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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Deference to 'The Presidency'

In 1986, I was invited to work at WGBH, the respected PBS Station in Boston. Then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan was advocating his Strategic Defence Initiative, Star Wars. At the time, Mr. Reagan was often forgetful and had a habit of confusing real historic events with the movies made about them – often movies he'd starred in. It's now known that Mr. Reagan's speech patterns may have pointed to early symptoms of Alzheimer's before it was formally diagnosed after he left office.

Despite having such a loose cannon as president, what struck me as a Canadian living in the United States at the time was the enormous deference paid to "The Presidency." While Mr. Reagan's policies were widely debated, it was considered unpatriotic to speak ill of the him while he held that office.

I fear that this blind deference to "The Presidency" will colour Donald Trump's term. The timid response to his shouting down of a CNN reporter at his first press conference was deeply troubling, but even more disturbing was the lack of support this reporter received from fellow journalists in the room.

We must not be cowed into obsequiousness.

We must not be afraid to speak truth to power, whatever the consequences. Central to the American Constitution is the First Amendment, enshrining the rights and power of a free press.

There are great dangers in deference.

Peter Raymont, producer, All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone; Toronto

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Whether President Donald Trump will effectively "make America great again" is still to be seen. With the Americans admitting they are vulnerable to the attacks of hackers, Russian or otherwise, at the point where it hurts most (their democratic system), Vladimir Putin has made Russia relevant again. Whether the Putin-Trump bromance is long or short also remains to be seen. Either way, the consequences can't be overstated, as both control nuclear bombs.

Jorge Angeles, Montreal

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A decision to take Pride in?

Re Limiting Police At Parades A Step Back For Pride (Jan. 20): Police will be able to participate if they want, they simply won't be able to wear their uniforms, which can trigger severe reactions among some people who want to participate. PTSD and anxiety are real conditions that deserve recognition.

I'm aware that finding balance isn't always easy, but it seems fair that the police may have to experience something we queer folk experience sometimes: having to be less visible than we want to be to enjoy something in public.

Amy Soule, Hamilton

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The organizers need to change the name of the Pride Parade. There is no Pride in exclusion.

Taanta Gupta, Toronto

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To lose them diminishes us

Re Primates Face Extinction By Mid-Century (Jan. 19): They are among the brightest stars in nature – gorillas, monkeys, orangutans, chimpanzees – the primates of forests, savannahs and grasslands. They play leading roles in ecology, scientific understanding and the human imagination. Their faces disclose a unique relationship: our closest living relatives on the planet. But these stars are fading.

Habitat loss and poaching have driven nearly two of three primate species to endangerment. Three of four species are in decline. What looms is nearly inconceivable: extinctions in our lifetime. To lose primates is not just a matter of biology, because understanding primates helps us understand humanity: our evolutionary history, physiology, social behaviours, our place in nature. To lose primates, then, is to diminish ourselves.

Diminishment would be forever.

James Schaefer, director, Environmental And Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University

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Dangerous precedent in B.C.

Re B.C. Pipeline Fee Sets A Terrible Precedent (Jan. 17): There are actually two notes of concern in Kinder Morgan's special payments so it can expand its Trans Mountain pipeline's capacity in B.C. The first is the up to $1-billion payment to the B.C. provincial government. The other is the $350-million-plus to the group of 41 First Nations. The editorial called the latter payment "appeasement to affected communities," yet offered no examination of territorial claims or anticipated harms.

Both parties employed a similar mechanism of effective-veto, or less politely, a shakedown. The government's approach, however, is technically legal while the other is extralegal as it relies on the implied threat of blockade or similar action. The whole affair sets a dangerous precedent as B.C. can hardly lay claim to the tenets of capitalist-democracy: property rights, rule of law and due process. The appearance here is of coercion, not consultation.

Jeff Stephan, Toronto

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McAngry with McDonald's

Re McDonald's Canada Sparks Outrage With Nut Decision (Jan. 17): If the food-safety procedures at McDonald's Canada are so haphazard that a nut from a McFlurry can end up in my burger, shouldn't we all be worried about what's lurking inside our "happy meals" and not just those unfortunate enough to live with a food allergy?

If, as they claim, they are still committed to a "focus on allergens," why doesn't McDonald's take the reverse, and ultimately more inclusive, approach and provide dedicated prepackaged, allergy-friendly meals to the millions of Canadians who do need them.

Sandra Siversky, Bedford, N.S.

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