Letters to the editor Jan. 20

What a stench!

And how sad to see our highly respected former Montana Secretary of State use these pages to lead the Flathead into Washington’s “blow up the Senate by killing the filibuster” cesspool.

Byron York has nailed the reeking hypocrisy by quoting the honorable Charles Schumer’s earlier ringing and patriotic defense of this critical minority safeguard: “The ideologues in the Senate want to turn what the Founding Fathers called the cooling saucer of democracy into the rubber stamp of dictatorship. They believe that if you get 51% of the vote, there should be one-party rule. They want to make this country into a banana republic where if you don’t get your way, you change the rules. It’ll be doomsday for democracy if we do.”

The honorable Mr. Schumer lives in New York City and serves as the Democratic Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

— Andy Palchak, Kalispell

Library books

These books are disgusting and never should be in our public library. The last paragraphs are almost too gross to read.

I am a great-grandmother of six children, and I would hope our library will use common sense in protecting our children from this smut.

— Grace Larson, Kalispell

Party over duty

Representative Matt Rosendale’s flyer touting his first-term accomplishments arrived right around Jan. 6. That day, a year ago, he voted to dispute 2020 presidential electoral ballots. His justification — the Electoral Count Act of 1877, a law passed to resolve if conflicting sets of ballots or an improperly seated elector clouded the ballots of a state, neither of which occurred in 2020’s election.

Driving past Depot Park last Jan. 6, I passed a large group armed with semi-automatic rifles, celebrating as live coverage of the riots played on the radio. It was chilling. Subsequently, I’ve taken more note of the “Don’t Tread on Me” license plates, bumper stickers displaying rifles and pistols as “My Family,” and the occasional Confederate flag flying from truck or home. Some probably just affirm good old western independence. Others are warnings.

This Jan. 6, shortly after Rosendale’s flyer arrived, I sat changing clothes at a gym as a monologue about the absolute dishonesty of all politicians spun out. The speaker, with earnest conviction, concluded that it was going to “take a revolution” to snatch America back from a corrupt non-representative system and that inquiries into the Jan. 6 riot were a wasteful joke. The speaker left the strong impression that the riots were merely a necessary step in the right direction.

Party over duty is the legacy of Rosendale’s first term I’ll remember most next November. The actions and words of Rosendale and, initially, even more so from Sen. Steve Daines, supporting a “stolen election,” validated, intentionally or not, those who would resort to violence. They still fuel a narrative that our elections do not truly represent the will of the people, justifying to folks like my locker room lecturer last week, and a few thousand rioters last Jan. 6, that all rules are off.

— Steve Brady, Kalispell

Therapeutics

I would like to add a few more facts to Mark Agather’s recent letter.

The gold standard of care for viral infections is early treatment. From the start of the Covid pandemic, there were none. Patients were sent home and told to come back if their condition deteriorated.

There were early reports of promising therapeutics. Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin are known to be very effective in the first several days of infection. Further studies showed Ivermectin to be very effective in all stages of the infection. Multiple studies have shown that Vitamin D blood levels above 50mg/ml (along with Vit. K2, zinc, and magnesium) would reduce hospitalizations by approximately 80%. All of these protocols are cheap and safe.

Anthony Fauci along with NIH Director Francis Collins attacked these treatments with a vengeance, even going so far as having any mention of them censored and doctors threatened if they dared to prescribe them.

Why was the public not informed about these therapeutics? Why the push to vaccinate the least vulnerable age group — kids? The answer is: money and liability.

Once a vaccine is added to the childhood schedule, the vaccine maker is shielded from liability for injuries. The current Covid “vaccines” are under emergency use authorization. Under EAU, the vaccine maker is shielded from liability. To get EAU they must meet four criteria: there has to be an emergency; vaccines must be 30% to 50% effective; benefits must outweigh risks: and there can be no adequate, approved, and available alternative treatments. This last requirement was the most threatening to the rabid push to vaccinate everyone. Billions of dollars would be at risk if the therapeutics were recognized. Greed and corruption seem to be the logical culprits.

Ask your doctor to check your vitamin levels and doses to help you to stay safe.

— Gary Goers, Kalispell

[Editor’s note: The FDA’s explanation of emergency use authorization for vaccines can be found online at www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines]