Letters: Graduations, COVID-19 numbers, open Washington and more | May 31

Graduates’ grace makes her proud

Dear Graduating Seniors:

Like you, I was sad when I realized that because of COVID-19, you would be missing proms, sporting events, awards banquets and a traditional graduation. I marveled at the creative ways people managed to help you experience some of these things.

I know that someday you will tell your grandchildren about what happened. You will tell them how you grew during these trying times and how you learned that you can get through unexpected challenges. However, that does not lessen today’s disappointments.

I want you all to know how proud I am of each one of you. Your willingness to give up these special happenings and fun events to help keep an elderly lady like me, my husband and others in our community safe is a special gift. I appreciate it and I say thank you. The future of our country is in good hands.

Was lying to FBI really a crime?

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election of 2016 determined that president’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, lied to the FBI about his contacts with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

After being confronted, Flynn pled guilty to speaking to Kislyak about the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia and had asked that it “not escalate the situation and only respond to the U.S. sanctions in a reciprocal manner.”

U.S. Attorney General (William) Barr is asking for dismissal of the charges against Mr. Flynn. His rationale for dismissal is “… people sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes. ... And the Department of Justice is not persuaded that this was material to any legitimate counterintelligence investigation. So it is not a crime.”

Many people disagree with the AG’s conclusion. On May 11, NBC news reported that nearly 2,000 former Justice Department and FBI officials signed an open letter that disagreed with the AG’s decision, asking the AG to resign and encouraging Congress to formally censure Barr over “his repeated assaults on the rule of law in doing the president’s personal bidding rather than acting in the public interest.”

Trump economy artificial creation

Our liar-in-chief has recently referred to our economy as “the most successful economy in the history of the world,” never mentioning that he inherited a strong economy from President Obama. Of course Trump offers no metrics to support this claim, and he hopes no one will ask for details. When a journalist asked for specifics, he simply called it a nasty question and pointed to his head, where all truth and knowledge reside.

Anyone with even a modest understanding of economics recognizes three tactics for “goosing” a weak economy, and Trump has applied all three to his alleged “most successful economy in the history of the world.” Weak and successful at the same time?

First, a successful economy would be paying down the national debt, like Clinton did in the late 1990s, not running trillion-dollar deficits. Second, taxes should be increased, if anything, to pay down the debt and to provide resources for inevitable rainy days. Handing huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans makes no sense in an allegedly thriving economy. And lastly, interest rates by the Federal Reserve should be raised to discourage excessively risky borrowing by corporations or the country; Trump has demanded zero interest to stimulate an already hyperactive economy. “Successful, my foot,” I say.

More information would be helpful

I appreciate the Herald’s daily updates on Coronavirus, however, I feel there is one important statistic that is missing. How many people have had to be hospitalized since the outbreak began?

You publish the number who are currently hospitalized each day, but we don’t know how many of those are the same people that were published the week before. What is the total number of people who have been hospitalized since the outbreak began? Are those people mostly old or with preexisting conditions?

People seem to be seeing the seriousness of this virus based only on deaths. Are there a significant number of people who recover, but have spent time in the hospital? Is death the only measure of its severity? Is the ability to go to a restaurant, etc., worth a big hospital bill or weeks of disability?

We need to know what the real risks are.

Editor’s Note: The length of COVID-19 related hospitalizations, or other patient information is not available from the health department or local hospitals.

More unqualified Trump appointees

It would seem you just can’t make this stuff up! The Trump Administration has appointed Brian Harrison to a post in the Health and Human Services to head up the COVID-19 response (Newsweek, 4/22/20).

Mr. Harrison has no education in medicine nor public health; he degreed in economics.

Mr. Harrison is a breeder of Labradoodle dogs.

By the time the Tri-City Herald, if I’m lucky, prints this letter, roughly a month will have passed. In 30 days, who else might be appointed to science, medicine or health positions in the Trump administration?

How about having a Schnauzer breeder for ambassador to Germany?

Let’s have a turtle breeder to head up our Army’s amphibious forces.

I know an unemployed rabbit raiser who’d qualify for census taker.

A parakeet breeder might apply to direct projects at NASA.

A secretive snake charmer down the street seems right for the CIA.

Let’s all help the president to fill government positions with unqualified people of dubious merit. (No Trump University grads need apply; they only bred discontent.)

Let’s work to get back to normal

We need to reopen. It’s on each resident of the Tri-Cities and surrounding area. I do not agree with the current state orders, but citizens, it is what it is. Reduce the number of new cases for 14 days and we’re open. Tyson had 277 employees working with the virus, of which more than half had no symptoms. Wearing a mask prevents you from passing the virus to others. You could be the half spreading with no symptoms. Is it worth standing up for your Rights or not being uncomfortable for the short period of time to keep our numbers so high we’ll never be allowed to reopen? Please, let’s play their game! Open our county and get life back to normal. This is my daily, hourly prayer.

Primary ballots were badly flawed

I so very much agree with Thomas A. Galioto's letter (3/5/20) about the primary ballots not being secure. I definitely disagree with the way the ballots were handled this election. First, I do not think that it is fair to make voters identify themselves as either a Republican or a Democrat and especially not on the outside of the envelope. It is no one's business. Also, there are other people in this world that are not of either party but are voting for one of those on the ballot. I think the state made a very bad choice to identify voters that way.

We are suppose to be encouraging people to vote no alienating them.

Inslee needs to open up state now

Washington needs to go at least (to) Phase 2. (Gov. Jay) Inslee refused to let our restaurants, beauty salons, barbershops, or camping open. Our small businesses are having to close. He is also discriminating against seniors 65 and older (who) can't go to the gym. We should be allowed to make that decision, not him.

He has a site where people can turn their own neighbors and businesses in for not following his rules; that's horrible and very dangerous. We are only trying to make a living. Our churches are not allowed to meet, other than drive in. We have been on stay at home for over three months. Oregon, California and Idaho have opened. He is killing our economy. Our businesses have followed all his rules. Our seniors can not get vital medications because people are hoarding them. We see on the news that just about everyday someone dies the doctors say it was the Coronavirus that killed them. (Inslee) said that he, the governor of Oregon and the governor of California would decide when to open, well they have opened. We need Washington state to open up now. We need to email, or call him.

Open up for most of us under 40

There is too much myopic, black and white thinking regarding COVID-19.

Those who are worried about exposure have the choice of staying home and conducting business via phone, email, Zoom, etc. Necessities can be delivered. By all means protect yourself. Nursing homes and medical facilities should be protected. But for healthy individuals under 40, life should continue normally, sans ineffective face masks that viruses easily pass through.

As for those of us over 50 who can take a step back and look at the expansive, long-term damage to come if things continue as they are going, we will protest others trying to decide for us.

What's next? Banning all leisure travel because it causes needless, preventable deaths? Or making masks required forever because there are always deadly flu viruses circulating? Mandating that people stay inside, blanketed by toxic Wi-Fi, 4g, and 5g makes no sense. People should be out at parks and beaches, in the sunshine where viruses are destroyed.

Let those who are worried segregate themselves voluntarily, so that economies, educations and jobs are not destroyed needlessly.

Remember the good times

I appreciate during this shutdown seeing re-runs of old classics on Root and elsewhere. I watched the May, 2012 Perfect Game by pitcher Felix Hernandez, cheered on by fans packing the stadium at Safeco Field. It was our heyday! Yes, boys and girls, we had a heyday once. Nowadays, the team would have to pay us to fill the stadium.

Mariners won 1-0. No cushion, just Felix. No hits. No runs. Also enjoyed seeing pitcher Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez, Junior and A-Rod in their prime when they were ours.

Elsewhere there was the beautiful, shining, exciting Stanley Cup.

Stuff like this lifts our hearts and fills us with memories of the good old days. Thank you Root et al.

This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Graduations, COVID-19 numbers, open Washington and more | May 31."