I am writing to call attention to a small one-paragraph item in the Dec. 16 issue (for an expanded article, see http://strib.mn/2CAmvTN). This noted that the Trump administration had barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using any of the following terms in official documents in preparation for its coming budget: vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based.
To me, this little article represented the single most important piece of information in the paper. This is another attempt by the Trump administration to control the narrative. While any administration will try to make itself seen in the best possible light, I have never noted such a blatant disregard for the facts and these bullying attempts to turn agencies that should be essentially neutral or scientific into ones that push a political agenda.
We should bear in mind that this type of propaganda and manipulation was characteristic of Hitler's early rise to power. When this occurs repeatedly, as we have seen with the Trump administration, it is easy to be lulled into complacency and to find ourselves in a situation where facts are discounted and only the manipulated narrative remains.
This type of censorship is also the direct antithesis of free speech and freedom of the press. As citizens, we should be alert to this and speak out whenever it happens.
Virginia Schuster, Minneapolis
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A nurse's response to the list of seven forbidden words: Every infant, representing all forms of DIVERSITY, including TRANSGENDER, starts as a FETUS, and once born, is granted ENTITLEMENT by a compassionate community to EVIDENCE-BASED and SCIENCE-BASED health care in order to be less VULNERABLE and have a healthier and brighter future.
Teddie Potter, St. Paul
POLICE-SHOOTING CASE
War of words notwithstanding, what's taking so long?
Having served as a chief of staff to former Gov. Arne Carlson and later chair of the Metropolitan Council, I've seen my share of unavoidable complexities. But absent in the coverage of the dust-up between Gov. Mark Dayton and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman (front page, Dec. 16) is any explanation of why it takes so long to conclude investigations like the one into the police shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. What is the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension doing that takes months?
Curtis Johnson, Edina
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