Letters: Dec. 25, 2019

Pleased to see positive article

I congratulate you on printing the Commentary in the Dec. 15 paper. Written by Ivanka Trump and Tomas Philipson, it discussed in data-driven detail how well the economy is doing under the Trump Administration. Excellent article, and surprising, as one doesn’t routinely find articles which present a positive view of the current administration.

The booming U.S. economy is big news, and should be brought to the awareness of every American. The work being done by the National Council of the American Worker is important. Thanks for the good news.

Putin is smiling as GOP backslaps

I noticed during the impeachment hearings that the Republicans on both committees repeatedly interrupted the committee chairmen demanding “Point of Order,” “Unanimous Consent,” and “Parliamentary Inquiry.” One might argue there are valid points that need to be clarified, but the members all know the rules — whether they like them or not. In the latest hearings, one Republican, mimicking Tourette’s symptoms, took to shouting out in the middle of questions and testimony.

Republicans’ questions clearly show there is no exculpatory evidence to be uncovered, nor is there any defense for Donald Trump’s impeachable actions, so the only strategies remaining for them are to disrupt the impeachment proceedings, attempt to smear the reputation of honorable witnesses, continually repeat discredited allegations, introduce irrelevant facts and whine about the process. And at the end of the day, when the hearings have adjourned but the cameras are still rolling, do we see Republicans huddled together in serious, solemn discussions? No, we do not. What we see is Republicans laughing and backslapping, congratulating each other for their unprofessional, unpatriotic behavior.

Our country is in a crisis and the Republicans are treating it as a joke. And Vladimir Putin is smiling.

Let’s not forget: Japan started war

Among the letters about Richland High’s mushroom cloud, not one person mentioned that it was Japan that started the war with us. We dropped the atom bombs in defense. The killing of innocent people is always tragic, but had we not dropped the atom bombs, the war would likely have gone on much longer, thus we prevented many deaths.

None of the letters mentioned the effort by the Japanese to cause devastation to innocent people on our mainland. They sent up thousands of weather balloon bombs. Some of those bombs started fires. One got caught on a power line in the Hanford reservation. Only one actually killed people. It fell near Bly, Ore., in May 1945. Among those killed were two teenage members of my extended family. Our government did not want press coverage of those events in hopes that Japan would assume that the balloons had not made it here and would stop sending them up. An elaborate effort was taken to quietly inform the public about the bombs and educate them as to what to do if they did find one. My father was involved in that effort.

Again — the Japanese started it. We shouldn’t have to apologize for defending ourselves.

This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Letters: Dec. 25, 2019."