The rain we've been waiting for so many years now has finally come, a little too much and a little too fast, but thank God!
Ventura County is experiencing substantial flooding. Piru is in bad shape as I write this. Drive carefully and

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A short response to Kelly's letter:
On the issue of minimum wage, I believe the average wage-earner has been underpaid for decades. This doesn't mean that our government should mandate wages. Mandates are not the democratic way. But our economic system, in my opinion, is now way off balance, with inflation consuming our future. I'm certainly not an economist, but I've always thought that when the average working family cannot buy a home (as when I was a kid, but no longer possible for decades) the system is broken. Inflation, incompetence, and greed are eating us alive. Partial solution: keep liberals, progressives, socialists, communists, fascists, and Democrats away from the money.

As for arresting doctors for alleged "misinformation" in their advice to patients (which may disagree with government mandates), this is fascism and totally unconstitutional. This is the typical anti-scientific mindset of the Democratic Party.

As for "preferring candidates who have integrity," elections during the past four years show this is often not true. How else could a U.S. Representative like little Adam Schiff, notorious pimp of prevarication, hope to convince voters of his integrity? From Joe the "Big Guy" down through the Democratic ranks, minions like Schiff should repel normal voters by smell alone, but they don't. You worry about "Nominees who cannot tell the truth" - really?

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As much as I generally admire FOX news, I strongly disagree with its biased coverage of the Ukraine war. It has disgraced itself in its slanderous portrayal of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Tucker Carlson should know better. He has called Zelenskyy, in effect, a thief of the billions of U.S. war assistance, a clown for showing up at a joint session of Congress recently in a green military uniform, and called giving war aid to Ukraine a "humiliating scenario" when we are struggling with our own (self-inflicted) economic problems (a stunningly stupid statement). Tucker's performance here was absolutely disgraceful, displaying wholesale ignorance of the seriousness of the Russian war on Ukraine and its immediate effect on the entire Western alliance. His melodramatic outbursts and comical indignation of Zelenskyy's wartime leadership is indelibly disgusting. Ask Ukrainians what they think of their leader!

Ukraine is in a life-or-death fight for its sovereign existence, at the cost of 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, tens of thousands more innocent women and children. They are all superb reflections of American warriors in battles from 1776 through the 20th century, from Bunker Hill to the Battle of the Bulge. Russia is the enemy of freedom, and always has been. Ukraine is fighting our war, valiantly! This is another urgent Lend Lease.

Tucker assailed Zelenskyy for allegedly shutting down the Christian church in Ukraine, being unaware that there are TWO Ukrainian Orthodox churches there. The UOC-MP is one of the two major Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical bodies in modern Ukraine, alongside the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU)., one siding with Russia, the other loyal to Ukraine. A 30-second online search would have informed him of this critical distinction and explained why Zelenskyy (himself Jewish) shut one down after discovering pro-Russian war propaganda.

Tucker went on a hysterical shouting rant against Ukraine and its president, full of falsehoods and unforgivably defamatory statements. He has outed himself as a bigot. Reasonable people should ask if Tucker has any meaningful understanding of the significance of the Russian-Ukrainian war.