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In response to a letter to the editor dated June 18, I have a hard time giving any credence to a writer who continually calls the media “corporate- controlled propaganda.” Do you include right-leaning as well as left-leaning media? And what is your criteria for propaganda? As for listening to he who would be king, it is deeds more than words that I pay attention to. Listening to the man is like having language thrown into a woodchipper. Word salad and constant asides into irrelevant topics. But when I see the people in the government treated like trash and programs that do a great deal of good to the common folk eliminated while billionaires get showered with favors, that’s what I base my opinions on.
And remember that the economy was doing well both times he came into office. So the argument that he made it take off is hyperbole. So if you want to worship this con man, that is your right. But remember that every con depends on the mark buying into the grift. Now people are dying because of their political leanings. People are being disappeared without due process. Laws are being broken and judges ignored or gaslit. I stand by my statement that I believe what I see with my own two eyes.
Steve Bennett Newport
Power and sovereignty
It is stunning when you begin to see the control and manipulation embedded in both our collective structures and personal relationships. Since their continued power requires us to give up ours, it is important for each of us to contemplate what it means to be sovereign beings. Let us consider those in control of our social structures. We know they manipulate to get our acquiescence, but what happens when they have it? Are they considerate and benevolent with their power or do they use it to increase their own?
What about our personal relationships? Are our relationships balanced with an equal amount of giving and taking or is one party in control, deciding personal issues and how to spend time and money?
If you are one with the power in a relationship, are you considerate and benevolent with your power and try to give some back or do you use that power for your own benefit? If you are the one who gives up your power, what might happen if you started to claim your own power and sovereignty?
What might happen if we all claimed our power and sovereignty within collective power structures?
How might that change the world?
Stacy Cossey Priest River
The mill fantasy
When Allrise Capital outbid the Kalispel Tribe for the Ponderay Newsprint Mill in Usk, it promised to bring back jobs by restarting the mill or converting it to a cardboard plant. Now, with the mill equipment being auctioned off, it’s clear we were sold a fantasy.
Instead of paper or cardboard, Allrise funneled our community’s hopes into power-hungry crypto mining.
Despite initial denials, the real intent was always to exploit cheap electricity — not to restore living-wage jobs. Residents waited years while promises were recycled and machinery decayed.
Now, we’re left with no jobs, no mill and a bitcoin operation running at a loss, trying to slash its tax bill. All while soaking up massive amounts of power and pressuring the PUD for subsidies the rest of us would ultimately help fund.
We must ask ourselves: Who benefits from this setup? Not the workers.
Not the families who hoped the mill might rise again. And certainly not the taxpayers. Our town deserves sustainable economic development — not vague schemes that leave us worse off than before.
Let’s stop letting outsiders gamble with our future. It’s time to reclaim our community’s voice and vision.
Ernie Hood Newport
Businessman or Leader
Anyone referring to him as Hitler or Fascist need not return to their communist indoctrination camp, but a high school history class could go a long way. Rather than debate one particular writer, I want to target several misinformed at the very least or woefully unbalanced at most. I would though like to compliment them. Not for accuracy, but for consistency. It’s not so much that they have TDS (they do), it is that they can’t think of anything good to say about the Democratic party.
For years the Democrats would campaign on issues, never solve them, then blame the Republicans for their failure. Then came a man who was never a politician, but was a problem-solver. Even better, he was a leader. When liberals said something could not be done, he said why not?
Liberal tactics of negotiation were to appease adversaries with payment.
Like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, he negotiates through strength.
Yes, his name is Mr. Trump, Problem- solver and Leader. Be glad that a majority of American voters realized that what we had prior was derailing the American dream. The train is back on the track...
K.C. Hunt Newport
Stop summer shutoffs
Summer is approaching, and with it comes the growing threat of deadly heat waves intensified by the climate crisis. In 27 states, however, utility companies are still legally allowed to shut off electricity during the hottest days — leaving people without air conditioning in extreme heat and putting their health and lives at serious risk.
Cutting off power during periods of extreme heat will most assuredly have fatal consequences. This urgent issue demands public attention and collective action.
As a taxpayer, concerned neighbor and private citizen I call on utility companies and local officials to take immediate steps to end power shutoffs during the most dangerous days of summer. Lives are on the line — it’s time to stop the summer shutoffs.
Irene Kavanagh Oroville
250 Years
The Army celebrated its 250th Birthday (1775) on Flag Day, capped with a parade. Hundreds of thousands of Americans came to watch.
Some decry the $45M cost for the parade. Trump spent some of his own money on it. The Army spends almost $2B per year on advertising, marketing and recruiting. To date in 2025 they are exceeding their recruiting goals. Watch their recruiting numbers following the parade.
$45M might be peanuts compared to value. People want to serve under this President.
Israel covertly built a drone base inside Iran. They also had eyes and ears living in Iran. Their first strike took out missile launch sites as well as their top Generals. Israel performed operations that brought Iran’s top military brass to a meeting where they were all killed in the strike. Also killed were their top nuclear engineers, who were in their own homes. GPS?
The FBI and DOJ are investigating the 2020 election. It was discovered that in August 2020, China was shipping mass-produced Drivers Licenses and election ballots to the U.S. It appears they were headed to Chinese students around the country. FBI director Chris Wray ordered the memo destroyed. The election that won’t let go.
Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick
Nuclear weapons are useless
I recently viewed a 2012 video clip of the Israeli Prime Minister saying Iran will have a nuclear bomb in weeks. After 13 years he has finally attacked Iran and wants the U.S.A. to join and end the nuclear bomb threat that never materialized. This smells like, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,” from 2003 and the “Weapons of mass destruction scare from Iraq.”
Iran must have the slowest nuclear scientists and now many of them have been killed by Israel.
The idea that we can bomb any country anytime for any reason is foolish and dangerous. That’s how 9/11 happened, when a handful of terrorists made us cower in fear. We wasted thousands of our soldiers’ lives and a trillion dollars over an Iraqi threat that didn’t exist.
Our military now serves the president’s ego and his social media threats against other countries and even our own citizens. Trump should change the military oath to pledge allegiance only to the president and drop the words about protecting our constitution.
Nuclear weapons are useless for any country. Using them means harming your own people with radioactive fallout and devastating military or terrorist retaliation.
Pete Scobby Newport
Trump Storms on NOAA
Since his January inauguration, President Trump will have eliminated about one in four jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA is the nation’s governing body for weather and ocean fisheries.
It regulates to sustain marine and anadromous species, monitors and warns about hurricanes, tornados, floods and tsunamis, operates marine sanctuaries, provides navigation information to ships and observes changes in the climate and ocean. It also plays a role in warnings about avalanches and space weather that could damage our electrical grid and helps respond to disasters, including oil spills. It had a worldwide workforce of over 12,000 scientists, policy managers and enforcement officers.
NOAA’s mission requires satellite systems, ships, buoys, aircraft, research facilities, high-performance computing and information distribution systems.
NOAA’s weather agency the National Weather Service is known for free and accurate weather forecasts, severe weather alerts and emergency information. The NWS annual budget is about $1.4 billion but it provides Americans with an estimated $102 billion in diverse benefits from those services.
In addition to job losses, the President’s cuts in research grants to universities will make it difficult for our nation to keep improving weather forecasting and better monitor the health of planet Earth.
Ed Styskel Newport
