To the Editor:
Re “Challenge Trump From the Right,” by Joe Walsh (Op-Ed, Aug. 15):
Censure of President Trump from the left is to be expected. But condemnation of the president from the right is especially welcome. Mr. Walsh has made a clear and convincing case that conservatives need to abandon the Trump campaign in 2020.
However, I believe that conservatives like Mr. Walsh need to put Mr. Trump’s re-election prospects to bed by running a Conservative Party candidate in 2020 with the aim of siphoning off sufficient votes to make a Trump win impossible. Such a move could play an enormously restorative role for conservatism by making Trumpism a losing strategy for the Republican Party.
John Forsayeth
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Former Representative Joe Walsh has summed it up perfectly. The Republicans need someone who honestly represents their platform. A candidate of moral character and governing experience could then face a Democratic candidate of equal qualifications. Debating the issues — how refreshing that would be.
Katherine Teti
Morristown, N.J.
To the Editor:
Mr. Walsh, in response to your disappointment that no one is challenging President Trump from the right, the obvious question is: How about you?
Jay Markowitz
Wilson, Wyo.
Ban Assault Weapons
To the Editor:
Re “Banning Assault Weapons Works,” by Joe Biden (Op-Ed, Aug. 12):
Mr. Biden is right. Lethality matters. As a forensic psychologist in Miami in the 1990s and early 2000s, I examined many violent young men. Some were murderers. Few were mentally ill. Most were angry and impulsive and had attention disorders that impaired thinking about morality or consequences as part of their decision making.
The proximate cause of mass murders is the weaponry. The more powerful the weapon, the faster the discharge of bullets, the more impersonal the assault. Resistance is almost always nonexistent. Physical contact and looking into the eyes of another human being are not required.
My real-world experience tells me that the lethality of the weapons is 90 percent of the problem.
Dave Nathanson
Tampa, Fla.
To the Editor:
Re “Cure Found for Deadliest Strain of Tuberculosis” (front page, Aug. 15):
One of the most enduring images of the 1950s is the photo of patients dancing in the halls of Sea View Hospital when the introduction of the drug Isoniazid was announced, portending a simpler cure for tuberculosis.
Perhaps that dancing was premature. Since then, TB has remained with us globally, even though controllable, and has become the largest killer of any infectious disease. Lethal forms, like extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, have emerged, complicating progress.
But progress against TB continues, and the Food and Drug Administration’s effective endorsement of the nonprofit TB Alliance’s three-drug curative regimen for the XDR strain, the most lethal, with a cure rate up to 90 percent (!) is worthy again of afflicted people dancing.
The announcement is also a validation of the TB Alliance model of a product development partnership, in an area that Big Pharma has been reluctant to tread largely for economic reasons.
TB patients and the public health community, worldwide, should hail this development and this validation of the TB Alliance’s approach.
Lee B. Reichman
Geneva
The writer is a retired professor of medicine and the founding executive director of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute.
Honest Food Labeling
To the Editor:
Re “You Call That a Burger?” (Sunday Styles, July 28):
Laws that restrict words like milk, meat, cheese and burger are the last gasps of declining industries. Almond and soy milks, nut cheeses, veggie burgers and other plant-based foods are here to stay.
Consumers are not confused by honest labeling. We are choosing products that are healthier, do less damage to the environment and don’t harm animals.
Patti Breitman
Fairfax, Calif.
Choosing Separate Beds
To the Editor:
Re “Why Two Beds Are Better Than One” (Sunday Styles, Aug. 4):
While reading the article, I kept shaking my head in disbelief and thinking, “This is a case for Obvious Man!”
Of course people sleep better alone! Of course people are cranky and may get into fights more with their partners when they are not well rested! All that money spent on studies, when all you need to do is ask people to be honest.
Sleep and sex are two different things. On that we can agree. Why do we still think that we have to sleep in the same bed or room to have intimacy?
The fact that someone interviewed for the article did not want her name used is very telling. I guess that when it comes to sleep habits, we are judgmental. Why, I will never know. All I want to do is sleep on it, by myself.
Lauren J. Smith
Monson, Mass.
