Reviewing the letters

I can only guess that what brought such a bouquet of Belladonna was a group of people who watched the State of the Union message and rebuttal by Sarah Huckabee Sanders and learned nothing. For the letter writer denying the existence of white supremacy, the reality is undeniable that white supremacists continue racism and discrimination against people of color, starting from the original institution of Jim Crow laws and continuing with recent actions against people of color. President Biden referred to that in pointing to

“the talk” that almost every young person of color has to hear from their parent, a “talk” that is not needed for whites. For the writer who equated global warming with nuclear war, they missed the point entirely. Firstly, they are not equable. Secondly, global warming has the potential of ending much life over the world, disappearing our coasts around the world, and mass extinctions (which we are already experiencing) greater than anything in the last 100,000 years. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were terrible, but enough is left for a monument survivors can visit.

The last two letters, one equating a “weather balloon” with sending arms to Ukraine, the other assuming that the balloon has sucked up all the information the Chinese couldn't gain from low-orbit satellites, whatever that would be (maybe less granular information). I'm glad the military didn't shoot it down over land. Three busloads of detritus landing on a school would have been too much. I'm glad it went into a few feet of water off the Carolinas where it can be retrieved. Perhaps the Herald writers didn't know that Chinese balloons have over flown a number of South and Central American nations, Canada, Europe and the U.S. more than once. Or maybe they don't care.

Lastly, a reminder that we owe others, including our elected officials, respectful language and benefit of doubt. If I have not done that here, I apologize. — David Wittrock, Pacific Grove