Letters

Who will pay for the wall? We were told many times by Donald Trump that Mexico will pay for it. We all know how much he lies, so we should have expected it when the president of Mexico told him "no."

I think the Democrats, especially our governor, feels that these refugees and illegal immigrants are more important than the American citizens. Taxpayers should have a say in this matter, because the Democrats are taking the money from the working class and giving it to help these certain groups. Congress needs to investigate if Obama had the authority to create the DACA status. Remember that this is the same man who thought he had the right to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, but the court struck the order down.

"Bad" fire seasons are the new norm. The ugly smoke has serious health effects that kills some. Detrimental impacts on our state economy - ditto the entire Western U.S. - costing billions annually. What are our "leaders" doing about it? Not nearly enough. Do this:

Reading Jim Camden's article, "No need to practice duck and cover just yet," was riveting. He pointed out in precise and vivid detail just what could potentially happen if a nuclear blast hit our area. The picture it painted was chilling.

In 1990, as the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment representative for Eastern Washington, I attended a meeting in Boise, and Gov. Cecil Andrus was our keynote speaker. Gov. Andrus emphasized throughout his speech that the state of Idaho, according to the national press, was well-known for potatoes and Nazis. Gov. Andrus went on to say that we could not let 5 percent of our population define who we were, as citizens of the state of Idaho. Let us not let the far-right and ultra-right nationally define who we are.

I'm writing to support the election of Breean Beggs to the Spokane City Council. He is one of my two current council members, and I strongly want to retain him in that position. I have worked with Mr. Beggs on several occasions since he was first appointed to the council, and I have found him to be incredibly competent, very responsive and a problem solver.

Given the dearth of good political news of late, it was refreshing to see the front-page article announcing that Lisa Brown is a candidate for Congress, representing our 5th Congressional District. Arguably, our area's main problem is the lagging economy with which it has been plagued for at least 20 years now. It would be nice to have a representative who is knowledgeable about economics (Brown was a longtime economics professor at EWU), instead of one who knows so little that she can only function as a lockstep, "follow the leaders" politician.

Mr. Lincoln, perhaps our greatest president and certainly our greatest Republican president, gave his life to preserve the union, abolish slavery and defend the principle that all men are created equal. Now we have a president who is dividing the nation and acknowledges and gives tacit approval to the notion of white supremacy.

"Houston, we have a problem" was the understated call from Apollo 13 astronauts that resulted in an engineering fix that got them safely home.

In response to the Aug. 24 article about Spokane schools budget growing 7.2 percent, with the majority of money earmarked for teachers:

Spokane lost three outstanding citizens this past month: Allison Douthitt, Janice Cole and Frank Corkery. Each contributed to making Spokane a better community in which to live and for that we owe them a debt of gratitude.

I lived in Seattle during the final throws of its transformation, 2009-14. I watched the culture get stripped, the grunge flare reduced to "dirty neighborhoods" waiting to be "refurbished," and the locals forced out after the hostile takeover of their own real estate market.

The highly paid spoiled football players need to promote their platform elsewhere. They have a life 99 percent better than we do. They have the benefits of being American given them by those who sacrificed for the country and the flag. They have it very, very good. There is no other country where they could enjoy their profession as they do here. They ruin the sport by this effort, so they should voice their causes on talk shows and in ads, books, editorials, etc. Free speech is their right given by the brave. Sports should be free from political ideals. The owners need to run their businesses as a sport.

In response to: "Caring for homeless hard but necessary."

Thank you for publishing the Aug. 29 article by Nicholas Deshais about how a lack of appropriate zoning in Houston has made the flooding from Hurricane Harvey worse than it would have been. The article was based on research in 2016 by the Texas Tribune and the public interest group Pro Publica and described how lax zoning regulations allowed developers to pave over coastal wetlands and prairies that formerly would have absorbed at least some of the floodwaters.

I've been known to dabble in stocks. There have been times I bought "fliers," stocks that aren't really considered reliable, but might make me a millionaire. Most of the time they tank, and I need to sell and get out of them before I take a total loss. I lick my wounds and get smarter the next time I buy.

At the recent Shakespeare play at the fairgrounds, abolitionists stood on either side of the exits with abortion placards. Vulnerable already from the violence in "Macbeth," I felt taken advantage of, having my eyes forced onto the graphic pictures as the headlights illuminated them in the slowly moving column of cars in the darkness of the night.

OK, I get it. Every one who likes Trump is a racist. Anyone who criticized Obama was/is a racist. This newspaper and the media in general appears to be incapable of accepting the fact that Trump is our president for at least four years. That can be a good thing, but if you and the rest of the so-called news can pull it off, you will undermine him, even if it jeopardizes the country. Get over your irrational hate and get behind the country we all love.

I am looking forward to the Monroe Street improvements. On a recent Saturday, I met friends at Vessel Coffee Roasters on Monroe. After parking outside the coffee shop, I worried about cars driving by so close to me.