Opinion

Those claiming that their “freedoms” include the right to refuse a COVID vaccination need to understand that this refusal includes unintended consequences.

Steve Hintyesz goads Shawn Vestal to write a column praising Joe Manchin as he did Liz Cheney (Letters, Dec. 28). Mr. Hintyesz has difficulty distinguishing apples from oranges.

Dave Robinson’s letter to the editor (Dec. 29) complained that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was not doing her job by voting against the progressive policies contained in Biden’s Build Back Better bill.

When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., talks about a "National Divorce," as she did again in a tweet on Wednesday, she may be advancing the cause of secession or she may just be seeking attention. Either way, she knows what she's doing -- reinforcing the idea of disunion that has taken hold in the outer reaches of the public imagination.

WSU’s bowl game with Central Michigan is very important. The Cougars have worked super hard through a lot of adversity to get to this high caliber game. The nation is watching.

I enrolled at Gonzaga in 1954 and have been a staunch supporter ever since. I recently googled "average free-shooting percentages" in the good ole U.S.A. The results show that elementary school teams should strive for 50%, middle schools 60%, high school 70% and college 75%. The ability to sink from the line often separates the championship teams from the rest. In a recent game, the Zags shot 58%. I believe there was a 51% game earlier as well. Our current and recent teams have so much talent that would be sad to think they could lose a critical playoff game from the line! It seems the "free throws" are an ongoing problem. GO ZAGS!

In the Brave New World of Spokane Republican politics, billboards purport that the party can “stop the insanity,” and that the party still has a current interest as being founded “to end slavery.” The party must believe all of Spokane has sunk to its Frank-Lutz-ian level of doublethink and hypnopaedia. Seriously? After four years of speaking the most unspeakable insanity out loud, you now turn to psychological conditioning to try to erase those four years? Not all of us are asleep.

Having come of age in the late 1960s and early ‘70s while the issues of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement had totally split our nation, I do not bemoan the present battles in our country as a sad, new development. They are merely the continuation of a sad, old development. Even a brief overview of American history displays the truth that if we are not united in fighting a foreign enemy, then we are busy fighting among ourselves. Sad truth.

Who would ever want to go into law enforcement? Police officers put their lives on the line to protect our community. But I am deeply troubled by the negative publicity in the media. Politicians have enacted questionable legislation that has greatly hindered police from identifying, arresting, charging and convicting dangerous criminals.

The Central Valley School Board swore in new members Dec. 13. With outgoing President Debra Long’s 18 years of excellent leadership, learning continued in person during this continuing pandemic by following the science to maximize everyone’s health and safety.

The Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees is disappointed in the inaccuracies and mischaracterizations shared by Shawn Vestal in his column on Dec. 15, “EWU mulls raiding scholarship fund to pay sports debt.”

By George Critchlow

During periods of extreme cold, would it be possible to run some of the buses with their heaters on that are parked overnight at 1230 W. Boone Ave. to shelter the homeless? Maybe the city could provide a few porta-potties and a couple police officers and social workers to keep order and help out.