Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “In Rocky Day, Tillerson Sets His Own Path” (front page, Jan. 12): Of all Donald Trump’s nominees, Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry, the Energy Department, and Rex Tillerson, the State Department, are the most alarming.

Mr. Pruitt and Mr. Perry have denied that human-caused climate change exists. Mr. Tillerson, while publicly acknowledging that it does, nevertheless continued, while chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to fund scientists, members of Congress and organizations spreading climate change disinformation.

If confirmed and if they ignore the climate crisis, what will they say to those who lose their infants and children (among the most vulnerable) during the next extreme heat wave? Heat waves now kill on average over 600 Americans each year, a figure expected to reach 11,000 by 2030 because of climate change.

And how will they face families of the thousands who may die during the next catastrophic hurricane like Katrina? There is strong scientific evidence that hurricanes are becoming increasingly deadly with ocean warming.

It is dangerously ignorant to believe we have a choice whether or not we combat climate change. If we do not, the lives of Mr. Trump’s, Mr. Pruitt’s, Mr. Perry’s and Mr. Tillerson’s descendants will be just as imperiled, and their worlds just as devastated and impoverished, as mine will.

ERIC CHIVIAN

Boston

The writer, a physician, is the founder and former director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard.

Note from KBJ: This man, who is not a scientist (much less a "climate" scientist), continues to spread a false alarm about global warming, which anyone with a brain can see is a massive hoax perpetrated by progressive ideologues and self-interested "scientists." (The classes are not disjoint.) Thank God we have a new administration that has not been taken in by this hoax. By the way, have you seen any argument by any global-warming alarmist to the effect that global warming is on balance a bad thing? I have not. Sentient life will be significantly better off with a warmer globe. Keep those engines running!

1994 (1978).

Here.

Here.

To the Editor:

Re “In Chaotic Forum, Trump Says Russia Probably Hacked” (front page, Jan. 12): I was very concerned by two things at Donald Trump’s news conference on Wednesday. First, of course, was the tone he set. I have never seen someone as adroit at saying so little in so many poorly chosen words.

This is his first news conference in six months. Obviously Mr. Trump is not only going to minimize his contact with the press, but also do everything he can to vilify it. I find this terrifying.

Which brings me to the second point. I know that the news business is ferocious. That being the first to run a headline is the way of doing things. But in this extraordinary time I wish that reporters would come together. During a news conference, if Mr. Trump blocks one of you, then the rest of you take up his or her mantle. If one person’s question is not answered, make Mr. Trump go back and answer it. Be blunt, be unrelenting.

In the end we all want the same thing—to know the truth. Especially now with a president-elect who plays so fast and loose with facts.

JO TRAFFORD

Portland, Me.

Note from KBJ: Donald Trump is a master communicator, which is one of the main reasons he was elected. Jo Trafford is obviously deaf if she can't hear (i.e., understand) what he's saying. As for Trafford finding Trump's contempt for the press "terrifying," many of us find it exhilarating. If you treat Trump unfairly, you get nothing from him. He owes the press nothing; they must earn his respect.

Aerial Boundaries (1984).

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Here.

George Neumayr watched Barack Obama's farewell address so I wouldn't have to. Here is his report.

To the editor:

President-elect Donald Trump deludes himself in dismissing Meryl Streep’s reaction to his mocking of a disabled reported as mere Hollywood liberalism. Streep voiced the concerns of millions of Americans who find Trump offensive most profoundly on the grounds of character, before even considering his politics or emerging policies. (“Streep 'overrated'? Trump keeps punching at Hollywood, but he's an odd combatant,” Jan. 9)

Trump’s tactic of disparaging anyone who criticizes him or who counters his views is primary evidence of a serious character flaw. His inability to take responsibility for his utterances and their real impact, along with his spinning of his words as “fighting back” (in some imagined ongoing battle?), constitutes further evidence of such a flaw.

A week before the inauguration, we face the prospect of the presidency being trivialized by Trump’s habitual pettiness. Perhaps his handlers should shut down his Twitter account, lest his only contribution to this hallowed office be as disparager in chief.

D. Keith Naylor, South Pasadena

Note from KBJ: D. Keith Naylor doesn't get it. We elected Donald Trump precisely because he doesn't take shit from anyone. Tweet away, Mr President! When someone hits you, hit back twice as hard. We are sick to death of having a milquetoast president.