A flood of misinformation

Trump’s gullible minions will have an easy time deciding which of the president’s dictates are true and accurate, because none of them are. If he calls Venezuelan migrants murderers and thieves, you can be assured that none have been found guilty beyond a single example. If he brings 50 South Africans to migrate here because he says the Blacks are killing whites there in droves, you can be sure that no more than 1% of murdered Africans in South Africa are white people. When his spokeswoman Leavitt says that he is not making money off the presidency, you can be sure that his crypto coin $TRUMP made more than $14 billion from national and international sources on May 16, plus the $400 million jet from Qatar for the Defense Department, saying he would keep it for his presidential library, which is notably a bribe from a foreign country. When he told Ukrainian President Zelensky that he should not have started the war with Russia, it was Russia that launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine, and on goes the lies and chaos.

The hundreds of falsehoods and misinformation recorded and corrected by CNN, USA Today, Politico, AP News, CNBC, The New York Times, PolitiFact, NPR, BBC, and more amount to a tsunami of BS from a pathological liar who doesn’t seem able to tell the truth, spreading chaos in every pronouncement.

John Hoffmann, Carbondale

A lesson from life in Vietnam

Thursday, June 5, at 2 p.m. at the Carbondale Library, the library board of trustees discusses if an individual’s and group’s belief certain books are offensive should they be isolated. If isolated, this action restricts access to books and is censorship.

Censorship is not a good thing. Restricting access to information is used by communist countries. Communist countries rely on censorship to control information, thereby controlling the thoughts and ideas of their people.

My husband and I learned firsthand what it is like to live in a country with censorship. We lived in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, we did not speak poorly of the government inside our apartment. We were never sure who was listening.

In Vietnam, it was difficult getting people to talk about how they helped America during the Vietnam War. They were never sure who was listening.

In Vietnam, my husband purchased the movie Gran Torino to ship to us from America. We found out who was listening.

He received a letter from the Vietnamese government informing him he violated Vietnam obscenity laws. He was told to write an official apology letter and pay a fine or be promptly escorted out of the country. We immediately complied with the request, but the incident prompted us to think about America and its freedoms and protections.

We are so fortunate to live in America. We are free to control the direction of our lives. We are free to access information. We are free to parent and supervise our children. We do not need the government to tell us how to live. We do not need the government to tell us what we can and cannot read. We do not need the government to supervise our children. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Please show your support of the First Amendment Thursday, June 5, at 2 p.m. at the Carbondale Library. ProtectOurGarcoLibraries.org.

Susan Use, Glenwood Springs

Thanks for supporting Mountain Valley Greenhouse

Many thanks to the generous members of our community who supported Mountain Valley Developmental Services at our Greenhouse Open House and Picnic on May 17. We had the best first day of Mountain Valley Greenhouse sales since we began in 1984 as a year-round commercial greenhouse selling annual and perennial bedding plants, houseplants, herbs and vegetables to retail and business customers.

It was great fun, too, to have many of our intellectually and developmentally disabled participants at the sale and picnic. Because of our adult job training program, the Greenhouse staff are also participants who engage in meaningful work in a nurturing environment while earning a respectable wage. The plants our supporters hold in their hands today literally germinated from a seed to a hardy plant thanks to the skill and loving care provided by our MVDS employees and volunteers, and now they will flourish in your summer gardens!

We are open for business Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 700 Mt. Sopris Drive in Glenwood Springs.

Sara Sims, Glenwood Springs