Readers Write: Why teens are sedentary, a free society, holiday fireworks, police encounters, holiday celebrations, Trump

The June 27 article "Older teens are as sedentary as 60-year-olds, study finds" points to a number of aspects that contribute to this condition in no uncertain terms. Teens have no control over some of them, such as long class days, but do over their leisure time. However, the universe for teens has changed. I call it "fear of liability."

I am nearly 80 and still physically very active. The reason for that is I started young and never quit and, more important, I was allowed to.

I went to parks and climbed trees. I climbed the hills around the Mississippi River. I ran on trails that probably would have been judged dangerous by today's standards.

What would happen today if a child were caught climbing a tree in a public park or hiking the unmarked trails down to the Mississippi River banks? I strongly suspect that some figure of authority would intervene.

A child or teen cannot be 100 percent protected from physical danger all of the time, nor should he or she be. These are times of testing one's own self. This is the period when we win or lose, when we set the standard for the rest of our lives. Neither TV nor the computer would be quite so attractive if we found what was outside more so.

Nothing I have said here will change the liability monster, but maybe we can find another way.

Nearly 22 years ago, and after studying Chinese for some time, I left the U.S. to teach English in a foreign language institute in Shanghai. I arrived on the heels of the ignominious Tiananmen Square uprising in Shanghai by college students who were indeed brutally beaten, jailed and much worse. As a foreigner, I was totally safe — although I and my fellow foreigners from Europe and elsewhere were always under government "eyes." I took care about what I said and to whom I spoke, as spies were often watching.

I had a gut-wrenching flashback when I read the June 28 Star Tribune article regarding Minnesota scientist Deborah Swackhamer, an environmental chemist who leads the EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors and who was recently told by the EPA's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, to stick to her "talking points" regarding the dismissal of board members. This comes on the heels of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's comments openly questioning the established science of human-caused climate change. Even worse, the EPA is continuing to lay off dozens of other climate scientists.

This is how totalitarian governments like Russia and North Korea work! I can't begin to explain how dangerous a path our government, our country and our very democracy is treading by denying science. We have built a democracy in which many viewpoints can flourish — but there is no room for the denial of the truth. Deny truth, no matter how "inconvenient" it may be, and we step on the path to our downfall.

We are a country that produced the following life-changing inventions and achievements: the moving picture (1891), the zipper (1893), Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic (1927), the microwave oven (1945), the atomic bomb (1945), the laser (1960), the moon landing (1969), the first e-mail (1971), the mobile phone (1973) and personal computers in the 1980s. Can we not collectively invent and produce a weapon to be given to all police officers that will instantly stun and disable a potential human risk from 15 feet or less?

Not an electric "dart gun" like a Taser. Not something that "might" work or only work some of the time. Instead, a very serious weapon that perhaps shoots a blast of noxious pepper spray, electric charges, small rubber balls, etc., that is proven to disable any human instantly. A police officer can approach a problem situation with this new weapon in one hand and a 9mm gun in the other. If the situation warrants it, he pulls the trigger on this instantly and positively debilitating weapon, ending the risk to him and saving the life of his perpetrator. Don't say it can't be done. Everything on the list above couldn't be done, either, but it got done. The local, state and federal governments should fund this work. Form a new "Manhattan Project" to get it done. Now. Think of the lives taken in the last five years that would still be with us. And think of the guilt of the police officers for having to kill someone in an instant. All gone.

I've enjoyed fireworks. I've enjoyed the flashes and the bombs and the bangs, but this year I'm through with it. It's time to stop the noise and the sheer percussion of some of the mock bombs. It's time to stop the celebration with false rockets and false bullets. It's time to stop the terror. Ours was a violent revolution. The result is worthy of celebration but not the means. No more July 4th noise, no more violent flashes, no more explosions. No more family pets, their ears and eyes more sensitive than ours, shivering in the deepest corners of our homes afraid. No more wildlife terrorized.

STOP THE PRESSES! President Donald Trump, in his inauguration speech, painted a picture of America under siege, describing a dystopian nightmare and American carnage. Yet the lead story of Friday's Star Tribune was headlined "Statewide crime hits 50-year low." Unless the president was referring to the construction in downtown Minneapolis, one can only conclude that Trump voters will view your headline as "fake news." Sad!

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A man who reacts irrationally, immaturely, impulsively and disproportionately to any disagreement or criticism is in control of a nuclear arsenal. I am terrified. Congress must immediately take action to remove Trump from office. His behavior demonstrates a profound emotional and psychological instability that makes him unfit to serve. This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of national security.