Consider pet adoption for joy and love
Re: “Thousands of shelter animals left in limbo,” Jan. 4 news story
I read your article with interest because my wife and I are both animal caretakers. In the last 20 years we have adopted three tuxedo cats, two are still alive. These pets bring love and joy into our elderly lives. Some weeks we struggle at times to put food on our plates and feed our cats and a few other strays.
It’s true these wonderful pets help people to live longer and happier lives.
Isidore Salazar, Lakewood
Climate concerns? Let’s talk about that
With a new year and a new Congress, I have resolved to have as many climate conversations as I can. As a young girl in Denver Public Schools, I frequently did projects, wrote essays, and addressed my class and my family about climate change, and got the reaction precocious girls get when they are energized about a topic others would rather ignore.
As a woman who has grown into her personal power, I’m speaking out more than ever and getting more positive responses every year. This Thanksgiving my aunt told me she was proud of my climate activism, the first of my family members to do so.
The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication reports that “Americans who hear others talk about global warming at least once a month have higher levels of perceived collective political efficacy (54%) than those who hear others talk about global warming less often (39%).”
We often underestimate how much others share our concerns, but silence makes climate change seem less urgent than it is, which in turn keeps us from adopting solutions at the pace needed. Two-thirds of Americans say they are worried about and support climate action, and most people globally are concerned. This year, turn your concern into conversation; the people in your life are ready to talk climate with you.
KC Petersen, Fort Collins
Falsely laying blame, giving credit
Re: “Out with “Never Trump,” in with contempt for the “elite’,” Dec. 19 commentary
In his column Bret Stephens denounces Never Trumpers and liberal critics for voicing “paranoid” concerns about the president-elect’s authoritarian tendencies. He credits Trump for understanding and attending to the economic needs of “ordinary people.”
Yet inequality mushroomed in Trump’s first term, as did the national debt, thanks in part to lavish tax cuts for the rich. Biden inherited a pandemic-weakened economy with runaway inflation, high unemployment and stagnant wages. The legacy media refused to credit his record for boosting the middle class, choosing instead to harp about Biden’s age and ignore Trump’s incoherent, increasingly violent rhetoric.
Along with his Project 2025 backers, Trump despises unions and treats workers as show props. His brilliance lies in animating millions to tune out critical thinking and follow his lead in promoting xenophobia, bigotry and resentment.
Trump’s first term did real, not imaginary, damage. He failed spectacularly to address the COVID epidemic. He weakened environmental protections, ripped apart immigrant families, negotiated a Taliban-friendly withdrawal from Afghanistan, and mobilized to block the peaceful presidential transition of power. Feeling empowered, he’s threatening to prosecute his political enemies and throttle the free press.
In imperialist mode, he now urges the U.S. to grab back the Panama Canal and take over Greenland.
Blaming Trump’s critics for his election is like blaming the German resistance for the rise of Hitler. Stephens would do well to stop flagellating himself and the Never Trumpers and instead join democracy advocates in defending the rule of law in a dangerous new world.
Charlotte Roe, Berthoud
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