Letters for Feb. 17, 2022

We have the right to know

The real Republicans In Name Only are the Republican National Committee members who voted to censure the GOP members of Congress who are participating in the investigation of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. To say that what happened on that day was legitimate political discourse is a disgrace. Since when is assault on law enforcement officers legitimate? What the RNC did was to support anarchy. Real Republicans support law and order.

The real heirs of Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Everett Dirksen, Bob Dole and other true Republicans are Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. They take their oath to defend the Constitution as a sacred duty.

The current RNC is the legacy of Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats who became Republicans because they opposed civil rights legislation and have preserved that tradition through George Wallace, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump. It defends Trump, not the Constitution.

Republicans must now decide whether they will embrace the legacy of Lincoln or the legacy of Trump. They cannot do both. Local Republicans, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers, owe it to us all to tell us where they stand.

Michael W. O’Dea

Spokane

Biden administration doing great

President Biden is making great strides in improving the lives of Americans. Sometimes we don’t hear what his administration has accomplished because he is busy at work and doesn’t have time to boast. In fact, I have read and heard that he hasn’t done anything in his first year, and I would like to refute that wrong information.

We need to set the record straight by noting just a few of his successes. He has enhanced the child tax credit and expanded unemployment insurance for millions. He has helped pass a rescue package that puts money in people’s pockets; he has provided free lifesaving COVID boosters and vaccines and made them widely available to anyone who wants them. Biden has extracted the U.S. from the seemingly unending war in Afghanistan. He has created over 6 million new jobs while unemployment has dropped to 3.9%, even with all the interference of the pandemic. In addition, he has been involved in passing a bipartisan infrastructure package that will repair bridges and roads, expand high speed internet and create millions of well-paying jobs.

The country should be proud of all of his work and his efforts to work across the aisle. We are already seeing our lives getting back on track and can all look forward to Biden’s successes in the coming months and years, expecting peace on earth will prevail.

Nancy Street

Cheney

Pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Pregnant women have enough to deal with as it is. The last thing they need is abuse, losing rights at work. Pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

John Alder

Spokane

Don’t muddle the Wordle

We instinctively crave thought-provoking, novel content through movies, books, news, puzzles, what have you. The emergence of Wordle is apropos, a smart word game easily accessible online with no ads or gimmicks (for now). Smart. Aah! Could that be today’s word? I digress.

The fact is we are spoilt as a race and nation, quick to pounce on things working perfectly only to ruin them, to gratify our impulse to process concepts quicker than our brains should allow. Why just a golden egg and not cut the goose open already? Why focus on the process and not opt for the devious?

A barrage of articles strategizing the “best” word to start Wordle attests to such impatience.

Pray, why do we have to “strategize” and problematize a simple guessing game? Millions aren’t at stake; we’re not conjuring up inane tricks for likes and followers; it’s just us, a screen and our brain. Let’s take our time. No rush. Keep it simple. We should summon our presumed second-grade literacy skills once every day and play the game as intended – guess a word. Again. And again.

The game gives us mind-blowing six chances to get a five-letter word right. Six!! So, let’s trust our elementary reading skills, shall we? Tell you what, let’s open a book, read some while we’re at it, and shall most likely be rewarded with our Wordle fix within its first few pages.

Satwik Sagnik Dasgupta

Spokane Valley