Editor,

I’d like to take a moment to address the letter from Edward Drum, M.D. regarding the passing of Rush Limbaugh.

First, I’d like to give my condolences, though I couldn’t listen to more than five minutes of Limbaugh without the sudden urge to jump into the Puget Sound and drown. However, I know what it’s like to lose someone you look up to, so I’m sorry for your loss.

With that said, I must express my complete surprise that the Whidbey News-Times felt that letter was fit to print. What was even the point, besides finding an excuse to paint Democrats as evil with the fire-and-brimstone language of a religious fundamentalist. We’re living in a time where there is a real danger of religious inspired violence in our country, and it’s not just coming from Daesh/ISIS, but from cults like QAnon.

I’d ask that the News-Times not feed the fire and stop publishing letters that come straight from the newsfeed of our collective crazy uncle’s Facebook.

I’m not for censoring political beliefs, I never will be, but religious-inspired rants about just how Catholic someone is or isn’t doesn’t belong here, it accomplishes nothing.

With that said, Edward Drum’s letter was hateful, crude and filled with false information, so in that way it was a very fitting tribute to Rush Limbaugh.

Austin Cook

Freeland