Where’s the Pullman coverage?
On Feb. 1, I opened the paper. In the first section, I counted 13 full articles, 10 of which were concerning Idaho, two were related to Pullman and one was a national report. Is Pullman so boring it does not have any newsworthy items, or is Idaho so crazy it gets so much ink spilled on its behalf? While the latter appears true, I thought the paper was committed to equal coverage. Disappointment reigns.
Wayne Beebe
Pullman
How about some outdoor seating?
Having outdoor seating for restaurants, coffee shops and more is important for Pullman businesses. Business owners have recently learned that there will be no outside seating option. There is a real concern that businesses will leave Pullman (Moscow is a close option!). Thriving cities and towns all have outside seating.
I have heard from Francis Benjamin that they are working on the option to have outside seating, but businesses have recently been informed that they will not have that option. It is concerning to consider that after covid (needing outdoor options), and an extended time with little access to the downtown businesses, the business owners are now hit with this. I encourage the change to free or minimal cost outdoor seating.
Mary F. Lopes
Pullman
Palestine was ‘barren’? Nope
I’ve tried to ignore Larry Kirkland’s misinformed letters, but I must answer this one (Feb. 1 and 2).
Let me first respond to the charges by Kirkland, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and many others that there has never been a Palestine nor has there ever been a people called Palestinians.
In December 1922, the League of Nations issued “The Mandate for Palestine” (not Israel) with clear boundaries from Lebanon south to Egypt. Those who lived there were Palestinian Muslims (78%), Palestinian Jews (11%) and Palestinian Christians (10%).
Super Christian Kirkland fantasizes that Palestine was “barren” and devoid of people until “the late 1880s,” because God had reserved this land for massive Jewish immigration.
Au contraire, Galilee, under Palestinian cultivation for several centuries, was the site of a substantial cotton industry. The surplus crop was exported from the Palestinian ports of Akka and Haifa. An article in the An-Najah University Journal for Research (December 2024) calls this cotton production “the Golden Age in Palestine.”
With cotton from Galilee, silk from Syria, and linen from Egypt, Palestinian weavers established a regional textile industry. Close to the border with Gaza, the weavers of al-Majdal operated more than 500 looms.
In 1948, Zionist militiamen raided the village, destroyed the looms, and put the people, never to return, on buses to Jordan. International law guarantees the right of return for any people driven from their homes because of war.
For centuries Palestine has also been famous for its olive oil production. Over half of the currently illegally occupied territories are covered with 7.8 million olive trees. In 2014, the harvest was worth $109 million — far less than previous years.
Israeli settlers have killed or injured Palestinians trying to access their orchards, and, in 2023 alone, over 5,000 olive trees were destroyed by Israeli marauders.
Nick Gier
Moscow
The price of eggs
After the election, the media reported that Trump won on inflation, promising to make America great again by bringing down “the price of eggs.” Too many of us fell for it.
We know it isn’t just the economy that makes a nation great. It is the spirit of the people to be a force for good in the world. Americans have done this through dozens of NGOs and federal agencies that support global aid, intercept dangerous actions by dangerous actors, and grant asylum to endangered, desperate immigrants. But on Inauguration Day 2025, Team Trump-Musk put Project 2025 into action. In a few short weeks, Musk and his twenty-something techies have gutted vital NGOs and federal agencies, including USAID, FBI, CIA, DOJ and the Treasury Department.
There are reports that some MAGA voters are thrilled. But they won’t be, with Elon Musk at the helm, when they don’t receive their government pensions, disability or Social Security checks from the Treasury. Trump’s shadow president, Musk is barred from being president because he is not a birthright citizen. Born in South Africa, Musk has less right to be here than children born on this soil to immigrant parents. Yet, he is calling shots in the White House while immigrant families are being deported.
The way Musk is intent on destroying the government, since he is an American citizen (naturalized), he should also be marked a traitor. What does that say about Trump?
Trump and Musk must both be stopped. Fewer talking heads; Senators, it’s time for action, for warranted arrest, for Articles of Impeachment. For everything in the tool chest except endless chatter and no resolve.
If we do not stop them, America will become an empty shell of broken promises. All for the rising price of eggs.
Lisa Kliger
Moscow
Two kings
Joe Biden warned in his farewell address that “an oligarchy is taking shape” in the U.S. But wait! Kneeling congressional Republicans are nearby. CNN’s Bakari Sellers says Biden may be right. Our main king, the Donald, by dictate, created a new agency and installed a racist billionaire immigrant oligarch to run it.
Always Trumpers: King Donald illegally appointed King Elon the oligarch, to lead this “agency” — the Department of Government Efficiency, which is completely fictitious! Yet, Musk owns the keys to the Treasury Department and its payment capability, which, I predict, he will never cede. Mr. Biden was wrong on oligarchy — it’s a “f*** you democracy, we like fascism.” Proof is visible — Musk wants USAID, a wonderful agency which has saved hundreds of millions of lives, defunded. Simply said: The world’s richest man will end an agency that’s been helping the world’s poorest people. King Trump has delivered.
Christians, rumors are, the New Testament is about peace, love and compassion. How quaint.
His majesty bipassed Congress. First by ordering an end to birthright citizenship (Note — Barron Trump meets this requirement. Born in March 2006, his immigrant mother didn’t become a citizen until July.).
Tag-team favorites — Kings I and II — fired many federal employees without cause or Congressional notification. The truth of President Donald Musk’s fascism is candy for Elon Trump’s Christian (Jesus Schmeesus) nationalist cult — Make Gaza Great Again today ...
Jim Roach
Moscow
