Sending love from Canada
Re: “Canadian flag flies over Capitol for Colorado-Canada Friendship Day,” March 15 online news story
I recently saw the article about my country’s flag being raised at your state Capitol. I am awash in gratitude to you fine people of Colorado for doing so.
Understandably, the last few weeks have been a hard time to watch and listen as our two countries enter uncharted territory. I want you all to know that I am Canadian.
I do understand what President Donald Trump is trying to accomplish with the tariffs being implemented. He’s trying to make your country great again, although I’ve always loved your country and still do. I think it has always been great. Vegas Baby is my jam!
However, due to the turmoil going on, I’m unwilling to cross the border to visit for a while until this all settles down, and I do believe it will at some point.
The booing of your National Anthem by a few bad apples does not reflect the views of all Canadians.
I love you all. Always will.
Adam Van Zetten, Windsor, Ontario
Our intelligence is not free for the taking
Re: “OpenAI seeks license to steal,” March 18 editorial
The media’s lawsuit against OpenAI reveals the true nature of artificial intelligence — it’s us! Our knowledge, our data, our news, our textbooks, our diaries, our posts and our speech. There’s no magic here, and no intelligence except ours. So if you’re letting your kid take a pass on homework because the glorification of ChatGPT predicts that soon we won’t have to do that sort of thing anymore and we’ll delegate it, don’t count on it. If the owners of these programs (and that’s all they are) are made to pay for what they’ve stolen, we’re going to see a much more conservative deployment of AI to fields where the expense is justified, like medicine or physics.
Susan Williams, Lakewood
Who else will Trump jail for expressing an opinion?
Re: “Trump: activist arrest first of ‘many,’ ” March 11 news story
Mahmoud Khalil is a permanent resident of the USA. Married to an American citizen, he is a graduate student at Columbia University. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of protesting the Israeli abuse of Palestinians. For that “crime,” the Trump administration has declared him to be a terrorist sympathizer and has imprisoned him in an ICE detention center. The jail is far from his home and not easily accessible to his legal counsel. The privately managed jail also has a reputation for being a violent place.
This action by the Trump administration is typical of the anti-Muslim attitudes displayed during his first term. The fact is that Khalil was exercising his First Amendment rights (yes, even non-citizens are guaranteed that protection, whether or not Trump wants to accept it). The fact also is that the Israeli government has been abusing the Palestinians in response to the Hamas attack in October 2023.
While it certainly is understandable that Israel would respond to Hamas’ violence, their reaction has been extreme, resulting in substantial damage and death to innocent Palestinians. It seems to be their intent to kill as many Palestinians as they can. Another outrage has been Israel’s denial of electricity to Gaza, affecting a desalinization plant that makes clean drinking water. These are clear violations of international law, and in my opinion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be on trial in The Hague for these crimes. Is Trump going to put me in jail for expressing that opinion?
Free Mahmoud Khalil and stop the unwarranted attacks on Muslim Americans for expressing their opinions about Israeli violence against Palestinians.
James W. Craft, Broomfield
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