Electric cars stall in the cold, Jan. 6 wasn’t an insurrection and other Herald letters
For now, he’ll stay with gasoline
Charles Lane’s Commentary, “Imagine icy traffic jams with only electric vehicles,” (Jan. 9) points out the dilemma if all internal combustion vehicles were to be replaced by electric vehicles as hyped by government agencies. Electric vehicles at best have a range of approximately 300 miles, depending on the vehicle manufacturer. If every electric vehicle were to stall on the highway with no way to recharge, the battery would result in a traffic jam.
What if I drove my electric vehicle to a destination exceeding the battery’s range? A friend lives in Idaho, approximately 400 miles from my home in Prosser, taking approximately six hours to complete the journey. If my electric vehicle has a range of only 300 miles, I would have to stop along the way to recharge my battery. Assuming that there is an available recharging station, it could take at least eight hours to get a full charge. So, what do I do for eight hours? Pay for a room? Sit in the park? Twiddle my thumbs? My trip could, therefore, take 12 hours or more to complete. I think I will stick with my gasoline-powered vehicle.
Charles A. Robinson, Prosser
Klippert makes us a laughingstock
Does the Tri-Cities want to be known as the laughingstock of Washington state? State Rep. Brad Klippert and Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier (COVID vaccine and face mask deniers) should not be representing anyone.
And no citizen of this state should be paying for Klippert to attend Mike Lindell’s “Cyber Symposium.” Only with his own money should Klippert have attended the debunked Trump Conspiracy Theory conference.
Does the Tri-Cities want to be seen as a place where ultra-right wing Trump supporters are elected, and cling to the notion that the free and fair election of President Joe Biden can be overthrown just by falsely claiming an unhinged corrupt autocrat won reelection?
Thankfully, the majority of Americans would not subvert our Constitution and our way of life. And the majority of Americans have the decency to wear face masks to protect themselves and others, and get COVID vaccinations and boosters vaccinations, to try to end this viral scourge that keeps on sickening and killing.
Amy Small, Richland
Go Joe
Go Biden, not Brandon.
Lee Garza, West Richland
T-shirt slogan shows ignorance
My husband and I were having dinner at Applebee’s last Thursday night. Some older guy came in.
He took his jacket off, he was wearing a T-shirt with a slogan that I won’t repeat. It just shows how ignorant he is.
But my President is too busy working his butt off to even acknowledge such a stupid slogan.
So all you people putting that slogan on your shirts, your trucks, house. Whatever ….
Kathy Brenberger, West Richland
Not insurrection, reader believes
Media articles and reports regarding the Jan. 6 march on the Capitol because former President Trump received more than 11 million votes than in 2016 and lost the election to Biden labeled the event as an Insurrection.
Other than the shooting of Ashii Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, by a Capitol Police officer, there were no firearms fired as there were there no marchers “armed”. However, it has been reported that five people died during or shortly after the event (e.g. TCH page 1C, Jan. 9).
One might think these deaths were caused by the “so-called insurrectionists.” Fact is they were all Trump supporters. Ashii Babbitt, Kevin Greeson (heart attack outside the Capitol), Benjamin Phillips (stroke the day of the event), Rosanne Boyland (police pushed protesters on her and died in the crush.) and Officer Sicknick ( Died of natural causes at home. Not as reported by the N.Y. Times bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher.)
The march was to be peaceful but because of a few and the methods to control the early marchers, it became a mob. More than 74 million ... voted, not for Trump, but to have this country continue with optimism and love of this country.
Don Curet, Richland
Complaint a sign of poor losers
Poor losers!
What Don Britain and Steve Lee are doing is sending a strong message of being poor losers. Regarding ethics, Britain is very familiar with that process. And actually, if there really was an ethics issue, why wasn’t it brought up earlier? Besides appearing to be poor losers, it looks like they are blaming the electorate for not re-electing either of them and this is their shot. How sad to display this kind of behavior. You lost for various reasons, so just get over it and move on with your lives.
Michael S. Cochrane, Kennewick
Team mentality not right for country
It’s worth reviewing the video footage of the U.S. Senate “event” of Jan. 6, 2021. Ask yourself, “What led up to this?” And “who’s responsible?” ABC news has several recap videos. Are they biased videos with a political bend — i.e. fake news? You decide: or maybe you’ve already made up your mind and don’t want to be troubled with facts and information.
Many Americans think the people who stormed the capitol were exercising their right to peaceful protest. There probably were citizens who started out on that march with peaceful intentions, but the video footage makes it’s painfully obvious there were many more with a very different intention.
America’s political mentality has devolved into simple team rivalry: Go Cougs!; Go Huskies! We elect our “Coug” or “Husky” to fight for our team. It is sadly banal that citizens of this country are so easily duped into adopting this team mentality. We should be cheering for America and its foundation as a country that operates through the peoples’ choice. Instead we cheer for our team and try to defeat the other team. Think for yourselves America. You don’t have to choose Cougs or Huskies.
Mark A. Underwood, West Richland
Socialism explained
AG Lyons’ Dec. 26 letter on Socialism, while interesting,seems to miss some important points.
1. Capitalism is an aggregate of businesses, corporations, capital markets, etc.
Socialism is found in social programs, policies, government departments (defense, education, law/justice, etc.).
Capitalism and Socialism can be considered by individual “examples” or as a whole.
2. Most countries have elements of both (i.e., mixed economies).
Capitalism and Socialism are not mutually exclusive,
3. Capitalism doesn’t always succeed and Socialism doesn’t always fail.
Either can be poorly run, immoral or illegal (hence a very large body of “business” law).
We see Capitalism’s “successes” but some of its’ “failures” include:
1. Our nation’s growing division of wealth (and influence).
2. Nearly half (40%) of America doesn’t have $400 for an emergency.
3. The opioid epidemic, cost of drugs and medical care.
4. People are seen as a commodity to be exploited (deceptive advertising, fake news, Facebook, etc.).
5. Undue influencing of legislation (“I’ll vote for campaign donations.”)
6. Inequality of “legal” representation, “democratic” inequality, war/military profiteering, job outsourcing, negative externalities (pollution, depletion of resources, urban congestion, etc.).
7. Cycles of boom and bust, etc. Yup, nothing is perfect.
D. L. (Andy) Anderson, Richland