Letters to the editor May 15

Fact check

A fact check is needed on Columbia Falls Rep. Braxton Mitchell. His bogus statements regarding the IRS are just that — bogus. The IRS will not be completing individuals tax returns in 2024. This is just another GOP scare tactic, along the lines of the “Big Lie.” Don’t believe it.

— Melissa Case, Valier

Party of small government

The Republican party claims to be the party of small government but, once again, they have proven that small government is not actually one of their core values. Once again they have overstepped their bounds are attempting to take away freedoms that many of us enjoy.

The Montana Legislature passed a bill that would make the app TikTok illegal inside our borders. Never mind that, per the app stores and other tech experts, this law is probably impossible to enact (there is no geographic fencing built into app stores); this is an assault on our right to free speech.

All apps and websites collect data on their users. Google does it, YouTube does it, games do it, and Facebook does it. Legislators claim that Tiktok is a threat because it is owned by a foreign billionaire but Twitter is also owned by a foreign billionaire (Elon Musk) and it faces no threat from the government.

If the government is truly concerned with our data and what happens to it, they should pass laws that give us more control over how our data is collected and used, not take aim at one particular app and declare it illegal in the state.

Republicans only want small government when it comes to things they like. The rest of the time, they don’t think twice about trampling our rights.

— Amy Weeks, Columbia Falls

In defense of Justice Thomas

The May 5 Daily Inter Lake headline reads, “Justice Clarence Thomas let donor pay child’s tuition.” OK, but why is this an issue?

In case you don’t know, liberals are dismayed that, in their opinion, the current Supreme Court is too conservative, despite the fact that Chief Justice Roberts has voted with the more left-leaning side several times. So what’s up?

In 1997 Justice Thomas and his wife Ginni agreed to care for a grandnephew, Martin, when he was 6, and were raising him like a son, much as the justice’s grandparents had done for him in 1955. As the family explored places to send Martin for school, (Dallas billionaire) Harlan Crow recommended Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, a private middle school. Crow was an alumnus of the school, and volunteered to foot the cost of the first year, as he had previously funded other students.

When Martin transferred to a Georgia school, however, Crow funded the first year also. Those funds were given directly to the schools on Martin’s behalf. As the Associated Press article read, this was the, “latest example of Harlan Crow’s generosity to Thomas and his family….” leaving unsaid the details, which help to explain the circumstances that no one disputes.

Many people and organizations help to fund educational costs for students other than their own kin, so this attempt by the liberal Associated Press, and periodicals that subscribe to and choose to print such articles, is simply another effort to tar or cancel any voices that oppose their views. Justice Thomas is simply another target of such efforts. How about the other Justices? Where are the inquiries about their personal lives?

— Ward DeWitt, Bigfork