Letters to the Editor: July 10, 2026

Showing his colors

Another great News-Register, except for the always annoying and deceptive column by Jonah Goldberg, who exposes his MAGA leanings with every one. There are enough lies, fabrications and obfuscations in his columns to beg for a full letter in response, but here is a quick summation of my biggest issues with his last four:

1) His smirky attack on Zero Population Growth basically called its leaders idiots for worrying about our expanding world population, which was 4 billion when ZPG was formed but is 8.3 billion now.

General agreement among scientists place the long-term carrying capacity of humans on this planet at somewhere between 4 and 6 billion, so who’s the idiot?

2) His thoughts on the Democratic Party’s review of itself after the last election cycle contained two falsehoods —that it was no longer the nation’s largest political party and that no one wants what it is selling. Core Democratic policies on stricter gun laws, safe and legal abortion and a clear path to citizenship all poll between 66% and 80% among Americans who are polled.

3) There was his gushing praise — particularly misguided — for the man who gave the Nazi salute at the inauguration, Elon Musk. Elon was saved from bankruptcy several times by subsidies he begged for and got from the Obama administration, and now uses his billions not to “pay it forward,” but to attempt to buy votes so he can pay even less of his fair share in taxes than he does now.

4) And then in last week’s edition, he baselessly attacked New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani over rent controls. He criticized Mamdani and others for modeling their programs after the wildly successful democratic socialist programs of Northern Europe, because those ideas are not new.

No, not new, Jonah, just good!

Larry Hayes

McMinnville

Accountability lacking

The McMinnville City Council adopted the proposed budget for 2026-27, despite giving only minimal scrutiny to the largest piece of the general fund.

The McMinnville Police Department will be purchasing two fewer vehicles this coming year. However, its budget absorbed the $170,000 vehicular allocation difference, with no questions asked.

The department also increased its budget for ammunition 55%, going from $20,000 to $31,000. On the high end of ammo prices at Walmart, one could spend $1 a bullet. Without any insight into the actual cost, we can surmise that the department will have as many bullets at its disposal as there are citizens in Mac, if not more.

Year-over-year cost increases, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, were averaging about 4% at the end of May. While beef prices have risen upwards of 40%, an unexplained 55% increase in ammo costs seems fishy. Perhaps it’s one of many places that department chose to absorb otherwise unspent vehicle acquisition funds.

Similar questions arise over vehicle maintenance. Although only $53,000 was spent last year, $72,500 was allocated this year.

If we had a vehicle for each of our roughly 40 officers, which would be a lot, and gave them all a weekly $12 car wash, as per MPD, that would run nearly $25,000. Perhaps we could invest in a hose and some soap instead, reducing our annual maintenance need for mostly new or near-new vehicles to $47,500.

But no questions regarding the number, age or maintenance needs of the patrol fleet were raised in the budget review. That seems irresponsible.

Though the council has already finished this year’s budget process, e-mail members in advance in preparation for next year.

There are real needs we should be meeting with the general fund. We need to hold the city manager and city councilors to account for our tax dollars.

Elena Mudrak

McMinnville

Autocracy personified

Donald Trump is now raving about the perils of communism like Joseph McCarthy of the 1950s.

Communism relies on a one-party system and centralized state control, overseen by a strongman leader. Its goal is to eliminate multi-party elections, civil liberties and freedom of speech.

Throw in a xenophobic attitude toward immigration and you have everything that’s on the Trump administration agenda.

The threat to our country is not the political concept of communism, a flawed one at that, rather the threat posed by Donald Trump and every elected and appointed official who supports him.

Stuart Gunness

Sheridan

Coin-op presidency?

Donald Trump campaigned on draining the swamp. But unsurprisingly, he’s reconsidered.

Business mastermind that he is, Mr. Trump recognized a swamp is simply real estate, an arena where a clever person can make lots of money. I mean, LOTS of money.

The New York Times, citing a mandatory financial disclosure, reported Trump and family have made at least $2 billion since his return to the White House, the bulk of which, some $1.4 billion, came from the family’s fledgling cryptocurrency business.

And what is the great appeal of untraceable cryptocurrency? According to Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman, “There is essentially no legitimate use for crypto.”

Admittedly, that’s a broad statement. Surely there are exceptions. But in this case, the corruption is hidden in plain sight.

One example: According to The Wall Street Journal, Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, who serves as the country’s national security adviser, purchased a secret 49% stake in the Trump crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Months later, the U.S. agreed to give the UAE annual access to 500,000 of America’s most advanced AI chips.

Maybe CNN contributor Kara Swisher said it best: “This is a coin-operated presidency.”

Stephen Long

McMinnville

Sore loser

Americans believe in fair play and playing by the rules. When the calls go against us, we suck it up and fight on, regardless of the game we are in.

Look at how well Team USA played against Bosnia Herzegovina after the red card call left it with just 10 players in the second half!

But then our little sore-loser president interfered with FIFA on the red card call to have the player reinstated. I knew then that the U.S. team would not play well in the game against Belgium, and sure enough, coming out flat, it was outplayed.

Our team did not need the president to put his thumb on the scale on its behalf and did not benefit from his intervention. Our president needs to focus on keeping his promises to make life more affordable for Americans and promoting peace and prosperity.

Phil Forve

McMinnville

Treasonous

When Congress returns to work next week, one of the first bills it will consider is the National Defense Authorization Act of 2027. It is a thousand-page document designed award the Pentagon $1.5 trillion, 80% of all discretionary funds.

Buried in the bill is Section 224, the United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative. It amounts to a merger of the U.S. Department of War and the Israeli Defense Force.

Under this bill, Israel would gain a seat at the highest levels of the decisionmaking process related to American military issues. If passed, Israel will have a say in how the $1.5 trillion is spent — what wars we fight, what technology we develop, and more.

Ro Khana (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) have authored Amendment 219 to strip out Section 224. This amendment will most likely be disallowed because the Rules Committee, to prevent debate of any particular section, will simply require an up or down vote on the entire 1,000-page bill.

Senate bill 4615, the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2027, is similarly constructed. Buried in it is Section 622, the United States-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement. Here, our intelligence agencies are mandated to share all intelligence they gather with Israel.

These House and Senate bills prove that corruption is alive and well in Washington, D.C. It is endemic in both parties. And if that weren’t bad enough, some entities now want to sell out American sovereignty by merging decisionmaking authority at the highest levels of our government with a foreign nation.

Is there no limit to what these Israeli Firsters will abide?

Needless to say, if you love our country and truly believe in independence, you’d better call you representative and urge a no vote on this treasonous legislation.

Larry Treadwell

Sheridan

Equal footing

Public education is the bedrock of our American system, offering an equal footing for all citizens to progress as far as they are motivated to pursue their personal goals.

As the editorial in the June 26th issue of the News-Register points out, Oregon has lagged behind many states in funding education for public schools.

This is not new. I recall in the 1980s that children would have to end the school year early because their district ran out of money. Other children would go to Salem to lobby for better funding for their school district.

A commentary in the same paper, titled “New York says “Yes” to scholarships - Oregon should too,” is critical of Gov. Kotek’s hesitancy to support the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems this federal tax credit would help private schools at the expense of public schools. Oregon desperately needs a firm approach to funding education, not a system that draws money away.

I personally favor a sales tax dedicated to funding public education, possibly through four years of college in a state college or university. But we all know that we Oregonians have an immediate negative response to any mention of a sales tax, even when it’s for something that’s going to benefit our state.

Jeffrey Cohen

McMinnville

More to story

Once again, you have chosen a commentator who from ignorance or purpose misaligns the facts regarding the country’s founders, notably Thomas Jefferson, who penned, “All men are created equal.”

David Sumner started and finished by describing Jefferson as a “rich man who owned other human beings.” While this is true, he has decided to ignore the rest of the story, which mischaracterizes Jefferson and essentially re-writes history for those who don’t know better.

Allow me to share some facts that would have changed the gist:

Jefferson inherited the bulk of his slaves, so the vast majority were born into the institution. He purchased fewer than 20.

So why didn’t he free his slaves? Virginia law did not allow that.

There was never a more ardent promoter for the abolition than Thomas Jefferson. He worked tirelessly to that end from 1769 to 1820.

In 1770, he represented a slave in Virginia court and argued for his freedom, declaring: “Under the law of nature, all men are born free.” He lost that case, but won a similar case in 1772.

In 1776, Jefferson wrote a draft of the Virginia Constitution stipulating, “No person hereafter coming into this country (Virginia) shall be held in slavery under any pretext whatever.” However, when the Constitution was approved by the state convention, it was not included.

In 1807, he signed a measure into federal law ending America’s involvement in the international slave trade. It was a beginning step toward a federal ban on slavery.

Rather than presenting all the facts, Sumner has chosen to use only the ones fitting a narrative designed to tarnish the reputation and diminish the work of a founding father — and ignore the goodness of America in general. Shame on you, and the majority of those in academia, who seem intent on bringing down this great nation.

Steve Sommerfeld

Sheridan

Perfectly awful

The temptation is strong to consider Donald Trump less than human — a member of some sub-species.

In my opinion, doing so would be in error. If anything, Donald Trump is fully human — in fact, entirely TOO human.

In all regards — mentally, emotionally, intellectually and ethically — he exhibits every single thing that can go wrong in a human being. He is a victim of the absolutely perfect storm of human defects.

In my 81 years of experience, observation and study. I have never witnessed such a thing — and only find a few somewhat close parallels in historical figures.

Ironically, he is correct in one respect: He actually is the very best distillation, the greatest possible, of certain traits humanity is known to harbor.

The thing is, they are all from its dark underbelly. It is entirely possible that a new scientific field will develop just to study and analyze Donald Trump as a stunning perfectly picture of imperfection.

Pity him, pity us. He will pass from the scene soon. The rest of us will be left attempting to clean up the mess and repair the damage he leaves behind.

Ken Dollinger

McMinnville

Mad King on rampage

Nothing gets a bigger smile from the Billionaire Class than an amateur, incompetent government that has neither the will nor the skill to protect ordinary citizens from their predation. Our Mad King is working to deliver that government to his benefactors.

The middle-class miracle that we have experienced since World War II has spread wealth and opportunity to millions, largely due to the experience and expertise of folks in federal agencies using facts and science to solve technical problems. Commerce, finance, climate, health, communication, education and the environment are all managed better by people who understand the facts than by people loyal to the King.

But the Billionaire Class disagrees, and recently their pets on the Supreme Court overturned the 91-year precedent that protected agency employees from the whims of the executive.

November is their best chance to strip away the remaining New Deal “nonsense” and secure a proper Gilded Age for their enjoyment.

With a billionaire coup simmering in the background, the Mad King is talking openly about a “national emergency” as November approaches. The pets have already ruled that he can do anything he wants as president.

He has his work cut out for him. His epic self-dealing, his architectural disasters, his surrender to Iran and the steady pressure of the inflation he claims to love are all aligned against him. People are heading for the door.

So he’s not worried about winning votes. It’s time for the power play, time to break this election any way he can.

Even with ICE at every polling place, and pardoned felons on call to jump in as needed, democracy can still prevail. But we will need a landslide turnout to rival that the Hungarian patriots just delivered to oust Trump mentor Viktor Orban, their tyrant of 16 years.

Bill Johnson

McMinnville