Donald Trump and maga Republicans hide from Town Halls because they are political cowards

Idaho lawmakers should hold ton halls❗ Here’s what we’d ask them | Opinion published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper:

Idaho’s congressional delegation, from left to right: Representtaive. Russ Fulcher, Representative. Mike Simpson, Senator Mike Crapo and Senator Jim Risch. All are members of the Republican Party. 

The U.S. House of Representatives is on summer vacation — sorry, “August recess” — having skipped town quickly to avoid a vote on whether to demand release of the so-called Epstein Files, which may show whether Donald Trump was somehow connected with Epstein’s sex trafficking of minors. Whatever the reason, Idaho’s U.S. Republican Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher should be back home in Idaho. The Senate is still in session.

What a wonderful opportunity to meet with constituents and hear their concerns. Wouldn’t it be great if lawmakers held town halls once again to meet face to face with Idahoans❓ 

By the way, we’re not talking about telephone town halls with screened phone calls and preapproved questions or private events with selected attendees. We’re talking about a town hall that’s open to anyone and everyone to ask questions or express their concerns about an issue.

Town halls with Washington politicians are becoming more and more rare. Senatir Mike Crapo last held an in-person town hall in Sandpoint in 2022, according to Boise State Public Radio. 

We could not find any recent evidence Senator Jim Risch held a public town hall, but he chastised a reporter in 2020, for daring to ask him a question at a public event. 

Congressman Simpson has not held an in-person town hall in over 13 years, according to the Idaho Democratic Party. 

Fulcher used to hold them all the time, with great success and attendance back when he was a state senator representing Meridian and Kuna. Fulcher last did an in-person town hall in 2024, at which protesters shouted him down, which the Statesman opinion editor condemned. 

Remember when then-U.S. Rep. Raúl Labrador was roundly booed at a town hall in 2017, when he said “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care?”

Maybe that’s why Republican lawmakers don’t want to do town halls any more. It’s a shame.😔😒😞 

Among the issues and questions we’d like to see Idaho’s delegation address and answer: Why did you eliminate funding for public broadcasting❓ We would especially like to see lawmakers visit more rural areas of Idaho, where people are most at risk for losing services and explain how those cuts the Republicans 🐘voted for  are going to be good for them. 😳😔

Someone should ask them if they support cuts to the National Endowment to the Arts and the Humanities❓ If so, why❓ We’d like to see them go to Malad, Idaho and explain why organizers of the Malad Valley Welsh Festival might not be able to bring speakers in for next year’s event. Or Hagerman, Idaho about why a project documenting 435 local military service members shouldn’t get federal aid. Even though the Senate is still in session, we would still encourage our senators to meet with their constituents — all their constituents, not just the voters who support them — the next time they’re in town.

We’d love to see Risch answer the question: Do you agree with cutting funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development❓ You previously spoke highly of USAID and the importance of its work. What changed❓

We’d like to see an Idaho resident ask Crapo about the One Big Beautiful (aka "ugly"❗) Bill. Republican Senator Crapo touts what he says are the many positives of the bill: extension of tax cuts for the middle class, tax credits for nuclear and semiconductor manufacturing, no tax on tips and overtime for tipped/hourly workers, an increase in the child tax credit and standard deduction, money for farmers and small businesses, and a 💲50 billion fund for rural hospitals. 

But someone should ask him how all those goodies, increased spending and tax cuts will affect the budget deficit and national debt. Crapo likes to cherry-pick one “report” from the White House Council of Economic Advisers — a committee stuffed with Trump yes-men — that says the One Big Beautiful Bill will cut the deficit. Are you at all concerned that perhaps, maybe — just maybe — Trump ordered the Council of Yes-Men Economic Advisers to fudge their numbers to come up with the conclusion he wanted? Why ignore all the other myriad studies❓ Why ignore the Tax Foundation, the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Budget, which have all said the bill will add trillions to the debt❓ We would also urge all of Idaho’s lawmakers to hold town hall meetings in small rural towns and field questions from people currently on Medicaid and reassure them that somehow cutting 💲900 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years won’t affect them. Simpson should explain, with a straight face to a group of farmers and ranchers in Aberdeen who probably are losing workers, his reasoning behind why he believes Melania Trump🤢 😕deserves to have an opera house  at the Kennedy Center named after her. Or did Trump ask him to do that as a favor? While he’s at it, perhaps Simpson, a trained dentist by trade, could explain his support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who wants to ban fluoride from drinking water, calling it a “dangerous neurotoxin” that he thinks is linked to arthritis, thyroid problems, bone fractures and cancer and is related to IQ loss or reduced intelligence in children. Finally, since this was the whole reason House lawmakers fled D.C. early, they should answer the question, “If President Trump had ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking in minors, shouldn’t the public be made aware of that❓” Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. 

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cut taxes for the rich by taking money from middle class social safety nets- Impeach Trump Again!

Shame on Idaho lawmakers who voted for Trump’s hidious: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ | Echo opinion published in the Idaho Statesman

Budget bill 😳😧😠 The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” was passed by the House by one vote❗

Both Idaho Republicans Representative Mike Simpson (age 74) and Representative Russ Fulcher (age 63) voted for it, even though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this bill will increase the federal deficit over the next 10 years by over 3 trillion dollars. 

This hideious bill will cut hundreds of billions from Medicare and Medicaid and various other social safety net programs, all or most of which benefit the middle class down to the poorest. 

Republicans are making these cuts to justify a tax cut that will disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations. To summarize – the party of “fiscal conservatism” wants to increase the deficit (which would be absolutely unacceptable if the White House were occupied by a Democrat) in order to cut taxes mostly for the wealthy, while giving lip service to paying for this tax cut by cutting $800 billion from programs that help ordinary Americans. The absolute stupidity of this approach is mind-boggling. 

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition): As a lifelong Idahoan and Boise resident, I know firsthand how vital SNAP is. 

After losing my job during the Great Recession, I went from working as a legal assistant to applying for food assistance just to keep my son fed. I skipped meals so he could eat dinner. I borrowed eggs and oil from my mom so he wouldn’t go to school empty-handed for a class party. 

SNAP helped us survive when everything else fell apart.  Today, more than 132,000 Idahoans rely on this program — including veterans, older adults and families who work hard but can’t make ends meet. Yet Congress will slash average benefits to just $5 a day. That won’t even cover a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.

Worse, these horrible cuts will strip thousands of Idaho kids of free school meals. That’s not fiscal responsibility — it’s punishing children and families. 

SNAP isn’t charity. It’s a smart, effective program that reduces hunger and keeps communities strong. Idaho grocers, farmers, and families all benefit. I urge Idaho’s delegation to reject these harmful cuts. You can’t fix a broken budget by taking food away from children. 

From Dawn Pierce, in Boise, Idaho

Elon Musk is colliding with Holocaust denialism and must be severely reprimanded for his irresponsible Nazi behavior

Echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise Idaho:

Musk thinks Germany should forget the sins of Nazism❓ Maybe so he can reenact them | Opinion

Elon Musk tells German far-right crowd the nation should move beyond "past guilt" ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day😓😨🕎✡️

I’m seeing shades of Adolf. The de facto president (Elon Musk) addressed a far-right group in Germany and told them to get past the Nazi problem. 

Did he mean forget about that time or deny it happened or it wasn’t as bad as perceived or as what❓

A group of four uniformed officers marching in a parade of SA stormtroopers, or 'brownshirts', in Berlin, Germany, circa 1929. The stormtroopers were a paramilitary organisation of the German Nazi Party, playing a key role in the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1920s and 1930s. (Photo by Henry Guttmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Look what Trump/Musk and devotees have unleashed. Trump in his complete forgiveness to all the insurrection/riot idiots created the immediate comparison of Nazi Brown Shirts, subsequent SS Troops, the Gestapo. Previously we all said it mustn’t happen again, but it certainly seems that it is happening. Why❓ 

From Janette McFarland, in Fruitland, Idaho

Republicans at their lowest and worst are on full display in their extremism party platforms

Echo opinion published in the Idaho Statesman by Rep. Lauren Necochea, chair of the Idaho Democratic Party.

GOP bosses double down on extremist agenda*

“We the People” are the beginning words of the U.S. Constitution. They speak to the guiding principles of our country. Similarly, political parties create platforms to express the values that guide them. The new platform adopted by the Idaho Republican Party should concern all Idahoans. It spells out a deeply dangerous and unpopular agenda that is far out of step with the majority of Idahoans.

The Idaho GOP’s stance on reproductive freedom is particularly alarming. Two years ago, we were shocked that Idaho Republicans endorsed a platform to ban abortion care even when the woman faces death. This year, they went even further by seeking to criminalize in-vitro fertilization.

Trump and the GOP are dangerous❗

The extremism doesn’t end there. The platform opposes funding for education after high school, targeting LAUNCH scholarships, public universities, and community colleges. Additionally, the platform calls for repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which would mean loss of coverage for people with preexisting conditions, young Idahoans who use their parents’ insurance plans, people who rely on tax credits to buy coverage, and others. It calls for costly school voucher schemes when the state isn’t adequately funding our public schools and certainly cannot afford to subsidize a shadow private school system. And it doubles down on absurd ideas like returning to the gold standard, repealing the 17th Amendment to have U.S. senators appointed rather than elected, and privatizing Social Security.

Most startling, the platform opposes any government function not expressly mentioned in the Constitution. This would end subsidies that protect our agricultural sector from ups and downs, Veterans Services, Medicare and Medicaid, libraries, parks, broadband infrastructure in rural areas, and much more.

One may be tempted to ignore this laundry list of dangerous ideas. But with the hardline ideologues running the party, led by the newly reelected chair Dorothy Moon, this isn’t a document that sits on a shelf. Rather, it’s a tool the Idaho GOP uses to intimidate elected officials directly, do an end-run around voters, and even try to prevent certain candidates from running. They have empowered local party bosses to use tribunals and censures when they decide elected Republican lawmakers have strayed from the party platform. In sum, they want elected officials to serve the party, not the voters they are purported to represent.

Idaho's Democrats from every corner of the state will come together to craft our party’s platform. I anticipate it will stand in stark contrast and speak to a vision of shared prosperity for Idahoans where all families can thrive.

We must reject this out-of-touch and harmful agenda at the ballot box this November. By standing together, we can ensure a future that reflects Idahoans’ broadly shared values and aspirations.

P.S. Although it might be easy to lable this Idaho extemism as being unique to one state, BUT...the fact is....Project 2025, supported by the right wing Heritage Foundation, is loaded with the same outrageous rhetoric, craziness spread out in 900 pages❗ #GOPIsDangerous  #VoteBlue

Republicans put wrong-minded anti-government ideology above people's health care needs

Idahoans have spoken repeatedly. Don’t roll back Medicaid expansion; protect it | Opinion echo by Lauren NECOCHEA published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise:

With the holiday season upon us, I’m reminded of the ways in which we care for one another. 

One of the best ways we do this as Idahoans is through Medicaid supported health care. 

Medicaid provides necessary care for our children, pregnant Idahoans, seniors who need nursing home care, and both adults and children with disabilities. Medicaid delivers developmental screenings to our kids, substance use disorder treatment, cancer care, and much more. And it demonstrates a fundamental belief we share: We never want Idahoans to go without health care due to an inability to pay. Idaho voters continue to express strong support for Medicaid. They passed Medicaid expansion in 2018, with 61% in favor and the policy has only become more popular. Recent polling commissioned by Idaho Voices for Children shows that 73% of voters favor keeping Medicaid expansion. Additionally, voters resoundingly oppose cuts to Medicaid services.

Unfortunately, Idaho’s Republican supermajority isn’t getting the message. They have made repeated attempts to roll back Medicaid expansion and take coverage away from Idahoans, chronically underfunded Medicaid services, and threatened to make cuts to a critical lifeline.

Today’s direct care worker crisis illustrates what happens when budget setters starve a crucial service. Direct care workers help seniors and individuals with disabilities with daily tasks, like eating and dressing themselves. This support allows Idahoans to live independently in their homes and is typically funded through Medicaid. But a new report from the Office of Performance Evaluation reveals that this workforce faces a 3,000-person shortage and workers can earn 36-39% higher wages in other industries. Idahoans requiring this assistance can be forced into the more costly and less desirable option of moving into an institution when there are no direct care workers available. There are clear steps the Idaho Legislature must take to protect Idahoans who rely on Medicaid. First, we must bolster reimbursement for Medicaid services, especially direct care workers so that Idahoans can live as independently as possible. We should also reject proposals that cut Medicaid services. Second, we need to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to mothers for one year after birth. This is a key recommendation that Idaho’s Maternal Mortality Review Board made after studying how we can best prevent maternal deaths in our state.

Third, we must reject attempts to dismantle Medicaid expansion.

Too many Republican politicians prioritize their anti-government ideology over people’s needs. 

Also, while some lawmakers do not believe that the public sector should solve problems and help Idahoans access health care, voters clearly do. Voters want to ensure a strong Medicaid program is there when they, their loved ones, and their neighbors need it. 

Idaho Democrats will continue working to protect and strengthen Medicaid to keep all Idahoans healthy. 

Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, represents District 19, in the Idaho Legislature and is the chair of the Idaho Democratic Party.

Idaho Republican legislators say their anti-abortion laws are not causing harm? They are unfit to serve!

The negative impacts of Idaho’s restrictive abortion ban are becoming clearer | Opinion echo from the Editorial Board of the Idaho Statesman newspaper:

Overturned Roe v. Wade wrong minded SCOTUS ruling causes harm in Idaho but the state's Republican legislators ignore reality.

The New York Times, illustrated the impact of Idaho’s restrictive abortion ban. The Times documented the plight and flight of maternal-health doctors in Idaho because of the potential of criminal charges associated with Idaho’s “trigger law,” which criminalized abortion once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The Times talked to Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, a family doctor who also delivers babies in McCall — and thinks about leaving Idaho “every day.” Two doctors have already left Idaho: Dr. Kylie Cooper, who moved to Minnesota, and Dr. Lauren Miller, who left for Colorado.

Two small hospitals in Idaho closed their labor and delivery units this year, including Bonner General Health, in North Idaho, citing the state’s “legal and political climate” and the departure of “highly respected, talented physicians.” Dr. James Souza, the chief physician executive for St. Luke’s Health System, told The Times that the state’s laws have “had a profound chilling effect on recruitment and retention” and that St. Luke’s is now relying in part on traveling doctors to fill the gap.

Idaho sets one of the highest bars in the nation for abortion, allowing it only when a victim of rape or incest provides a police report of the crime, or to save the life of the mother. 

Doctors in Idaho are now fearful of finding themselves in a situation where providing necessary medical care for a pregnant patient means they could be charged with a crime, punishable by up to two to five years in prison. So, as The Times reported, doctors are referring patients out of Idaho for maternity care. It’s a disastrous situation.

The impacts of the abortion ban reach more than just people who seek to have an elective abortion. It also affects basic, life-saving medical care for anyone who is pregnant. Further, as Idaho doctors flee the state, and hospitals shut down labor and delivery units, it creates maternity care deserts, making it difficult if not impossible to find a doctor. 

And once again, Idaho’s Republican legislators are demonstrating a complete lack of forethought when making new laws.  “We never looked that close, and what exactly that bill said and how it was written and language that was in it,” Idaho Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, told The Times. “We did that thinking Roe v. Wade was never going to get overturned. And then when it got overturned, we said, ‘OK, now we have to take a really close look at the definitions.’” 

Idaho Rep. John Vander Woude

What an embarrassment. This is how we legislate in Idaho?

Vander Woude cast doubt on claims that doctors were leaving Idaho, apparently unaware of the facts. Vander Woude also suggested no one would ever get in trouble under the law he passed.

 “I don’t see any doctor ever getting prosecuted,” he said.

Vander Woude said what? He is not qualified to serve as a legislator!

First, how could a prosecutor not prosecute someone who is found to have broken the law? Second, why pass a law that you think no one would be prosecuted for? 

Meanwhile, the Statesman’s Gabe Barnard reported that hundreds of Idaho residents traveled out of state for an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The article illustrates that abortion bans don’t really reduce the number of abortions; they just change where they happen and make it more difficult for people in certain states.

The situation we’re in illustrates the dangers of a one-party state. The Republican Party has absolutely no incentive to compromise or even consider the impact of awful legislation. They simply pass bills without having to think — about consequences or their constituents. A poll commissioned by the Idaho Statesman in November showed there’s a moderate majority that favors more access to abortion than what legislators passed. A majority (61%) of Idahoans said doctors who perform abortions should not face criminal charges, yet legislators passed a bill criminalizing doctors.

Idaho law allows for an abortion only to save the mother’s life, not preserve her health, yet 85% of respondents said abortion should be legal to preserve the health of the mother. Respondents saying abortion should always be legal vastly outweighed those who said it should always be illegal: 26% always legal to only 7% always illegal. It’s time for legislators to listen to reason, listen to compromise and listen to voters. And most importantly, to think about the consequences before passing extremist legislation.

Idaho Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board.

What is meant by "abortion care" when a fetus is determined to be severely disabled

Echo opinion first person experience published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper, by Jillaine St. Michel:

I have always considered myself pro-choice on the issue of abortion for all circumstances, but I never had to think about what that really meant until my husband and I were faced with that choice for me and our family last November. Up until that point, it was a theoretical right, and one I so mistakenly took for granted — the right to bodily autonomy, the right to make health care and personal family decisions without government intrusion. I no longer take these human rights for granted.

We live in Idaho — one of the 14 U.S. states that has banned abortion care since the constitutional right to access abortion was overturned last year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

When my husband Brandon and I needed it most, we didn’t have a choice in the state where we live. Instead, we were made to feel as if we were sneaking around and doing something wrong for trying to access essential health care — abortion care — during the most challenging moment in our lives.

I was exactly halfway into my second pregnancy, and up until that point, we were so ecstatic to be expecting again — a baby we’d been praying for. We kept talking about and imagining the joy it would be to bring our new baby home to meet our 2-year-old daughter. But at my 20-week ultrasound, a day that is supposed to be full of excitement and awe, we received devastating news. 

Tragically, our baby, a second daughter, had many severe and insurmountable skeletal and organ issues. Fetal specialists told us that it was extremely unlikely she could survive because all her major organ systems had significant development issues.

We were blindsided and heartbroken, and yet somehow clear-minded. We chose to do what we believed was best for our unborn daughter as well as for our family; because that is what you do as parents. And we saw the choice we ultimately made as an act of love for her. We respect and honor that other parents have chosen — and will continue to choose — the only other option our doctor suggested to us — to let the pregnancy take its natural course and provide specialist or palliative care as needed.

And, so,  that is the point. Individuals and their families — no matter where they happen to live — must be able to make the best choice for them. They need to be free to choose their own act of love. I believe now more than ever that anyone’s reason for seeking an abortion is valid. Who are we to say it isn’t? What we didn’t know when we made our decision was that in addition to being so difficult emotionally, it would be made so much worse by the abortion bans recently enacted in Idaho. Because of these cruel laws, my Idaho doctors could not provide me with an abortion — something they could easily have done before Roe v. Wade was overturned — in my own community supported by family and friends.

We had to spend the following days cold-calling countless clinics in nearby states where abortion is still legal, but found out that, because of all the other new abortion bans in states across the country, many clinics had closed, most had no open appointments for several weeks, and still others considered my pregnancy, at 20 weeks, too far along for me to receive care. 

Consequently, the thought of waiting out this pregnancy, possibly for weeks, or however long, while trying to get through the day working as a chiropractor and still being active and present for our toddler was more than I could handle. All I could think about was whether the daughter I was carrying was already suffering; my anxiety and sadness were overwhelming.

We both felt hopeless and heartbroken until we reached a Seattle clinic with a last-minute cancellation. Although relieved, there was so much we had to do to get there in the haze of our grief. There were flights to make, hotels to book, a car to rent and medical care our health insurance would not cover because we were going out of state to access and receive it. 

One of the most tragic — and degrading — parts of our situation was knowing that people in my home state of Idaho believe this is acceptable, denying me bodily autonomy. We will always be grateful to the clinic and team in Seattle for offering us professional, compassionate care. I am a person of faith and for months after my abortion, I kept telling Brandon there had to be something positive that would come out of this experience. Several months later, I learned that the Center for Reproductive Rights was putting together a challenge to Idaho’s abortion laws, and I knew immediately that moving forward as a plaintiff in the case was something I had to do. I’m proud to be one of the many women and doctors challenging and broadening these laws. Physicians in Idaho must have greater discretion over when abortion exceptions are warranted, and the decision should be the patient’s in consultation with their doctors. I feel good about speaking out even as I am still grappling with abortion stigma and the fear of sharing my experience with friends, coworkers, and neighbors. I worry about what they will say or if they will treat me differently. But I am speaking out now so that other Idaho women who will need to make a difficult decision about their body and what’s best for their family will have the right to make it, whichever way they choose. So that abortion, an essential and often life-saving health care procedure in pregnancy, is accessible in Idaho and no one else has to flee to another state for care. And I’m doing this so that my daughters will know that their mother, and all other women, are deserving of this essential human right. This is another act of love. One that is my choice.

Jillaine St. Michel is a resident of Meridian, Idaho.

An updated personal story about the American botched exit from Afghanistan

Maine Writer prequel- I was a witness to the American evacuation of refugees in 1975, out of Saigon when the war effort in that nation collapsed. As a Navy wife living in Subic Bay in the Philippines, I participated in the humanitarian efforts to provide many thousands of refugees a passage to safety. Although the historic parallels between Saigon and Kabul, in Afghanistan, are like historic dejavu, the fact is, Vietnam is prospering today. Compare that to the regressive issues thrown at the Afghan people as a result of America's abandonment.  An excellent opinion essay, about America's botched exit from Afghanistan, published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper, by Bob Kustra:  The fall of Kabul was a strategic failure, but individuals showed heroism | Opinion

That old line from the writer Mark Twain — “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme” IOW, similar events will essentially recycle. This cliché comes to mind when comparing the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 to the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese in 1975. Few expected Saigon to fall as quickly as it did, and those iconic photos of South Vietnamese holding on to transport helicopters as they left Vietnam are reminiscent of Afghans hanging on to transport airplanes and falling to their deaths as the plane left the runway. Historians can parse the differences between the two moments in history, but there is little doubt in the case of the Afghanistan withdrawal that America’s image suffered across the globe as the Taliban declared victory over the overwhelming power and authority of the U.S.

The tricolor flag of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which remains in use internationally and by resistance movements against the Taliban inside Afghanistan.

There’s plenty of blame to go around regarding how things turned out. The Afghan government folded. Worse, its president fled the country and left behind the chaos and violence that ensued, but that is hardly a sufficient explanation of what went wrong with American foreign policy. 

The incredible true story of a breathtaking rescue in the frenzied final hours of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan—and how a brave Afghan mother and a compassionate American officer engineered a daring escape.

President Trump’s (wrongminded❗) decision to forsake our allies across the globe played out in favor of the Taliban in Afghanistan. General Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command at the time, testified before Congress that Trump’s 2020, promise of a complete withdrawal of American troops by May 2021, had a pernicious effect on the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces.

According to McKenzie, the troop reduction ordered later by President Biden prevented the US military from assessing the conditions inside the Afghan army “because our advisers were no longer down attached to those units.” Biden’s own Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, agreed with that assessment.

They say that journalists write the first draft of history, and that is not good news either for the Trump or Biden Administration and the U.S. military’s handling of the evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan. The pronouncements of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that the U.S. embassy evacuation was a routine step in a long-planned withdrawal done in an orderly manner just didn’t square with what the media reported as patently obvious to anyone on the ground. Thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban overwhelmed security forces at the Kabul airport as they attempted to board planes to safety and new lives. But there is good news from one journalist who has a history of capturing riveting moments in history. Mitchell Zuckoff, now a professor of journalism at Boston University, but once a member of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, the award-winning special reporting unit for investigative and accountability journalism, discovered a tale of heroism and courage in the U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan that shifts the focus from the officials at the top to a cast of characters whose lives and careers were impacted by decisions over which they had no control or input. It’s a tale about those last few days in Kabul when Americans attempted to rescue Afghans from the deadly grip of the Taliban.

Contrasting the image of a confused and disorganized American effort, “The Secret Gate” follows the life and career of Sam Aronson, a junior diplomatic officer, who volunteers for Afghanistan to help process the Afghans escaping to the West. Alternating chapters covering Aronson’s and an Afghan’s last few days during the withdrawal, building to a thrilling conclusion as Aronson courageously invents a dangerous plan of action at one of the least known gates at the Kabul airport where he can more quickly move people to safety. It also skirts the rules his diplomatic credentials require, endangers his own life and violates promises to his wife to stay out of harm’s way. One of those Aronson brings to safety is Afghan author, Homeira Qaderi, who braved the Taliban and wrote a book called “Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter to Her Son.” She emerged as an advocate for women’s rights in a country slowly overtaken by a religious autocracy. A report by the UN Human Rights Council called its treatment of women “gender persecution,” systematically restricting the human rights of women and girls and suffocating all aspects of their lives. There was little doubt Homeira would be executed by the Taliban if she stayed in Kabul.

Homeira must wrestle with the conflicting loyalties of family and motherhood, knowing full well that fleeing Afghanistan to save herself and her son from the Taliban may in fact mean she will never see her family again. News reports about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan can never capture the life-and-death decisions people on the ground make regarding their own lives and the lives of their families. Zuckoff succeeds in helping readers who enjoy the comfort and security of their own lives comprehend what it must be like for a father and mother to encourage their daughter to leave home and family to avoid death by the Taliban and give her son, Siawash, the opportunity to live beyond the reach of the Taliban. Aronson’s story reminds us there are young Americans today, not just those who serve in the military, but in this case the diplomatic corps, who put their lives on the line, volunteering for posts across the globe where violence and mayhem are the order of the day. (His wife, Liana Cramer, served on the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Mali during this same period.) It’s an American story of which we can all be proud, young people willing to represent America in foreign lands not always the safest places, but places where Americans can serve as models for democracy and freedoms too often denied in hotspots around the globe.

For Aronson, the calculus was simple. We must rescue those who have helped us over those years in Afghanistan as interpreters and security personnel. But there were rules on who could qualify for the flights out of the country and those who were considered terrorist risks. The wrenching decisions he had to make regarding who could cross the line to safety and who could not, would stay with him well beyond his days in Afghanistan. America committed itself to Afghanistan under several presidents and the decision to leave is no easy judgment call. The suicide bomb that killed 13 American servicemen and women and 170 Afghans during the withdrawal reminds us of what continuing American involvement might have meant for young Americans fighting and dying in an increasingly dangerous war far from home.

Zuckoff’s excellent treatment of the withdrawal does not take a stand on the U.S. decision to leave Afghanistan, but it does cause the reader to consider where we draw the line as to America’s role in global affairs. Afghans did not understand America’s decision to leave given the years invested in their country and the threat the Taliban posed for women’s rights and religious freedom when America left. But it was Americans like Aronson and his colleagues who cared and came to the rescue of Homeira and other Afghans in peril, risking their own lives to guarantee the freedom of others. Critics have complained that thousands of Afghans were left behind in the withdrawal, but the U.S. and its allies managed to rescue over 120,000 Afghans including 6,000 American citizens. One cannot ask for a better portrayal of Americans representing their country than you will find at “The Secret Gate” by Mitchell Zuckoff. 

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio and he writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.

Idaho population is in a daunting COVID crisis - #vaccineswork

Idaho population is 1.787 million people.  In COVID blogging, I have seen this low population state report an average of over 1,000 infections a day for over 18 months. How many thousands of Idaho people are COVID protected when, simple arithmetic, the entire state should already be infected?  Nevertheless, Idaho is in a COVID crisis as reported on September 21, 2021, by the Idaho Statesman.

‘Unprecedented event in modern medicine’: St. Luke’s doctor details Idaho COVID crisis. This news report was written by Ian Max Stevenson, published in the Idaho Statesman. 

On Sept. 16, the day Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare began allowing crisis standards of care at hospital systems across the whole state, the department director’s mother had a stroke. 

Doctors and nurses with St. Luke’s Health System work at the hospital in Boise, in August 2021. The surge of patients is eroding the quality of care the hospital can offer, a doctor said. St. Luke's Health System.

When she went to a St. Luke’s Health System emergency room, the care she received was not what you’d expect.

Other patients were receiving treatment in the emergency facility waiting room, she had to wait longer than usual, and X-rays she received to assess whether she had broken any bones were taken in a “nontraditional” area, said Dave Jeppesen, director of Health and Welfare, at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Instead of being admitted to the hospital for observation overnight, she was discharged the same day.

“The ER team at St. Luke’s was amazing,” Jeppesen said. But “those same dedicated health care professionals across the state need our help.”

Crisis standards allow hospitals to ration care in response to an emergency, and they were activated statewide at the request of St. Luke’s last week. Since then, the number of COVID-19 patients is still rising and the strain on available care for all patients continues to mount.

Though hospital leaders continue to encourage those experiencing medical emergencies to go to a hospital, health care facilities are teetering.

“We’re not providing the same level of care,”  Dr. Jim Souza, the chief physician executive at St. Luke’s, said at Tuesday’s briefing.

Breast cancer patients have had their surgeries postponed, he said, and some COVID-19 patients who should be transferred to an intensive care unit are instead being treated in less-equipped facilities.

“Everybody is going with a little bit less,” Souza said.

In Twin Falls, doctors at St. Luke’s on Saturday were nearly forced to ration care when the condition of six hospitalized patients went south rapidly, and the facility had no available ICU beds, he said.

Other facilities were able to make room for the patients, but Souza said a similar problem is almost certain to recur.

“This happens every day,” Souza said. “And yet, when it happened on Saturday, we were really pressed to find a solution.”

The crux of the problem is the overwhelming number of COVID-19 patients in a state where barely 50% of eligible people are vaccinated.

Eighty people have died of COVID-19 at St. Luke’s facilities this month, stretching from the Treasure Valley to Twin Falls to Ketchum, and 35 of them have died in the past week, Souza said. Three of the deaths were individuals younger than 30, and six were younger than 40.

“For the people who say ‘we all die sometime,’ yes, we do,” said Souza. “But these people didn’t need to die now, and they didn’t need to die like this.”

Seventy percent of the hospital system’s ICU beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, as are 67% of its hospital beds in general, which Souza called an “unprecedented event in modern medicine.” Of those in the hospital beds, 90% are unvaccinated; of those in ICU, 98% are unvaccinated, he said.

The hospital’s COVID-19 mortality rate has grown markedly, from around 28% in ICU beds last winter to 43% (!) today. The patients at St. Luke’s facilities are sicker and younger, too, down from a two-week average of 72 years old for hospitalized patients in December to 58 years old now.

Statewide, there are nearly twice as many ICU patients as there were during last year’s COVID-19 peak, according to Health and Welfare data. The high point last December was 60 in ICU, and that figure was 112 on Saturday.

Bottom line, arithmetic notwithstanding, the daunting Idaho COVID health crisis has been and continues to be preventable.  #VaccinesWork! 

Jake Angeli is the ugly symbol of The Former Guy's cult to destroy democracy

Unchecked! The Former Guy intended to destroy democracy.

Echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Statesman in Boise, ID

Jake Angeli, of Phoenix AZ, had been on the list of persons the Metropolitan Police of Washington D.C. arrested after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, by supporters of The Former Guy.

Indeed, The Former Guy went too far.  At the end of his failed term as the former president, he even tried to overthrow the American government! 

• Unchecked, revoked security clearances for everyone who opposed him. 
• Unchecked, he called for the shutdown of a free press. 
• Unchecked, he focused on how to divide Americans. 

In fact, the  Trump "beer hall" style rallies risked putting the First Amendment in grave danger, as he called for attacks on everyone who did not support him. 

Judge Ellis needed U.S. Marshals to protect him because he was receiving threats over the Manafort case. 

Although the United States is supposed to be a free country. Yet, Trump and his cronies were turning it into a dictatorship. 

Unfortunately the 33 percent of those interviewed who could not name any of the First Amendment rights, are equal to the percent of intransient cultists who blindly obey The Former Guy.

Our Constitution sets out the checks and balances of the three branches of our government. Where were our Republican representatives during this four years of unchecked tyranny? 

In fact, Republicans are supposed to be the checks and balances of government. The Former Guy intended to weaken the Legislative and Judicial branches of government and empower the Executive branch. 

There is no longer a democracy when all three branches are complicit and corrupt. Donald Trump is corrupt. His intention was to weaken the two branches of America's government, while destroying the checks and balances that have worked in the past. 

Trumpziism wanted to see the "land of the free" to look like the land of tyranny and corruption. 

A free press is essential for a democracy!

Joan Ehrnstein, Meridian, Idaho

Donald Trump is a failed real estate mobster - nobody should trust him: Do not buy what he is selling

Echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper:

In fact, Trump is transferring lies into graft to protect his debt from sinking his financials:

When Trump speaks, it helps to envision him as the real estate salesperson that he is in real life. When showing you a house you notice the floors squeak he will tell you its nothing, if the roof leaks he will tell you it’s an easy fix. When you say the carpets stink he tells you to look at the new linoleum. If his home inspector disagrees he fires him and hires one that goes along with his lies. As president when he tells us he likes clean water and clean air he is selling us a line. When he says we will really like his DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) plan, we know that this is just a lie.

Trump lies. He is not good at selling real estate. Because, at some point, we discoverthat his statements are lies and we have to pay the bills. (Trump never uses his own money to deceive he just takes from the people and uses the money to pay his enormous personal debt.)

I would not buy real estate from Trump and I will not vote for him to remain president of our great home -- the United States of America.

Ken Azbill, Boise, Idaho

Captain Crozier is a metaphor for competent leadership: "What would Captain Crozier do?"

An echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper:

Thank you Captain Crozier

To The Editor: When Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt put his career on the line by identifying a problem and thereby saving his men from potential danger, he demonstrated genuine leadership.

Addressing problems through the “chain of command” could result in delay, indecision, or paralysis. Ostensibly, few leaders would be willing to upset this administration initially bent on denying any COVID 19 problem. As a former naval officer, I greatly admired and respect Captain Crozier’s courage to sound whatever alarms he deemed necessary to communicate the severity of the situation.

As a high ranking career naval officer, (and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate) he was well aware of the probable negative consequences of his action. Nevertheless, his concern for the well being of his men on the USS Theodore Roosevelt superseded any personal ambition of his.

Respect and loyalty from the crew were the result of his honorable leadership.

Regrettably , the captain of our ship of state (stupid Donald Trump) has no such moral conviction. This nation can observe two distinctly different leadership traits. Which type will this nation applaud, emulate or ultimately reward.

From Jim Franklin, Meridian Idaho

Donald Trump is corrupt - Idaho point of view

Donald Trump's failed leadership has been unsettling, a blur of confrontation, policy pivots and regulatory revolution.

DONALD TRUMP- a threat to democracy

Idaho Statesman opinion letter echo:

Indeed, Donald Trump has gone way too far. Unchecked, he is revoking security clearance of everyone who opposes him. Unchecked he is calling for the shutdown of a free press. Unchecked he is dividing our country. 

Trumpzi rallies put the First Amendment in grave danger because as he calls for attacks on everyone who does not support him. 

Judge Ellis* needed U.S. Marshals to protect him because he was receiving threats over the Manafort case. The United States is supposed to be a free country, but Trump and his cronies are turning it into a dictatorship. Our Constitution sets out the checks and balances of the three branches of our government. Where are our representatives? They are supposed to be the checks and balances of government. But Trump has weakened the Legislative and Judicial branches of government and empowered the Executive branch. When all three branches are complicit and corrupt we no longer have a democracy. Our president is corrupt, weakening two branches of government, while destroying the checks and balances that have worked in the past. The land of the free looks like the land of tyranny and corruption. 

Without a free press we have no democracy.

Joan Ehrnstein, Meridian Idaho

*Thomas Selby Ellis III is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia,

Donald Trump is casting a bleak shadow over all Republicans

Donald Trump's irresponsible behavior must be checked!

Echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Statesman 

Donald Trmp disregard for America's values and allies

For quite some time, many of us have been disappointed and dismayed by Donald Trump's actions and blatant disregard for our American values, not the least of which is his total lack of any kind of integrity. But until just recently, the Republican congressional members have contrived some reason to support his “unpresidential” behaviors while he runs roughshod over our institutions, our position as a leader of nations, our credibility, etc. Apparently, the brash decision to order the immediate withdrawal of our troops from Syria was a “bridge too far.” 

This particular decision has done great damage to our future military operations in terms of troop morale, confidence of our allies and the list goes on. The House has passed a bipartisan condemnation of this action, and the Senate is saying they want to pass another similar declaration.

If we are truly concerned about someday, somehow rebuilding our international reputation and the confidence of our troops in their leadership, we have a way to show the world we have the fortitude and conviction to admit we made a huge mistake and rectify it. Imagine what the world would think about our democracy if we removed this president from office.

From Jay Combs, Eagle Idaho

Donald Trump unchecked - Gone too far!

#NeverTrump - Dump! Donald Trump echo!

Donald Trump has absolutely gone too far! 

Echo published in the Idaho Stateman!

• Unchecked, Trump is revoking security clearances for everyone who opposes him.
• Unchecked Trump is calling for the shutdown of a free press.
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-directs-agencies-to-stop-subscribing-to-new-york-times-and-washington-post-today-2019-10-24/
• Unchecked Trump has divided America! Trump rallies put the First Amendment in grave danger because he calls for attacks on everyone who does not support him. Judge Ellis needed U.S. Marshals to protect him because he was receiving threats over the Manafort case. 

In the United States we are supposed to be a free country, but Trump and his cronies are turning the USA into his dictatorship. Our Constitution sets out the checks and balances of the three branches of our government. Where are our representatives? They are supposed to be the checks and balances of government. But Trump has weakened the Legislative and Judicial branches of government and empowered the Executive branch. When all three branches are complicit and corrupt we no longer have a democracy. Our president is corrupt, weakening two branches of government, while destroying the checks and balances that have worked in the past. The land of the free looks like the land of tyranny and corruption.

Without a free press, America has no democracy.