Letters to the editor for Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017

Environment will suffer under Trump’s presidency

Well, it seems our new Tweeter-in-Chief is quite adept at pandering to those with regulation amnesia. I’ll jolt some memories with the financial/Wall Street meltdown some eight years ago.

Anyone been to Los Angeles lately? You can actually see ... Los Angeles. How about the pristine clarity of our local national treasure, Lake Tahoe? Or the hundreds of clean streams, rivers, and other bodies of water that have benefited from the EPA and other protective agencies? The whole shift in air pollution, especially on the West Coast. And now the push to regress. Dig coal and drill for oil. It won’t take long for corporations to put profit over people and the environment, turning our backs on alternative energy. Thanks a lot, folks.

I think I’m going to sit this debacle out for awhile as Trump tweets this country into the toilet. I will predict, however, that he will supply Congress with many reasons for impeachment in the coming years. He’ll constantly violate the First Amendment by intimidating his critics (already has), undermine the freedom and independence of the press, attack religious freedoms (Muslim registry), and violate the due process clause continuously. He’ll try to suppress minority voting rights (14th — equal protection clause) and if he’s not careful, he’ll commit treason by colluding with a foreign enemy to the detriment of the United States.

That being said, I advise some of you to look up the Dunning-Kruger effect. And then ask yourselves, “Hey, was he talking about me?”

Rick Van Alfen

Carson City