Dictatorship
Germany — Hitler — Past — World War II.
Vietnam — Ho Chi Min — Past.
America — Donald Trump — Acting as a dictator, in my view.
Proud American veteran,
Steve Cochenour
The Dalles
Bentz and Trump’s brutal bill
Trump’s bill, and it will be Bentz’s bill once he votes for it, will gut Medicaid; give tax breaks to billionaires; gut medical research for Alzheimer’s, cancer and Parkinson’s disease; and put a moratorium on holding administration officials in contempt for doing unconstitutional acts, just for starters.
This is your chance, Mr. Bentz ,to stand up for your constituents and vote against this horrible bill. Please surprise me and do the right thing.
Susan Lannak
Hood River
Takes from the poor
The house has passed King 47’s great new deal (for the rich), and it takes from the poor and gives to the rich. The poorest 10% of Americans will lose money and the richest 5% will gain $117.2 billion.
The reduced tax revenue from this bill is $3.8 trillion. The increased spending in the bill includes a total of $52.6 billion for a combination of the border fence, increased border staffing and detention centers plus $150 billion more for defense. To offset these expenses, there is a new tax on university endowments and $330 billion in cuts to the student loan program, a 30% cut to SNAP (Food Stamps) that will affect 40 million people currently using SNAP and a $700 billion cut to Medicaid (plus new work requirements) that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will cause 8.6 million people to lose health care over the next decade.
The CBO estimates that the bill will add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, automatically triggering even deeper cuts to Medicaid. Even more frightening is a provision to remove the authority of federal courts to hold government officials in contempt when they violate court orders and a retroactive provision that no court (federal or state) will have jurisdiction to block any executive action involving a lease, permit, etc.
In short, all environmental protection can be overturned without access to legal relief. This is the long sought Republican end to democracy. Game over if it passes the Senate. Hail to the King!
Michael Beug
White Salmon
Disagrees
I strongly disagree with the claim by Wasco County District Attorney Kara Davis that “suicide is always tragic” (“Wasco County man pleads guilty in connection to suicide,” Columbia Gorge News, May 21). If one in a married couple decides to assist their partner in ending the life, that should be their choice. The agreement could easily be verified by a formal letter with verifications by family or friends.
Contrary to it being tragic, there are many of us who do not want to live when it means an unwanted end of life, and which may make it financially difficult for the partner to live out their life — and agreed to by both partners. To make this “contract” unlawful is a judgment that citizens can’t make these decisions without government interference.
Bill Sturman
Mt. Hood-Parkdale
‘Signs for our times’
Every day, I read about harmful and frightening things happening in our nation and communities. I find myself tempted to respond, “Well, I guess this is just a sign of the times.” But then I see different signs, all around Hood River and now in other parts of the Gorge. They are bright yellow with purple lettering: “We are Immigrants. Somos Immigrantes.”
I’m concerned about the well-being of my hard-working, law-abiding neighbors who are living in fear of arrest, imprisonment, deportation and being ripped away from family members. I cannot help but compare the situation to the Japanese-Americans who once thrived in our communities and were then subjected to policies of exclusion, fear and incarceration.
I have a Dutch heritage. I am an immigrant, just like all of us, with the exception of our Native American neighbors and those brought here as enslaved people. While I do not experience the vulnerability of recently arrived immigrants, I still feel connected to them. My ancestors came to a new land and they too wanted a healthy, safe and secure environment for their families. That is what Japanese Americans wanted in our Gorge too. I do not want our history to repeat itself!
I want my kids to know, that in the midst of the dehumanizing and hateful actions we read about today, that I went public, proclaiming that we are all one, we are all immigrants. And together, we are strong.
I invite you to join me, and hundreds of other residents and business owners in this campaign. Contact Riverside Community Church, office@riversideucc.com for a window or yard sign.
John Boonstra
Hood River
Solidarity in action
As a descendant of an immigrant family, life-long Gorge resident, historian and human rights advocate, I would like to share with you an opportunity to act on behalf of all immigrants and their descendants. By definition, WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS or their decedents, unless you are a Native American or descendant of Black slaves forced into servitude in the United States.
Targeting immigrant groups has been a common tactic taken by those in power since our country’s inception. The rationale for discriminating is most often based on differences in race, ethnicity, faith, or beliefs.
Japanese Americans have shared their story of illegal removal and imprisonment through education, exhibits, and supporting legal actions that prohibit immigrant targeting from ever happening again. Education alone has not been enough. A never-ending cycle of discrimination continues, perpetuated by those in power. The very same Alien Enemy Act that was implemented to forcefully remove and wrongfully imprison Masuo Yasui in 1941 along with 120,000 other Japanese, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, makes actionable behavior, in addition to education, vital today.
As Minoru Yasui, Oregon’s only Presidential Medal of Freedom winner stated, “What happens to the least of us, can happen to all of us. We must tell our government when they are wrong.” Taking action can be as simple as providing emotional support to fellow immigrants by displaying a yellow window or yard sign declaring, “We Are Immigrants, Somos Inmigrantes.” Get your lawn or window sign from Riverside Community Church office at riversideucc.com. It is a positive welcome sign for businesses, churches ,and homes. This simple act of kindness acknowledges the humanity of us all, and is reminiscent of the positive impact that the Liberty and Justice League gave to the Japanese in 1941 by publicly defending their human rights and providing them food and shelter when they returned.
Learn more actionable ways to stop immigrant targeting by visiting the Tsuru for Solidarity national or Portland chapter, Tsuru for Solidarity, whose slogan is “Never Again is NOW.” Ask yourself, when will your immigrant ancestors be targeted? When will they come for YOU?
Maija Yasui
Hood River
Not a king
Donald Trump is not a king. He is not even a prince. He is a toad, squatting in the White House, sliming everything and presiding over the most noxious D.C. swamp in modern history! His little warty minions are running roughshod all over due process. His “beautiful” tariffs are destroying people’s retirement plans, mine included. The GOP/MAGA is a cult and the only people I see with Trump Derangement Syndrome are the folks still supporting this bloated fraud. I will never understand how so many seemingly decent Americans can look at him and not see what I see. He is ignoring the Supreme Court. U.S. citizens and legal residents are being disappeared and shipped off to foreign hellhole prisons. His sons are no better than Hunter Biden, oozing all over the Middle East making deals off of daddy’s power and influence. It was disgusting to watch him fawn over the very Saudis responsible for 9/11. It turns my stomach.
A draft dodger does not deserve a military parade that will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. He definitely does NOT deserve a $400 million bribe in the form of a plane, all while the GOP in congress is taking away lifesaving programs that benefit real Americans.
DOGE was never about eliminating waste and fraud. It was a chance for Elon Musk to mine American’s data for his private profit. And it was a chance to destroy the very things that make America great: libraries, parks, public schools. The toad lied about Project 2025 — he knew about it all along, and everything that is happening now was clearly laid out.
I hope the people who voted for him are proud of themselves. Those are the people responsible for destroying America. Greed and self interest is an ugly look!
Debra Lutje
The Dalles
Precedence?
Michael Baumgartner, 5th Congressional District U.S. Representative, is hostile to his constituents and generally all Washingtonians.
He claims to be a “state’s rights guy,” as Republicans used to be. Most congressional Republicans now cowardly won’t stand up against President Donald Trump’s wannabe all-powerful dictatorship. Accordingly, Baumgartner joined with House Republican colleagues in recently signing a letter from the House Judicial Committee to Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown. The letter, in effect, claims that Trump’s extremely cruel, vindictive, and racist executive orders regarding deportation should take precedence over Washington State’s Keep Washington Working Act. That state law, passed in 2019 during the first Trump administration, aims to protect Washington residents from Trump’s extreme deportation overreach.
So, it simply boils down to which of the following two opposing edicts should be followed: Washington State law or a single autocrat’s cruel, impulsive, and untested (unconstitutional?) executive orders. On this, alarmingly, Baumgartner’s loyalty sides with Trump against generally all Washingtonians.
Has Baumgartner no heart, just like most congressional Republicans? Is loyalty to the cult of the 34-count convicted felon Trump more important to Baumgartner than anything else? What’s happened to the soul of the Republican party? Previously, it’s included such moral giants as, historically, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses S. Grant, Martin Luther King Sr. (Republican until John F. Kennedy’s presidency), former Washington Gov. Dan Evans, and, most recently, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney.
Spineless Baumgartner joins most Congressional Republicans, Elon Musk, and Trump’s Cabinet as “card-carrying” members of the Trump Cruelty Cult.
Norm Luther
Spokane
WSVSD thanks
I wanted to say “thanks” to the White Salmon Valley School District for all the hard work and preparation the district put into hosting the second round and quarterfinals of the WIAA 1A boys state soccer playoffs. The field and facilities looked great.
I also wanted to voice my appreciation to the people who repainted the Bruins bear paws up Main Street and Loop Road. And lastly, I was so impressed with the crowd that came out to see the Bruins win both games. CHS might not have fancy buses and facilities like the wealthy private schools that we often compete against. But we have something high priced tuition can never pay for ... community.
As the boys soccer team heads to the semifinals in Federal Way to play the Bush School (another private school that costs more than the University of Washington), you can bet that our soccer players will have twice as many people cheering for them than Bush will. Our community will make the three-and-a-half-hour drive to root for our team and we will be louder, prouder and have more fun regardless of whether we win or lose. Yet again, I’m proud of this community and all everyone does for it. Go Bruins!
Dan Miller
White Salmon
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