Letters to the editor: Jan. 10, 2025
Signage blizzard redux?
Don’t count Lindsay Berschauer out just because she lost her re-election bid to Bubba King. There’s a rumor circulating that she plans on running again in about 18 months for Mary Starrett’s seat when Mary term-limits out.
If true, so sorry, Yamhill County. You will be seeing those annoying Lindsay election signs again.
Philip Haynes
McMinnville
Betraying the blue
Fortunately, the country has made it past Jan. 6 with an unremarkable certification of the vote.
We all remember the violent chaos attending the process four years ago. We followed it live on television, along with President Trump, who did nothing for more than three hours.
Now we’re being told Jan. 6, 2021, was just like any other day at the Capitol. Meanwhile, the president-elect is promising to pardon those charged and convicted for their involvement, saying “no group has been mistreated so terribly.”
We saw members of Congress running for their lives in the halls of the Capitol. We learned members of Congress and Vice President Pence’s security team were calling loved ones to tell them goodbye, fearing they were about to die.
The crowd chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as gallows with a noose appeared. Capitol Police ordered members of Congress to don their gas masks, as tear gas had been released in the rotunda.
Some 140 police officers were injured. One died three days later after suffering strokes and four died by suicide in the following days.
Meanwhile, one rioter was killed by police and three members of the crowd died of medical emergencies. So there is no denying the violence.
Approximately 1,600 rioters have been charged with federal crimes. More than 900 have been convicted, 379 of them on charges that include assaulting a police officer. And members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys are serving up to 22 years for seditious conspiracy.
How can Trump, who prides himself on backing the Blue, pardon individuals associated with assaults on police officers? Officer Gonell, one of those injured during the attack, said a sweeping pardon would be “a betrayal, a stab in the heart.”
Les Howsden
Amity
Power his, hardship ours
Nothing warms the heart of a billionaire more than an amateur government, a government that does not have the will or the skill to slow the flow of wealth and power to the top of the pyramid.
Elon Musk bought the best wrecking ball he could find, and it paid off. That $250 million he spent on “campaign support” immediately returned $708 million to his net worth and guaranteed our government would be functionally disabled.
That’s great news if you want the government on the sidelines, but not so great when you need an effective government to beat back the greed of our corporate billionaire class or to help stem the authoritarian tide they encourage here and abroad.
Elon warned us we should prepare for a period of “hardship” while he realigns our government’s priorities to suit his needs. He wants to see which politicians are eager to help him implement his agenda and which ones need a primary challenge, but still needs to figure out how Congress works, as that was not covered in his private school curriculum back in his native South Africa.
In his world, the job of government is to rig the economy to wean the lazy lower-classes from the social assistance they are used to, redirect the money to the billionaire class, round up those who object, and then stand back and watch the miracle as his unchecked power transforms our society.
Of course, he will not participate in the “hardship” he wants us to accept. But as long as our government protects his interests around the world with its money and might, it will all be for the greater good — his greater good.
Each party has its own billionaire problem. We need appropriate taxation, regulation and enforcement to put these predators back in their place as citizens, not gods.
Bill Johnson
McMinnville
Comments
Moe
Commenting on "Betraying the blue" (above):
Letter reflects a seriously distorted perception.
But obviously aligned with the likes of MSNBC.
Trump was selected in 2024, which was easy.
Possibly an honest vote would have been an even bigger landslide.
Biden was selected in 2020, which was a huge stretch, so the election was stolen. Hence January 6. But Trump failed to protect the mostly innocent J6ers arrested before he left office, and so far as I know, has not lifted a finger since. People held in prison, and unlawfully abused, for years over misdemeanor trespassing, or without even being charged - real political prisoners. J6 was a setup, obviously.
Moe
Continuing ...
For a fresh perspective, I suggest "ASHLI: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6" by Jack Cashill:
"The real question is not why thousands of women went to Washington on January 6. The real question is why the rest of us did not.
Unlike the women who descended on Washington in 2017 to protest the inauguration of President Trump, the women of January 6 did not come as women. They came as Americans, as patriots, as defenders of the republic. They did not wear pink hats. They wore MAGA hats. Their issues were indistinguishable from those of the men in their lives—the rule of law, free and fair elections, and the preservation of constitutional rights. They brought no laundry list of special needs like, say, “reproductive rights,” because they understood that no one was challenging their right to reproduce. In fact, many had reproduced abundantly.
There was not a single celebrity in their midst—no Ashley Judds, no Gloria Steinems, no Madonnas threatening to “blow up the White House.” These were Hillary’s “deplorables” in the flesh, a whole heaping basket of them, “irredeemable” to the last woman. On January 6, the very presence of these intrepid women at the Capitol so offended the natural order of things that many would be gassed and beaten. Two would never return home.
If resistance to government oppression has a face, it is that of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, a determined patriot and an enduring martyr. This is her story, and that of the other gallant women of January 6."
Moe
Commenting on "Signage blizzard redux?" above:
Put a sock in it.
treefarmer
Mr. Howsden and Mr. Johnson ~ thank you for your letters. So many horrific facts and so much common sense. Quite interesting to read an opposing opinion that presupposes those who don’t find logic in such a convoluted version of events must be getting our world view from MSNBC. Couldn’t possibly be that we witnessed the cult violence with our own eyes and came to our fact-based conclusions independently? (It is quite enlightening/chilling to get a look at the pretzel logic that condones and justifies putting violent insurrectionists back on the street though.) Does anyone else wonder how our autocrat-elect will use and direct his army of obedient vicious felons to do his bidding?
Our beleaguered America (along with the rest of the world) is in for a dangerous new reality, I hope we can find a way to survive. Resisting this level of corruption, power, and immunity will require a super-human level of skill and determination. Still, even as half the voters gave our country to a vengeful arsonist, a good friend of mine has suggested that perhaps something positive will rise from the ashes. January 20th fast approaches, the chaos is awaiting deployment – buckle up.
treefarmer
Hello “Moe” Strange that you rise to silence a complaint about those hideous signs. I’ll see your sock and raise you an oversized tarp.
tagup
Ashley Babbit was a traitor that was attempting to overthrow a valid election result - and the only “government oppression” she faced was that her candidate lost the election.
Moe
On his last day in office, 20 January 2001, President Clinton commuted to time served the sentence of no-good commie rat Susan Rosenberg.
Rosenberg was a co-founder of the all-female May 19th Communist Organization, which in 1983 DID bomb the Capital Building.
The contrast with unarmed J6 American patriot Ashli Babbitt, who was murdered in the Capital Building, could not be more stark.
tagup
Susan Rosenberg spent 16 years in prison yet you make Ashley Babbit an American “patriot”. Stark contrast indeed.
Moe
Again, for a fresh perspective, suggest Jack Cashill's book, "Ashli," or one of Cashill's discussions online.
I think most of the J6ers had no particular agenda, including somehow changing the election results - which still might have happened that night according to the objections of certain states, which ultimately were not considered. But there were agent provocateurs, and apparently Ashli found herself in a confined space with windows being broken into the Speaker's Lobby, and a crowd surging from behind. Likely the petite Ashli went through an opening in a window to escape the surge, and was shot dead on the other side. Very unfortunate.
Certainly contrast, not comparison, to the sinister Susan Rosenberg.
What else can one say.
2020, and more so, 2024, provided us with horrific choices for President. Trump himself aside, the monsters (well, let's not insult monsters) surrounding him, such as V.P. Vance, and the gang of 535 cockroaches (not to insult cockroaches) making up Congress, are the obvious horror. We are in real trouble.
tagup
All the possible scenarios for Babbitt’s actions are nothing but speculation and the idea that she was just “escaping the surge” is pretty weak. None of her actions that day make her an “American patriot“.
Otis
All of these letters are spot on. Great job! Thank you for these insightful perspectives.
Lulu
I especially like "pretzel logic." Very fitting.
Mona Ellison
The only relevant question that needs to be asked regarding the plainsclothes officer who opened fire on Ashli Babbitt is why the others did not followv suit and take out more of the sadly, but willfully, misinformed people bashing through windows and doors, ransacking the Capitol, and defecating on the floors and walls. For any future insurrections and coup attempts, it is my fervent hope that more than one of these imbeciles are carried out in body bags.
Moe
The $64 question?
Having been Jan6ed once, and with Trump beckoning his supporters to come to that expensive cesspool (not to insult cesspools) Washington D.C. for a huge inauguration victory rally ... what could go wrong?
yamhillbilly2
Moe…. Ashley Babbit would be alive today if she had simply complied with the order of a police officer, she didn’t, she was shot. Very delusional to call it murder!
As far as the “Lindsay Litter” we will most likely be inundated with it as soon as she can have it put for when she runs for Mary’s seat when it opens up next time around. There is too much invested by Yamhill County Republicans in all those signs. A good number of them already say “re-elect”and they doctored a bunch of the others to add quilting squares around the edges, I am assuming as an attempt to soften her presentation. I wish an alternative would come forward sooner rather than later to challenge her inevitable attempt to return.
Moe
"Moe…. Ashley Babbit would be alive today if she had simply complied with the order of a police officer, she didn’t, she was shot. Very delusional to call it murder!"
Huh?
There were uniformed policemen on the protester side of the windows, doing nothing to stop the men who were breaking the windows. Ashli hollered at them to do their jobs, and call for backup; Ashli also punched one of the men that was breaking the windows, square in the face. Ashli was shot from behind cover by a plain clothed policeman on the other side, without warning as she was coming through a broken window, probably trying to escape to a safer place, falling back onto the protester side, where she died.
Republican Representative Paul Gosar Asks Former AG Rosen to Identify Who Executed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol May 18, 2021:
"Last week during a House hearing on the breach of the Capitol, US Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) admonished the FBI for fishing through homes of citizens with no criminal records, criticized the media for lying about the crowd beating a police officer to death with a fire extinguisher and characterizing the event as an insurrection, and rebuked the government for enlisting Americans to turn in their own neighbors. Former Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to answer his questions, so Gosar read the facts into the record: zero firearms were found on suspects charged with breaching the Capitol; Officer Sicknick was not murdered, but died from natural causes [stroke]; not a single person has been charged with a crime of insurrection; Ashli Babbitt was not armed and her death certificate listed homicide as the cause of death.
Gosar tweeted that Americans have a right to know “who executed an unarmed 100lb woman at point blank range with no warnings, no commands or non-lethal force?” The Congressman ..."
Moe
Back on-point, to the above letter: Betraying the blue
Due to egregious violations of at least Amendments 4, 5, 6 & 8, I would recommend a complete blanket pardon of all J6 people. That precedent would uphold our Constitution and serve to protect all of us going forward - which by definition includes police officers.
Furthermore, I recommend unleashing the police in the process of bringing to swift, and lawful justice those individuals suspected of violating the Constitutional rights of the J6ers.
yamhillbilly2
DOJ reviewed the shooting of Babbit, their conclusion….the investigation revealed no evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully committed a violation of 18 U.S.C.§242. Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms Babbit, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.
I think it is delusional on your behalf to think you will convict the officer of murder.
You might try using someone other than Paul Gosar to make your point, he is most definitely a nut job, extremest. How interesting that you can read Ms Babbit’s mind and know why she tried going thru the window. I thought all the MAGA protesters were partaking in a big picnic?
Moe
I said that Ashli was "probably trying to escape to a safer place," which is plausible, not that I knew what she was thinking. Regardless, why pick on the late Ashli Babbitt?
Ad hominem attacks are a tell that someone is out of ammo.