U.S. is being mocked
Under the new administration, our government is flaunting its weakness, plunging thoughtlessly ahead with ill-considered policy decisions, then wobbling weakly backward with no clear direction.
The administration instantly folded on the mistreatment of Colombian citizens during deportation flights, after the president of Colombia called our bluff on tariffs, in effect saying, “Go ahead, make my day.” Days later the president’s Office of Management and Budget caved on the federal funding shutdown it had announced, performing a quick about-face after citizens rose in anger.
Policy “triumphs” include using the U.S. military to “turn on the water” from the Pacific Northwest to California, something that never happened and in fact makes no sense whatever. Another policy “victory” was blocking the $50 million expenditure on condoms for Gaza, something else that never happened and makes no sense.
Rather than making America great again, we are being mocked. The whole world is laughing.
Jim Wallis
Moscow
Not what the U.S. needs
It seems to me that Donald Trump and the Republican Party want to replace DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion, with LICE, or lies, incompetency, corruption and exclusion.
This is the exact opposite of what our country needs right now.
Jennifer Walker
Clarkston
How many read the law?
The Ash Street incident: Yes, that was a bad incident. Anytime a life is taken, it’s bad.
I do not do Facebook. My question about the ones who wrote on Facebook their opinions about the Ash Street killing: How many read the law? How many have experience with law enforcement? I wonder, since there are different opinions. Some were for and some were against how the Clarkston police do their job. How many will go before the city council and ask, since they pass the laws, why they aren’t enforced or give them a law and ask if you misinterpret them wrong?
In fact, read all the city code and the Revised Code of Washington and the Washington Administrative Code. Learn a little. I believe the city code chapter 10.64 may cover this.
Also find out if the complaint was committed in the officer’s presence. Yes, I have stood before the mayor and city council and even stated talking to them is like talking to a brick wall.
So what do you Facebook opinion writers actually do about what you complain about?
Jim Griffin
Clarkston
Year of the Snake
The 2025 lunar calendar is represented by a snake, something cold-blooded, slithery and often venomous. How appropriate.
Shelley Dumas
Grangeville
Proud of Hemphill
I pretty clearly recall what Enrique Tarrio said at the time he was being sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on our country. He told the judge at sentencing that he was embarrassed, that the events of Jan. 6 were disgraceful and he admitted Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
He asked the judge for leniency. In contrast to his usual cocky demeanor, he actually appeared humble. At some point, he carried on like a third grade girl, saying he did not want to spend his 40s in prison. Well, maybe he should have thought about that beforehand.
Now that he has received his unwarranted and disgraceful pardon, his cockiness is back. He is vowing vengeance. Other Jan. 6 traitors have said the same. Well, if they resort to violence this time, then that violence needs to be met with equivalent force, not the kid-glove treatment used on these people in the past. The cocky attitude of the Jan. 6 traitors once they got their pardons shows how really stupid Donald Trump was to pardon them in the first place.
What most of the pardoned Jan. 6 traitors have said once pardoned really brings into focus how very correct the attitude and actions of Pamela Hemphill, the Idaho woman who refused a pardon, were. She learned from this experience and she correctly discerned that she had been sucked into a cult. I am proud of her.
Danny Radakovich
Lewiston
Out-of-state donations?
“John is a really bad plumber because he cannot play the accordion.” This statement is absurd because what does John’s ability as a plumber have to do with his ability to play the accordion?
Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug’s statement that we need to “fix” Idaho’s initiative process because of out-of-state money is equally absurd. One does not relate in any way to the other.
Politicians always complain about out-of-state money when it does not come to them or goes to a cause they disagree with. Politicians also don’t complain about or take issue with out-of-state money donated to them. In checking with the secretary of state’s office, I learned Rep. Skaug received out-of-state donations from a company called Swedish Match, which sells vaping, tobacco and nicotine pouches. What a hypocrite.
A few months ago, I listened to a debate between Frank Vandersloot and Hyrum Erickson over Proposition 1. Mr. Vandersloot complained vigorously about out-of-state money being used to push Proposition 1. Two sentences later, Mr. Vandersloot admitted he donated money to out-of-state causes. What a hypocrite.
If out-of-state money is a problem, then let’s ban out-of-state campaign donations altogether. That should fix the problem, not making the initiative process hard to accomplish. Remember, Idahoans have the constitutional right to petition their government for change. Check the Idaho Constitution.
I don’t see the issue of blocked primary voters going away. I also see that if House Bill 2 becomes law, I see the courts getting in the middle of this issue.
Blair Moncur
Idaho Falls
No habitat, no fish
When you read the opinion of fish biologists Richard Scully and Rick Williams (Tribune, Jan. 12) regarding their scientific theses about barging fish and recovery of fish by barging, you wonder if they even know how to count, much less manage fish returns.
All they need to look at is the basic fact that when large numbers of smolt were barged from the first two lower Snake River dams and released below Bonneville Dam within the period of two years following the release, the return of adult salmon past Lower Granite Dam was the highest fish count return since 1938, when counting started at Bonneville Dam.
If Richard and Rick were any kind of fish biologists, interested in increasing the numbers of salmon, they should’ve been on their soapbox talking to Idaho Power when their three dams were being considered. Once these three dams blocked the spawning grounds, you had an immediate decline in the return of salmon to the Snake River because the area was the main spawning habitat.
... Habitat production for native fish is the main factor in the puzzle for spawning. If you don’t have habitat, you don’t have fish.
So go take your opinion as fish biologists to where it belongs, as there was never ... a main habitat for spawning salmon on the lower Snake River. You let salmon be destroyed by allowing dams on the upper Snake to be built without any fish passage system and never said a damn word about it.
Marvin J. Entel
Clarkston
Honoring his oath
Gen. Mark Milley stands by his oath to preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution.
He recognizes the threat of fascism like we fought against in World War II, and he has the courage to warn the American people about it. It’s shameful that he is being attacked for continuing to live by his oath and defend democracy.
I wish our legislators would honor and defend that same constitutional oath before we become a fascist dictatorship.
Sheila Robbins
Boise
