Letters for December 26, 2019

Job advice

Tell the underage strippers who are suing for a “right to work” at that job to put their clothes on, lose the makeup and high heels, and get jobs with the 2020 Census. If they can prance around on stage, they can walk up and down streets as enumerators. They might even run into some real gentlemen.

Jean Smiling Coyote

Chicago, Illinois

Fact or factions?

Re “Think big” (Left Foot Forward, Dec. 12):

Your article is vague and might as well have not been written. Do not underestimate Republicans of which exist more than a “few” to differentiate between “fact and fantasy.” Do not make the mistake of relying on voters to see Trump's attacks on democratic institutions and claims of fake news, which I assume is what you mean by “fantasy,” as reason to vote against him. They did not in 2016. They will not in 2020. Do expect enough base and undecided voters to feel things are well enough for enough people to vote Trump in 2020, with low unemployment and high job creation fact enough.

Jacob Sax

Reno

Plane right

Re “In the air” (Editor's Note, Dec. 5):

Your planespotting colleague needs to bone up. Those were ordinary C-130 cargo aircraft, almost certainly of our own Nevada Air National Guard squadron, not rare AC-130 gunships. If you live in the Reno area and have heretofore been unaware of the daily NANG C-130 flights, you really need to look skyward more often!

Brian Adams

Reno

On ICE

Despite the fact that ICE and Customs & Border Protection separated thousands of children from their parents at the border, and we still do not know the exact number of these separations because these agencies did not bother to document which children belong to which parents at the time of separation, the Senate has introduced a bill that would increase funding for ICE and CBP to over $26 billion. Congress must hold these agencies accountable for those family separations and for the continuing cruel mass incarceration of immigrant children and families by cutting funding for the most inhumane elements of the Trump Administration's immigration policy, starting with cutting $4.74 billion for ICE detention and removal operations, and $5 billion for a wall at the southern border. That's at least $9.74 billion of our tax dollars that could be used to lift up our children and communities instead of tearing families apart. How else should we be using that money? For that same amount, Congress can increase funding for K-12 public schools by 60 percent or quadruple federal funding for substance use and mental health programs.

Chelsea Hansen

Reno

OK, boomer

Dear millennials,

I am an older fellow, well past my sixth decade. Lately I have had to explain to my younger friends what exactly a decade is. Now, I'm well aware that the younger generations like to rename things, like the pound sign to hashtag. I suppose you think doing so is cool or cute. However, some things you can't just imagine away. A decade is one of them.

I have recently heard a local DJ (on the “X,” nonetheless) as well as a prominent meteorologist (on KTVN Channel 2) proclaim that this January, 2020, starts a new decade. Sorry, not quite. You see, a decade consists of 10 years, not nine. The next decade starts on January 1st, 2021—not 2020. You wouldn't say a newborn baby was a year old would you? And a child doesn't celebrate their 10th birthday until they have lived 10 years (a decade). Now, if you can't get your minds around that while eating your avocado toast, take a minute and count your fingers and toes. Decades end in a zero, not a nine. Or, maybe I can give you change for that 20.

Lawrence Pinkerton

Reno

Caucus question

Why is the Democratic party holding the caucus on the Sabbath? Is it because we that wish to have a voice for Bernie Sanders can not be there to have a say once again as in the last caucus? Why can't we be as Wyoming, which provides for a caucus vote in absentia. Called the DNC, and they told me “If you can't attend, tough!” We that hold the 4th commandment dear are unable to attend the caucus, our Lord comes first; love of neighbor second.

Richard Davis

Reno