Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1609 - 1633 of 3750
Ed Gillespie went from potential vindicator of Trumpism to "cuckservative" in the space of a couple of hours. The Virginia Republican, campaigning for governor in a treacherous political environment defined by an unpopular president of his own party, ran the only race he reasonably could. He distanced himself from Donald Trump personally, hoping to lessen his losses in heavily Democratic Northern Virginia, while hitting some Trumpian notes on crime and immigration to appeal to the president's base. Gillespie looked to be gaining fast on...
I've written facetiously before about a fictional nation, the Male Chauvinist Pigdom. Unfortunately, it's very real and not funny, unless you get your jollies from the stories that are emerging of the male pigs -- not all of us, mind you, but far too many -- who brutalize the females of our species. Day after day, plausible horror stories of sexual assault finally spew after festering for years. The lineup of alleged pervs reaches the highest levels of celebrity, presidents of the United States, powerful movie producers and so many performers...
Football is everywhere. Games are scheduled throughout the weekend. The much anticipated Apple Cup is on Saturday. WSU meets UofW in Seattle. It promises to be a hard fought game. As we know, football is not a gentle sport. Players are helmeted and heavily padded to withstand the physical contact. One would think that football is enough violence for most, but for most it is non-participatory. Not everyone likes to just watch. That is where Black Friday comes in. Those looking for more action can have their chance at contact sports on Black Frid...
There was a brief furor a week or so ago about our national problem with substance abuse. President Trump said that we are experiencing an opioid epidemic. He may be newly aware of this, but it is not new. We have had a problem with opioids for as long as I can remember. We also have a cocaine epidemic, a methamphetamine epidemic, and chronic misuse of prescription drugs. We have a long standing drug epidemic that continues to grow despite all efforts to suppress it. We have spent billions of dollars trying to counter the problem and have...
Twenty-five years ago, Business took a beating in Olympia. The swing to the left in the 1992 general election was swift and potent. It drove higher costs to employers and more government regulations. Warning: Today’s political winds are blowing in that same direction. In the 1992 election, Democrats across America scored big wins promising a new health care system and bigger government. Bill Clinton upset George H.W. Bush for president and Congressman Mike Lowry knocked off Republican Attorney General Ken Eikenberry for governor. R...
Before the Texas church shooter encountered any police officers, he was run off a highway and dead. He had been shot and chased by two private citizens who took it upon themselves to respond to a heinous crime when no one with a badge was anywhere to be found. The church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas is another heartbreaking chapter in the country's epidemic of mass shootings. Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed 26 people and wounded another 20, accounting for nearly everyone in the small church. The senseless cruelty is hard to...
In 1968, Phillip Morris decided the time had come to market cigarettes toward women, who had begun to make discernible social progress and were finally moving away from the stifling ideal of the barefoot-and-pregnant child-raising homemaker role. They had started achieving a less restricted, independent role where they could choose to make their mark in the professional world. The cigarette manufacturer celebrated this new glimmering of freedom by creating a Virginia Slims brand that was promoted for women with the slogan "You've come a long...
#!*! People who put on a facade, months later their true character surfaces....
Don't turn on the news. Don't read the paper. It's depressing, it's disturbing, is it Las Vegas, is it Texas, is it Washington, D.C.? Is it a myriad of other places? Switch to sports instead. When we do change the station, why is the feeling often still there? In a time in which news in general is dark and darker, the extended trend of black sports uniforms could use a second look. Sports are generally fun and exciting for a society, a genuine bond among varied people. But now, in this particular era, to insist on continuing the 20-year-old...
Skewed editorial To be honest I am not sure where to start in regard to your editorial page on November 2, 2017 in the Whitman County Gazette. I am a frequent reader of your editorial comments, many times agreeing sometimes disagreeing but this most recent one was wrought with either errors or false statements that clearly were skewed toward your position on the matter. While I agree that the editorial section is not necessarily a journalist article, but it should be based upon facts from which a conclusion of agreement or disagreement can be...
The showdown between President Donald Trump and Sen. Jeff Flake turned out to be no contest. It wasn't Trump who was out of the GOP mainstream, but Flake. The Arizona senator supported Gang of Eight-style immigration reform, when immigration restriction is becoming a litmus-test issue in the party. He is a Goldwaterite, libertarian-inflected conservative, when the market for libertarianism within the party is limited and diminishing by the day. He is frankly anti-Trump, when Trump owns the party. Many Republican voters are fully aware of the...
Some will remember that Ronald Reagan used to describe the GOP as a "big tent," meaning it had room for a large spectrum of approaches to government, from nearly liberal to arch conservative. Well, his alleged "big tent" certainly is "past tents." The GOP range these days goes from hard right to extremist cuckoo bird. Anybody who doesn't stand for exclusion and protecting the rich at all costs is dismissed as a "RINO" -- a "Republican In Name Only." The "Conscience of a Conservative" has been gradually overwhelmed by the expedient of...
YYYY The new passing lanes on 195 north of Steptoe. Keep them coming. Send your pet peeves and okeydokes to Whitman County Gazette P.O Box 770, Colfax, WA 99111 or drop them off at the Gazette office...
In the movie “Starship Troopers,” citizenship was a very special status. To earn citizenship, one had to serve in the military. Citizenship gave those who served the right to vote. In this science fiction story, the rights of citizenship were not given freely. Citizenship here does not have to be earned. For most, it is a birthright. And, on top of that, very little is asked of citizens. Some citizens who have given the most to the country are veterans. We should give them our respect in return. It is fitting that they are honored. Alt...
Defending Jacobs I would like to respond to the allegations about my husband, Ken Jacobs, against the trail in Rosalia. (Julie Griffin letter Oct. 26) Did she have a recording of that meeting that she remembers it so well? What I remember and know about my husband, is that he was always in favor of having the John Wayne Trail. My recall of that time is the parks department was trying to put through making the trail head for Rosalia, up on the hill between lst and 7th, open it up for horse trailers and campers. That was a bad idea. That is a...
The Kremlin knows a bargain when it sees it. We are supposed to believe that it bought the American presidential election last year with $100,000 in Facebook ads and some other digital activity. Frankly, if American democracy can be purchased this cheap -- a tiny fraction of the $7.2 million William Seward paid to buy Alaska from the Russians back in 1867 -- it's probably not worth having. The latest obsession in the Russian collusion story, the Kremlin's digital activity has generated headlines and put Facebook and all of Silicon Valley on...
Few in media have disparaged President Donald Trump more harshly than I have. But I and the rest of his critics need to be careful. If we want credibility, particularly with Trump always attacking us for "fake news," we must be painstaking as we do our jobs, particularly when a story seems too grotesque to be true. A case in point is the controversy over the call he made to Myeshia Johnson, the grieving widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four special operations troops killed by ISIS forces while on patrol in Niger. Prodded by...
Special prosecutor Robert Mueller is mandated to investigate the alleged ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia. The investigation has been underway for sometime, but it was completely secret until Monday. That is when Mueller brought indictments against Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, and Rick Gates, Trump advisor and Manafort associate. Both men have been charged with multiple crimes. They have been placed on house arrest in lieu of multi-million dollar bail. Prior to Monday, speculation about Mueller’s first move w...
Shortly after the awful shooting in Las Vegas, I was talking to a very liberal friend of mine who started the conversation with, “I know that we have very different positions on gun control, but…” I interrupted at that point and said, “I don’t think our positions are that far apart. Where we differ is the means to get guns out of the hands of mass murderers.” Despite my liberal friend’s preconception, I can accept a level of reasonable gun control. There is no reason for any private citizen to have access to fully automatic weapons, expl...
Stirring it up Whitman County is a beautiful place to live year around. With the seasonal changes, the topography, the ever changing light, and the fine people, for the most part, it is a gift to those that appreciate what we have been given. As a carnivore I also enjoy the wonderful variety of food available prepared by hard working people who also seem to love this unique comer of our great country. I can only hope they all stay around. One of the great places to experience our wonderful Inland Northwest is at Boyer Park on the Snake river. A...
Last year, Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates wrote about the similarities and differences between Boeing’s corporate office move to Chicago and Amazon’s plan for a second headquarters. Boeing wanted to leave Seattle in an effort to separate its corporate leadership from manufacturing sites while Amazon, with an unusual strategy, plans to keep its headquarters here but set up a parallel operation elsewhere. Boeing hoped to find a more conservative business climate while Amazon wants a city which is a “cultural fit.” Gates reporte...
Jimmy Kimmel deserves credit for frankness, if nothing else. In a recent interview, the ABC late-night host said he doesn't care about losing Republican viewers. We're a long way from Johnny Carson, whose "Tonight Show" was a national institution that enjoyed a broad audience -- and was conducted like one. Carson steered clear of politics and kept his views to himself because it would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am." Kimmel may be an entertainer, but has no such inhibitions. He uttered what could be the epigraph for our times, s...
YYYY Beautiful pink flags brightening up Colfax all month long!! Thorn Hill, you are very kind and appreciated for enduring hundreds of trick-or-treaters every year. #!*! Phallic symbol, I mean Codger Pole... the game and the story, great. Erecting a monument of these guys’ mugs that the town is saddled with maintaining, no thanks. Send your pet peeves and okeydokes to Whitman County Gazette P.O Box 770, Colfax, WA 99111 or drop them off at the Gazette office...
The debate over the Snake River dams has raged for years. To breach or not to breach has been the question swirling around them. Corrective moves to help save the salmon and steelhead runs and court action have marked the story. An article in a recent Lewiston Tribune has brought the debate back to the surface, and poor fish runs have renewed calls for breaching the dams. Despite evidence that many factors contribute to declining runs, the dams remain the center point of the argument. The advocates of breaching the dams do not equivocate. The o...
I just returned from parents weekend at my grandson’s college in New England. He likes this school even though it is all the way across the continent and requires a long flight to get there. I remember when flying was fun. I took my first airplane ride when I went back east to college not far from where my grandson is now. It was a great adventure. I dressed up, even wore a tie as I recall. Everyone was smiling and helpful. I checked my bag, went directly to my gate, then on to the plane. The pretty young stewardess made sure I was c...
