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U.S. President Donald Trump.LEAH MILLIS/Reuters

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Trump’s Helsinki moment

U.S. President Donald Trump did not have the courage or toughness to confront Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin publicly about the various atrocities that Russia has been behind in recent years, including cyberwarfare against the United States and other Western democracies, a nerve agent attack on British soil, the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, the forced annexation of territory from another sovereign country, and aiding and abetting a murderous Syrian dictator as he kills his own civilians (That Was Treason Mr. Trump. We All Saw It, July 17).

But when it came to instituting a policy of ripping babies and children away from desperate and defenceless migrant families at the U.S. border, Mr. Trump revelled in being the “tough guy.” Mr. Trump, through his words and deeds, exhibits cowardice, not leadership.

Jeff Buckstein, Ottawa

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In his press conference after his Helsinki meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump said Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election is “the worst thing” that’s ever happened to his country. Really, Mr. President? Worse than the Civil War? Worse than slavery? Worse than the Great Depression? Worse than Pearl Harbor?

Shame on him for doing everything possible to trash the United States’s historical allies and destroy global trade while legitimizing Mr. Putin and the Kremlin at every opportunity. I’m not sure it can get much worse for America than all of that.

Walter Tedman, Kingston

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Why all the puzzlement and concern about Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin meeting one-on-one with no one else in the room but two translators? Seems pretty standard procedure to me. Any time I’ve sat through a “performance review,” it has always been one-on-one with the boss.

Ken Cuthbertson, Kingston

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We need to stop planning our days around what Mr. Trump will do or say next. The United States, historically, has been a reliable world partner and leader in civility. Those days are over. Mr. Trump is not going away. His destructive narcissism is seemingly accepted at home. Americans have lost their moral compass. It is up to them to find it again. The rest of us need to start realizing that the world’s china shop, to borrow a very interesting phrase these days, is bigger than the bully running amok in it.

William M. Trudell, Toronto

Our houses

It is wrong to refer to national official residences as “taxpayer-owned homes” (Crown Corporation To Undertake Large-Scale Roof, Chimney Repairs At Scheer’s Official Residence, July 12).

These are publicly owned homes; all citizens, whether or not they pay federal taxes, own these homes.

Michael D. Arkin, Toronto

Irreversible melting

As I read the article on glaciers, I noticed that the ice cubes in my patio drink were melting in the sun (Arctic Glaciers Are Shrinking, And Many Are Unlikely To Come Back: Study, July 17). At no time did it occur to me that they might come back. Climate change deniers might, too, benefit from this observation. Kudos to glaciologist Adrienne White and her seven years of glacial research.

Diane Paget, Toronto

The need for nurture

Margaret Wente tangles with the fraught issue of biological determinism (Decoding The Genetics of Success, July 14). But there is nothing new in suggesting that genes play a role in both educational outcome and life success.

The study she quotes uses the words “modestly predicts.” Years of reading have confirmed my rule of thumb that nature-nurture are usually about 50:50, and “modestly predicts” says about as much. So nothing new here.

And the key remains that second 50 per cent. Because while we cannot change genes (although their expression and activation are hardly fixed, but that’s a whole other thing), what we can change is the social environment. So it turns out that biology isn’t destiny, after all. And it remains clear that public policy, just as before, has a critical role to play in helping the many who are less favourably endowed by the accident of birth.

Brian P. H. Green, Thunder Bay

Internet of our making

While I agree with much of what Debra Soh writes, there’s a basic flaw in this article and in many arguments about sex education (Ontario’s Sex-Ed Backlash Isn’t About Children’s Safety, July 16).

The internet does not expose our children to “unfiltered” sexual content. The internet does not have agency. Adults, through actual permission or lack of adequate supervision, allow children to use the internet that adults pay for and make accessible.

We have created and continue to sustain and extend all sorts of media that have all sorts of effects on children. The internet is not a naturally occurring landscape danger that our children might encounter, like a flooding river or an avalanche. This false assumption reifies an environment that we have just created in a short time for ourselves and our children, rather than questions it so that we might discuss ways to improve how we educate our children, in and out of classrooms.

Nadine Strick, Ottawa

Rewriting history

I hope that anyone who has read the review of the current run of The King and I will acquaint themselves with the history behind the story (The King And I Revival Still Raises Questions Of Appropriation, July 14). The easy way to do that would be to view the Jodie Foster movie Anna and the King.

This story is not about colonialism; it is an historical fiction based on a biography of British teacher Anna Leonowens who was invited to teach the children of the King of Siam about the West and Western ways.

For decades, Anna’s courage in challenging the views of an absolute ruler was seen as a model for subjugated women everywhere. Of course, she did not view the King’s polygamy with gracious acceptance. Not only was Anna both Christian and European, she got to see first-hand the consequences of this practice on the lives of the women involved.

The King and I is not a story of which to be ashamed. It is a story of female courage that must be viewed within its place and time.

Joanna M. Anderson, Burlington, Ont.

Benevolent billionaire

Reading about the billionaires in our midst, my ire was raised by the writers’ claim that Bill Gates could have been top dog had he not given away assets to his foundation (Bezos Becomes Richest Man In Modern History, July 17). As if he were stupid.

Our world needs more of those ultra-high-wage earners who are willing to spread their wealth.

Karen Kingsbury, Pointe-Claire, Que.


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