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Scary news
To the editor, The Trump, Musk consortium seems bent to discard and end all media reporting especially if facts or news are unfavorable to an authoritarian government. Since all of the major media reporting news organizations are owned by corporations with leaders who don’t involve themselves with the actual reporting, and they maybe only interested in the bottom line dealing with profit and loss, those of us who believe in Clark Kent are left struggling with the end of honest reporting looming in our future.
“The backbone of the United States is small town newspapers.” I think that is a quote but I don’t know who said it or even if that is accurate. Some of the people who write letters to the publication you are reading this in seem whacko to me but that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to write letters. The only time I have felt I experienced “Fake News” in The Newport Miner or The Selkirk Sun has been in the letters to editor section. However if Glen Pierce didn’t write letters to The Newport Miner I would have no idea what his feelings and opinions were. I think it is important to hear him even though I don’t agree with him 100 percent of the time.
I am asking everyone I meet and can bring up the subject, “Please subscribe to and read your local newspaper.” Be it The Newport Miner, Selkirk Sun up north or The Beacon in Priest River, we have editors personally involved with what goes in print, please support them! Please ask friends and neighbors to bring subscriptions up to date. Some are free to pick up, but we need to do that even to show support.
-Roger Castle Newport
Pendulum swing
To the editor, My fellow Democrats complain that President Trump maliciously causes chaos by shutting down whole federal government agencies. They get their information from captured corporate media, so they are missing information vital to understand the current context.
My assessment is the shadow government operatives are nested in the departments of “dirty tricks”: USAID, FBI and the CIA. To stop these operations cold, the strategy is to cut funding and shutter the departments. President Trump made it clear that genuine humanitarian aid is excluded from the sting.
Vice President Vance said via X, “This is the new normal. Expect this rapid-fire, breakneck pace to continue for four full years.” Indeed, the pace is so frenzied that the captured corporate media can’t figure out what’s happening fast enough to shape the appropriate propaganda narrative about it and stay relevant.
According to @JohnKonrad on X, the team may be utilizing a wartime strategy known as the OODA Loop. It’s a method of making better decisions with limited information in order to out-maneuver the enemy. Point the enemy in one direction, then quickly act somewhere else.
Konrad explains, “The NYTimes’ primary function isn’t journalism. It’s narrative coordination – setting the frame so the entire political-media machine knows how to think about an issue before it takes off. Ever notice how, overnight, everyone starts saying ‘Biden is sharp as a tack’ or ‘JD Vance is weird’? It’s not random. It’s a system.”
I see the Trump team defeating this system by out-maneuvering it. President Trump made provocative statements about setting tariffs with neighboring countries. The media predictably loudly squawked about looming price increases and shortages to stoke outrage in their ever-shrinking audience. Twenty- four hours later, agreements were reached and the tariffs were paused, exposing the outrage storm as rather silly.
I’m liking this new normal!
-Kamori Cattadoris Newport
To the Pend Oreille County Roads Department
To the editor, I would like to express my appreciation to the road crews who have kept our county roads and Highway 2 safe for travel this winter. I leave for work before 7 a.m. and I’m so thankful that the road I live on is always sanded and Highway 2 is always clear so that my 30-minute commute is relatively un-stressful for winter driving.
Police officers and fire fighters are often lauded as heroes for keeping us safe, but road crews also deserve recognition. Thank you for getting out so early and making travel safer.
-Kim Frlan Elk
Time to move forward
To the editor, President Trump has been in office just a short while and is already turning the ship in the opposite direction from the course Biden had us on. He has virtually shut down the illegal border crossings from a tidal wave to a trickle. He is deporting known illegal alien criminals. He is making it known to our allies and trading partners that America will not be taken advantage of any longer. He has reassured Israel that the U.S. stands with them. The voters, including many democrats in our democracy, said they have had enough of far left policies that resulted in 4 years of high fuel prices and massive inflation, a weak foreign policy and a bloated government. Liberals and media alike never complained about those problems but did suggest it was the then out of power Republicans fault. So for now things have changed. Before continuing with false accusations and unwarranted criticism, give Mr. Trump a chance. If he is successful America will be successful. Even the naysayers!
-K.C. Hunt Newport
Now’s the time to act
To the editor, I wonder if there is a method to Trump’s madness or just madness in his methods? Or both.
Perhaps the bright, shiny, image of turning bombed-out Gaza into a Trump resort is to distract us from the demolition of the US Department of Education. Perhaps the demented musings about DEI causing a lethal plane crash are to take our focus off an unelected billionaire and his 20something minions collecting ALL our personal data. Perhaps pulling out the World Health Organization is to ease the acceptance of a vaccine denier as the head of the Federal Health agencies. Perhaps threatening a 25% tariff on our neighbors and best trading partners is really to get us to overlook the firing of thousands of dedicated Federal workers who have been DOING THEIR JOB. Or perhaps this is what a coup looks like.
By the time our Social Security checks have stopped coming, or the air in Pend Oreille County is brown from pollution, or all children with disabilities have no services available in school, or eggs are not available due to the bird flu pandemic, or the survivors of hurricanes or wildfires or tornados get only our thoughts and prayers instead of help, by that time the coup will be over and our children will ask us, “What happened and where were you?”
On a snowy February afternoon it may feel like these bizarre events headquartered in Washington DC won’t make much difference to us here. That’s just burying one’s head in the sand. If you have concerns about how our government is being run, you can contact your elected representatives and tell them. At least you have that ability now, until that right, too, is taken away.
-Martha Nichols Newport
Our new dictator
To the editor, I think Gaza-a-Lago (Trump development in Gaza) as well as invading Greenland or Panama are ridiculous sideshows to the pickpocketing Trump and his allies are currently performing. Unfortunately, the mainstream media seems to be falling for Trump’s distraction tactics.
As reported on PBS Newshour, last week’s funding freeze hit states in two areas – HeadStart and Community Healthcare Centers; these two programs are funded through Health and Human Services (HHS). Joel Ryan of Washington State Association of Head Start stated they were blocked from receiving funds to cover such things as rent that had already been expended. Fortunately, two judges overturned this freeze but how long will that last? Who enforces a judgement?
To shut down or diminish programs authorized by Congress is illegal executive overreach. To invalidate the 14th amendment to the US Constitution is clearly illegal. To grant a private citizen – Elon Musk - access to the US Treasury’s payment system is dangerous and of unbelievably bad judgement. Let’s just hope Trump keeps access to the nuclear codes to himself and has the good sense to not use them.
Trump said he would be a dictator only on Day 1, but as we all know he lies constantly. Can you hear Putin and Xi Jinping cheering? I can.
-Sandy Nichols Newport Cuts are to drain the swamp
To the editor, The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was created to assist in foreign development and assist in times of crisis. Elon and DOGE locked off their HQ and are analyzing their systems and books.
The uni-party is screaming to have them stop and get them out. They are saying this is illegal and Elon is not an official employee.
USAID is being absorbed into the State Dept. Elon is volunteering his time.
What they are finding is total corruption and way off their mission. Those screaming at him to stop are posting on X. Elon responded with a post “Are we uncovering your money laundering scheme”?
Those that scream the loudest tend to have the most to hide.
Pfizer was number two on their recipient list in 2024 with millions in contracts. Elon found over 100B in COVID PPP that was stolen by foreign fraud rings. They also found millions in “subscriptions” to media outlets such as NYT’s, Reuters, AP, BBC and Politico. The week after they froze payouts, Politico couldn’t make payroll. Coincidence? USAID was also funding the Democrat party, Wuhan lab, Smartmatic election systems and EcoHealth etc. USAID spent millions sending J-lo, Ben Stiller and Sean Penn to Ukraine for pictures with Zelensky.
USAID is 1% of the Federal budget and account for Billions in “off mission” spending including the 2019 impeachment of Trump. They spent millions on sex changes, tourism in Egypt and Sesame Street in Iraq. Leaders from around the world are praising Trump for this discovery. Dismantling USAID is a critical blow to Globalism. Trump fired nearly 10K world-wide at USAID, he left 294.
Trump committed to auditing any NGO that receives Federal money. How do you drain the swamp?
Start by cutting off their funding. DOGE to the rescue? Tax payer money.
Fraud. Waste. Audit.
-Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick
Trump’s comments misinformed, disrespectful
To the editor, Trump is full of it once again by claiming that DEI was the cause of the DC airliner/Army helicopter mid-air crash. This is the first accident of this type in 16 years. If DEI incompetence was real in the aviation community, why only one accident of this type in 16 years?
Trump disrespected all the people in the aviation community with his false claims. The standards haven’t been lowered for pilots and air traffic controllers so that less qualified DEI candidates could qualify.
The Trump assumption is that non-white males and females are by nature less qualified. The black/brown person or female just can’t be as intelligent and capable as a white male.
The DC accident will take months to investigate and determine the cause. Trump’s remarks after a few hours were uninformed nonsense and speculation. Trump mentioned deaf, blind and dwarf FAA DEI recruiting.
Sure, you voted for Trump as he is the smartest man in the USA who knows everything without even thinking about it. When Trump speaks, we become less informed.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk has raided federal databases and has our personal data to do with it what he pleases. He has not taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
Did Americans vote for a shadow president who bought Trump with his money? Musk has grabbed authority that the Constitution does not give to any private citizen. Musk acts like he bought the US government and now it is his business to run.
Musk’s intention is to legally steal our money under the false assumption of government efficiency. The money saved will go indirectly into Musk’s pocket in the form of a tax cut. We have a constitutional right to privacy that Musk has violated. He is no better than a criminal hacker from China or Iran.
-Pete Scobby Newport
Trump’s rule by fear
To the editor, I have voted in 16 Presidential elections since 1964, and survived nine Republicans and seven Democrats who won the White House. Until January 6, 2021, prior elections mostly brought acceptance because laws, regulations, and informal political rules defined appropriate behavior in our society.
What we can’t accept from the 2025 inauguration of President Trump is his most extreme threat to those sideboards of democracy – FEAR. It’s the strategy of Trump’s favorite dictator, Vladimir Putin. Trump and his Project 2025 allies released a “shock and awe” blitz to overwhelm and discourage opponents, and they threatened or applied lethal reprisals on voters, businesses, government workers, and even members of his own party.
Republicans in the House and Senate have completely relinquished their oversight role in vetting department heads. Trump demands personal loyalty and has threatened to promote primary challengers for any wayward Senator or Representative. Businesses have abandoned ethical policies vital to civility and the environment. Planet Earth’s survival is in jeopardy despite the most wisdom ever available to decision-makers.
Career Federal civil service employees are dismissed without cause or downsized from purposely withheld agency funding.
A recent threat from the administration required agency employees to spy on their peers in a search of DEI content. Requiring agency employees to “see something, say something” is relevant for security threats, not for policy text.
Besides, as a former federal employee, you can trust me to know that pitting peers against each other is the best way to insert instability and the worst to unify for work output.
Trump’s playbook is horrific and the nation’s fear is real and extensive.
We must resist where we can, but also trust the legal system to play out like it did after the insurrection.
Ed Styskel Newport
