Letters for April 10, 2022

‘Get a rope’ no metaphor for accountability

Confession through projection. It’s not only an accurate diagnosis of the federal and state Democratic Party, here locally same party, same self-snitching. In his April 3 column (“ ‘Get a rope’ no metaphor for accountability”), Jim Camden is guilty of what he accuses his political rivals of, Spin Control. Yes, this is politics. His arrogant declaration that this isn’t seventh-grade English and his view as to how “Get a rope” can only mean one thing and the meaning is his political opponents are wrong is shallow and immature to say the least.

The spin control is to avoid the issue of the left’s absolute failure to protect the average citizen from the obvious worst of society. While catering to them (the worst). The Bail Project, defund the police, abolish ICE, sanctuary cities, all these well-meaning policies have been proven to be utter failures. Camden avoids accountability to the very victim he so accurately describes in his article. Ignoring her story and addressing what realistic steps to keep it from happening again he uses the tragedy to attack his opponents.

How many innocent, hard-working people have to die while unaffected elitists live in ivory towers ? “Get a rope” is an expression of that frustration. The silence is the fear of the people, the fear of people like Camden.

Cameron Vessey

Spokane

Get your refund

It has been a few months since submitting my tax forms requesting my meager refund. The IRS website cannot offer any information on it. Who was it that cut the IRS budget by 40% a few years back? Would it be possible to simply change the form on my W-2, so that I will just owe them something every year and they can lose that money?

Carlos Weber

Northport, Wash.

Importance of judges

In a September 2019 New York Times article, M.H. Keller and G.J.X. Dance reported “the internet is overrun with images of child sexual abuse.” Technology companies, including Facebook and Google, have flagged more than 45 million online photos and videos as child sexual abuse images. With all these illegal depictions freely available, I was grateful to learn during the Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings that many federal judges take their judicial responsibilities seriously and consider arguments by defendants as well as arguments by the government.

As many of us learned during the hearings, the federal government recommends punishments based on the number and types of depictions. Thankfully, responsible judges such as Judge Brown Jackson also consider intent; that is, did the defendant knowingly access the pictures or did the defendant inadvertently click on a wrong button? Is the defendant a curious young adult who is exploring their own sexuality or someone who has been collecting illegal depictions for decades?

In situations where the government guidelines do not differentiate culpability, I am grateful we have judges who do.

Joanne Smieja

Spokane

Malden’s mistake

Emma Epperly continues to write some eye-opening articles on the Malden fire (“Avista sued over devastating ’20 fire,” March 31). So 60% of Malden was uninsured? And ultimately the rest of Avista rate payers need to pay for that? Why? Isn’t the underlying motivation for suing Avista the fact that Malden had so many uninsured properties? Why such risky irresponsibility? Were the 40% actually insured about the same amount of homes with mortgages that always require insurance?

So bring on the California firetruck chasers to cast blame somewhere else. Wouldn’t the fire insurance companies be suing Avista instead if Malden was insured and the act-of-God suddenly wasn’t an act-of-God? So few answers to unasked questions.

Here in Spokane it’s easy to pick out the uninsured properties. Homes with curled-up shingles or moss on the roof, dilapidated porches, trashed yards and peeling lead paint. Uninsurable all. These “perils” insurance companies absolutely avoid and won’t insure or cancel next renewal.

Property hazard insurance could be our region’s proactive advocate against blight our city, county and state has so far refused to require. And then we end up with zombie houses causing ghettos leading to flight and wonder why.

Require insurance, lawmakers!

Mike Reno

Spokane

Hatch Bridge repair

I reside in ZIP code 99224, but unlike many residents, our mail service isn’t being disrupted while the Hatch Bridge is reconstructed. That project was supposed to be done last year. What is impossible to imagine is it taking four months to complete. If the halfway detour signs are an indicator of whether the project will be done in four months, then we should prepare for it to take eight months.

I lived in a major urban area where 12 bridges on a heavily traveled north-south freeway and a bridge over a river were both done in two months. Those projects were carefully orchestrated to minimize disruption to the public and were staffed outside of regular business hours seven days a week.

Perhaps the Hatch Bridge awarding authorities and the project’s contractors could have considered the disruption to the public by factoring into their bids paying overtime so the bridge is reopened in less than four months.

Pier Sanna

Spokane

World War III

First, the world, except Russia and China, must realize that World War III has already started. Russia and China know that because they have made their intentions clear to rule the world under their form of totalitarian dictatorship. So it’s delusional for anyone, much less the “leaders” of the Free World/NATO to argue against stronger military assistance to Ukraine because they “want to avoid WW III.” Thankfully, Ukrainians have the courage and determination to defend their own country.

We also need to remember that it is precisely because Britain and France were so traumatized by the devastation and casualties of WW I that they “wanted to avoid another Great War” and didn’t want to “militarily escalate” the confrontation with a resurgent, revenge-seeking Germany led by a megalomaniac who had made his intentions clear. Sound familiar? You know how that ended. This is not an Iraq or Afghanistan situation – unless we are traumatized by that, too.

Putin and a resurgent Russia must be stopped in Ukraine or this will only get worse – much worse. Putin and his Russian invaders must suffer nothing less than a complete defeat there. That’s what it will take for Russia to learn a tragic lesson and depose Putin. Then the civilized world needs to hold Putin and others accountable for their war crimes to make an example of them. That might motivate China to join the 21st century and leave the 20th behind. Or we will all revisit that cataclysmic past.

Bob Strong

Spokane

Sports psychology?

One of the things that bothered me in Gonzaga’s initial game in the NCAA Tournament was in the first half against Georgia. Drew Timme was interviewed about his first-half performance and mentioned “the jitters” as maybe being a factor.

Sports psychology has become a major factor in both college athletics, amateur and Olympics athletics, recognizing that athletes cannot perform to their potential if they are concerned about failure … the shots just don’t fall. Various techniques have been employed from mental conditioning to hypnosis to give athletes the mental “edge.”

Is this a missing element or is it in play in the program?

Mike Ryan

Nine Mile Falls

Idaho primary election

The other day I received a very large campaign mailer asking “Where’s Wasden?”

I was a bit confused because Attorney General Wasden has been in his office working for Idahoans.

After a closer look, I realized this very expensive looking mailer was from a group with a Fairfax, Virginia, address.

An even closer look revealed that this outside group was trying to stir up trouble by suggesting that Attorney General Wasden did not participate in some legal activities. This group made it seem like that was a bad thing. The facts speak otherwise. Wasden was smart to not participate as it would have put Idaho taxpayers on the hook for legal fees defending the indefensible.

So, where is Wasden? Attorney General Wasden is here doing his job. He has worked hard to promote and educate government officials, media and citizens about Idaho’s Open Meeting Law and Public Records Law. He has recovered millions of dollars for Idahoans by going after scammers and fraudsters. He participated in the nationwide opioid settlement. He is working with the FCC to investigate robocalls. He stands for the rule of law even when that means saying “no” to some of Idaho’s politicians.

This brings me to where I am going to be on May 17. I’ll be in the voting booth voting for Lawrence Wasden. I hope you will do the same.

Mary Ollie

Bonners Ferry