Letters

For far too many years a veritable guerrilla army of criminal illegal aliens has been infiltrating our southern border with virtual impunity. And just as a hostile, invading regular army wages a war of death and destruction, these criminals have been committing murders, rapes, armed robberies and vehicular homicides as well as illegal drug and sex trafficking that are wreaking havoc throughout our country.

I want to commend Gonzaga University on their decision to reject the Campus Republicans' request to have Ben Shapiro speak at the university. Shapiro's irrational beliefs and unsubstantiated attacks, particularly on minority groups, have no place at an institution that seeks truth and knowledge, and pursues the growth of all their diverse students as whole human persons. Shapiro is a transphobic, and clearly has no place on a college campus by his own admission — he claims that paying tuition is supporting "the militant homosexual agenda." He's also an outspoken climate change denier, comparing the acceptance of the science of climate change to a religion. He has classed all Arabs as people who "like to bomb crap and live in open sewage" and even called Sesame Street "liberal propaganda."

Why aren't steelhead managed like elk?

Well, now Mariners management has gone too far.

Given the letters from Charles Jencks (Dec. 5) and Gary Bumgarner (Dec. 6) regarding Ben Shapiro, it is unfortunate that the Spokesman-Review did not investigate the underlying story of Shapiro's attempt to speak at Gonzaga University.

Sue Lani Madsen's Dec. 1, 2018, column about healing our political divide has welcome words and accurately cites the 1994 midterm elections for comparable political tensions.

On the way to the airport at 3:45, Dec. 4, another studded tire problem jumped up.

When the huge caravan of immigrants from Central America headed to the U.S. as the Nov. 7, elections were fast approaching, I thought the timing more than coincidental.

The expansion of the Spokane County board of commissioners to five commissioners elected by their districts gives an opportunity for a fair and more diverse representation. Al French tries everything in his power to fight it. His district alone would not elect him. WSAC will file a lawsuit challenging the validity of the new legislation. Al French sits on the Washington State Association of Counties board. He serves on numerous boards and commissions, which gives him the power to oppose any changes that could cut this power.

Gonzaga's latest refusal to host conservative Ben Shapiro ("GU rejects request for Shapiro to speak,"Nov. 30) is contrary to its mission statement: "... through engagement with knowledge, wisdom and questions informed by classical and contemporary perspectives, Gonzaga cultivates in its students the capacity and dispositions for reflective and critical thought, lifelong learning," etc.

The EPA is proposing to allow oil and gas companies to leak more methane into our atmosphere. This leakage is estimated to amount to 11.1 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas between the years 2019 and 2025 and will continue indefinitely. Oil and gas companies will save $75 million per year due to relaxed standards while taxpayers lose $8.3 million per year in climate benefits.

I have another solution for the plight of the orcas in the Puget Sound. Their range is as far north as the Queen Charlotte Islands. In doing so they pass the Skagit River inlet. I propose breaching those Skagit River dams. Allow those salmon a full run of the river they once had ... all their ancestral spawning grounds. Our Snake River dams provide us with cheap, reliable electricity.

The very fact that I-1639 passed is one more reason to abolish the initiative process. I am sure Tim Eyman would disagree, but this particular initiative was corrupted by outside-of-Washington politics, violates an entire segment of citizens' constitutional rights and exposes other major flaws.

I was very unhappy to read in today's Spokesman-Review about Gonzaga's rejection of the Ben Shapiro speaking opportunity.

The recent front page above-the-fold article regarding Gonzaga's feeble attempt at regulating free speech and thought control for its students was disappointing ("GU rejects request for Shapiro to speak," Nov. 30).

Jesus won't have to come back to save us, we have Donald Trump!

The paranoia about the presence of a "caravan" of about 6,000 "invaders" at our border is shocking to some people, including me.

I recently chose to opt out of the upcoming "smart meter" onslaught. It turns out I will have to pay Avista to not install a fire-prone, health-damaging, privacy-invading, and rate-increasing device on my home. How is this different from a thug demanding "protection" money from a shop owner to not break his store windows? It is extortion, pure and simple. Please, research "smart meters."

The Nov. 25 S-R contained a summary of the recently released global climate change report, and comments from usual climate change deniers. I freely admit I'm not a climate scientist, however, in formulating my opinion of what needs to be done, I'm going to consider the findings of those people who have studied the subject.