Won’t be bullied
... By use of force and fear, our governor has created chaos in the lives of those who do not support his mandates.
We will not be compelled into receiving a vaccine with less than one year of dedicated research and no true proof of long-term efficacy, nor should any single person possess the power to make medical, life-altering decisions for a whole population. The need to coerce the people of Washington under the threat of termination from employment is a crime against humanity and will ultimately be the demise of many homes, communities, schools, hospitals, etc.
We must stop the detrimental decisions of our governor. The livelihoods of the free people depend on this. We have lost too many lives due to the oversight, overreach and removal of opinions voiced by our frontline workers.
After overcoming COVID-19 and surviving the deadliest part of this epidemic, we can agree science has recognized natural antibodies as a proven line of defense. Those who have chosen to be vaccinated have done so, and many prophylactic options and treatments could be and should be made available to the public.
To help alleviate the increasing burden placed upon our overworked and understaffed health care system, those most at risk or affected by this virus should have the option to seek alternative prophylactic and proven treatments. ...
No one should be forced to choose between a vaccine or the ability to provide for himself and his family. ...
We cannot be bullied into submission.
Chris Herres
Pomeroy
Left behind
My grandfather drove an ambulance in World War I evacuating wounded from the battlefield in France. He was wounded and received the Purple Heart.
My father was on a carrier in World War II, which the Japanese reported sinking six times. In Korea, he was on a destroyer that took Marines off the beach after they fought their way out of the Chosin Reservoir.
The code “never leave a warrior behind” was in my DNA. I called in more than a dozen medevacs in Vietnam. Some of the bravest men were the medevac pilots, who answered the call, day or night. They understood what it meant to leave no one behind.
Our military understands this sacred code. Many have died trying to retrieve wounded or dead on the battlefield. It is the unique sacrifice our military has always made, and is respected by the militaries of all other nations.
President Joe Biden, did not come from a military family. He opposed the Vietnam War and received five draft deferments as a college student. In 1968, at the height of the war, Biden was granted a conditional draft deferment for “having had asthma as a teenager.”
Despite his rhetoric, he has never understood or supported our military. That was obvious as he kept looking at his watch in blatant disrespect as the 13 dead war heroes from Afghanistan were greeted home last week.
Biden is our commander in chief. He should be court-martialed for abandoning American citizens in Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Bill Mulligan
Clarkston
War criminals
The devastation and deaths in Afghanistan didn’t have to happen. Former President Donald Trump and his racist henchman, Stephen Miller, are responsible for everything that happened in Afghanistan.
They, along with their enablers, sabotaged the special immigrant visa system to stop the translators and other allies (Afghans who helped Americans) from leaving Afghanistan.
The program had chronic shortages in staff, lacked a coordinating official and was brought to a grinding halt under the Trump administration. If Trump and Miller had not been radical racists, a lot of those people would already have gotten out of Afghanistan.
The Biden administration corrected what Trump had done to the immigration visa system and is now processing the applications correctly.
Trump has already been boasting about how he left President Joe Biden “boxed in” in Afghanistan. He is proud of his actions, and the deaths he has caused over there.
Trump and Miller don’t care how many people die in Afghanistan — Americans or Afghans. It means nothing to them.
Trump has proven that he doesn’t even care how many Americans died from COVID-19. He has never cared. He should be arrested and charged with murdering the more than 635,000 Americans who died from COVID-19. The charge would be homicidal negligence.
Then he should be arrested and charged with war crimes against humanity for what he caused in Afghanistan.
Trump should be made to pay for all of the crimes he’s committed. More than 635,000 Americans are dead.
Joan Vanhorn
Lewiston
Loves Idaho’s small towns
I enjoyed seeing the area Idaho towns listed and the candidates in the Sept. 3 Lewiston Tribune that have elections this November for mayor and council members.
These are the 30 towns that were mentioned in our five-county north central Idaho area: Orofino, Pierce, Weippe, Peck, Elk River, Cottonwood, Ferdinand, Grangeville, Kooskia, White Bird, Riggins, Stites, Bovill, Deary, Genesee, Juliaetta, Kendrick, Moscow, Onaway, Potlatch, Troy, Craigmont, Winchester, Nezperce, Kamiah, Reubens, Lewiston, Culdesac, Lapwai and Peck.
Here are some area Idaho towns and villages that do not have elected officials: Princeton, Myrtle, Summit, Greer, Pollock, Lucile, Harpster, Viola, Southwick, Gifford, Lowell, Jacques Spur, Spalding, Lenore, Melrose, Agatha, Harvard, Dixie, Spalding, Lenore, Elk City, Ahsaka, Greencreek, Leland, Sweetwater, Keuterville, Fenn, Helmer, Cameron, Pardee, Waha and Forest. Their elected officials are from the five counties.
Many of these places once had their own little one-room schools. A few had high schools. And they had business districts with a store or two.
Modern transportation and roads were built. Small farms were bought and became larger ones. Big families are no more. And families move to bigger towns.
That’s the way it is. But don’t we love our small towns still and memories of what they were?
Dick Riggs
Lewiston
Die in peace
So we of a certain age have been practicing dying every night for a very long time. In hospice, we’ll have plenty of pain killers — just the agony of leaving before the movie ends.
Think of a new angel before a door marked “Spoilers.”
Veteran angel says to another: “They show her the next 500 years of history, then zap her so she won’t come back as a ghost to tell us all.”
But here is what she’d tell us: Sleepy Joe, against all odds, has renounced further U.S. imperialism; has put the executive military might against the Supreme Court’s puny staff of marshals to uphold its former law in Texas according to his oath to faithfully execute our laws. And, with the new $3 trillion-plus budget, he has bought the Trump voters with free college education for them, their kids and grandkids.
Yes, this is socialism and the death rattle of neo-liberalism, too.
Even Fox News and pouty Mitch McConnell say we should be vaccinated. So that must be fear of a coming mid-term tsunami against the right.
Happy endings, comrades.
We can die in peace and also have President Kamala Harris sing us to our rest.
Ronald Hufham
Moscow
Wants more information
Stories this past weekend in both the Idaho Statesman and the Lewiston Tribune cut to the chase. While some want to keep pushing the idea that vaccine hesitancy is fueled by selfishness and lack of trust in our government, these stories tell another side.
Maybe people just don’t have the information they need to make an informed decision. What if we could get hospitals to start reporting some of the data that folks want? What if hospitals reported to public health the answers to these basic questions:
l How many of those new COVID-19 cases had been vaccinated (and with which brand) and how many had been diagnosed with COVID-19 before?
l How many of new COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized were vaccinated (and with which brand) and how many were diagnosed with COVID-19 before?
l In new COVID-19 diagnoses and hospitalizations, are there underlying health issues present?
We know something for sure. The current strategy of trying to scare or guilt people into getting the vaccine is not working. Misinformation comes from a lack of information.
Let’s switch it up and start giving real numbers folks can use to take a reasoned approach to determining whether the vaccine is the best choice for their health.
Skip Brandt
Kooskia
Biden’s optics were bad
Recently, President Joe Biden declared that the biggest threat to America was domestic terrorism and in particular “white Trump supporters.”
So with that in mind and considering $85.5 billion of military equipment and arms were given to al-Qaida and ISIS terrorists, can I put my name in for a Black Hawk chopper, night vision goggles, three cases of .556 ammo and a Humvee?
And if my wish cannot come to fruition, I officially demand that not one word from this day forward be mentioned ever again by Democrats about gun control or banning AR-15s from U.S. citizens.
And the worst optics for the month of August were Biden falling asleep in a sit down conversation with the Israeli prime minister, checking his watch 13 times while the caskets of 13 heroes were returned home and saying at a short news conference that “The buck stops with me and I take full responsibility but it’s all Trump’s fault,” only to turn tail and walk away to receive his afternoon serving of vanilla pudding and ice cream.
John Webb
Reubens
Praying for Brandt
I read with interest the recent guest column by Lucky Brandt reporting on the progress his family is making in fighting off COVID-19 and, once again, urging others to get the vaccine.
I have differences with Brandt politically, but that should not put us on opposite sides of the fence where the health of family is concerned. We are all human beings in this together and we need to support each other in times of personal crisis.
When I did my daily prayers, I said some prayers for Brandt’s family and I am glad to hear that they are coming along on their recovery. By the grace of God, they will completely fight off this vicious virus.
Danny Radakovich
Lewiston
