Readers write: Letters to the editor, November 1, 2017

Trump speaks to the people

So you don't like Donald Trump. How very sad. I absolutely understand your feelings as I endured eight years of Bill Clinton and another eight years of Barack Obama. A bit of a reprieve with Bush but much of the same old establishment ruling-class elite garbage.

Donald J. Trump is rude, he is crude. He is not a polished politician. Donald J. Trump speaks directly to the people, not through the filter and spin of the media. Donald J. Trump is not a lawyer. When President Trump speaks, he is not addressing the ruling class elite. He is talking to the people who elected him. These people are the backbone of this great country and they very much appreciate that we finally have a president who is entirely capable and not afraid to speak their language.

Deal with it, snowflakes, it is not going away soon!

— M.J. Koskovich
Wasilla

Learn to identify fake news

Our nation's intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election using social media and other methods. Today's paper indicates that their efforts reached over 126 million Facebook users. This is certainly a major problem but even more worrisome is that a large percentage of our citizens cannot distinguish between a legitimate news source and one that disseminates propaganda.

A Public Policy Polling poll in March 2016 showed that two-thirds of Trump supporters thought that President Obama was a Muslim. That degree of misinformation did not come from the Russians. It came from within our borders, from people who went to places like Breitbart, Fox, and InfoWars for their news. If we hope to prosper as a modern and open democracy, it is crucial that people develop the skills to distinguish fact from fantasy.

— Randall Plant
Anchorage

Climate change is natural

A long time ago, when I was in college as a geology major, it was taught we were coming out of the latest of four Ice Ages. This, of course, meant that glaciers and permafrost were melting and the sea level was rising, just like the times before. At no time were we asked to "believe" in climate change, it was a thing that was happening, just as it had happened in the past.

There are people who contend mankind is causing global warming by burning fossil fuels, thereby filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which causes glaciers to melt. Such claims seem a bit pompous and egotistical and do not explain global warming/ice ages that have occurred in the past.

Perhaps all the noise and warped science is a prelude to a carbon tax, full employment for scientists studying the obvious, and control of everyone's life by environmentalists.

— M. A. Kuentzel
Wasilla

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.