Neo-fascism at work

At his rally in Bemidji, President Trump told his white crowd that they have “good genes.” “A lot of it is about the genes,” he said. Then he went on to praise Confederate general Robert E. Lee, the traitor who fought a war against the US to maintain slavery.

“[Lincoln] was getting beaten a lot by Robert E. Lee. They want to rip down his statue all over the place ... he would have won except for Gettysburg ... these were incredible things,” Trump said.

As someone on Twitter pointed out, “On July 2, 1863 the 1st Minnesota Volunteers suffered 82 percent casualties fighting Confederates under the command of Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg.”

It seems we can’t expect members of a political personality cult to unpack the racism and historical evil in these statements, but for the rest of us it is painfully clear: This is neo-fascism at work, and the people being manipulated with fear and bigotry are becoming as corrupt as their corrupt leader.

Sadly, you cannot reason people out of a position they haven’t reasoned themselves into, and these irrational forces, once unleashed, may spell the end of our fragile democratic experiment. Be sure to vote on Nov. 3.

David A Sorensen
Duluth

Better energy

Corona pandemic, social, political and economic problems are wake-up calls of what has happened, is happening and will happen at home and in the world.
Some actions have been taken by citizens, governments and industries, but the world is at a point when drastic actions must be taken worldwide to avoid environmental disaster, which will create more fires, lack of resources and diseases worse than the COVID 19. Only relatively within a short period of time since the industrial revolution in IXX Century air, land and water have been polluted worse than during the entire previous period of millions of years of human existence.

The fossil fuels that have created economic wealth, are a huge problem that could destroy us. Hydro, solar and wind alternative power have reduced some reliance on coal, gas and oil, but the world needs the real solutions now. Some countries like France are using mostly nuclear power, but even though this system has not caused casualties like the fossil fuels, people are afraid of it mostly because they do not know enough about it and some accidents. Conventional nuclear system is uranium based and has a lot of waste, but there is another system invented in Scandinavia which is clean and safe. This system by the name of thorium energy is also nuclear and should be used to substitute fossil fuels.

Conservation is also very essential. A percentage of people are driving fuel efficient vehicles and those that are fossil free, but too many are still driving trucks with only one person in them. Mass transit should be used more. Federal, state and local governments are subsidizing our bus and train transportation, but people are not using them sufficiently, because gasoline prices are low. US federal and state gasoline taxes are only around 50 cents per gallon. So, there is an incentive to waste fuel which causes pollution and bad bridges, roads and streets. Governmental units do not have enough revenue to maintain them.   

Mike Jaros
Duluth

Conspiracy theory brotherhood

As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, who has organized symposia and conferences on 9/11 Truth around the world and have published two books of expert studies on the event, I am taken aback by the mediocre quality of the recent attacks on Gary Kohns for making accurate points about 9/11 by Dan D’Allaird and by Peter W. Johnson. They are wrong. Virtually everything the 9/11 Commission told us about 9/11 is not only false but provably false, as members of Scholars have long since established.

D’Allard’s letter does not actually present any arguments showing that Gary had anything wrong. He might be surprised to know that none of the four 9/11 aircraft actually crashed on 9/11, where two (Flights 11 and 77) were not even in the air that day and the other two (Flights 93 and 175) were over Champaign-Urbana, IL, and Harrisburg-Pittsburg, PA, after they had officially crashed in Shanksville and hit the South Tower, respectively. They were not even taken out of service until 28 September 2005, four years later.

Johnson endorses the official account of the “collapse” of the Twin Towers, ignoring that it would have been impossible for them to have been taken down by the impact of commercial airliners, the jet-fuel fires that followed or the top floors falling on the lower. The buildings were designed to withstand the impact of large aircraft, the fires were at least 1,000*F too low to affect the steel and the mass of the upper 14 floors of the North Tower, for example, only a tiny percentage of the mass of the whole.

While I may not always agree with Gary Kohls, I have found him to be a highly reliable and courageous truth-seeker who, unlike his critics, does his homework. People like him are few and far between, while those who speak out without knowing the facts are endless in their number. I am proud to stand with Gary, especially on an issue as dear to me and important to the public as 9/11.

James H. Fetzer
Oregon, Wis.

Done with the circus

The circus atmosphere has lost its appeal by now. The theatrics and ballyhoo have turned ugly and personal. The law and order and fear tactic is the latest ploy for keeping an audience guessing. The majority of people have become weary of the daily grind of sound bites and mudslinging. Being a blowhard is a convenient cover for a paranoid and floundering leader who still is a danger.

Gerald Norrgard
Duluth