Readers Write: U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, free speech on campus, homelessness, renewable energy, Liberian health care workers, winter as a declarable disaster

It was refreshing to read U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's commentary on her peace agenda reprinted on the Star Tribune's Opinion Exchange page March 19. Her serious discussion about working for peace in our troubled world was exactly what I need to hear.

The Minnesota Peace Project had its first meeting with Rep. Omar that same day. We found her to be very well-informed and ready to listen, and she impressed us with her agenda for peace. We share many issues of concern, such as (1) opposition to the immoral Saudi Arabian-led war in Yemen; (2) the need to reduce/eliminate nuclear weapons throughout the world; (3) no military intervention in Venezuela — instead, the use of diplomacy through conflict-resolution, mediation and the promotion of sustainable economic-development strategies, and (4) promoting a two-state solution and peace negotiations with Israel and Palestine as well as re-establishing funding for Palestine's government and hospitals.

Congresswoman Omar is the one we have been waiting for to speak peace to power.

Regarding "Order backs free speech on campus" (front page, March 22): University of Minnesota Prof. Jane Kirtley's comment that "it's tough to defend speech you don't agree with" was already tested at her school. In its June 4, 1979, humor issue, the Minnesota Daily published a satirical piece called "Christ Speaks," complete with a phony picture of Jesus hauling a cross across Northrop Mall and a profane interview of Jesus. The article was lambasted by Republican Gov. Al Quie, by Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, by religious groups, and — I suspect — by many similarly inclined conservative students who now support President Donald Trump's free-speech-on-campus order.

Four years later, after a series of court rulings, the university coughed up $185,000 in legal fees in support of the Daily's First Amendment protection.

I look forward to seeing Republicans' welcoming parade in response to a future anarchist, leftist, heathen or offensive Daily humorist who is even half as offensive and dangerous as the far-right demagogues whose speech these conservatives now hold sacrosanct.

"Our vision is that by the year 2016, all people facing homelessness in Minneapolis and Hennepin County will have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing and the resources and supports needed to sustain it. Our mission is to effectively end homelessness over the next decade." Thus declared the Hennepin County and city of Minneapolis Commission to End Homelessness in September 2006. With more than $30 million in government funding in 2015 (I have yet to find the total funding for the 10-year plan), why isn't anyone asking what went wrong? Why isn't anyone asking for transparency and accountability on the billions already spent?

Isaac Orr's March 22 editorial counterpoint ("Concerns about wind energy aren't overblown") makes many questionable claims about renewables in Minnesota.

But let me just respond to his claim that coal is cheaper than renewables. Orr — @TheFrackingGuy on Twitter — labeled my statement regarding the low cost of wind as "demonstrably false." To make this point, Orr tries to confuse people with a classic apples-to-oranges comparison.

Orr quotes the actual costs of operations at two of Minnesota's coal plants: $30.58 and $34.32 per megawatt hour.

But he then cites Bloomberg New Energy Finance as evidence that unsubsidized new wind operation costs are $38 per megawatt hour.

Had Orr cited the actual costs for wind in the same Bloomberg report, it would've been easy to see which is cheaper. As the Star Tribune's March 12 coverage of the report says, "wind cost $26 per [megawatt hour], making it the cheapest bet for new power in Minnesota."

What these "actual costs" don't include, however, are the very real impacts fossil fuels have on people, our health and our rapidly changing climate. We all bear the burden of these costs everyday — and this price tag is only going to go up.

The choice is clear. Clean energy is the best bet for our health, finances and future.

The writer is executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership.

It was with great distress and sadness that I read of the unfortunate plight of the Liberian health care workers at the St. Therese senior care facilities across the Twin Cities ("Senior facilities brace for loss of Liberian workers," March 22). Recently my mother spent her final days and moments at the facility in New Hope under the excellent care of these amazing people. They were kind, compassionate and professional at every level. My family was so grateful to them for their help and marveled at how they could sustain such an "up" attitude while dealing with dying people and grieving families every day. I thought they were angels and was humbled by their goodness. And now, after living here for decades, they are being deported back to a place most of them have little or no remembrance of. That's cruel to them and cruel to the patients they gladly serve.

This is just the latest thoughtless, heartless act of the Trump administration. This is not Making America Great Again. This is breaking America's heart one person at a time.

Our natural disasters aren't as flashy or newsworthy as tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes and earthquakes, but let's add up the costs of automobile damage, property damage, injuries, deaths, lost wages, overtime for state employees and emergency personnel. I've seen numbers in the past that rival other natural disasters, so why aren't we asking for help instead of going it mostly alone?