Letters for September 7, 2017

Best view

Re “Best of Northern Nevada” (cover story, Aug. 10):

If a stranger from a strange land, or worse yet, a travel magazine representative, was guided by RN&R Best of Northern Nevada picks, they would have to conclude the following: 1) there is a tremendous amount of inbreeding among voters, 2) there must be some kind of cartel, because three to five establishments control an overwhelming amount of “best of” awards, and 3) if you have a bright, new, quality idea, you should move here. You will be in the running immediately!

Dean Hinitz

Reno

The Arpaio pardon

Most Americans are disgusted with this latest act by our unhinged president, the pardon of the 85 year old former sheriff before he’s even sentenced! But we need to look to a much deeper meaning behind this. Immigration and the good old war on drugs are joined at the hip. Follow this thread:

The private prison industry became nervous when those pesky liberals began talking about releasing non-violent offenders. These private prisons must answer to their shareholders and if prison populations are reduced, their bottom line suffers. We were warned over and over about the harm to society the drug war causes. We must ask why the federal government is so adamant in insisting marijuana remain a schedule one drug when a majority of states have legalized medical marijuana? Let’s follow the money.

Who would continue to profit from keeping the drug war going? For one, the private prison industry. Few people paid attention to this years ago, in 2012, when Mike Riggs filed this report in Reason magazine:

“Nowhere is the private prison industry’s reliance on the drug war more apparent than in [Corrections Corporation of America’s] 2010 report to shareholders: ’The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently prescribed by our criminal laws,’ reads the report CCA filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

That report went on to say, basically, that if we start putting some offenders on probation with electronic monitoring devices instead of incarceration, some prisons would be in jeopardy of closing altogether. Not once will we find the word rehabilitation. How strange—one might have thought that may be the reason for prison in the first place.

Jim Reynolds

Reno

Fake or real letter?

Re “Real or fake letter?” (letters, Aug. 17):

In addition to the court decision allowing media to lie in our faces, I must add the 2013 government move which allows, according to Foreign Policy Magazine, “an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?”

And we wonder where the social, economic and political confusion and animosity come from?

Christopher Lunn

Carson City

If there are subsidies

I am genuinely starting to appreciate electric vehicles. Once built, they can be charged completely off grid and without fossil fuels via currently built photovoltaic panels. Also, with a little bit of retro engineering, they can be used as a battery bank to run essential items in your house in the event of grid collapse. In addition, they can theoretically pull large loads of small lightweight trailers full of either people or goods around town.

In a survival triage situation, it may be possible to pull a small “train” of many trailers, even at slow speeds, to help enable commerce at a reduced level continue.

And finally, the EV battery banks have been shown to be rechargeable for many thousands of hours. Probably just about as long as your PV panels last.

Sounds like a win-win.

Craig Bergland

Reno