Right now, let’s just hope and pray for the best

I enjoyed the recent letter, “It feels like we are living in a Dali painting,” from Jan. 22. It said a lot about our current situation in the U.S.

I am a retired Spanish teacher and have studied the history of Mexico, Argentina and Chile, among other Latin American nations. To me, Trump’s USA seems very similar today to the Mexico of Porfirio Diaz, the Argentina of Juan Peron, the Chile of Pinochet, and the Cuba of Castro in many ways. I realize that the aforementioned presidents held forth for many more than 4 years, a case in point being Diaz’ “rule” of 35 years in Mexico. However, at age 90, I’m not sure I can survive the remaining years under Donald, even though my health at the moment is good. Nothing is for sure, not even Trump surviving the next 4 years. Maybe the third attempt will be a charm (and I’m referring to impeachment, not assassination)!

I shudder to think of the idea of drilling in the ANWR, as a long-time member of the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. At my age, I’m not likely to go there, but other people deserve to see it before the current administration ruins it. Let’s just hope and pray for the best.

— David S. Wood, Boulder

Weird, to say the least

Charlie Danaher’s opinion piece on contraception, “What our contraceptive mindset has wrought,” seems like one of those views Tim Walz pointed out as “weird” during the 2024 campaign. Many conservatives, mostly those coming from one or another religious stripe, have a truly bizarre fixation on sex. And now with the fascist regime stumbling into Washington, they seem emboldened to express that fixation publicly.

If someone thinks that virtually all societal ills can be pinned on someone’s race, gender, and/or choices that people make with their own bodies, they have some profound inadequacies of their own to work on. Nearly all people worldwide appreciate social and scientific advances that give them greater freedom and control over their own lives.

And by the way; countries like those in Asia suffering from a supposed “population collapse” have an easy solution. It’s called immigration.

So as Tim Walz put it, maybe you should just “mind your own business.”

— Patrick Comer, Boulder

Democrats will never hesitate to eat their own

Watching the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary this morning was quite a spectacle. His fellow Democrats went after him like hyenas fighting over a gazelle carcass. One needs to question the need for character assassination if someone breaks from the ranks of their party and chooses to implement new policies based on the fact that the old ones have failed. Can a nation actually move forward if we allow this process to continue?

To their credit, at least the Democrats did not conjure up any injured souls who would accuse Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of rape or molestation as they did for conservative Catholic U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the conservative African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. They both were appointed despite the display of the dirtiest infighting ever to reach the floor of the U.S. House or Senate. However, the Democrats’ willingness to devour their perceived opponent today may have been their second-greatest display of foul play.

The Kennedy family has given more to this country than all the members of the U.S. Senate combined. RFK Jr. himself lost his father and uncle to assassins, all because they chose to serve their nation. The willingness of his former colleagues to attack him just because he agreed with a few policies of the “Orange Man” should make us all take pause and think about the real issues related to character. Clearly, Democratic leadership needs to think again why they lost the election for both houses of Congress and the presidency.

— Brett Kingstone, Boulder