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Jack Smith’s TimingThe Supreme Court Should Be a Campaign IssueTherapy Is Health CareA Movie’s Trumpian Candidate
To the Editor:
The destruction from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton is horrific. Many climatologists and meteorologists, such as John Morales (“When a Television Meteorologist Breaks Down on Air and Admits Fear,” nytimes.com, Oct. 8), have rightly identified global climate change as a driver of increasingly violent weather.
It’s also horrific that there has been little discussion about the role that Donald Trump has played as one of the most important climate deniers, hindering the world’s attempts to mitigate global warming.
Repeatedly calling climate change a hoax, he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, rolled back regulations designed to limit greenhouse emissions, and dismissed the role of temperature and drought in the proliferation of forest fires. Mr. Trump repeatedly used the power of the presidency to favor the gas and oil industries at the expense of the environment.
Now we must contend with catastrophic hurricanes, with a high cost to human well-being and the economy. The last few weeks have shown us that no one is safe from the effects of climate change, and we need to elect officials to our national and state governments who recognize that we must stop kicking the can down the road and address climate change now.
Mardi KlevsEvanston, Ill.
To the Editor:
Re “Getting People to Pitch In” (Climate Forward special section, Sept. 25):
Thanks for highlighting that individual climate actions do, in fact, matter. Big corporations and billionaires have oversized environmental footprints, but the footprints of eight billion and counting “normal people” also add up to a huge impact.
According to Project Drawdown, the most impactful climate solutions in line with limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius are reducing food waste, slashing meat consumption and slowing population growth by removing barriers to family planning and education.
This third solution has an individual action component as well: A widely cited 2017 study found that having one fewer child is by far the most powerful climate action that individuals can take.
No one is off the hook. We need top-down regulation that holds the biggest polluters accountable, as well as voluntary behavior change and efforts to stabilize our global population at a more sustainable level.
Olivia NaterWashingtonThe writer is communications manager for Population Connection.
To the Editor:
Re “Taking On Meat” (Climate Forward special section, Sept. 25):
Bruce Friedrich and Will Harris are leading conversations about new ways of reducing the effects of animal agriculture on climate change. But they may underestimate the power of an old tool: knowledge.
The public is still largely unaware of the extent to which industrial animal farms promote global warming. As people learn more, they very well might consume fewer meat and dairy products, shifting to plant-based alternatives.
Moreover, it’s important to keep informing people about the effects of industrial farming on animal suffering. At our farm sanctuary, visitors often tell us that this knowledge altered their food choices.
Bill CrainEllen CrainPoughquag, N.Y.The writers are the co-owners of the Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary.
Jack Smith’s Timing
To the Editor:
Re “Jack Smith Owes Us an Explanation,” by Jack Goldsmith (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 10):
Mr. Goldsmith takes issue with the timing of the unsealing of Mr. Smith’s legal brief so close to the election.
Give me a break! Clearly, this is the proverbial case of a man killing his parents and then asking for clemency because he was an orphan.
Had it not been for a number of outrageous procrastinations on the part of the defendant, Donald Trump, the case would have been tried and decided long ago.
We have many more important things to worry about now than the timing of the brief’s release.
Robert H. PalmerNew York
The Supreme Court Should Be a Campaign Issue
To the Editor:
Re “For Now, Term Is Shaping Up as a Mild One” (front page, Oct. 7):
With the Supreme Court starting a new term and the presidential election a month away, the importance of the court in this race should be a bigger issue.
Through Citizens United, Dobbs, the presidential immunity decision and the overturning of Chevron, among other decisions, the conservative majority has continued to make rulings that negatively affect most people. This is all on top of the serious ethical issues that have plagued some justices.
On the campaign trail Vice President Kamala Harris barely mentions the court. This needs to change. In every one of her speeches she should talk about the important power of the president to nominate justices, and pose this simple question to voters: Who do you want to be appointing Supreme Court justices over the next four years, me or Donald Trump? The choice could not be more clear for a majority of the electorate.
William F. BauerMadison, Wis.
Therapy Is Health Care
To the Editor:
Re “The Cost of Therapy Can Add More Stress to Patients’ Burdens” (Business, Oct. 3):
The high cost of health care overall, not just for mental health issues, creates stress and financial pressure for many Americans, causing many to forgo care and forcing them into debt. And the rising costs of premiums, deductibles and co-pays are making even company-provided plans unaffordable for their employees.
Putting Medicare for All in place would provide coverage for all American citizens, including those living outside the United States, with no premiums, deductibles or co-pays. That would also eliminate the financial burden and resulting stress caused by the high cost of health care, including mental health therapy.
And it could directly address the issue of high costs through leveraging its national negotiating strength with drug companies, doctors and other health care providers while eliminating the redundant and wasteful costs of the private insurance marketplace.
A University of California survey of 22 studies showed that Medicare for All would save $600 billion per year and more.
Ken LefkowitzMedford, N.J.The writer is the author of “Medicare for All: An Economic Rationale” and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program and the New Jersey Universal Healthcare Coalition.
A Movie’s Trumpian Candidate
To the Editor:
Re “As Trump Says, Over and Over, You’re Doomed” (front page, Oct. 2):
In the movie “The American President,” the president, played by Michael Douglas, blasted his opponent, Bob Rumson: “We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”
Substitute the name Donald Trump for Bob Rumson and you get the picture.
Ira D. CohenNorth Bergen, N.J.
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