Letters to the Editor

Many double standards prevail in political circles

Fair-minded people agree, the riot in D.C. needs to be condemned and also should receive an honest, rather than the hypocritical evaluation of the riots that have occurred over the last eight or so months. I’m not aware of one person of power or influence who condoned them, while so many powerful and influential people ignored, denied, and sometimes justified the rioting, property destruction, burning, looting, injury, and even killing that took place all those months, unless those certain events fit a scenario desired.

After arrests, many from areas of media entertainment, and even political candidates raised money for those arrested during these riots, While other than possible friends and family, no such widespread effort for those arrests from D.C’s riots.

For some time, many people are aware of the many double standards, at least for the last four-plus years. We’ve seen a U.S. Navy sailor prosecuted and sent to prison for violating the rule of not allowing pictures to be taken on a submarine that he took to show his young daughter where he worked.

Then our secretary of state, who spent much of her adult life around classified material and was certainly well briefed on the rules and serious laws on handling classified material, determines she is above such rules and laws and uses her own personal system and even destroys incriminating evidence that confirms her arrogance toward those rules and laws and receives less than a slap on the wrist. Actually receiving protection by the most powerful people, essentially saying she didn’t mean it. It may have cost her an election but didn’t cost her any freedom, unlike the lesser serious breach of ‘rules and laws’.

Then most of us watched, open-mindedly, for more than four years all the investigations and accusations, spending millions of taxpayer dollars, time and effort from “Russian collusion”, “Ukraine” improprieties, and anything else that might stick. With much of the media hyperventilating and reaping things like “bombshell findings”, which eventually turned into a series of duds.

Without a doubt, Trump can be crude and abrasive toward many and creates some of his own problems, he certainly is not a skilled, deceitful politician who hides his intentions and cancel his vengeful intent. Because of exposing so many things, like inefficiencies and likely corruption in our government, he became too dangerous to too many who feel threatened, not work toward his removal. By doing some of these things he actually gains the support of many working people across the country having less to do with his personality and more to do with his actions, instead of the normal rhetoric that most politicians repeat. He has made some very powerful enemies who receive protections from sources he will never get. Like having a family member that strongly seems very corrupt that strong documented evidence has been slowly coming to light that even implicates the “Big Guy”. Again powerful people protect and when the change happens the investigation will be buried and forgotten. Only one side seems to pay a price for transgressions and abuses and people feel abused and used at the unfairness, it creates frustration, as we’ve been told by others.

The pandemic even elevated these feelings more, Nancy, along with others maybe should consider their second impeachment craziness, at this point in time chances are it can only ignite bad things and everyone will lose. How could such a thing be a “uniter” for the 74 million people who voted for Trump? Maybe we should examine the reasons and people that openly and covertly want to fundamentally change the country and find out exactly the change, the invasion and desire, by investigating and pitting various groups against each other?

David Jaronik

Riots that cost billions and took lives are unacceptable

When the president of the United States’ First Amendment rights are infringed upon, we should be worried. I grew up in an America where people like my Uncle Jim, a World War II veteran, used to quote, ‘I might not agree with what you say, but I’d lay down my life for your right to say it.”

Parler, a conservative platform, has been shut down. Millions of conservatives denied the right to share their views on politics and religion.

Mark Zukerburg and Bezos feel empowered to trash our constitutional rights and they have. Devin Nunes, a Republican politician, said we are entering a dark winter where conservatives will lose many of their rights.

The Capitol debacle was unacceptable, but so were the BLM and Antifa riots that cost billions and took the lives of police officers and civilians. The Democrats are the using the Capitol incident like Hitler used the Reichstag Fire. Hitler took the constitutional rights from the Germans and the Democrats are doing the same thing to us. People who attended the demonstration peacefully are losing their jobs.

Purges and censorship - welcome to Biden’s America.

Kenneth Braun

Out-of-town reader supportive of Pahrump, Nye County

Although I am not a member of your community (I live in Helena, Montana), I was curious about your valley after having read the letter published by Chris Zimmerman, Nye County GOP chairman. I value local news and national news.

I appreciate Pahrump Valley has a local paper that serves you. What is great about a local paper is you can read what’s important - events, family, lives well lived, sports (go Trojans), opinions, and more.

I enjoyed reading the local news. Each article tells a story.

While Mr. Zimmerman may mean well, his recent GOP letter has a number of inaccuracies, predictions, and misplaced anxiety. It has drawn national attention to Nye County. Reading your local paper, however, shows me your community is more complex, caring, and challenging than one man’s opinion, including, of course, my own. All the best and congratulations to the Pahrump Valley Times on its 50th anniversary.

Bill Hallinan

Unproven assertions are not as reliable as hard evidence

Undoubtedly, there will be different opinions on why a mob attacked a duly constituted government on Jan. 6,,2021. The most immediate reason is that President Trump did not accept defeat in our recent election and that he and some Republicans, including senators Cruz, Hawley, and House minority leader, McCarthy, kept broadcasting that the election was fraudulent, despite the facts that numerous courts, many of them presided over by Republican judges, denied all of president Trump’s petitions for a hearing on a fraudulent election because Trump and his associates did not produce one shred of evidence of voter fraud.

My understanding of the law is that assertions without evidence are hearsay, and that the person or persons who make unproven assertions have assumed fact without evidence.

I admit that lack of evidence does not in all cases prove the allegation to be false. However, this is our system of justice. How many times have the accused been acquitted because the prosecution could not prove its cases? There will probably never be a perfect justice system. However, believing and adhering to the legal system we have is much preferred over mob violence. Does anyone want a justice system whereby the accused would have to prove his innocence?

Finally, believing something by huge numbers of people does not always make it true. For example, masses of people used to believe the earth was flat; that the sun orbited around the earth; witchcraft; that a cure for some diseases was to drain blood from the patients; that heavier weights of the same material would fall faster to the earth than the lighter ones, these being just some examples. Our representative republic would be better served if more of us would rely on our system of justice, fact based on evidence, instead of believing hearsay put out by demagogues.

Jim Ferrell

Both parties are guilty of bad behavior in Washington

The extreme leftist Democrats are idiots, they flap their lips about anything that will get them on the TV news. Recently I have seen Pelosi, Schumer and others demand that Trump be impeached or the 25th Amendment be invoked, knowing that either one of these would take more time than he has in office.

This is only part of my gripe, politicians always want to look like they’re doing something that they know has little or no chance if becoming reality. Most seem to think that they were sent to Washington to score points by bashing the other side and both sides are guilty of this behavior.

I wish that this would stop and our elected officials would spend their time doing something worthwhile for their constituents and the country.

George Cross

Republican Party needs to regain control of itself

I am writing this in response to a front page article I read in the January 11th Review Journal. It is titled “Conspiracy post on GOP site”. My jaw almost hit the floor when I read that this was coming from the Nye County GOP headquarters here in Pahrump! At first I thought the letter might be just the opinion of Mr. Zimmerman, the chairman of the Nye County Republican Central Committee.

However when I contacted the office, I was told that the contents of that letter was the joint opinion of the individuals on that committee. To refresh the minds of readers, Mr. Zimmerman states in his letter that Vice President Pence is guilty of conspiracy and treason!

It also states several other crazy ideas, such as the presidential election results were altered by rouge satellites in space! Oh my, what about the UFOs? Were they involved as well? Does this sound to anyone else like it might be coming straight out of QAnon’s playbook?

You can read Mr. Zimmerman’s entire letter that is posted on the central committee’s website. As a resident of Pahrump and Nye County I am completely embarrassed by this! So Pahrump will probably make national news again. It seems like it’s almost always for some kind of bizarre headlines! It is time for responsible mainstream Republicans to stand up and not let the party be taken over like this! If not, it looks like a sad time in history for the Grand Old Party!

Richard Evanson