Letters: Pelosi the problem, GOP insurrection, heed climate scientists and more | Jan. 17

What about 4 years ago?

Your editorial of Jan. 6 blaming Republican lawmakers for what you describe as an insurrection at the Capitol is disturbing for many reasons. It was a sad day for our country, no doubt, and those who committed crimes should be prosecuted. Yet, none of the so-called peaceful protests that occurred around the country this year were termed insurrections, even when federal buildings were set aflame.

Where was your outrage then? How many of the protesters who started fires were prosecuted? The vice president-elect created a fund to help those protesters in case they needed bail money! This divisiveness didn’t begin yesterday or last week. It began four years ago when Democrat lawmakers began their crusade to impeach and unseat a duly-elected president. I recall a Congress member, and I paraphrase, “impeach the (expletive)” before he was even sworn in. All because of a profound hate for a candidate whom they felt stole the election from them. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Those Democrat lawmakers also share the blame for what transpired yesterday. And they get a pass. Your allegiance is obvious in this writing, and that makes you responsible for the division in our country as well.

.......

Peeved at Pelosi, the real problem

(The) real cause of all the current hate and discontent in this country:

Nancy Pelosi and her grandiose play of ripping her copy of the State of The Union speech, on national television, photos published by CNN and other media outlets, currently still available on U-Tube.

She set the tone of her agenda and has done nothing but fan the flames of obstructionism since Trump was elected. So instead of focus being pointed at Trump, continuing the attempt of removing him from office with less than three weeks left in office, deal with the real problem. Impeach Pelosi.

.......

Crisis mirrors French history

I read with raised eyebrows Jim Davison’s excellent letter detailing the excessive “pork” tied to the COVID-19 bill. These billions of dollars are our nation’s income. Your tax dollars. The recipients of these enormous sums do not appear worthy or admirable. Pork money sums are frightening and systemic.

The U.S. middle class is shrinking. The top 5% upper-income households have the fastest monetary growth. Economic inequality continues to widen.

It does not matter if you are Democrat or Republican; Congress, which represents all of us, does nothing. Congress prefers to fight unproductively, along party lines. We are failing economically and financially. A class struggle of have and have nots is brewing.

Remember the French Revolution when the people stormed the Bastille? This crisis mirrors history.

.......

GOP acts amount to insurrection

Never in my lifetime did I think I’d see a former military general call for a president to use the military to overturn an election. And what’s worse, the two Eastern Washington Republican congressional Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse confessed, in writing, to being anti-democratic by supporting overturning a legitimate election! It’s a threat to the American experiment in constitutional democracy, demonstrating how close our democracy is to failing! It’s time Republicans are held accountable!

The Constitution stipulates that insurrectionists who violate their oath are not allowed to serve in Congress. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, written to exclude Confederate Civil War traitors, says, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress … who … having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same[.]”

Whether Republicans believe their lunatic claims is irrelevant. It’s still insurrection.

Democrats have every right, both under the Constitution and under the principle of popular sovereignty outlined in the Declaration of Independence, to convene a traitor-free Congress.

Citizens, it’s time for you to choose between an autocracy and a republic.

.......

Choosing between politics, eternity

In response to there Letter to the Editor of Jan. 3 from Judith Loomis:

Like it or not, true Christians believe differently than non-Christians. If not aborted, we all were formed in our mother’s womb, and while on earth we choose what we want to believe or not believe . I strongly believe you have made the wrong choice for the president of the United States of America. I hope you make the right choice as to where you choose to spend eternity.

.......

Rep. Newhouse worried by debt?

Pre-COVID-19, many Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. A large proportion could not come up with $400 for an emergency. The unemployment rate had steadily declined under President Obama and continued under Trump, to a low of 3.5%.

Since the pandemic began, millions more have fallen on financial hard times. (About) 152 million Americans were employed before the pandemic; 22 million lost their jobs, and 12 million of those have since been recovered. That leaves 10 million people whom lost their jobs and have yet to find a new one.

In 2017, Dan Newhouse supported a massive tax giveaway to the extremely wealthy. While the bill cut taxes for most individuals, the vast majority of the savings went to large corporations and the top 1%. It also increased the national debt.

Recently, he voted for a bill that would provide many Americans a measly one-time payment of $600 while providing hundreds of billions to other causes. While $600 will certainly help, it falls vastly short of what is needed. Even as President Trump has called for this amount to be increased to $2,000, Dan Newhouse says that he can’t support it because ... you guessed it, he’s worried about the national debt.

.......

We need to heed climate scientists

CBS News recently reported on a new scientific study about the risk of catastrophic sea level rise in coming years (Sea-level rise from climate change could exceed the high-end projections, scientists warn: CBS News). The study suggests that the potential for much higher sea level rise is significantly greater than the currently understated IPCC estimates. At a minimum, there is a greater risk of displacement and forced migration issues with consequences for national security.

This is not a hoax. These are respected mainstream climate scientists urging us to take concerted action. This situation can be compared to mainstream scientists and health officials who urged concerted action against COVID-19. We have seen the results of ignoring their scientific advice with a soaring death toll now exceeding 355,000 in the U.S. with the related consequences. Where their advice has been heeded, the worst consequences of the virus have been blunted. Rampaging hospitalizations and death have followed when their advice was ignored.

We now have the opportunity to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, but we need to stop listening to deniers and those who understate the challenges ahead and begin to heed the scientists.

This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Pelosi the problem, GOP insurrection, heed climate scientists and more | Jan. 17."