Green Party’s Jill Stein ready to lead on climate

While a recent article in The Baltimore Sun, “Fall foliage maps: When will the leaves change in Maryland?” (Oct. 5), fulfilled its goal of providing predictions regarding fall foliage and how drought conditions factor into these predictions, it fails to mention how anthropogenic climate change causes said drought conditions, nor any changes in foliage patterns over recent decades.

Anthropogenic climate change is largely caused by a combination of “big” issues: social use of fossil fuels, car culture, and foreign wars—none of which are addressed by the article. According to experts, climate change’s rate is classifiable as a climate emergency, evidenced not only by the changes in foliage but also by the increasing frequency of natural disasters and biodiversity collapse.

In my opinion, we need to do more than merely think about how climate change affects us. We need to act now. One of those actions is electing people to office who have tangible plans to address the urgency of this climate emergency. For example, Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, plans to declare a climate emergency on her first day in office.

The Green Party ticket with Stein and Butch Ware is the only one in this election that aims for policies truly meant to address and combat this climate emergency. These include but aren’t limited to nationalizing the railroad and energy systems, a ban on fracking, coast-to-coast high-speed rail, green union jobs and reducing the military budget.

I urge everyone who understands how important this issue is to our world and our future to ditch the Democratic-Republican duopoly and vote for Jill Stein this November.

— Grant Scarboro, Forest Hill

Hogan should have abandoned GOP

We keep hearing about Larry Hogan’s declaration of independence. If this is truly how he plans to legislate in the U.S. Senate, why isn’t he running as an independent candidate (“UMBC Poll: Angela Alsobrooks has edge over Larry Hogan heading into Thursday debate,” Oct. 9)?

This would certainly allay the fears of many Marylanders.

— Eric Greene, Annapolis

The Orioles and their catcher ran out of gas

Regarding the recent article in The Baltimore Sun about catcher Adley Rutschman, it now appears that, yes, “fatigue” is the answer (“Orioles leadership backs Adley Rutschman despite frustrating season: ‘He’s our guy,'” Oct. 3).

In the old days, “the boys of summer” would end their season before football began. These young guys, and many older guys, get fatigued from playing too many games. It’s probably all about money for the owners, so nothing will change. Continue to expect these results.

— S. Bradshaw, Towson

Maryland should adopt ranked-choice voting

Voters in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C., will be asked in November referendums if they support ranked-choice voting. Some states, such as Maine, New York, Utah and Alaska, have already instituted some form of ranked-choice voting, and it is time for Maryland to follow suit statewide (“Expanding ranked choice voting statewide in Oregon will be on November ballot,” Aug. 8).

When politicians in both parties claim that ranked-choice voting rigs elections to benefit their opponents, they are alleging without evidence that their own party candidates cannot compete in a wide-open contest in which centrist, independent-minded voters can participate.

As long as Congress refuses to support federal legislation to supplant state-by-state partisan redistricting with a mandated, nonpartisan system, ranked-choice voting is the most viable means of ensuring that election outcomes accurately mirror voters’ choices.

— John R. Leopold, Stoney Beach

How politicians cynically seek to manipulate us

I have just checked the last several editions of The Baltimore Sun and have confirmed that the Associated Press, the Sinclair National Desk and the opinion pages of the paper refer to the Republican candidate for president, appropriately, as former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, or Trump, never President Trump (“Trump can’t escape his ‘So what?’ moment from Jan. 6,” Oct. 4).

Uniformly, politicians supporting Trump’s reelection refer to him inappropriately as “President Trump.” We heard it repeatedly from U.S. Sen. JD Vance during the Oct. 1 vice-presidential debate. And from Vance we heard over 20 times say “Tim” as he addressed Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

I see these inaccurate and familiar usages — as well as Trump’s deliberate mispronunciation of the first name of his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris — as examples of cynical, strategic decisions to have voters hear demeaning utterances and confabulated descriptions that may influence their preferences.

— Randy Barker, Baltimore