Kohls’ duty to misinform

I was born in 1953 and grew up with measles (at 9 months of age), with another two bouts of it at 6 and 8 years of age, right along with my older brother. At 7 years I had pertussis. At 9 years we both had mumps. At 10 years we both had chicken pox, which my mother also got. (We were lucky – the scarring was minimal on our faces.)

These diseases swept through schools on a regular basis./ All these diseases could have been avoided by vaccines which were just not available at that time.

My mother had worked in a polio hospital (1948-49) as an LPN and saw with her own eyes adults and children in iron lung machines because they could not breathe without them. Having her children get polio was my mother’s greatest fear. Thank god for Jonas Salk and his polio vaccine.

We did get some vaccinations through the local school system for dyptheria, smallpox and polio. Believe me, I will be first in line for a COVID vaccine when available. With the availability of vaccines in this day and age, I do not think that any responsible parent would allow or want their child to become ill with any of the above childhood diseases I have listed when they can be easily avoided with a vaccine. Many of these diseases can cause serious complications in children or adults unfortunate to become infected by them.

Dr. Kohls does every patient a grave disservice with his anti-vax misinformation campaign, in addition to endangering pubic health.

It is way past time to pull the plug and stop printing Kohls’ articles.

Pam Koepsel
Iron River, Wisconsin

Don is going, going, gone!

The election is over and a new president-elect and vice president has been chosen and announced on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and others, apparently all fake news.
Now on 710 AM radio, local and national radio jocks, as well as FOX TV, fixated on exaggerations, cry foul and refuse to accept defeat only to relinquish all credulity as fair and balanced newsworthy networks.

Time heals all wounds and the Republican’ts may now live through four years of what Democrats put up with for four years, and agree to disagree or let us unify as a country with a leader whom will unite us once again, rather than divide this great country.

Most clergymen and women have convinced the tithing faithful to vote for the party for life, overlooking all other shortcomings voting with their hearts not using their heads.

In this writer’s opinion, Donald J. Trump, like the Pied Piper, has led the Republican Party over the cliff and decimated all credibility, as yet in lockstep most all Republican politicians march to their drummer’s beat.

Adios to the entire Trump family. May you all enjoy your life in Russia as Trump claimed if losing to Biden he may have to leave the country.

Tim Kaspori
Wrenshall, Minnesota

What Trump is, and has been  doing for most of his life

According to former Washington Post syndicated columnist Sydney Harris,Trump’s base “doesn’t want a leader; they want a Messiah. They want someone who will give them the ‘Word.’ And the Word will be one that is very agreeable to them, that appeals to their preferences and prejudices, so they can follow the ‘Word’ wholeheartedly.”

What Trump’s base is looking for is neither a true leader, nor a true Messiah, but a false Messiah – a man who will give them oversimplified answers, who will justify their arrogant and dysfunctional ways, who will castigate their “enemies,” who will reinforce their selfishness as a way of life, and make them comfortable within their prejudices and preconceptions.

Harris goes on to write, “Indeed, this is the difference between a false Messiah and a true one. A false Messiah – such as Hitler, in past times, (and Donald Trump currently) – caters to and inflames the fears, hates, angers and resentments of his people, and drives them to destruction rather than to salvation or self-realization.”

A true leader tells people hard truths, gives them a difficult path to follow, calls upon their highest qualities, not their basest instincts. A true leader does not tell us what we want to hear, but what we ought to hear. A true Messiah, such as Jesus, rebukes his people, shows them their errors, makes them want to be better, (not stronger or richer,) and asks them to make sacrifices for the common good, and for the good of their own souls.”

Has Trump EVER been a healthy or rational leader?
Trump did his best to tap into his base’s fear. Hatred and anger are derivatives of that kind of fear. Most of Trump’s base seem to have undiagnosed or buried fear issues, which they’re in denial of. Once in denial, fear-based personalities feel free to blame others for their emotional responses. Once they’ve blamed others, they feel like it’s then okay to demand that others change, because “They’re the problem; I’m not the problem.”

As long as Trump and his base can blame others, they don’t have to face the fact that most of the problems they have are a result of choices they’ve made in life, and that they don’t really have anyone to blame for their problems, but themselves. That’s the dilemma they’re afraid to face. In seeking others to blame, Trump and his base avoid facing that internal conflict.

Gary Burt
Marble, Minnesota

Waiting for the adults

As the neo-fascists continue to insist that this election was “stolen” from their despotic “leader,” we left in the center and moderate left look forward to a future with a competent and sincere head-of-state.

Trump’s erratic and bizarre behavior freaked out even the world’s other dictators. Unless this ruthless cut-throat is extracted from office in January of 2021, we could be facing revolutionary times in America. God spare us from that eventuality!

I spent most of the ‘60s in the streets protesting the Vietnam war. I do not wish to be in the streets yet again in the ‘20s, yelling against that lunatic at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!

Ken Bracken
St. Paul, Minnesota
Vietnam-era Navy veteran