Letters to the Editor

Document lesson

Editor, the Journal,

In anticipation of more nonsense from some willfully misinformed letter writers (AA and RG come immediately to mind), I respectfully submit important differences between what may be inappropriate document retention by President Joe Biden and what is clearly inappropriate document retention by ex-President Donald Trump.

On Nov. 2, lawyers for Biden found a batch of documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, dating from his time as vice president. Biden’s attorneys immediately contacted the National Archives and they took possession of the documents the next morning. On Nov. 4, NARA contacted the Justice Department to let them know of the document exchange, and on Nov. 9, the FBI started assessing whether Biden had illegally mishandled classified information.

By contrast, Trump failed for one full year to turn over documents NARA knew he had, despite several requests. When he finally turned over documents, it was an incomplete set. After being subpoenaed, he then had his attorney lie in a signed affidavit that all documents had been returned. This inaction, lying and delay prompted the FBI raid of his resort.

The documents in Biden’s possession were all in relatively private, if not secure locations, whereas the documents at Mar al Lago were in areas accessible to many of Trump’s guests including any number of potential spies and “business associates.”

Documents held by Biden are marked classified, but have yet to be determined to be currently classified material, whereas documents held by Trump are not only currently classified but also many are top secret.

At worst, Biden can be accused of absent-mindedness or stupidity, but he never withheld any documents once it was clear he had inappropriately kept some after leaving office. Withholding documents from an authorized government official is a crime — something Trump clearly did. Thus, Trump is being investigated under the Espionage Act.

Pieter Booth, Shelton

Thank you, Journal

Editor, the Journal,

There’s a lot to be said about Mason County’s good fortune to have The Shelton-Mason County Journal as our local paper, covering the local news without hysterical overtones: “Just the facts, ma’am” — just the way I like it.

First, the news of major local importance: After what – a year, maybe more since Barber Terry retired because of a Washington State Licensing snafu regarding his barber license, The Cutter’s Edge barber shop on Railroad Avenue has a new certified professional barber! I’ve had three haircuts and a couple beard trims as he apprenticed there by the aforesaid apprentice: I was allowed to pay him in tips, but now I can pay him for real and add the tip. Refreshing.

Second, I personally prefer news coverage of the dispassionate sort, much like The Wall Street and Shelton-Mason County journals. Both publications demonstrate a respect for the reader to make his personal decisions regarding the news, then allow the editorial writers to make fools of themselves.

Thank you for treating your readers as mature adults.

James Poirson, Shelton

Any anomalies?

Editor, the Journal,

It’s been almost three months since the November election and we’ve yet to hear from the new auditor how many illegal votes were cast in Mason County. Mr. Duenkel did issue a letter last week to the Journal outlining his plan to enlist the help of the local Voter Research Project to aid in the official duty of his office.

This project claims to be nonpartisan but I suspect it is weighted heavily Republican. The plan calls for the project to canvas a list of potential voter anomalies. My questions are: Is this the same project that misidentified a number of voter anomalies in the primary? Was this list provided by the Auditor’s Office? What constitutes a voter anomaly? What does “canvassing” entail? It appears that Mr. Duenkel is essentially deputizing a vigilante group to do his job for him.

He further stated he planned to investigate long-established principles of a democracy that provide voters information and the importance of their vote. Does he want dumber and fewer voters? Mr. Duenkel was elected to eliminate election fraud. So far it seems his claims of significant fraud are fraudulent. But more to come, he says.

Craig Anderson, Shelton

Here we go again

Editor, the Journal,

Well, the debt limit game has begun. Once again the GOP is pretending to be the party of sage, fiscal prudence. This is the party that blew up the deficit with an unneeded tax cut just five short years ago. At that time, one of their leading propagandists, Rush Limbaugh, let the cat out of the bag. To refresh your memory, he stated that that “Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it’s been around.”

Let’s take a look at what the Republican Party promises and what it delivers. In 2000, we had a budget surplus. In fact, under Democratic leadership, there was even the prospect that the national debt would be paid in full. The GOP reaction was horror. They couldn’t dole the money out fast enough. They launched a needless war “off budget” and said we need to stimulate the economy. They even told us that having a surplus would be bad for the long-term economy. So, instead of waiting until we got to even, they gave a tax cut. As usual, this tax cut went mostly to the top 1%.

After the Republican policies blew up the economy in 2008, Democratic governance went through seven straight years of declining deficits. So, naturally, the Republicans decided it was time for a party. Well, a party for a few people at least. In 2018, in the face of a strong economy, they decided the rich needed another tax cut to spend the efforts made in fiscal restraint. They told us that wise business leaders would make capital investments with it. They told us this even as the same business leaders told us they had no intention of doing so and would instead put the money in their offshore pockets with stock buybacks.

Do you see a pattern here? The Republicans preach fiscal restraint when Democrats are in power. When they are in power, they forget it all to shower money on the already wealthy. Where do cuts come from? They come from programs that you rely on. Now, they want you to work longer and get less so they can “control spending.” This is what they will do if they get these cuts.

The GOP will proclaim victory. They will take every cent taken from the bottom 90%, add a trillion dollars (or two) and give it to the wealthy to stash overseas. Then they will come back again and tell you there is a spending problem. It is nothing more than looting the bottom to gorge the top. The Republicans deliver a party for the wealthy and austerity for everyone else. How do I know they will do this? They’ve done it before! It is their MO. In fact, for all their protests, they are the great practitioners of modern monetary theory as opposed to deficit hawks.

Second, they basically boast of it. What do you think they mean when they say they want to shrink government? They’re not talking about government power. They’re fine with that as long as it is their power. They only hate government power when it is used to benefit anybody else but their wealthy donors. That would be you.

Andrew Makar, Hoodsport

Best and worst

Editor, the Journal,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was the season of light and was the season of darkness we had everything before us, we had nothing before us … In short, it is a period very like the present.”… Dickens, a partial quote

Believe only your eyes, and not the voices of others. The Republic-Con propaganda of lies, hate and fear had duped you into voting against your own self-interest and democracy. You were misled into thinking you were a patriot, instead of a fool. You wrap yourself with the flag, while defendant Trump lights it on fire at your feet. President Lincoln said, “Some of the people can be fooled all the time.” I submit the Republic-Cons as proof, read their letters in The Journal. Please keep writing. Believe only your eyes, ears and brain if you possess one.

Wow, how about that Republic-Con nuthouse of insurrectionist representatives? They are trying to save themselves from prosecution from the Department of Justice as co-conspirators for sedition with defendant Trump. What a maniacal mess of drag queens, grifters and outright traitors. There it is the Republic-Con party. That’s what you voted for!

Roderic Whittaker, Shelton

Equality trouble

Editor, the Journal,

Language once was well understood; today language is deliberately obscure, confusing, and slanted. The left pushes its political agenda through language manipulation and word changes. Equality is equal opportunity to compete. Equity is equal outcomes for everyone; the ambitious and lazy; intellectual and average; motivated and bored; involved and missing; attending classes and skipping school. Vice President Kamala Harris said it best: Equitable treatment means we all end up in the same place.

All sporting events end up in a tie; everyone receives an A grade in school. Diversity provides opportunities to some that’s denied to others based on race, color or gender. Inclusion excludes people better qualified simply to meet a political quota. Education should bring out the best of students and bring them together. Critical race theory divides us into “oppressors” and “victims” as CRT accuses America of systemic racism.

Late 19th century and early 20th century, the South had racial bigotry; it was sociologically based and nearly universal. It even affected northerners. With integration and civil-rights laws of the 1960s and ’70s, things slowly changed. Today there’s still hate, but it’s individual. People have the right to be stupid. What’s not permitted is dealing with hate violently. In the zeal to end all hate, CRT induces other hate. CRT uses equity, diversity, and inclusion to eliminate bigotry. These nice-sounding words conceal reverse bigotry. CRT is a cookie-cutter society; everyone exactly alike. Biology won’t allow that. Every human is different and thank God for that!

Education money should follow the child, not the school. Arizona calls their program “Universal Educational Choice.” Iowa is assigning education money to the child, not the school. It will be used by parents to send their children to their school of choice. Eight states have school choice with Texas soon to follow. We need to uncouple government funding from government-run schools. COVID was a game changer; the school shutdown showed parents a glimpse of the current educational mess. Children are hostage to woke politics. Educators must realize a woke education is actually indoctrination of youthful minds with false and dangerous beliefs and rules. If government schools lose students and tax money, blame woke policies of CRT.

Taxpayers need information on school taxes and political agenda. Do any Mason County schools teach critical race theory? Will taxpayers get refunds for unspent taxes with the COVID shutdown? Costs were less; office costs, transportation, janitorial, electricity, sewage, water all were less. Add to this the COVID relief

money. I’ll vote for the replacement levy this time, but we need answers before the next levy election. Send answers to Journal’s Letters to the Editor. Taxpayers, use atg.wa.gov/obtaining-records to find how and where to file open records requests for education information. School administrators may want to pay attention to voters. If the levy fails, they have only themselves to blame. Eliminate CRT from schools.

Ardean Anvik, Shelton

Football recap

Editor, the Journal,

Well, should we obsess over the recent tragedy in Memphis or the outcome of the Super Bowl? The answer, of course, is yes. Americans can walk and chew gum at the same time. The language of the idiom is prosaic; the message is not.We can discuss the Memphis trial more, but a bit later. For now, I simply wanted to comment on the NFL playoffs and make a prediction on the Feb. 12 big game.

So, though often distracted by national politics, I have been a huge sports enthusiast my entire adult — and certainly younger — life. I’ve chewed big pink wads of Fleer’s bubble gum while playing Little League baseball, swapped gross teenage jokes with the guys in high school varsity locker rooms, and much later, on autumn afternoons, joined other aging couch potatoes watching football on TV.

The wild card playoff games were not much fun to watch. In one of the first ones, the Seachickens — I call them “Seahawks” only when they win — were holding their own against the San Francisco 49ers until the third quarter when Geno Smith fumbled the ball away. I turned the TV off. (The Hawks fade too often in the stretch.)

Apparently, at this point, most of our team said, “the hell with it,” changed clothes, caught a bus to the airport, and flew home to Seattle. The players still on the field fought on but the 49ers won 41-23.

One other game of note in the wild card was the Jacksonville Jaguars coming from behind by 27 points to beat the San Diego Chargers 31 to 30. (A historic comeback.)

I thought this most cool, as the Jags coach, Doug Peterson, and I are related. (Book signings by me of “My cousin Doug” TBA.) He’s been nominated for NFL coach of the year and has my vote.

The late, great American columnist and author Erma Bombeck (1927-96) once said, “Any man who watches more than three consecutive football games on TV in one day can be declared legally dead.”

By Bombeck’s yardstick, I should be knocking on death’s door. I watched all the divisional playoff games, but they were separated by a good night’s sleep. The winners were Kansas City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and San Francisco. I sort of favored Josh Allen and was surprised to see Buffalo so dominated by the Bengals. Most of all I wanted Dallas to lose, and (hooray!) they did.The Cowboys just totally annoy me. What jerk, by the way, named them, “America’s Team?” Nobody asked me, for crying out loud. And why do all the sports shows on TV have to end with some talking hairdo wondering how the “boys” are doing these days? And why all the short and/or cutesy nicknames for team members, like “Dak,” or “Zeke” or “Dopey,” or “Doc” or “Sneezy,” or “Dumbass?”

Finally, in the conference championships last weekend, the NFC’s Eagles stomped the 49ers and, in the AFC, Kansas City (and the refs — yes, I’m bitter) bested the Bengals with a last-second field goal, 23-20.

I pick Philly by six in the Super Bowl.

Robert E. Graham, Union

From the handbook

Editor, the Journal,

The following text is taken directly from the Shelton High School Student/Family Handbook 2022-2023:

Gender-inclusive schools. All students are entitled to an educational environment that is safe and free of discrimination, regardless of their gender expression or gender identity. Harassing or treating students differently because of their gender is not allowed. All students have the right to: Use and be addressed by their requested name and pronouns, with or without a legal name change; Change their gender designation and have their gender accurately reflected in school records, including but not limited to school identification cards, classroom seating charts, athletic rosters, yearbook entries, diplomas, directory information;

Identify with, express, and be recognized by staff and student information systems as a gender other than male or female;

Access and use the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity;

Participate in sports, physical education courses, field trips, overnight trips, in accordance with their gender identity;

Keep health and education information confidential and private, including information about their legal name, sex assigned at birth, or transgender, cisgender, or nonbinary status;

Wear clothing that reflects their gender identity and not have a dress code applied differently based on their gender or perceived gender.

Dean Remillard, Shelton