Letter to the Editor: Says Anti-Spanberger rant full of misinformation

I am very disillusioned by the recent Letter to the Editor of the anti-Abigail Spanberger ran. The author listed a lot of misinformation, and I wanted to post some facts alongside a rant of my own.

Domestic oil production reached an all-time high under President Joe Biden’s Administration. The reduction in 2020 was caused by COVID restrictions put in place. Domestic oil production was limited on federal lands to only existing leases not an actual shutdown of production. In President Donald Trump’s first term, oil production was 9,097 barrels (Feb. 2017), peaked at 12,186 (Jan. 2020), and ended at 11,156 barrels (Jan. 2021). In President Biden’s term, it began at 9,931 barrels (Jan. 2021), peaked at 13,437 barrels (Dec. 2024), and ended at 13,140 barrels (Jan. 2025).

The inflation spike in 2021 has been accepted as a COVID response due to supply and demand. Based on the drop of inflation under Biden’s term, it would actually show that his and the federal fiscal policy was sound and working. In Trump’s first term, inflation was 2.1 (2017), 1.9 (2018), 2.3 (2019), and 1.4 (2020). In Biden’s term, inflation began at 7.0 (2021), and dropped to 6.5 (2022), 3.4 (2023), and 2.9 (2024), where the last number is where inflation began when Trump took over office for his second term.

The so-called transgender “crisis” in sports is nothing more than a manufactured culture war meant to rile people up. Out of 170,000 student-athletes this past year, only 49 transgender athlete applications were submitted and 42 were approved. That’s not an epidemic; that’s a statistical blip. Yet, we keep hearing alarmist crying about “men in girls’ sports.” Could we be more misogynistic? The truth is this isn’t about athletics; it’s about politics and VHSL has handled these cases responsibly.

Some people would rather insult citizens who deserve better than be manipulated by bad data and a made-up problem.

C. Erinn Beckner
Providence Forge