To the editor:

One of the many great joys of a subscription to The Item is the weekly column by Swampscott native David M. Shribman every Saturday on the Op/Ed page. The most recent column, cleverly and accurately titled “Conventional thinking,” was appropriately deemed of enough importance to begin on the front page. Incidentally, Mr. Shribman’s thinking and writing are so uniquely precise as to make him highly UNconventional, and such a pleasure to encounter in print and also in person, as I had the opportunity several years ago in order to access his family’s history, bringing Duke Ellington’s band to Salem Willows in 1924.

One interesting detail is that the Democratic Party was actually founded about 30 years before the GOP (Grand Old Party), while pointing out that both have conventionally been proud of their long traditions, as a contrast to 2024 performance. This year, all living Democratic ex-presidents (and related folks) participated and spoke, while Republican participation was zero.

I found this best expressed (and mostly overlooked?) by Mayor John Giles of Mesa, N.M. (a conservative city of about 500,000 people) speaking as a Republican for Harris at the DNC, who stated: “Those of us dedicated to the party of John McCain in 2008 should feel no obligation of loyalty to the current cult of personality.”

I also note many comments (not by Mr. Shribman) to the effect that Kamala Harris avoided referencing “global warming” in her policy statements, because she was trying to emphasize centrist positions to undecided voters, a necessary and admirable objective. In fact, she very subtly referred to the need for response to the “climate crisis,” a description now common in technical writing, but not yet familiar in politics. I point this out in response to a letter from Richard Smith (a global-warming denier, apparently), and note that it is consistent with Barack Obama’s statement while president that “we are the first generation to experience the effects of global warming, and the last that can do anything about it.”

Contrast that with a tweet from @realDonaldTrump on Nov. 6, 2012 at 2:15 p.m.:

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” He repeatedly referred to it, ad nauseam, in speeches as a “Chinese hoax,” followed by: “Drill, baby, drill.”

I was pondering writing via letters to The Item regarding the technical evidence proving the climate crisis before I saw Mr. Smith’s letter. I am no longer pondering. More is to come on an informal, intermittent basis. For those who want a jump start, the book “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen is highly recommended as a response to the pseudo-science cited by Project 2025.

Aloha,

Ed Myskowski

Lynnfield