Letters for Aug. 15, 2023

Archer testimony in print

Patrick Kirby (“S-R ignored Archer testimony,” Aug. 7) is disappointed that The Spokesman-Review didn’t print anything about Devon Archer’s testimony regarding Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s business affairs. Here you go:

Joe Biden never discussed any business dealings with his son in Archer’s presence, according to Archer’s testimony. He also testified that there was no Joe Biden bribery scheme.

By the way, this is the same Republican bribery scheme investigation in which its star witness turned out to be a Chinese spy, and also missing.

I feel pity for those who have discarded so much to support a man who now has 78 easily proven criminal charges leveled at him.

When he ran for president, we knew who he was, and he told us who he was. During his presidency and after, he affirmed being: a serial liar, a huckster, a racist, a thief, a spy, a sexual assaulter, an enemy of our armed forces, police and veterans, etc. He never failed to put his monetary interests, vanity and quest for power above the United States’ interests and safety. And now justice is knocking on his door.

Sadly, some of you will continue to stand by him as these criminal trials prove, once again, who he truly is. Many of you aren’t like him but only sought comfort and community among those who emulate his “values.” I suspect most of you are better than this. What you have done, and continue to do, to yourself is tragic.

Maeve Griffith

Spokane

Flag should be a symbol of unity for all Americans

Curt Stone’s letter published Aug. 8, “Flag sacred to conservatives, not liberals” is a sad testament to why division in this country is so strong.

Our nation’s flag was a symbol of the unity that our democracy and Constitution are supposed to symbolize. Your values are yours alone, not something to impose on others. Frankly, the flag was co-opted as a stage prop by the 45th president of our democracy as an act to speak to base fears he sought to engender. Since that time, the American flag has been symbolic of hatred and division, quite the opposite of unity. It has become a symbol of intolerance and hatred.

I am liberal apparently because I believe in freedom and that freedom is for everyone, not merely for angry mobs, to be flown on pickup trucks or swung at capital police. We have drifted so far from the country I grew up in that I barely recognize it as a democracy. It seems as though no one cares enough about their neighbors to accept them as they are, rather they seek to regulate their difference out of existence.

When our flag can represent all of our nation, and not factions, I’ll gladly feel reverence for it. My father served our country and fought bravely in the armed forces fighting to protect freedom of Europeans threatened by Nazis. That’s the flag I remember saluting and putting my hand over my heart and pledging allegiance to. What have we done to destroy that unity?

Janelle Sills

Medical Lake

Promote peace instead of conflict

How much of your tax money is devoted to helping or killing people; building or destroying? Last December’s debt ceiling bill contained nearly $4 billion for military aid to Israel and $300 million for Palestine.

On July 3, Israel mounted an air and ground offensive (the largest in 20 years) with 1,000 troops in Jenin city, leaving 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead and more than 100 Palestinians wounded. This onslaught, which used Apache helicopters, resulted in a massive destruction of the refugee camp with a complete power outage and cut to Internet and water supplies. Doctors Without Borders reported the destruction of roads by military bulldozers blocked ambulances from reaching the wounded, while paramedics were forced to reach people on foot. Palestinians are being killed almost every day. Even now, Israel is removing Bedouins from their village to expand settlements.

Imagine, this is our military budget at work, and Ukraine and other hotspots haven’t been mentioned.

It is time to ask what is the end game for Israel’s extremist far-right government and its important supplier, the United States. Our country has an obligation to promote real change by demanding conditions on aid given to Israel and Palestine. For starters, let’s demand that Representative McMorris Rodgers support McCollum’s bill (H.R.3103) entitled “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.” It is endorsed by more than 75 mainline churches and nonprofits.

Let’s promote peace instead of conflict; healing not hurting; building not destroying.

Nancy Street

Cheney