YOUR OPINION

Okay, so Musk and his partner DT want to eliminate public education in the US. The only possible reason for this is to keep lower classes in our very much a Caste Society uneducated and easier to control and keep in line.

Therefore only the upper classes will be able to afford to have their children educated in private institutions and of course only the wealthy will own and run those institutions and profit by them, the teachers will probably come from lower classes. The upper class people are not likely to be in a classroom all day and keep a group of kids under control!

Now I haven’t been in favor of everything a president has done since Kennedy had the wool pulled over my eyes, but this is wrong! Head Start is included in their kill list, that is such an important and proven program for so many of our youth. Musk decided just to stop allowing congressionally approved funds to support Head Start, which is now tied up in the courts.

Medicaid and Medicare are also on the chopping block, a direct slam to the lower classes.

On another subject, to be employed with the Forest Service employees are probationary the first two years. The kings just fired 3,400 of those which is legal since they were on probation, but without consideration other than if they are active on the fire line. With all the slashing they are doing, I can’t help but think unemployment is going to soar. Since unemployment is a federal program, will that funding get cut too?

-Roger Castle Newport

Rip Van Winkle

Liberal based letters from the previous week have me wondering if those folks slept through the last four years, had no communication with the outside world or just have memory loss. I think probably they all just can’t shake Trump Derangement Syndrome. They don’t seem to realize that President Trump is a populist who won the electoral as well as the popular vote with over 77 million votes.

They also don’t understand that in his first term in office he was badgered, obstructed, lied about, falsely accused, impeached by a corrupt democrat majority congress. He also had to deal with a hostel media that under-reported and falsely reported what was going on in his administration. He learned about how evil some politicians could be. So this time he hit the ground running, anticipating the tactics of those opposed to change. He has surrounded himself with a team of talented, intelligent people that want to run the government with honesty and efficiency by eliminating fraud and waste.

What is hard to understand is that so many on the left are crying out “the sky is falling” and believe Mr. Trump wants cuts in government spending and pass the savings to his billionaire friends. I will not question their IQ’s at this time. I will question their honesty.

I assume they know that 40% of federal taxes are paid by the top 1%. I will also assume they know that poor people and those that pay zero in taxes do not create jobs.

If they don’t know these facts, maybe they should change their source for information.

-K.C. Hunt Newport

War on waste

The uni-party is telling us we are in a ‘Constitutional crisis’ over Elon ‘illegally’ auditing departments for waste within government as directed by Trump. They might be right, but for a different reason.

America was founded on three distinct branches of government.

Legislative, Executive and Judicial.

Each to operate within its own parameters. Imagine I’m a CEO who hires a ‘manager’ to oversee a department within our company. Now imagine a ‘Board member’ who goes around to the ‘manger’ to tell them what they can and cannot do. Ridiculous you say?

That’s exactly what’s going on. The judicial branch has overreached into the Executive branch by ‘telling the manager’ what they can and can’t do.

The Secretary of Treasury has been told by a judge what he can and can’t do. This is the ‘crisis.’ Activist judges have no business intervening in agencies.

Trump has said he will follow the courts because he knows they will be overturned on appeal. He knows he could ignore the courts and continue on because the courts have no jurisdiction in running agencies. But he wants the public to see this, to learn from it and to remember.

What is all the fuss about? These audits are exposing the deep-state’s slush funds. How does a politician enter office with a net-worth of 1M and leave years later with a net-worth of 100M or more, on a salary of 175K per year?

Kickbacks? All at the tax payers expense, me and you. I think all government agencies need to pass an audit.

Do you really know where your taxes go? Elon, let’s find out. Accountability.

Trump is not defying the Constitution, he’s the one following it. He’s had four years to plan and get this right.

Trumps job description is Article 2 of the Constitution.

-Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick

People voted without thinking about consequences

Even my electronic version of The Miner could have burst into flames last week from the alarming articles and letters. Economic trouble is coming at us with rapid speed.

Our community’s federal government money supply is being cut or eliminated by the Trump/Musk administration. The community voted for this and now we must react to its reality.

And more cuts are coming.

We must now raise local fees and taxes then pass new junior taxing district levies to make up for the cut federal funds. Think of it as reducing federal spending by transferring it to local communities.

Most of our services are public. I have often referred to PO County as the most socialist county in the state. Like we experienced with the ambulance service, we don’t have the economy to pay for private corporate services.

Forget crying to our new congressman or the State to provide a solution.

Public money wells will be going dry everywhere. Our poor rural county doesn’t have the resources to make up for the lost federal or state funds.

We must cut spending by laying off our largest workforce – public employees. That means less food, medical care, electricity, road maintenance, school classrooms, childcare, police and fire, water and sewer treatment, etc. Some of our local government departments and organizations must be closed.

Many of our professional residents will leave. Our coming community decline is inevitable. Mostly poor and retired people will be left to fend for themselves.

Many residents expressed unhappiness with their government. They voted for economic chaos without thinking about local impact. What did they think would happen when the federal and state money was removed?

Who do they think is coming to save us? Is Trump coming to play golf in the snow and throw paper towels at us?

-Pete Scobby Newport

Republicans cripple Consumer Finance Protection Bureau

Last week President Trump’s new Director of the Office of Management and Budget ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to essentially shut-down their work in protecting consumers since the 2008 financial recession and subprime mortgage lending scandal. The CFPB must stop working on proposing rules, suspend the effective dates for rules that are finalized but not yet effective, and stop investigations that are underway or new.

The CFPB was created by Congress and requires Congressional approval to be formally eliminated, but the agency head can decide what if any enforcement actions to take. Agency funding comes directly from the Federal Reserve System to insulate it from political pressures.

I’m extremely worried about the CFPB’s immediate and long-term future, so I brainstormed who would have the most experience and advice about consumer protection. The answer came immediately for Consumer Reports and its magazine, which is nearly everyone’s trusted reference for reviewing products and services.

In a July 21, 2023 press release, CR described the Federal agency’s many successes for consumers as follows.

CFPB has protected consumers from risky lending practices by ensuring those persons get clear, upfront information about prepaid account fees so they can choose the best banking card for their needs.

CFPB brought relief for mistreated consumers by obtaining $17.5 billion in refunds and other help for an estimated 200 million Americans who were treated unfairly by financial firms such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

CFPB developed safeguards to protect consumers from emerging risks in digital financing, such as with the complex factors that lenders use to make credit decisions and prevent discrimination.

Congress needs to hear from each of us so that politicians don’t diminish consumer finance protection. Please don’t assume that someone else will do it for you.

-Ed Styskel Newport