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•Bald eagles are dying needlessly

Not much gets published these days if it isn’t about Donald Trump. He has an obnoxious, repulsive way that he expresses himself when he talks or tweets, and I will no longer think or write about him. I will, instead, write about something important: Bald eagles facing a serious decline in numbers.

Bald eagles are our national symbol and we should honor them and pay them tribute and certainly be willing to share our planet with them. We once required having them on our Endangered Species List and someday we may have to again. Even as I wrote a warning about their plight in January 2016, it was only in December 2016 that the Associated Press decided to finally write their own article about the slaughter of bald eagles by wind-turbines.

As I wrote last year, I am all for a cease-and-desist order for burning fossil fuels and polluting our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and causing global warming. That process will be the cause of a mass extinction of all humanity and wildlife on Earth in as little as 50 years or as many as 1,000 years, depending on which scientists are more correct in their analyses.

However, turning to wind-turbine power sources is not the answer for bald eagles. They are being slaughtered in unverifiable large numbers from them gliding on the wind thermals in pursuit of ground food and being sucked into the massive turbine blades that are placed where those winds prevail. Unfortunately, this occurs on private property by energy producing capitalists who do not care about bald eagles … only about making money. There is no way for concerned citizens to count the deaths without illegally trespassing. Meanwhile, the energy companies rapidly gather up the evidence of dead eagles and bury them somewhere.

Of course, the infamous Dan Ashe, director of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Washington, D.C., friend of hunters and trappers who never met an animal he liked, had influence over President Barack Obama, who is a city slicker with little or no knowledge of wildlife and their needs, and Ashe convinced Obama to approve wind-turbine power with very secure, long-term contracts and let the eagles be damned.

I am truly sick over this travesty of justice for these majestic bald eagles. They deserve to live as much as we humans. In fact they, not humans, are a vital part of the Earth’s natural ecosystem. Do you suppose the capitalistic President-elect Donald Trump will care and save them? Will his appointed next Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, taking the place of the notorious adversary of wildlife Sally Jewell, the boss of Dan Ashe, care? Do you readers care? If yes, become pro-active. Voice your objections to killing bald eagles. Write letters to the editor. —Bill Baum, Martin City

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•Fix Obamacare; don’t dump it

I’m incredibly heartbroken that our Republican leaders in Congress have chosen to repeal the Affordable Care Act rather than fix what’s wrong.

When Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines repeal the ACA they are repealing possible health coverage for my friends who have diabetes cancer or chronic pain and are in need of insurance. Those “conditions” are considered pre-existing and the ACA is designed so no insurance company can turn my friends and colleagues away because of a medical condition they have little to no control over.

Approximately 152,000 Montanans will lose this right to quality health care and face possible bankruptcy in the process of trying to remain healthy when the ACA is repealed.

I am a recently retired Intensive Care Unit registered nurse. I was working in a big-city teaching hospital when the ACA was implemented. In our adult ICU we saw a large increase in patient population, many of whom were newly covered by the ACA. Nursing is a caring profession and I was committed then and I continue be committed now to providing excellent health care for all Americans at an affordable price.

So I’d encourage Republicans to think long and hard about the people they represent and the literal life and death decision that is on the line here. —Holly Winfree, Victor

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•Trump has chance for greatness

It’s outrageous the way President Obama, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and the leftist media are reacting to Donald Trump’s election, appointments and leadership.

I wasn’t a supporter of Trump during the primaries — but once he became the nominee, he had my tentative support. And I must say, since he won the election, his work ethic, selection process and leadership skill have impressed me greatly. I think he’s only taken Christmas and Thanksgiving off since his election. And the quality of his appointments is unprecedented in my lifetime. He has attracted some of America’s greatest achievers and leaders to his administration. His daily use of Twitter to bypass the leftist media — and to get directly in contact with the American people is highly effective. I’m impressed. He may become one of our greatest presidents.

On the other hand, the behavior of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, the Clinton campaign and the leftist media is disgusting. What do they think they are accomplishing by all their negativity. They not only do not want to work with Trump — they are actually trying to undermine his effectiveness. If these leftists have their way, they will destroy the American Way — as they have tried to do during the eight years of Obama.

I hope you will join me in supporting Donald Trump as he becomes president of our great nation. Let’s give him our full support in his pledge to make America great again. We have nothing to lose by giving President Trump our full support. Certainly a continuation of the Obama fiasco is not the answer — nor is the Democrat rock-throwing and cry-baby behavior. —William A. Pauwels Sr., Franklin Lakes, N.J.

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•Congress should get same health benefit as others

After our recent election I have been saddened to see friends, families, communities so divided. This particular election went deep and seemed to pull us apart in very strong, heartfelt ways. I believe for our groups, towns, communities, and country to be the place we all hope for we need to find some common ground. We need a common purpose without party politics that we, as citizens of the United States, can join together to back. I have been trying to figure out that one common purpose. Lo and behold, the new Congress convened and gave it to us. Health care. Everyone wants and needs health care.

What if we all joined together as Americans and demanded the same health care as our representatives? If they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, so be it, but at the same time their health-care plan should be repealed. I would like to see our citizens’ health care tied to our representatives’ health care. So with that in mind repeal together and replace together.

If the new plan is good enough for the citizens, then it is good enough for the representatives. I would like Congress to have some skin in the game. If it is OK to repeal before this replacement is figured out for us, then it is okay for their health care to be repealed without the replacement. If not, get the replacement plan done, make it for all Americans (including the Congress), then put up the repeal at the same time as the replacement.

We, citizens and voters, deserve the same quality health care as our representatives. —Kate Shaw, Lakeside