.png)
Representative Baumgartner’s recent CNN interview is yet another example of his hypocrisy and his complete disconnect from his constituents’ reality. First, he tries to blame the current economic difficulties on a past president, who has been out of office for over a year and a half. Then, when called on it, tries to say that presidents don’t actually have much to do with the economy anyway – well, which is it?
Both Trump and Baumgartner frequently brag about all the bold moves Trump has made to “better” our economy, but when rising costs on every front (rent, groceries, fuel, health care, the list feels endless) are rightfully explained as the result of Trump’s erratic decisions, ever-changing tariffs, military aggression, and destruction of federal standards, suddenly it’s that other guy’s fault? Not the one who’s been bragging about all his power and decisions for the last 14 months, no not this guy, the retired one.
Do they really think that you and I are so ignorant we can’t see this as insultingly blatant deceit and misdirection? You are smarter than that, and you can choose not to support this hypocrisy in the midterms.
-Jessica Adams Colville
A ‘Deadly Accident
Waiting to Happen’
Regarding the major intersection in Oldtown at Hwy 2 and Albeni Falls Building Supply, Ace Hardware, and the Rotary Park, someone is going to get killed there; it’s just a matter of time.
A simple Traffic Circle, similar to the one on Hwy. 2 at Costco, would be a cost-effective solution.
No high-cost lighting, just paint, signs and hump in the middle.
The interchange is a major accident just waiting to happen.
This type of quick government expenditure will be welcomed by us all.
-Joel Jacobsen Newport
Perfect Storm brewing
We are increasingly being forced to adopt artificial intelligence without our explicit consent, as AI begins to manipulate and permeate nearly every device we own. Whether navigating business, banking, entertainment, shopping, or healthcare, we are systematically being pulled into a digital ecosystem we never asked for.
As a direct result of this forced integration, massive, energy & water- thirsty data centers are amassing like locusts across the United States. This national expansion has now reached our doorstep, with Pend Oreille County targeted as a potential data center home. What is brewing here is a local data center storm, one that some are already calling the “perfect storm” for our community.
Because these technological pressures and infrastructural demands are intensifying, local communities must actively determine how to manage these developments and voice their expectations directly to elected officials. Without deliberate civic engagement and proactive local governance, communities risk facing severe environmental, economic, and social consequences driven by an impending digital infrastructure crisis. In other words, a “perfect storm.”
-Phyllis J. Kardos Chair, Responsible Growth * NE Washington Newport
SAVE Act will shrink voter participation for married women
In the June 6 issue of The Miner, I wrote, “When the Constitution was passed, our country was far less democratic. Only propertied or tax paying white males could vote - not women, Blacks, or Indigenous. We are much more democratic now.”
In response to this statement, one person wrote that I needed to check the New Jersey constitution. I did, and it turns out that in 1776 New Jersey was the only colony to give some women the right to vote. “Some women” means single and widowed women who owned property; married women were excluded. But alas, New Jersey legislators rescinded all women’s right to vote in 1807.
Thank you for the correction but my underlying conclusion remains the same – that we are now more democratic than we were at the beginning of our democratic republic.
That could change. The Republican- backed SAVE Act could shrink voter participation for married women by requiring they present documentary proof of citizenship; name changes due to marriage could present a significant hurdle for many. Reminds me of New Jersey in 1776 when married women were excluded, then 1807 when all women were denied. Power to the men! Thanks GOP. (LOL) -Sandy Nichols Newport
Communism comparison useless hyperbole
Comparing PUD Commissioners to Soviet Commissars would be offensive if it weren’t so ridiculous. Claiming that residential ratepayers paid for relicensing Box Canyon Dam has it all wrong. The truth is that one of those “favored contracts” negotiated by the PUD meant Ponderay Newsprint Company paid most of those costs. And suggesting that special purpose districts in Washington State governed by locally elected non-partisan peasants are communist is useless hyperbole and needless provocation at their worst.
-Dan Peterson Diamond Lake
Fauci refused to answer any questions
Dr. Fauci recently testified before a Senate Committee regarding COVID, vaccines and conduct during COVID and years before and after. He read his opening statement saying this was Sen. Rand Paul’s retribution. When questions began, his attorney tried to answer for him. Capitol Police finally removed his attorney from the room under applause. Fauci went on to plead the 5th 111 times. He even pleaded the 5th when asked what color his tie was, the color of the carpet, and what day of the week it was. He didn’t answer one question.
What did we learn? Based on the questions and Fauci’s diary that he emailed himself on a government computer, he knew about the lableak, Gain-of-Function research and was in a deep cover-up on vax safety. He appeared to be up to his neck in corruption along with others.
Remember, Biden pardoned Fauci by auto-pen. The rule was to answer questions truthfully as he had immunity from prosecution. He took the 5th under his attorney’s advice. That tells me that anything signed by auto-pen might not stand up to scrutiny. Hunter’s pardon was the only one signed by Biden’s hand. The rest were by auto-pen.
-Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick
Voter fraud claims don’t make sense
Glen Pierce used “half an ounce” of research ability to use the debunked “2,000 Mules” documentary as evidence of voter fraud. He needs to rent the fictional documentary “2,000 Elephants” to find 2,000 Republicans with mental illness simply because their cell phone was tracked multiple times near a mental health clinic.
Glen, why don’t you object to all the Republicans who have been elected in our community with help from what you call voter fraud? We have mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes, which is the foundation for most Republican voter fraud claims.
Do you believe that Trump lost the 2020 election from Democratic voter fraud and the down ballot Republican candidates won in spite of that alleged fraud?
I believe that if Trump said the Earth was flat, Glen would write a letter supporting it. Just look at any farm field in the Midwest and see that the Earth is flat as far as you can see.
Glen suggests that Trump is going to declare a national emergency and seize ballot boxes as a pretext to halting or changing the November election results. The election will be a referendum about Trump’s failing Iran War, gasoline prices and tariff policies.
-Pete Scobby Newport
