reducing both illegal and legal border crossings.
In April the U.S.-Mexico border saw a 93% drop in “illegal” immigrant apprehensions. Legal visitors are also being detained by ICE, refused entry, subjected to long detainments and interrogations.
Trivago announced double digit declines in U.S. vacation bookings from Canada, Japan, Mexico, England, and Germany, all hit with Trump tariffs. According to Fortune Magazine, the U.S. could lose $23 billion in GDP and 230,000 jobs if foreign tourists continue to stay away. Let that be a lesson to … well, someone.
Consider that multiple outbreaks of deadly diseases like measles may have further dampened enthusiasm for stateside visits. Also consider the influence of recent aviation disasters on the decline of international desire to fly to the U.S. Planes falling from the sky, layoffs, firings, resignations among air traffic controllers and general reductions of force at the Federal Aviation Administration, are smart moves by an administration determined to discourage foreign visits and make America for Americans only. Well, except for white South Afrikaners … and wealthy foreign investors with $5 million to buy a “gold card.” Trump is definitely playing some kind of dimensional checkers here!
Even more proof of Trump’s “strategery” is the attack on academia, sending scientists, students, and researchers heading for the exits. A leading German scientific research institution called the U.S. “a new talent pool.” If the goal was to export more than we import, nicely done!
Trump is solving the immigration and tourism problem by making America a place no one wants to visit … or live.
M. Boos
Claremont

Don’t be distracted by Trump’s antics
Dear editor:
Folks! Do not be fooled or distracted. The deploying of the National Guard and the Marines — the Marines! — is not about ICE sweeps: it is part of a larger plan.
While attention is on LA, work is continuing in Washington to pass the “Big ‘Ugly’ Bill.” This bill takes food away from children, healthcare away from the elderly, the disabled, those most in need — all while making the wealthy even wealthier. It would prevent courts from issuing or enforcing contempt orders; laws become meaningless as a result. The many aspects of the social safety net, support for education and critical research, data about weather and disease, international leadership — all gone.
In its place, more money for ICE and the military (and the rich). They don’t want us to know what’s going on. That’s why the House rushed to put the bill together in the middle of the night.
The current action is a test. If it is successful here, it will certainly be used in other situations, like creating an “incident” requiring “military intervention” so elections can be postponed or cancelled. Remember, he said, “You vote for me now, you won’t ever have to vote again.”
This is yet another strategy to keep the man in power. The Constitution limits presidents to two terms in office. When asked about a third term, his response was that “there are ways.” You are now seeing those ways.
There will be more, there is no doubt. But don’t be fooled or distracted. Keep your eyes and focused action on their ultimate goal: a white, male, “Christian” dictatorship. It is up to us, “We The People,” to prevent them from reaching that goal.
Susan Hunter Hancock
Claremont