Airline money
Why will the city of Lewiston pay $4 million when Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport only paid $500K? Will Delta Airlines demand the same deal we are giving United Airlines? Who will pay then?
The county’s airline subsidy money came from the federal government, which means the entire U.S. taxpayer base paid into it. If the city pays the $4 million, it means only the city taxpayers paid for it. Is that a fair deal to the city taxpayer? If the city uses money from their reserve funds for a one-year contract, where will they get it the following years?
The national average for a ticket this past year was $367. Currently, United flies a 50-passenger plane to our airport. If we got two flights a day year-round, that would mean a potential of $1.9 million in revenue. If United wanted at least 80% passenger load factor, then the minimum potential revenue would be $1.5 million a year. If the city and county agreed to guarantee the 20%, they would pay $380K a year, which would be about the same as the other airports. If the airline wanted to go to 75-capacity jets, then the city and county would have to come up with more money, but still at 20% of load factor.
If the Tribune is correct in quoting that United lost $5.5 million (before or after our subsidy?) in 2023, we should have lost United long ago.
Ged W. Randall
Lewiston
Permanent wars
For those whom killing women and children opens the gates of heaven, your principles are inverted.
I’ll wager Zionists will be surprised when the Messiah is born Palestinian, which is funny since Muslims believe the last prophet has been born, so he’ll be denied by his people again. Argh. Let’s pay attention for miracles in refugee camps, and I’m sure they’ll be fleeing to Egypt soon.
These heavenly subtexts intertwine with the earthly goal of “cat-phishing” Iran into war to overthrow their government. Narratives baffle the populace as an empire must grow for the sake of growth.
The plan to demonize Muslims and create permanent wars throughout the region was laid in the early 1960s, to make a point against Mohammad Mossaddegh and later Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, or to justify nagging consciences of those who participated in the Nakba? Whatever the motive, it was brought under a cohesive umbrella by giving ongoing purpose to the military power the U.S. had amassed.
Soviets weren’t as proficient at world domination to remain a formidable foe for long. The West needed a new target. The Muslim world was rich with sowable conflict, and it was rich with resources. Without cohesive governments, the Western Empire’s greatest military bases could be perfectly placed in the Eastern Hemisphere of the globe. A few good beat-downs and, voila, we’ve returned to the modern age with Elizabethan coolies. Only now, control mechanisms are much more cohesive. We’re already scanning irises for rations in the Ukraine and Palestine. Near-total subjugation.
Chris Rousseau
Clarkston
We deserve better
We deserve better representation in Boise when the state Legislature meets.
Article 2 of the Idaho Constitutions states, “All political power is inherent in the people.” However, our legislators prefer to promote their own agendas while ignoring the will of most citizens.
To start the 2024 legislative session, Sen. Dan Foreman, of District 6, proposed an absolute and extreme abortion ban. Sen. Foreman has made it known that his priority is not representing the people in his district encompassing the Palouse and the Snake River Valley but instead is eliminating all exceptions to Idaho’s abortion ban. He wrote, “My top legislative priority is to close the three loopholes in Idaho’s Trigger Law prohibiting abortions. I will seek to make it illegal to have an abortion in Idaho in the case of incest or rape.” (votesmart.org).
While citizens may want their high school daughters to attend a good school that isn’t crumbling, Foreman wants to make sure she must give birth if she is impregnated by rape or incest.
According to a recent survey conducted through Boise State University, Idahoans are concerned the state is on the wrong track. Most Idahoans favor making abortion bans less severe, not cruel and more severe. Idahoans are concerned about affordable housing, economic well-being, jobs and good public education.
We deserve state representatives who focus on issues of importance to their constituents. Remember “all political power is inherent in the people” and remind our representatives, like Foreman, that they are moving in the wrong direction.
Julia Parker
Moscow
Soldiers served proudly
After Donald Trump’s recent statement that Joe Biden is leading the United States into World War II, I finally had to respond.
I am a member of a family whose seven uncles, father and future father-in-law proudly climbed on those Army transports to save Europeans from the authoritarian gas chambers as the United States entered World War II. Trump has referred to the soldiers who died in those European conflicts as “losers” and “suckers.” This is from a person who can’t even remember which of his heels had the draft deferment bone spurs during the Vietnam War.
Finally, to Trump’s patriotic supporters who nail the United States flag to a board in the bed of their truck and drive our flag around town until it is frayed, study up on the laws that protect our flag. Flag etiquette and laws are available online.
Dee Blair
Moscow
