Well, adding to confusion about the danger of the latest corona virus is the statement by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who "told lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday that COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — is probably about 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu."

There are too many voices seeking to calm the American public, to avoid panic, emphasizing how less lethal the virus is than the common flu. This includes President Trump.

Let's get together on this issue. The coronavirus is very dangerous, and organizations should continue to take rational precautions, like canceling large gatherings of all kinds. This virus is something we should not take lightly - particularly old guys like me!

////////

Considering the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the coronavirus pandemic, and the stock market volatility, we could be witnessing a perfect storm, globally. I am an expert in nothing but my own soul, so I am expressing one man's opinion among those of 7 billion other souls. So, when I consider the fanatically militant attitudes in places like Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, and Turkey - ........................?

(My profound apologies to readers - I have mistakenly deleted the last half of this column, without time to rewrite.) I attribute this to the virus of old age.

The Gazette was unable to report on actions taken by the FUSD Board this week due to a lack of information.

The paper received the School Board meeting highlights citing four particular areas of discussion, but without textual reporting. For example, a detailed Power Point presentation was provided on the "Network Infrastructure Update" for the entire school district, students, teachers, and administration. However it was unaccompanied by any textual explanation which the paper could publish.

The entire presentation involved complex technical wireless connections with information on the significant increase in speed and power. The Gazette is unable, as most parents are, of retaining and understanding this information without an explanation in print. The "Highlights" does provide a link "for more information", however this brings the user to the same Power Point watched by those attending the Board meeting. This leaves most people who are interested in understanding the whole activity, in the dark about the function and significant costs involved.

In this case, mere verbal explanations, which disappear immediately after the presentation, are useless to 90 percent of interested persons. It appears that someone is too lazy to produce a textual presentation of this important, and expensive, undertaking. A written report should be demanded.

******

Chris Matthews has quit his Hardball slot on MSNBC. Good riddance! I grew tired of his political invective and false accusations years ago, but it only grew worse during the Trump administration. The word is that he was pushed out. I am not disappointed.

******

It looks like Biden is in for the Democrats, and Comrade Bernie is out. Yippee. Now Bloomberg can, once again, bestow his wealth, as promised, upon Biden. The coming Democratic convention may surpass the Ringling Brothers' Greatest Show on Earth for excitement. I can hardly wait.

******

I hope the federal government begins to take the exposed criminal behavior of all Democratic office holders, and former office holders, seriously, like they have for so many Republican politicians. I no longer believe in federal criminal justice because it no longer (to date) abides by the Constitution and its laws. We have witnessed the greatest, most treasonous activity undertaken by the highest appointed and elected officials in American history; an effort to overthrow a duly elected president. Beginning with our FBI, CIA, NSA, and DIA, a legal search and destroy mission must begin to prosecute guilty members. They are the fleas on the national dog.

Until I see these guilty (by what we already know) members arrested, convicted and jailed, our system of equal justice for all will continue to be a farce.

Crazy Bernie? If it were so, he might have an excuse. But he's not crazy - just deeply evil.

I have to confess that I often have to drag myself to the computer to produce this column, often too short of time to do justice to the subject at hand.

This week, however, after reading and listening to the babblings of Bernie Sanders extolling the virtues of communism and socialism, I felt compelled to respond, for the sake of historical truthfulness. Because, among others things, Bernie has shown himself to be a sadistic liar: a liar because he justifies two systems of government which have caused the murder of more than 100 million innocent souls during the past 100 years.

The Soviet Union (formally, "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism) started the bloody Juggernaut rolling in 1917. Juggernaut is an apt description for the socialist system, because, worshipers of the Hindu god Vishnu became so excited when the idol was hauled along on a [huge vehicle] “during religious rites that they threw themselves under the wheels and were crushed". With Lenin and Stalin at the wheel, during and after happy times like The Great Terror, some 20 million (Russian people) were murdered. But, they explained, "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs".

Then, Hitler, inspired by Stalin's socialist success, dreamed-up his own National Socialist German Workers' Party, or the Nazi Party - thereafter at least 20 million more were mixed into another socialist omelet. This "thousand-year" socialist expectation lasted 12 murderous years.

Then came China, following the Chinese Civil War. Let's start from the 1934 Long March.

(1945–49), military struggle for control of China waged between the Nationalists (Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Zedong. Deaths attributed to this experiment in socialism-communism are usually set at about 20 million. More accurately, deaths were many more than 40 million.

But why should anyone have to remind 21st Century Americans of the murderous history of socialism and its first cousin, communism? Because fools like Bernie want to associate America with this most deadly political system in world history. Bernie stands athwart communist history boldly telling the ignorant electorate, "All this I will give you if only you will fall down and elect me president". You can almost smell the sulfur.

Bernie's personal history is being exposed very late in the election game. But it is shocking. Before the age of 40 he was essentially a bum. His earlier statements are as disgusting as they are bizarre and troubling. For instance: "Toddlers Should Run Around Naked and Touch Each Other's Genitals". Then there is his "Rape fantasy" essay, which is so profoundly evil that it would make Harvey Weinstein blush.

It's certainly true that Bloomberg is attempting to knock Bernie out of the race, but even though I'm a Republican, I hope he succeeds. And this is just the beginning.

As I've said before, what disturbs me most when I think of Bernie's campaign as an avowed socialist is the demoralizing fact that so many young Americans are buying his lies. Communism and socialism stole all sense of freedom from China, Russia, Germany, Cuba, and more than 30 others. Check them out. See how they are doing.

So, if you want to do away with God, freedom and prosperity, vote for the Pied Piper. But do a little research on Comrade Bernie. With such a phenomenally weak slate of Democratic hopefuls this year, maybe Bloomberg is the Party's hope.

However - keep in mind that Bloomberg reportedly told one of his pregnant employees to "Kill it." That was an exposure of decant heart. Democrats, vote for Trump. After more than three years of intense research, your party found him innocent of all false charges.

On such a beautiful day I shouldn't have to talk election politics, but there's a Democratic debate tonight which consumes my thoughts like a swarm of African locusts. With a communist, an autocrat, a fake Indian, a sleepy ex-VP, and an ambitious young man with husband in tow, all seeking to command America's ship of state, what could possibly go wrong?

Is there even a whisper of traditional American virtue or good faith to be heard within this troupe? These are the people who launched scurrilous political attacks during Senate confirmations of now Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Grosuch, and Clarence Thomas. This same mentality prevailed during the 1987 nomination, by President Reagan, of distinguished legal scholar, Judge Robert Bork. This particular Democratic attack on Bork's reputation was so severe it created the adage to be "Borked", meaning a savage, false and unjustified formal rebuke. The Kavanaugh slander was so outrageous it left an indelible mark for me. This is what Dems do.

So, I anticipate an interesting evening at the debates. Michael Bloomberg's last minute billions are sweeping away Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg in their efforts to seek the golden nomination. They are being blown away by Bloomberg who effortlessly farts his billions to attract the Democratic Party's attention, while, once again, leaving poor Bernie in the dust.

This is one debate which may require face masks to survive the invective. The issue of money in this debate will be so dominate, so tight that there won't even be room to shout racist! And without the race charge Democrats can't win a thing.
I expect Bloomberg to coat the Democrat Party organization so completely with his filthy lucre that clean hands will be a thing of the past for at least a generation.

It appears the Democratic Party has hit the wall. None of its many aspirants seem able to reach the brass ring to qualify as candidate to defeat President Trump. They're just too weak to handle the most powerful job in the world.

I thought Bloomberg might have a chance with his $40 billion to play with. But recent revelations of his blatant racist thinking should end it for him.

What do we have left? Sanders is more than a socialist; he's really a neo-communist. He truly believes in the socialist legacy, which is at the heart of communism. He believes the state should run most things. Only a true believer would actually honeymoon in communist Russia in 1988.

I'm not so much worried about Bernie becoming president of the United States. What worries me is the fact that so many young Americans are so sympathetic to socialism. This reflects a serious failure in the American educational system. Either that or a deliberate undermining of our democratic republic. This sympathy towards the false promises of socialism by our young citizens is an historical embarrassment.

Our young citizens should be introduced to "The Black Book of Communism - Crimes Terror Repression. (Harvard College Press, 1999.) Ignorance of communism and its infectious cousin, socialism, in the American educational system, is almost criminal.
Enough about Bernie.

What about Buttigieg? He's a factory produced liberal. He is a 30-something, small city mayor, "married" to a man who pretends to be Buttigieg's "husband". As his “spouse” I try to envision both of them dancing at their inaugural ball, or meeting with Islamic heads of state.

Radical liberal American voters will hate my evaluation of Mayor Pete, but I am just voicing the otherwise muted traditional Judeo-Christian stand against public sexual degeneracy, so popular in Hollywood. Is Pete to become leader of the free world? If so he and his "husband" would also become the fullest examples for our youth.

The public no longer cares about private, personal morality. What it should care about is public conduct influencing our youth. I know it sounds corny today, but the traditional Boy Scout rules should still maintain:

"To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight."

However, this too is being destroyed in America.

I watched most of the State of the Union speech yesterday. I have to say I've never heard a more powerful statement from any president than Trump delivered on this occasion.

His achievements are phenomenal. No other president has come close to successfully finishing so many promised goals for the benefit of our nation. There were so many highlights in the presentation it's hard to single one out for special praise. First Lady Melania Trump awarded conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of President Donald Trump. Several other presentations were noted during the speech. Of particular interest to me was a mother and her little girl from Kansas City, one of the youngest premature babies to survive after birth. Born at merely 21 weeks, she is a glorious example of the unique, sacred value of all human life, at every stage of life, which Trump defends.

The speech was President Trump at his very best. His list of positive accomplishments is simply extraordinary. Unfortunately, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up her copy of President Trump’s speech at the end of his address. The scene of Pelosi shredding the speech behind the President's back was more bizarre evidence of her Party's free-floating hatred of the president, and a national embarrassment. This is another symptom of the psychotic animosity which has powered the Democratic Party's frenzied determination to remove the President from office - for the past 3 years!

When will the Democratic berserkers get some help to calm their rage?

In terms of national accomplishments, Donald Trump is in the fast lane to become the greatest American president in recent history. And this, while fighting-off unprecedented, incessant attacks, legal, political, and personal. God bless President Trump and family.

He showed up for us just in time.

Like the rest of the nation, I feel the grief of Kobe Bryant's family at the time of his death. What an unfathomable loss. Where can we find another such supremely good man? It's just hard to grasp the reality of our loss.
God rest his soul and the soul of his beautiful daughter Gianna.

*******

It seems almost sacrilegious to switch from deepest sorrow at the loss of Kobe Bryant, to extreme contempt for the 45 perfidious Democratic Senators shredding our Constitution in their unceasing efforts to remove our president from office.

I have to say I have never heard a more pellucid, scholarly explanation of the defects in the Democrat's two articles of impeachment than were delivered recently in the defense of President Trump. All of Trump's lawyers performed flawlessly. Attorneys Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow, Kenneth Starr and Alan Dershowitz wiped-out the entire fraudulent impeachment articles. There is no crime therefore President Trump is an innocent man!

Let's get this farce over with and get on with the real business of the nation.

I've watched all that I can stand of the impeachment trial of President Trump. Center stage in this farcical scheme to get rid of the president is little Adam Schiff.

The loquacious Schiff began speaking early this morning. An hour later I turned on the TV and he was still talking. He has become the most recognized liar in Senate history. Every single sentence that falls out of his mouth is easily identified as a lie. It's truly remarkable. He has turned the entire truth in this impeachment scenario up-side-down. The "facts" he asserts are all false. Listening to Schiff is like being forced to believe in the most confusing parts of Alice in Wonderland. I just wish someone would shout "Off with his head!"

I think he deserves a special medal for being the smoothest, most infamous liar in congressional history. Others might prefer a more direct response for his outrageous slandering of an innocent man. This is another unforgettable Brett Kavanaugh lynching. Just expressing the anger millions of Trump supporters feel during this mock trial, I recall the 1856 beating of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks in the Senate chambers. True to the historical pattern, Brooks was a pro-slavery Democrat, and Sumner an abolitionist. Sumner had fiercely criticized slaveholders.

Sumner's speech, and subsequent beating (which nearly caused his death) strongly contributed to the political polarization in the nation over the issue of slavery. "It has been considered symbolic of the breakdown of reasoned discourse and the use of violence that eventually led to the American Civil War."

Thankfully, the unconstitutional attempt to remove President Trump, by means of wholesale corruption in our highest government offices, and the Democratic Party, has not caused that level of retaliation. But emotions are high and the need to remedy Democratic Party villainy is palpable. Maybe the only solution left is a gigantic landslide victory for President Trump in November.

Well I'm told that I have only 40 minutes to come up with something in this column. First it was dog duties, then other tasks to slow me down. Haven't even had time to look at DRUDGE.

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Let's hope and pray that it will be a more peaceful new year. It's already a prosperous one.

******

Maybe my wish for more peace is naive. I see that Iran-provoked militants have attacked the American embassy in Iraq. More marines are on the way.

I have to fight my feelings about the entire Middle East, actually about fundamental Islam. Since the year 632, the founder's death, Islam has murdered more human beings than anyone else, including Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao. Its mission is to force the entire non-Muslim world into submission. The choice is conversion, slave status, or death.

I guess the only solution is to have all Jihadists eliminated, which means perpetual war. So, like it or not, America must maintain its highly effective military in places where Jihadism is a constant threat to normal civilization. And today it's the Middle East that needs protection for millions of non-Muslim peoples - particularly Christians and Jews. The Christian population in the Middle East has been decimated by the millions. The whole area was once Christian.

Let's hope the New Year finds America strong and united.

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!

This is the day Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, by the Virgin Mary. This year God has given us a truly beautiful, sunny Christmas Eve; everything freshly washed with a gentle overnight rain.

Christmas was celebrated for the first time on December 25th, in the year 336, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor.

In 1870, by an Act of Congress signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant, it became a national holiday. No doubt Grant, and the whole nation, felt it proper to thank God by honoring the birth of Christ, as Savior of the world for all time - following the end of America's bloodiest war, our Civil War. It is seen as especially appropriate because Jesus, among Christians, is acknowledged as the Prince of Peace, in a nation founded upon Judeo-Christian principles.

So, again, Merry Christmas and peace to all men of good will.

********

I wish we could start the new year on a positive note in national politics, but the ugliest headline on DRUDGE this morning is "House committee raises prospect of more impeachment articles...." Just the thought of more impeachment efforts by Democrats stops me cold. I'm beginning to believe our nation is well into the beginnings of a second Civil War. The Democratic Party, Democratic House of Representatives, and the Democratic media, have challenged the Republican Party by depriving Republican President Donald Trump wholesale due process in equal protection under the law.

I won't itemize these violations; it's enough to see that the President has not received his Constitutional rights as stipulated in the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. A basic fairness he is deprived of here is the fact that Democrats refused to send the dispute about whether there is sufficient criminal evidence to impeach the President. This should have been given to the Supreme Court to decide. That would have determined the issue forever, and spared the country even more grief, time, and money.

This is a very bad start for America entering 2020.

But this shouldn't stop us from wishing each other a happy, holy, and peaceful Christmas.

I'm really tired of listening to the dramatic rhetoric from Democratic House members bent on impeaching President Trump; I can't wait for the whole farce to be shuttled over to the Senate. The whole thing is like an unending nightmare.

It's hard for me to understand a headline from DRUDGE today: "Dems Ordered Not to Victory Dance [over impeachment vote]. "Dance?" "Victory”? The massive cloud of delusion continues within the ranks of Democratic Party leaders. They really believe that their 3-year conspiracy to remove President Trump from office was a victory; well, I'll grant it was a classic Pyrrhic victory. They can celebrate in the ashes of their fraudulent conspiracy to depose our duly elected president.

The jig is up for the Liberal Left DNC and those who have supported it. After 3-years of relentless, fraudulent attacks against Trump, they have exposed themselves to be utterly corrupt. Any average first year law student should be able to analyze the entire scope of impeachment allegations and find them lacking in sufficient cause. There is no crime, real or alleged! That should be the end of it in a fair and impartial judgment.

The coming Senate trial will proceed to rip the bandage from the impeachment wound. I hope to see a full trial in the Senate. In any event, the damage has been done. This whole 3-year series of investigations has been a fraud on the electorate, a huge waste of time, and has greatly weakened our Constitutional Republic.

If you want to know how our judicial system has become so corrupt just replay the testimony of the three law professor "witnesses" under the Schiff investigation, especially the goofy Stanford prof. with her home-baked theories on the case. Just think, she is responsible for turning out new lawyers with the same perspective.

Because of the outrageous abuse of House-Congressional power in this impeachment, I can see an enormous Trump landslide in November.

“I’m not going to take any sh*t,” House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said to his fellow Democrat conspirators, in a closed-door prep session Tuesday morning - according to POLITICO.

Why should the Chairman be so defensive? He's been dealing out sh*t during his whole' long political career. He reminds me of George Costanza of the Seinfeld program - striking resemblance, but not so funny. Nadler and Adam Schiff are, for me, emblematic of the Democratic Party, utter lust for power, complete absence of conscience, wholly incapable of truth, with no sense of humor.

I've watched enough political House Intelligence Committee machinations to seriously question the reality of equal justice under law. The whole impeachment plan since Trump's inauguration, including the media, Democratic Party, FBI, CIA, etc, now shows where the real collusion has been all along. I am eager to hear the proceedings in the Senate, where some semblance of fairness and traditional due process of law will finally be accorded the president.

The vicious, unrelenting attacks upon President Trump during the three years of his term in office has done serious harm to our system of government. Treating the judicial mechanism of impeachment so casually as the Democratic Party has done, in order to remove a duly elected president, has already set regrettable precedents. As they say, what goes around comes around - and it is quickly coming around now. It will take generations to recover the trust and respect that once existed between the two American parties.

Politicians are fond of reminding us that politics ain't beanbag. True, but it shouldn't be a blood sport either, which it has become.

George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, the only Republican witness allowed by Democrats to appear at the impeachment hearing Wednesday, "...did not use his opening statement to defend Donald Trump. But he stated that "Rage against the president is not a reason for removal."

*******

That's all there is, there isn't any more.

The offense of military insubordination has always demanded a harsh punishment. It's considered a cardinal sin in all militaries. But the new Politically Correct military of 2019 seems to ignore thousands of years of tradition.

I'm thinking of two particular incidents. The first should have merited a court martial and immediate removal from command.

It occurred in 2017, shortly after President Trump announced that “transgender” individuals would be banned from serving in the military: "Admiral Paul Zukunft, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said that he would defy the decision of his commander in chief rather than “break faith” with [13] cross-dressing members of his service branch." "Zukunft indicated that the Coast Guard's “investment” in its handful of transgender members was more important than following orders from the President." And he retired with honors, to join The Center for Climate and Security.

This was an unbelievable, almost unheard of act of insubordination, a public refusal to obey a direct order by the President of the United States - our Commander in Chief, broadcast around the world. This extraordinary act should have landed the Admiral in jail, not simply removal from service. But the President was new in office and Zukunft escaped judicial punishment, which set a precedent for all future members of the Coast Guard.

I just have to ask how Zukunft ever reached flag level. This sort of political correctness has become epidemic in our military. We will pay a terrible price when we are once again thrust into widespread warfare. “...break faith” with cross-dressing members of his service branch." Really? He broke faith with his oath of command. He demonstrated his untrustworthiness.

The second incident happened recently, concerning Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a highly decorated SEAL, who was convicted of battlefield misconduct in Iraq. He was sentenced to a demotion in rank and pay, though no prison time. But last Friday President Trump restored Gallagher's rank and pay, allowing him to retire on a full pension, also keeping his coveted SEAL Trident pin.

However, the Navy's top SEAL, Rear Admiral Collin Green, then convened a special five-member panel to review the case and recommend whether Gallagher should be stripped of the 'Trident pin' designating him a SEAL.

President Trump responded immediately in a tweet: "The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher's Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!"

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was fired by Defense Secretary Mark Esper over the Gallagher case. Esper said he asked Spencer to resign because he had lost "trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor," according to a Pentagon spokesman.

After combing through various stories about the Gallagher prosecution and its aftermath, it seems clear to me serious pockets of anti-Trump sentiment exist at the highest levels of our Navy. That surprises me because I have always thought our military men strongly support the President.

However, the farther up the ranks we go the more ballooning vainglory we always see. Sometimes it's just a part of genius (Generals MacArthur and Patton) which comes with strong character and extraordinary success. More often though, it's petty self-obsession, into delusion.

The military, like all hierarchical organizations, produces as many bad members as good. It's the competitive structure where one corrupt member can promote another. So, maybe that's what happened to SEAL Rear Admiral Collin Green in Seal Eddie Gallagher's case. In any event, too many in the military hierarchy failed to respect the Commander in Chief's authority - without question.

Without obedience to lawful authority the military has nothing. Tradition is everything - and for 240 years, Judeo-Christian authority was the accepted basis of our American law, civil and military - which prohibited, for example, “transgender” individuals. To "break faith" with this fact, as in the Admiral Paul Zukunft matter, shatters military tradition and dissolves the ties which bind the ranks together.

Thank you Lord for the rain! How good you are to your undeserving people.

*******

I actually watched several hours of impeachment hearing No. 3. I've seen the enemy, and they belong to the Socialist Democratic Left. Anyway, very boring.

Trump is entering his fourth year as our President and Commander in Chief. The grief he has taken since pre-inauguration days, to date, has been vicious, fraudulent, and incessant. The Democratic Party has shown itself to be a poisonous influence on the Constitutional health of the nation.

Indisputable proof of an unprecedented coup to destroy the president is quickly emerging from several investigations. This criminal plan to remove Trump involves the Democratic Party (including figures from the previous administration), our four most powerful government agencies, the Leftist media, Hollywood, Education, as well as UN, Soros, and the Francis Papacy. The last three are confessed and committed globalists. Check out the Pope's most recent words - he hates America (I always have to remind readers that I'm Catholic myself - this is in no way bigotry).

The never-Trumpers weaponized impeachment from the beginning to take Trump out of office. First it was "collusion" with the Russians. They called him a traitor. After three years of this treatment, the much vaunted Mueller investigation failed completely to find that elusive "high crime or misdemeanor" required by our Constitution. Then false allegations of obstruction of justice, then violations of the emoluments clause, then disclosing classified information, destruction of public records, campaign finance law violations, most recently, bribery and that infamous "quid pro quo" with Ukraine.

Struggle as they will, the anti-Trump forces still can't identify a single crime that Trump is guilty of. But the leftist wish list is long. Let me help them out. Bribery didn't work, neither did obstruction of justice or collusion; how about robbery, kidnapping, homicide, arson or mayhem? People like Schiff, Swalwell, Castro, etc. who love to play in the mud, can at least come up with allegations. Facts are unimportant to them.

The mass of deadly serious Congressional business has been put aside for the past 3-plus years while the would-be impeachers seek to kill-off our President. It seems only fitting that the 2020 electorate should hand President Trump an historic landslide in November.

Then we can get back to the real business of defending against China, North Korea, Russia, Syria, terrorism, our southern border, etc.

I was impressed with Mr. Charles Richardson's presentation at last night's City Council meeting. He is complaining about the poor quality of water that services the El Dorado Mobile Home Park. He also displayed three large water filters, demonstrating that fact. We will publish his prepared remarks and photos of the filters in next week's Gazette.

*******

It's an established fact that Liberals make our country ugly and dangerous. That's what they do.

But just because they do make things ugly and dangerous doesn't mean that they can't make things uglier and more dangerous when they put their minds to that agenda.

Take, for example, the City of San Francisco - please. Evidence of this notorious Liberal effect can almost be detected by we southerners in a strong north wind. Case in point headline: San Francisco's New DA: Public Urination 'Will Not Be Prosecuted' ... What about on the DA's steps? Nothing announced yet about dealing with number two. Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris (Senators both) - where are you?

I'll say it again, Liberals are dangerous and their natural inclination is to make things uglier.

Little Adam Schiff was recently described as unflappable. The Los Angeles congressman has been given the responsibility to orchestrate the president's impeachment. I think of Schiff as Senator Lickspittle. There is no shortage of Democratic lickspittles. In my rogues gallery of Democratic lickspittles are Eric Swalwell (always wanting to squeeze his face into the picture), and - sorry, the gallery is too long. Anyway, I lost a subscriber the last time I characterized a Democrat. All I did is describe Hillary Clinton, the most despicable Democrat in history, as the bitch goddess of untruth. What intellectually honest American can challenge the accuracy of that description? Yet it cost me a subscription of a very nice lady with beautiful handwriting.

I get these kinds of thoughts as I watch our Congress disgrace itself with this impeachment debacle, while whittling away at our Constitution. If the quality of most of the Democrats I see and hear is indicative of the state of the electorate, only prayer will save the Republic.

My apologies for the short column this week. Just had a tooth extracted.

********

I got quite a surprise at last night's school board meeting.

As might be expected, an overflow of teachers and family members seeking to discuss the heated issues of District budget provisions, (i.e., teacher salaries and benefits) filled the Board room.

I usually walk to the front of the room, and stand in a corner beside Board members for photos. This week was different. As I walked towards the usual place my path to the traditional spot was blocked. The man sitting in the chair simply said "NO", indicating that I should not pass. It became a dramatic standoff. I am used to placing myself there during the 31 years that I have covered School Board meetings.

But things could have gone ugly, since the clear intention of this interloper was to keep me from doing my job. It appeared that he had been instructed to do as he did. So, I quickly reminded him that I have been doing my job for 31 years (probably before he was out of diapers).

With a nod from one Board Member he moved his chair.

Victory. I guess the relationship between the Board and the Gazette has deteriorated.

Stay tuned!

The fires in California are turning what were normal days into confusion. Once again, Edison has notified us that we will be losing power tomorrow as they must shut down transmission lines to avoid more sparking due to the extremely high east winds.

We pray for the safety of our firefighters and the residents in fire-prone areas. And, as I type out these words, that east wind is getting stronger.

We hope to be able to send the paper down to the printer before the power is cut off.

********

Alexander Vindman, an Army Lieutenant Colonel and trusted intelligence officer with authority to listen to President Trumps confidential telephone conversations, is testifying against the President on the Ukraine "quid pro quo" matter. It is his intention to join the mob and assist in attempting to impeach his Commander in Chief.

A 20-year member of the Army, he showed up in his dress blues, with the combat infantryman's badge, paratroop wings, 25th Army Division patch, and other awards I could not read. So he has done his duty for his country.

I can't understand how such an apparently honorable man could stoop to such a dishonorable act, as to stab his commander in the back in an attempt to bring him down. It disgusts me. He is marching to the tune of the lying Liberal Left. In my mind this act makes him no better than a barracks thief.

Whether or not President Trump is eventually impeached by the political hyenas in the House, the Senate will prove the entire Democratic coup attempt an obvious fiasco. Any Republican, Representative or Senator, who joins in this malicious scam, will be marked forever, like Vice President Aaron Burr. But they won't succeed.

As for Republican politicians like Mitt Romney, turncoats amidst the greatest political fight in American History (excluding the Civil War), their names will live in infamy. I would have voted for Romney once upon a time; that makes me shudder now. As they say, with friends like this, who needs enemies.

I am sad to report the death of Miriam Harnage, mother of Wanda Castel de Oro, esteemed staff member and friend of the Gazette. Mrs. Harnage passed away one month from her ninety-eighth birthday.

While I feel Wanda's sadness at the loss of her mother, I am also grateful to our Lord that her severe, prolonged suffering is now ended.

Rest in peace, Miriam.

********

The DRUDGE REPORT, a place I frequently browse, had this today: Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.
I agree. In fact, if police were less able to keep the peace, I could even see bloodshed.

Since Trump won the 2016 presidential election every conceivable unconstitutional weapon has been, and is being, employed by the radical Liberal Left to disrupt, destroy, and remove our president from his duly elected office.

Hard evidence of this historically unprecedented conspiracy to nullify the 2016 Republican vote has been, and is being revealed today. It is clear that the highest and most powerful offices of our government (FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ, etc.) with Democrat Party and most media, have conspired to invalidate the Republican vote.

I no longer have faith in the legitimacy of most of these organizations today. They are all corrupt. Our House of Representatives stinks with the Democrat control of committees. It has destroyed the President's Constitutional right to Due Process, and goes forward with its lies. The Democrat agenda is to nullify the 2016 vote and remove our President from office, by any means whatsoever. Republicans no longer have a voice in our democracy.

If this situation had occurred 100 years ago, we would certainly see half of our country sounding the alarm "LOCK AND LOAD". The Democrat Party, with the collusion of the above co-conspirators, has polarized and stymied the function of our democracy. For these reasons I have come to hate the Democrat Party and the nefarious demagogues, criminals, and traitors who represent it. Who can tolerate them? It has become the most socially corrosive group in the nation today.

I hope the Democrat Party not only loses the next general election, I hope it is beaten into political dust.

Next week, I'm really going to tell you what I think of the Democrat Party!

Last week’s Realities column dealt with a heated controversy over the cancellation of a charity event in Thousand Oaks. Political differences between the outfit organizing the tag football game and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department caused support to be pulled out at the last minute.

The event was set to honor fallen Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, killed in the notorious 2018 mass shooting at Borderline in Thousand Oaks. Sixty percent of the donations were to be given for support of the Helus family, according to Mike Randall, of Fallen Officers Foundation.

I have read everything I could of the organizers’ side of the controversy. I could not contact those in charge on the Departments’ side. However, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub (my sincere apologies for the misspelling of Sheriff Ayub’s name last week) concerned about what he perceived as a growing politicization of the event, pulled the Department’s support and the event was cancelled. The dispute quickly escalated and exploded into the media, local, state, and national - including TV. The driving force behind this spectacle was political - Democrat supporters versus Republican.

The organizers of the event, Florida based Fallen Officers Foundation and its Vice President Mike Randall, claim the event was publicized as “No politics”, and that Democrat Governor Newsom’s public safety liaison and others were invited to speak. Republican attorney Ronda Kennedy, a previous election opponent of California Democratic Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, was also scheduled speak.

As I understand the facts, widely reported in various media outlets, Irwin, learning of the scheduled Republican speakers, refused to attend unless the Republicans were disinvited to the event. Thereafter, Randall was told to disinvite the Republicans, including Trump supporters Scott Baio and singer Joy Villa. Irwin has denied Randall’s allegation and published her denial [see end of editorial].

I have to admit I was in an angry frame of mind when I wrote last week’s editorial. I heard only one side of the story, but could not get any denials or corrections from the Sheriff’s Department’s side before press time. After studying the issue, I stand by my assertion that Irwin torpedoed the entire event by her insistence that Republicans be disinvited.

In the interest of full disclosure here, I plead guilty to being a Republican (really an Independent) and conservative, at that. I also harbor a strong antipathy towards the Democrat Party, particularly since the Star Chamber treatment of now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This outrage has indelibly influenced my opinion against the Democrat Party. However, I have striven to be as fair as possible in reporting this controversy. This is particularly true because a friend of many years, Sheriff’s Commander Tim Hagel, became a central figure in this unfortunate event.

I have to say, as I have known so many outstanding members of the Sheriff’s Department over 31 years, Commander Tim Hagel stands out as one of the best. I used to be able to say that I would trust him with my wife, my life, and my wallet - but the wife is long absent. I often have to write my columns quickly, and it often shows. I am told that, understandably, Tim walked into a beehive of emails during this heated controversy, and I couldn’t get a response to my own. I just did the best I could at the time. At least on my part Tim remains a trusted friend.

I am troubled when I think politics too strongly influences our civic functions, but not naive enough to believe it never happens. Today our nation is ferociously divided between traditional conservatives and radical liberals. It’s a fight to the death for Constitutional responsibilities and fundamental rights. Intransigence may set the powder off - while our many enemies crouch nearby with lean and hungry looks I continue to believe that, despite her denial, Irwin destroyed the Blue Bowl tag football charity event for the family of our lost Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Ron Helus.

Peace - with strength.

***

Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin's Response to the Cancellation of the Sgt. Ron Helus Blue Bowl Fundraiser:

“Our community came together in the painful aftermath of the Borderline shooting when 12 people were murdered, including Sergeant Helus who charged into danger to save our friends and neighbors. That is what Ventura County does as a community. We come together. We come together as friends, neighbors, and, yes, as Republicans and Democrats. I’m very disappointed in what has happened over the last weeks. We have mourned at funerals together, we have memorialized the victims at the State Capitol and in our community parks, and we have called, texted, and kept in contact with families as they find their way through unimaginable grief. Our community has been focused on healing for the past 11 months and now a group that has no ties to Ventura County or California has come to tell us that we are doing it all wrong. Those organizing the event are trying to divide our community. They are disparaging Thousand Oaks Police Chief Tim Hagel, a personal friend of Sgt. Helus. Chief Hagel is revered in this community for his commitment and service. The people who live here know that. Honoring Sgt. Helus and the victims of the mass shooting has been my focus since last November and will continue to be my focus. My only participation in the event was going to be to give a 2-minute speech. I chose to withdraw after the Sherriff’s Department declined to participate and it became clear to me that self-promotion was being put before our community and before honoring Sgt. Helus. I choose to lift up the names and memories of Cody, Alaina, Blake, Daniel, Jake, Justin, Kristina, Mark, Noel, Sean, Telemachus, and Sgt. Ron Helus.”

The recent cancellation of a charity flag football event in honor of fallen Ventura County Sgt. Ron Helus has caused an uproar like I've not seen before in my 31-years as publisher of the Gazette. Sgt. Helus was killed in 2018 during the mass killings at the Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks.

The event, called Blue Bowl, was organized to provide financial assistance to the Helus family. The LA Rams donated jerseys with Sgt. Hellus' name and footballs were ready to be signed by Rams players with Sgt. Helus' picture on them. The event was almost completely ready, with donors having contributed thousands of dollars, and Sgt. Helus' wife had met with organizer Mike Randall, Vice President of the Florida based Fallen Officers Foundation, when politics intervened.

Randall told the Gazette, during a lengthy conversation from his Florida home, that Democratic Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin complained that Republican attorney Ronda Kennedy, a previous election opponent, had also been invited, along with Trump supporters Scott Baio and singer Joy Villa. Baio went to the same church as Sgt. Helus. At that point Randall alleges that Ventura County Sheriff's Commander Tim Hagel told him to cancel the Republican speakers. Hagel is alleged to have also told Randall that "We don't want Republicans here". Hagel allegedly questioned why Republicans were invited, although Hagel is also quoted by Randall to have said "the only thing you coulda made this worse, Mike, was to invite Dick Cheney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders". Randall verified statements attributed to have come from Hagel in other publications.

When Randall refused to comply with the Sheriff's Department to disinvite the scheduled Republican speakers, he claims to have received a text from Hagel stating that, following consultation with Sheriff Ayb, the Department was pulling out of the event. The scheduled presence of the honor guard was also cancelled and sponsors with other supporters dropped out as well. All money is being returned to sponsors and the event is now cancelled.

There is no doubt that the Blue Bowl tag football event was torpedoed by California State Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin. She called to demand that all conservative speakers be removed. Randall claims the Blue Bowl speaker list was bipartisan. It included Gov. Gavin Newsom's public safety liaison, and others. The event was advertised as "No politics". This is a prime example of the corrupting influence of politics in civil affairs. Irwin is just doing what Democrats always do - disrupting and delaying all functions they disagree with. Here, the kneejerk obedience of the Sheriff's Department to the financial detriment of the family of a fallen hero, Sgt. Ron Helus, is simply disgusting. Jacqui Irwin perfumed the event with the stench of her officious liberalism. The Department should at least be embarrassed for caving so quickly - conservatives have rights as well.

I only wish I had more time to comment on this event.

Jacqui - I wear the red hat - am a lifelong, life member of the NRA, am a staunch conservative Roman Catholic - and a Republican! Here's a feast for any bigot.

Come and stop me before I organize a Blue Bowl of my own.