Readers’ comments: September 23, 2022

Pipeline idea has support
Dear editor:
In the September 16 edition of the Claremont COURIER letters to the editor was one by Maria J. Andrade regarding bringing flood waters from the East and Midwest to the West by a pipeline. A lot of people say that can’t be done because of the lack of pumps. Well, we have pumps already in existence at Lake Powell and at Hoover Dam that can easily take care of any pumping activity.
Frederick D. Williams
Claremont

Larkin Place headline was misleading
Dear editor:
The COURIER should be more careful about how it writes headlines. “Why can’t Claremont just say no to Larkin Place?” (September 9, 2022) sounds like a rhetorical question, which misled one reader (Doug Lama, Readers comments, September 16, 2022) into accusing the article of nimbyism.

In fact, the article was simply a factual explanation of why Claremont can’t legally say no to Larkin Place (except under one or more of five critical conditions). The article was an answer to a question; the headline should have been “Why Claremont can’t just say no to Larkin Place.”
James Van Cleve
Claremont

Trump best president in history? Please
Dear editor:
Kris Meyers (COURIER, September 16, 2022), on his way to declaring Trump the best president in U.S. history (when in fact he is the worst), in his laundry list of supposed Trump excellences cites his handling of “crime” as one of them.

That is to conveniently forget that Trump committed the biggest political criminal act in American history: his attempted coup on January 6, 2021. That will go down in American history as so important that Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr will henceforth be rated only as small time pikers. It is not just Trump himself, of course, who was involved; the list of people who have been charged, some already convicted, and others still under investigation in the coup attempt, is huge.

It is a joke that a Trump supporter such as Meyers can claim Trump to be anti-crime. (Notice I have not even mentioned his large theft of documents belonging to the country, some of them classified at a level beyond “secret”).
Merrill Ring
Claremont

MAGA Republicans are wrong about Trump, the meaning of ‘greatness’
Dear editor:
Make America Great Again is a slogan of former President Donald Trump. America during his administration was governed by plutocrats punishing the middle class and the poor with more pollution in the air, water, and food. Trump took the country out of its international obligations to fight climate change, by far the worst threat facing the planet. Trump and his MAGA Republican followers continue to repeat the lies of the fossil fuel companies that there’s no global warming.

The evidence that climate change is real and that it has been anthropogenic is overwhelming. Take a look at the NASA site [nasa.gov]. Carbon dioxide, one of the key gases warming the Earth, was 300 parts per million in the atmosphere for millennia. But the burning of petroleum, natural gas, and coal has raised the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to about 420 parts per million in 2022.

Trump is a dangerous politician who ignores science and, therefore, the well-being of Americans. The extreme heat of early September was one of the many warnings that the climate dragon has been unleashed all over California, the United States, and the planet.

Moreover, Trump launched a failed coup. And yet he wants to return to power to cause even more harm and probably declare himself a monarch/tyrant and bring about a civil war.

These are the reasons I was astonished reading the letter of Kris Meyer [COURIER, September 16, 2022]. He and the MAGA Republicans are wrong about Trump and the meaning of greatness. Greatness is virtue, justice, courage, freedom, democracy, and the priority of the public good. America can indeed become a great nation by bringing the nations of the world together to fight climate danger. The challenge is gigantic but so is the certain harm if we continue the policies of the MAGA Republicans.

Evaggelos Vallianatos, PhD
Claremont
Vallianatos spent 25 years as a risk evaluation analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency and is the author of seven books, including “Poison Spring.”

No love lost between Claremonter, Trump
Dear editor:
Dear Kris Meyer,
In your September 16, 2022 letter to the Claremont COURIER, I counted approximately 129 words on why you support Trump.
I will give you one word on why I don’t support Trump: “racist.”
Actually, two words: “crybaby racist.”
Eugene Hwang
Claremont

MAGA all well and good, but democracy comes first
Dear editor:
The September 16 letter to the editor, “MAGA Republican wants Trump back in office,” by Kris Meyer, was an excellent example of a basic principle of propaganda: “Frequently repeat a lie and often it may magically transform itself into an accepted truth.”

The MAGA mythology of Trump seems boundless, but it was encouraging to see Mr. Meyer acknowledge some of the troubling sociopathy so often seen in his behavior.

A discerning look at history shows that lying and deceit have likely been around as long as we’ve been social beings, and certainly, especially in today’s world, is not limited to Republicans, or to political parties for that matter. In today’s world if you are not somewhat skeptical and willing to submit most claims to critical thinking, you are ripe to be an attractive victim for a plethora of grifters.

Mr. Meyer ends his letter with a plea to ignore Trump’s frequent lies and deceits and reelect him to office so he can “Make America Great Again.” History illustrates the people of Nazi Germany, communist Russia, and other tyrannical regimes were fed the same BS — and many succumbed to it because “greatness” is a worthwhile hope to hang on to, particularly when things appear dark and so much seems beyond one’s control. Unfortunately, Mr. Meyer overlooks another important principle, this time not related to propaganda but to democracy. A democracy cannot thrive nor survive when people in positions of power or influence lie to and deceive its citizens.
John Roseman
Claremont

Biden not perfect, but a Trump rerun would spell disaster
Dear editor:
I read Kris Meyer’s letter in Friday’s COURIER (September 16, 2022) with interest. The very first sentence, unfortunately, is a lie and a hoax. President Biden never accused Americans who want to “Make America Great Again” of being enemies of our country. What he did suggest pointedly is that those who preach political violence (some are in the MAGA camp) are enemies of democracy and a danger to our country. Making America great again is possibly a noble idea, although Trump himself never made it clear what stage in our history he hoped to reach “again.”

Mr. Meyer and I clearly disagree in our political views since I am sure that a return of Trump to the presidency would be an enormous disaster. Mr. Meyer acknowledges Trump is a “thin-skinned narcissist,” but he also ignores that he is a twice-impeached president and most likely a criminal. Trump has provably lied to the public uncountable times, and if he were to regain the presidency, he would undoubtedly devote most of his time to destroying his adversaries and enemies rather than bothering to “Make America Great Again.”

While President Biden has not been a popular president (no fault of his own), he has been an enormous improvement over the Trump presidency.

Tad Beckman
Claremont

Kudos to MAGA Republican
Dear editor:
As a longtime subscriber to the COURIER, I have come to believe (guess what) that Claremont is an extremely liberal place to live, but one gets beaten up (figuratively) if one expresses an opposite view loudly. Stating that fact, it is interesting that Kris Meyer had the guts to say what those views are [Readers’ Comments, September 16, 2022] — and I might add the views on Trump are totally correct — and you published that letter. Now 75% of the city must be grieving and trying to get a grip.
Jacquie Mahoney
Claremont