Thomas Minihan
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I'm trying to decide if I should renew my subscription to the News Tribune. I feel as if I'm paying full price for half the product, and it appears like I'm paying for the half that's set on destroying our nation.
Every week, I see a "Perspective" by U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer that proposes one goal, and that goal is to divide our nation. He does it by proposing falsehoods concocted by Kevin McCarthy and spread by his cronies. Most recently, he claimed and the News Tribune published that, "it was President Biden's decision to shut down pipelines and kill U.S. energy production that has caused energy costs to soar." Publishing false information disguised as perspective is substantially promoting lies intended to divide us. I'm not sure which action causes the greatest harm, the liar or the publication of the lie.
Regardless, I'm certain Russia loves to see these actions being done for them. Short-term energy prices are based on the price of oil. "Between the first week of May 2020 and the last week of December 2020, oil prices had tripled." (tinyurl.com/2p8bjh5d) Who was in the White House then? If our congressperson wants to call the Democrats socialists, then I'd say it would be fair to call the Republicans as communist as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Another lie promulgated by the congressperson and the News Tribune about the Build Back Better legislation claimed that according to the "Tax Policy Center, 20-30 percent of the middle class will pay more taxes in 2022 under this law." This is what I found on the Tax Policy website; "President Biden's Build Back Better plan would cut taxes on average for nearly all income groups in 2022. The exception: Those in the top 1 percent, who will make about $885,000 or more. They'd pay about $55,000 more than under current law. Those in the top 0.1 percent, who make about $4 million and up, would pay an additional $585,000 on average, a 5.9 percent reduction in their after-tax income." (tinyurl.com/mub46z5m) Since our congressperson is a multi-millionaire, he thinks we're stupid enough to believe his lies and the News Tribune is gullible enough to print them.
Should I renew and continue speaking truth to power?