Opinion

I am amazed that some Republicans are putting all their eggs in one basket, thinking they can’t win again unless Trump remains the guiding force of the party.

I am writing this letter while watching the Trump impeachment trial on TV.

I listened with revulsion to Republicans’ refusal to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments, failing to repudiate her destructive broadcasting of QAnon conspiracies, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views, and white supremacy violent racist rhetoric.

It is clear by the stunning case House impeachment managers presented on Wednesday that the riot on Capitol Hill wasn’t just an uprising against the government. Previously unreleased video tells the true story.

In George Eliot’s masterpiece "Middlemarch," a dying old man adds a codicil to his will that she, Eliot, calls “the dead hand.” Edward Casaubon’s will prohibits his wife Dorothea from remarrying Casaubon’s cousin Will Ladislaw, upon penalty of being made penniless and homeless.

Defense secretary (for President Obama) Robert Gates maintained that President Biden has “been wrong on nearly ever major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades”. From President Biden’s first actions it appears that he is maintaining that record. This began with his decision to cancel the Keystone pipeline, a decision that does nothing to mitigate global climate, and destroyed the financial well-being of thousands of Americans and Canadians. Add to this the moronic suggestions by Mr. Kerry and the Vice-President on how those displaced could find new employment and you have proof of the callous incompetence. This decision also impacts our national security by threatening our energy independence. One of our closest allies and northern neighbor has been betrayed, and even though the media has yet to make the connection, it is a factor in Canada canceling cruise ships for the rest of 2021. This closes Alaska for cruise ship visits, which most lines had hoped to resume this summer.

This past Monday, our Jewish community awoke to find red swastikas painted on the Temple Beth Shalom building and the Holocaust Memorial Sculpture on its grounds.

One hopeful solution to falling salmon returns is removing the four lower Snake River dams. A lot of buzz is going on with this situation because the fishing community, Tribes, and environmental groups are concerned about salmon extinction in the Snake. The dams make salmon return difficult, and create a warm water reservoir that increases smolt death. Dam removal projects such as the Elwha breach are a great example of how salmon populations can rebound by dam breaching.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am disappointed.

I’m an Idahoan by choice, not birth. I have held this status for over 50 years. I’ve seen the twists, turns and machinations of state politics under both Democrats and Republicans. But never have I been as frustrated or disappointed as I’ve been for the past month. Frustrated by the lack of moral fiber and backbone by our federal office holders. Disappointed that these same "representatives" for all Idahoans are kowtowing to a fringe minority in an unabashed effort to not be primaried and remain in office.