Letters for Nov. 13, 2024

Let’s hope we all can heal

To combat the horrible sinking feeling I had from the headlines of Nov. 6 wherein an insane and evil person was announced as our next president, The Spokesman-Review gave me a lift, albeit small, with reporting two other unrelated articles. I was pleased to see that Police Chief Hall has “started a new conversation” about “exceptional techniques” that officers have used to hide behind in their justification for using reprehensible tactics in controlling human beings. Even the president of the police guild seems to be on board with this new conversation. It appears that Mayor Lisa Brown has made the right choice in selecting our new chief.

The other positive piece was Mark Finney’s guest opinion outlining suggestions as to how to deal with the aftermath of the election, “A time to heal after a divisive election season.” I hope to heal. I hope we all can.

Linda Greene

Spokane

They do jobs others won’t

Michael Baumgartner argues, “Refugees should not be demonized, but too many people coming to America now are taking advantage of America’s goodness.”

Refugees are a specific classification of noncitizens, rigorously vetted before entering the country. Once here, they have access to the same public benefits as citizens. Is that what he means by goodness? Are other types of noncitizens, lawful permanent residents, for example, or the undocumented, taking advantage of America’s goodness, material or otherwise? Most noncitizens have little access to America’s material goodness. Most lawful permanent residents must wait five years before being able to access that goodness, yet they still support it through taxes. The undocumented pay income taxes, supporting welfare programs for which they are ineligible. They typically have no health insurance. They do jobs others won’t. Many are here because they’ve fled poverty and violence in their home countries, the result, in some cases, of U. S. military intervention–Vietnam, for example, or Iraq, or our support of the ultra-right regime in El Salvador in the 1980s.

The fact is, we take advantage of them – people caught between the rock of poverty and violence in their home countries and the hard place of being hunted by the immigration authorities in this one.

What’s more, they lend themselves awfully well to politicians who are constantly looking for some “other” at whose feet to lay all of our problems.

Gregory Cunningham

Spokane

Our problems are never their problems

I absolutely can’t believe you would put biased, full of right-wing propaganda, lies in the paper. Not only full of lies, but from a source that their full intent is to spew a false narrative of things that aren’t real. Heritage Foundation! Really?

Article by E.J. Antoni, Heritage Foundation.

How many seniors are out there that move money from 401(k)s to bonds, etc.?

Another example of trying to make an issue for the rich 1% into a problem for all.

Stewart Bowmer

Spokane