To the Journal editor: Did anyone vote to have Elon Musk run the government? He has many conflicts of interest, and one of the world’s richest men is now free to act in a way that benefits his businesses and hurts his competitors. And he has access to our personal data and the data of his business competition. And he can weaken regulatory agencies that he doesn’t like. This is not about efficiency at all. Just greed. Sincerely,
To the Journal editor: Looking back 40 years, phones were still on the wall, the internet was mostly a concept, Ronald Reagan was president, and “Ghostbusters” was the biggest box office hit. In 1984, the U.S. economy was just barely over $4 trillion (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP), and the U.S. population was around 237 million. The federal government, our nation’s largest employer, had 2.92 million employees (https://statista.com/statistics/204535), representing 1.2 percent of the U.S. population. Today, our pocket-size phones are our computers and we can use ...
To the Journal editor: This came to me a few weeks ago, and I put the words together and shared it first on Feb. 22. However I feel it is important I share my thoughts with a wider audience. First they came for diversity, and I did not speak out because they hid it behind silly terroristic acronyms like DEO and WOKE insteading of spelling it out and humanizing our stories. Then they came for the LGBT people, but I did not speak out because I was not LGBT and the only thing that was in the news was transgender which I don’t understand. Books disappeared and I did not speak out ...
To the Journal editor: In summer of 2023 one of our bird alliance members was observing an active osprey nest in a tall snag in a lake. The adults were attending the nest which contained young ospreys when a drone approached and hovered just above the nest, which caused the adults to flush from the nest. The osprey is a large, fish-eating raptor which suffered a worldwide population drop from DDT poisoning, habitat loss and persecution along with the bald eagle, sandhill crane and many other species. The Michigan population historically was decimated, but the Michigan Department ...
To the Journal editor: U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, who lives in Louisiana, not Watersmeet, and who taxpayers paid a salary of $174,000 in 2024, and lodging and meal reimbursements of $44,079 in 2023 (Bergman’s reimbursements were the highest in congress) will not face his constituents in person in Michigan. I, on the other hand, am using my unpaid time to fight for democracy and vulnerable people, and I was willing to have my heart broken by listening to Bergman’s constituents at the recent empty chair town hall meeting in Escanaba. This is what I said to Bergman’s empty chair: ...
To the Journal editor: Coming soon, spring flowers on the way leaves on the trees, green grass and most of all dry roads better driving for me. The seasons of change is not the same weather being in Hawaii in the U.S. Coast Guard. It’s nice weather year-round, but being a so-called looper from the U.P. of Michigan I don’t care for all that. Also, in the U.S. Air Force in Miami, Florida, for two years it was not for me lots of people, hurricanes, and pretty hot. Also, most don’t know way down south the daylight hours. Don’t change much in winter. It’s darker for almost 8 ...