Include votes
I would like to request that the Daily News include the votes of our local representatives when reporting on state legislation. In your reporting on the Constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to call itself into session, you report that Caroline Nilsson Troy was the only north Idaho representative to vote against.
Thus we can conclude that Brandon Mitchell voted for this poorly crafted bill. On the Senate vote to create a constitutional amendment to ban marijuana, you don't report on David Nelson's vote. I hope we can count on David to vote no. It is indeed the silly (crazy?) season in Boise.
Our fearless Republican representatives maintain their focus on increasing their power and imposing their moral authority. Meanwhile 900 million dollars in badly needed emergency funding goes unspent. Sure, it is in the pipeline, no rush. None of our legislators are visiting food banks or about to be evicted.
Please help us evaluate our local representatives by reporting their votes.
Robert Johnson
Moscow
Destroying the party
Leftists are increasingly trying to destroy the Republican party. They do not discuss issues. They do not campaign honestly for votes. Instead, they attack businesses and corporations that contribute to the Republican party. These businesses are not selling things that go against Democrats’ values. They are just selling the same type of products that other businesses sell. This way of targeting Republican owned businesses, threatening Republicans with being sidelined from the American economic system, is a way of revolution to a one-party system. It destroys democracy. It is one facet of the cancel culture on steroids.
The recent letter to the editor by Priscilla Wegers is a local example. She threatened a new Moscow business that had given more to the Republicans than to Democrats, suggesting that if they didn’t change that, people should boycott them.
Many large corporations have recently quit contributing to the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying the election. The media has portrayed them as bad citizens, even though, as Dale Courtney pointed out, Democrats have commonly done the same thing.
What do you think will be the result of this targeting of conservatives?
Lois Johnson
Moscow
Actual evidence, please
Letter writer Tim Moore ("It Could Get Worse," Daily News, Feb. 9) states that there was "voter fraud on a massive scale" during the 2020 election. Apparently, two-thirds of Republicans agree with Mr. Moore ("Poll: Few in U.S. Say Democracy is Working Very Well," Daily News, Feb. 9). Mr. Moore also tells us that "millions of words in explanation have already been expended on how it happened." And, yes, much has been said and written about how voter fraud allegedly happened.
But what I have yet to hear or read (including in Mr. Moore's letter) is what precisely the specific verifiable actions were that in aggregate amounted to "voter fraud on a massive scale." So, anyone at all, what exactly is the evidence of massive voter fraud during the 2020 Presidential election? Please, no unfacts based on conspiracy theories.
Miriam Hertz
Moscow
Observe the fruits
As I sit here at my computer and watch the steam rise from my coffee cup, it is interesting to turn over the world in one’s mind.
President Biden in his second week of his presidency verbally made the observation which President Trump could never say. Biden’s words were, “This virus will never go away,” which is truly fact. Of course the media did their best to quickly quench his words.
So, where does this leave us? Well, as per all the novel viruses of past times it will sink into the plethora of other flu viruses of our past. Where does this leave us with the masking mandate? That is a good question, since with the masking mandate has come power to control others. Now once power is given to a person or a group, trying to pull it back usually is close to being impossible. They don’t want to give up the control which they have gained.
Let’s go down another rabbit trail. They are now saying (guessing) that this vaccine will be good for six months or so. OK, where are we in six months? Right back into our usual flu season. Really? So, what happens then when the numbers start going back up again? How about looking at the data. Overlay the current numbers with the flu numbers of an “average” year.
I have to laugh, because my Grandfather said many times, “Figures don’t lie – but liars figure.” Boy, have we ever seen that this year.
That this year will be interesting to watch unfold. As is said by my lord within the Bible, “Don’t look at the tree, but observe the fruit of which it yields.”
Wayne L. Olson
Moscow
They should resign
The Republicans’ response to the House managers’ case for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump challenges me to find an appropriate response; the criticism of sophistry by Socrates and Plato. A person who reasons with clever but fallacious arguments provides me with the answer. The sophistry of the moment made repeatedly by Republican senators made themselves accomplices to the Insurrection Feb. 6. Words matter.
Our two U.S. senators, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, did not vote to impeach former President Donald J. Trump and should resign. Gentlemen, you have not done your duty and have made a mockery of your pledge. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.”
Furthermore, you along with many of your Republican colleagues in the U.S. Senate may have done the Grand Old Party irreparable harm. I hope not! In my judgement the traditional Republican Party had an important, vital part to play in meaningful dialogue of governance.
Stan Smith
Viola
Support for breaching dams
I fully support breaching the lower four Snake River dams to restore Idaho salmon and steelhead runs. There are alternative ways to get agricultural products from the Palouse to the market. There are alternative sources of clean, renewable energy. Breaching is the only pathway to Idaho salmon and steelhead recovery. Trucking fish around dams has not worked. Spilling more water over dams has not worked. Whacking sea lions and birds has not worked. I applaud Congressmen Simpson for stepping forward with legislation to do what we know needs to be done to restore Idaho salmon and steelhead. Recovery can happen, all while maintaining a vibrant agricultural economy on the Palouse and reducing carbon emissions.
Brad Smith
Sandpoint
