Keep Nevada’s public lands in federal hands

Nevada’s sportsmen ignore the public lands bill (H.R. 1484) being pushed by Mark Amodei at their own peril. The justification for the bill, which would transfer some federal lands to the state, emphasizes “local control” and “Washington bureaucracy.” As a native Nevadan who has spent my life hunting all over the state, I can’t figure out what activities are really being hindered here.

There are plenty of new quad roads everywhere, I don’t know of many mining projects that have been turned down, and local management of land-use issues is already happening, as evidenced in the success of the Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Sage-Grouse Working Group.

So what makes this land transfer so necessary and urgent? The only logical answer is acquisition of public land by private interests.

Of the 4 million acres we were granted at statehood, we have about 3,000 left. If you think the BLM and U.S. Forest Service are bad landlords, you’re really not going to like the new ones. There’s not enough bolt cutters and toothpicks in the world.

Ernie Thompson

Reno

Trump voter

The fact that so many Democrats were totally shocked about the 2016 election is very revealing. Donald Trump was not my first choice but he ended up being my last hope.

When President Barack Obama won his historic election, he promised to unite the country. But after four years it seemed as though we were becoming even more divided. And our president seemed to be more interested in climate change and social justice than jobs and the growing global threat of ISIS. And when he could not manage to get his agendas enacted through Congress, he made his famous “pen and a phone” speech and proceeded to push through Obamacare without a single Republican vote.

He had no idea that many Americans were becoming more and more uneasy.

But he was re-elected in 2012 and — may I add — while many people were not happy with this president, there were no angry protests, collective tantrums or looting.

Then came the 2016 election. After eight years of feeling that our voices were not being heard, we see the Democrats try to push a candidate on us who cannot tell the truth, has more baggage than an ocean liner, and who promises to continue President Obama’s legacy. Their shock at losing just shows how little they care about anything that the American people have to say.

Linda Caterine

Henderson

Rules and norms

The article on the front page of the Tuesday Review-Journal headlined “President turns party pacifier” ends with an amazing quote from Barack Obama, who says:

“One of the things you discover about being president is that there are all these rules and norms and laws, and you got to pay attention to them. And the people who work for you are also subject to these rules and norms …”

Isn’t it just great that seven-plus years into his presidency Mr. Obama finally realizes that there are “rules and norms and laws” that should be considered? Most of us who are not president have known this since childhood and did not require years in high public office to learn it.

Oh, well. Better late than never, I suppose.

I’ll bet it does not take President-elect Trump more than seven years to learn that there are rules and norms and laws that he must follow.

James Moldenhauer

North Las Vegas