海角大神

Subpar power plant

In reading the cover story 鈥�Legacy of the longest war鈥� in the Nov. 11 Monitor Weekly, I am puzzled by the report that Afghanistan鈥檚 Tarakhil Power Plant is not providing the power it is capable of because of incomplete or poor planning by the United States.聽

Is a military unit responsible for building structures in a country where it is waging war? Who needed to be present (and wasn鈥檛) when the power plant was designed? Perhaps when (and if) reforms are made in Afghanistan, situations like this can be avoided if there is more oversight.

Mary Larsen
Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania

The realities of farming

After reading the article 鈥�Too much milk: Two nations鈥� travails with dairy policy鈥� in the Nov. 11 Monitor Weekly and having time to ruminate on the issue, I found it ironic the article was situated in the 鈥淗umanity Behind the Headlines鈥� section of the Weekly.聽

The photo that ran with the piece, which depicts a wonderful bucolic scene of cows standing on grass in a farmyard, is disingenuous. The reality of industrial agriculture is that the vast majority of livestock are treated inhumanely. Many dairy animals stand on filthy concrete in concentrated animal feeding operations.

Replacing people with milking robots and calling farmers 鈥渢echnicians鈥� is further removing humanity from the culture of food farming. It鈥檚 no wonder that some scientists are producing 鈥渕eat鈥� in labs. Livestock, allowed to express their innate nature, are the best producers of meat and dairy, and it is our obligation as stewards on this earth to treat these animals humanely.

John Ott
Durango, Colorado

Campaign rallies

The article 鈥�Superfans travel miles to see Donald Trump 鈥� and each other鈥� in the Nov. 18 Monitor Weekly, which discussed President Trump鈥檚 rallies, was both very interesting and upsetting to me.聽

It was interesting because, as a person who has not attended a rally, I got a sense of the appeal of the gatherings for the faithful followers of the president as well as a sense of the community they find there.聽But although the writer, Story Hinckley, says people attending the rallies feel like they are at football games, she points out the negativity that goes along with the events: 鈥渓ock her up鈥� chants and the president鈥檚 talk of 鈥渇ake news.鈥澛燬he quotes, at the end, a man who says, 鈥淚t was one of the most powerful moments of my life.鈥� Does it take such negativity as President Trump presents to get people to bond?

Nick Royal
Santa Cruz, California