Idaho’s in the news again. As always, it’s embarrassing | Opinion

Every time Idaho makes news, it’s embarrassing

Idaho, you’ve done it again.

My beautiful state always seems to be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

This time, it’s regarding Christian nationalist Pastor Doug Wilson.

A post from Wilson featuring a 7-minute exhortation about how women shouldn’t have the right to vote was boosted by our definitely-not-unbiased Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — whose main qualification for the job of leading the world’s most elite military was a stint at Fox News.

Ladies: As a third-generation Idahoan, how does it make you feel to put Republican men in positions of power — only to have those same men support people who think you shouldn’t be allowed to vote?

If you cast your vote for President Donald Trump in last year’s election, that’s exactly what you voted for.

My advice?

Don’t take your right to vote for granted. Speak out against Idahoans like Pastor Wilson who contort Biblical scripture to suit their patriarchal agenda and use it as an excuse to subvert women from having a say in this country.

There’s Republican men like Wilson and Hegseth who think your voices shouldn’t be heard at the ballot box. Don’t let them silence us.

Stacy Kriz, McCall

Enough with Kohberger reporting

Please, for the love of God or whatever you feel sacred, stop reporting anything Kohberger as front-page news. You are a newspaper. This is not news. Granted, the general public has an insatiable desire for crime and gore. The verdict is out; let’s move on. Leave the intrigue and deep dive to Dateline, 48 Hours and social media. Your job is done. We have something to learn from New Zealand authorities, who, after a 2019 mosque shooting killing 51 people, denied notoriety to the shooter by refusing to repeat his name and showing his image. Prime Minister Ardern famously stated, “He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name.”

Can we learn something here?

Bonnie Alexander, Boise

SCOTUS enables tyranny

Trump is making the presidency into something closer to a dictatorship, and it is because Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court have given Trump’s agenda some type of Constitutional legitimacy. Several rulings, some written by Roberts himself, have given Trump monarchial powers.

Roberts pretty much invented presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. Because of the court and Roberts’ rulings, Trump believes that he is the unitary head of not just the government but of the nation, who can impose his will on all of us.

Because of the actions of the court and Congress, American life is now based on fear. Trump despises dissent, so he uses fear to suppress it. He uses it against the military, civil service, universities, anything he can think of.

He and his cabinet have fired military officers and civil servants, replacing them with political loyalists. He has terrorized immigrants, both illegal and legal.

This is not the America I was born in nor is it the Republican Party that I once respected. I call on Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, and Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch to have town halls and answer the questions their constituents have.

Guyle Leigh Carver, Boise

Thanks for supporting Ukraine

I appreciate Sen. Risch support for a free, autonomous Ukraine. Risch has always been a prominent voice on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, consistently expressing strong condemnation of Vladimir Putin and his actions against Ukraine.

I am appalled that Trump has invited Putin to meet in the United States, in Trump’s words, to seek an end to the Ukraine conflict, further hinting at a land swap.

Correctly calling the invasion of Ukraine premeditated and illegal, stressing that Putin violated the borders of a sovereign country despite diplomatic efforts.

I applaud the senator’s clarity.

I am outraged that Trump is bringing Putin to the US. I am enraged that Trump feels emboldened to speak for Ukraine regarding a sovereign nation’s territorial borders.

I implore Trump to demand that Putin release thousands of children removed from this sovereign nation to their families. We need to see some positive move toward peace from the aggressor in the obscene act of war.

We also need to witness our president behave in a presidential manner. Before it’s too late to salvage any amount of respect on the world stage.

Laurie A Durocher, Boise

Working Idahoans need solutions

Idaho’s working people — urban and rural alike — share the same struggles: low wages, unaffordable housing, high healthcare costs and leaders who pit us against each other. Both parties have perfected the art of distraction, pointing fingers across the partisan divide while ignoring the lived reality of those they claim to serve.

We have been told that “Idahoans don’t want to work.” That’s not true. The jobs don’t pay enough to survive. When rent eats most of your paycheck, you adapt — couch surfing, sleeping in your car or picking up gig work. That’s not laziness. That’s math.

Our leaders are supposed to serve all their constituents, not just donors, corporations and party bosses. But like explorers chasing distant stars while ignoring their own ship, they’ve abandoned the mission: to build a state where work pays and families thrive.

To explore strange new worlds is fine in science fiction. But here in Idaho, we’d settle for leaders who explore solutions to our problems.

I call for both parties to conduct town halls in every county in Idaho.

Arthur Galus, Boise