It appears that the City of Fillmore has been spared the flames of what has become one of Ventura County's fastest spreading wildfires, although smoke is coming our way.

As I write these words Ventura is still dealing with serious fire threats and has lost many structures to date. The fire has nearly reached the ocean near the Fairgrounds. The strong, cold east winds have driven these fires, particularly the Thomas Fire, from our county's eastern border. Maybe it was St. Thomas Aquinas who diverted the flames around Thomas Aquinas College near Ojai. Thank God the College remains unharmed. Los Angeles County is still confronted by dangerous fires in the city itself.

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It seems a little ironic that these fires have threatened Fillmore at a time when the construction of our new $9 million fire station (actually the county's) is about nine-tenths completed. It will be a good thing to have this facility online (with our own Volunteer Fire Department) for fire threats in the future. It seems we can expect this sort of wild fire threat about every 5 years.

Let's pray for those hundreds (possibly thousands) of families who have lost their homes due to these fires - only weeks before Christmas - personal tragedies too numerous to count; and to keep our fire-fighters safe.

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Emergency information for Thomas-Ventura fires: readyventuracounty.orghttps://www.wsj.com/articles/socialism-capitalism-seen-in-new-light-by-younger-americans-1512561601

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Polling organizations are finding out that our younger citizens, call them millennials, are more attracted to socialism than democracy. This is singular proof of the wholesale failure of our educational system, from grade school to college level.

Not only are American millennials shockingly ignorant of American heritage, the study of "civics" and American history have been superseded by politically correct, radical Left fake history. This is a huge shame. It's also a tragic loss to those who have advanced through our educational system because American history is so uniquely exciting and socially important.

No other attempt to grow a democracy has lasted more than a hundred years, including the first, in Greece. America has thrived for 240 years as a democratic republic and become the richest, most powerful nation on earth. That alone makes us "exceptional."

We have survived wars, poverty, and pestilence, by the grace of God. All of our Founding Fathers believed in the miracle of America because they personally witnessed the flow of such blessings. I would recommend two recent books that seek to certify these unique "miraculous" blessings throughout our history: "The American Miracle", by Michael Medved, and Bill O'Reilly's "Killing England". Both are famously easy reads. Both are exciting and chuck-full of fascinating facts. American history is extraordinarily interesting. No intellectually honest person can fail to acknowledge Divine intervention in its birth and growth. To prefer any variation of socialism to our democratic system is an admission of raw ignorance.

Some (most ?) of our colleges and universities, those touted as the greatest, have for decades now produced a crowd of history ignoramuses. Remember: "Hey-hey, ho-ho, American civ has got to go." And it did. These words were pronounced during the heyday of the American Left, the rebellious Yippies, Hippies, Yuppies, and Puppies - who now occupy the upper levels our commerce and government. I guess they eventually learned that they had to join-up to succeed in our commercial culture.

Anyway, it's not too much of a stretch to conclude that most American citizens are dangerously ignorant of their own American history, and therefore fail to acknowledge its greatness, and can't admit that America is indeed an "exceptional" place, compared to any other nation on earth - so far.

Read those two books and you will appreciate how God has, and continues to bless America.