Poster child in Gaza
Hind Rajab would be an appropriate poster child for history’s first ever live-streamed “plausible genocide” occurring in Gaza. The story of Hind is that of a 6-year-old child executed for her crime of having been born.
That said, she is only one of more than 14,000 children killed and 17,000 orphaned in the past five months in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of additional displaced Palestinians have been left homeless and facing death from starvation, disease and lack of assistance. Our tax dollars are continuing to support the commission of this atrocity.
There is an old adage about there being two sides to every story. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has chosen to favor a single-sided presentation of both current and historical reality. The second side of the story seems to have been relegated to internet sites such as Democracy Now! which can be found on YouTube, largely commercial-free.
Warning: Viewing and listening to the graphic visual and audio account of Hind’s execution and that of the ambulance crew that had been cleared to rescue Hind, are suitable for consumption only by mature, stable adults and may result in persistent emotional discomfort, sleep disturbance, feelings of helplessness, depression, etc. Please exercise care.
P.B. McNamara
Clarkston
We the people
We the people have the right and obligation to affect the government of our republic. Whether it is the socialist agenda in Olympia of tax spend, release criminals and gut the Second Amendment, or the stagnation in Washington, D.C. Both parties are controlled by the elite minority. We were given the opportunity to vote out every two years those who fail us. The framers gave us this power to control the purse strings.
Currently, we have a Congress that will not think or plan past an election cycle. Success is measured by how one party can make the other party fail. Service to the party and its benefits are placed before the future of the people or the republic. Both parties have future professional politicians in line to serve their goals.
Harry Truman said it was the duty of members of Congress to make compromises and deals to the benefit of the nation, not themselves. We have delegated to Congress the authority to make decisions that affect our life. You can only delegate authority not responsibility. So the fault is with we the people.
That is my view from the bottom looking up.
William Gonnello
Clarkston
Being a ‘Never Trumper’
This week I am planning to be a “Never Trumper” because I enjoy the war between Russia and Ukraine and the escalating wars in the Middle East and I know Donald Trump would try to end that.
I am also a “Never Trumper” because he wants to secure our southern border and I am a people person, so I love it that we have millions and millions crossing our southern border illegally and will surely vote Democrat. Yes, some of them might be terrorists or drug traffickers, but some might not be. I understand the rise in fentanyl deaths is because of open borders but this will teach people not to do drugs.
I am also a “Never Trumper” because Trump has business experience and he could turn this economy around. But I don’t want this economy to turn around because it is healthy for Americans to learn how to live between paychecks and learn to cut coupons. Teaching Americans to be resourceful is a good thing. So I think career politicians or people who have no experience running anything should be the ones we elect to run our country.
And finally, I am a “Never Trumper” because Trump says things that bother me and I don’t vote on policies but on my feelings. I also don’t like him because he says to put America first and that means another country will come in second and that country’s feelings might get hurt.
John Webb
Reubens
Losses outweigh gains
Any effort by any Idahoans to prevent restoration of the lower Snake River (via dam removal) is misguided, misinformed and visionless.
Those four dams provide two things for some Idahoans; electricity and shipping from the Port of Lewiston, both of which can be replaced. No Idahoans get irrigation water out of the lower Snake River and the dams provide no flood control.
Meanwhile, for most Idahoans, Americans at large and especially Native Americans, the losses caused by those dams far outweigh the gains. Gone are the social, cultural, economic, and biological gifts of what was once among the most productive salmon (steelhead, lamprey) runs on the planet. The system, including the Port of Lewiston, is funded, including subsidies, by us.
In essence, we have funded our own impoverishment, moreover, with no good reason. Because we’re picking up the tab, we should put our money to good use. Why not fund replacement of the services the dams provide so that we can have it both ways?
Idahoans, please ask yourselves, “What is my vision of Idaho for future generations?” Does it include the health, wealth, beauty, resilience, sustainability, productivity and richness of a restored Columbia-Snake rivers/ocean ecosystem, or is it something much, much less?
David Cannamela
Boise
