Readers Write: Greenland, ICE, high school wrestling, arsenic

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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President Donald Trump admits that his pursuit of Greenland is partly a tantrum in reaction to not getting a Nobel Peace Prize. María Corina Machado’s secondhand prize just won’t do. “I WANT MY BLUE PACIFIER,” he screams, as he spits out a yellow one. He knows GOP officeholders won’t interfere because, like we all heard him say on the “Access Hollywood” tape, “I just start … . And when you’re a star, they just let you do it. You can do anything.” Still, I am mystified by the GOP’s acceptance of his incoherent Greenland grab and its threat to NATO. Many senators are older than my 69 years. Many, like me, had fathers who fought in World War II. The Greatest Generation. What could our fathers possibly think to see NATO, born of their efforts, come under attack by a U.S. president rather than a Russian dictator?

Jim Wolfe Wood, Stillwater

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I can’t imagine how overjoyed China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin must be viewing Trump’s Greenland gambit. The very idea of America aggressively acquiring Greenland is preposterous. But what these other autocrats must be really cheering about is that Trump seems quite willing to tear up the NATO alliance that for the last 80 years has ensured peace and prosperity for Europe and the U.S. The idea of NATO transcends the military agreement’s basic premise of coming to another country’s aid when attacked. NATO has seeped into Western culture and come to symbolize Europe and America’s shared heritage and economies. It has provided for a balance of power in Europe, whose nations warred with each other on and off for hundreds of years.

Not only would Trump’s seizure of Greenland undermine America’s rationale for aiding Ukraine and possibly Taiwan against autocratic takeovers, but the whole Western alliance might disappear in a puff of Trump’s hot air.

Phillip Trobaugh, St. Paul

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Three hundred sixty-five down, 1,096 to go.

Sean Foley, Richfield

Congratulations to the protesters who disrupted the Cities Church service by calling out the pastor who works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“Activists interrupt Sunday church service, say pastor works for ICE,” Jan. 18).

How can so-called Christians ignore Matthew’s clear instructions, that at the last judgment God will judge sinners according to whether they took in the stranger, visited the imprisoned and fed the hungry?

ICE is the epitome of cruelty, and cruelty has no place in any church.

Martha Blauvelt, St. Cloud

Columns by Evan Ramstad (“Trump’s ICE push seeks to remake state’s population”) and Jim Souhan (“It’s time to boycott the World Cup”) are on the mark in connecting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s attacks on our communities will ultimately have devastating effects on the state and national economies. Is anyone in Washington and the corporate world paying attention? Minnesota is one of only 19 states sending more money to the federal government than we receive. And we rank third among the states in the amount per person paid to the feds ($21,106 in 2024).

Cutting off immigration to this state will disable our economy — and kill a cash cow that the federal government depends upon. Creating fear and alarm in other countries by militarizing our streets will only lead to fewer visitors spending money at the World Cup and other events in the United States.

Barb Kucera, St. Paul

On the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. for his lifetime of trying to make the world better for everyone, two news items caught my attention for the stark contrast of their messages. The first was Jim Souhan’s column about the two Mounds View High School wrestlers who competed in a tournament against a competitor with Down syndrome. They let him wrestle and win and get third place — which he proclaimed the best day of his life (“Wrestlers show how losing can be big win,” Jan. 19). The second was the president’s childish, petulant message to the prime minister of Norway. It essentially said that because Norway didn’t give him the Nobel Prize, he didn’t care about peace anymore and will take Greenland by force.

Those two young men from Mounds View displayed more compassion and maturity in one afternoon than Trump has in his entire life. They know that winning isn’t always the most important thing, something Trump will never understand.

Peter Sandberg, Minneapolis

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Bob Lommel, Minnetonka

I was delighted to see the story “Arsenic surfaces in private wells in Scott County” on the front page of the Jan. 11 metro section. Why delighted? Because now more private well users and other Minnesotans know that high arsenic (exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s arsenic drinking water standard for public drinking water) in Minnesota well water comes from geologic sources and is widespread.

High arsenic widespread in Minnesota private well water? What does that mean?

These statistics translate to about 500,000 Minnesotans with detectable arsenic in their private wells; almost 150,000 people rely on private wells with high arsenic.

The private well arsenic problem has been evident for decades. There has been a lack of commitment, however, by elected officials to fund ongoing statewide private well water testing or to provide financial assistance for home water treatment.

The Minnesota Department of Health recommends testing private wells for several common contaminants. Email, call or write to your state representative and senator today. Tell them to support a bill to fund private well testing for common contaminants and treatment for private well users with contaminated water.

It’s 2026, past time for safe drinking water to shift from a privilege to a right for all Minnesotans.

Melinda Erickson, Roseville