Welcome back, Kelly (letter to editor):
I hate to begin by saying that your Select Committee "facts" are extreme aberrations from reality because that's true. That's because the "committee" itself is a shameful farce. Masquerading as either "bipartisan" or as a constitutional investigative committee qualifies it for Soviet Show Trial status.

The committee denies Trump an impartial jury (it really is a trial), and the defendant is denied his right to cross-examine witnesses. The Committee is loaded with never-Trump members and Hillary financial backers; the only conservatives would have been Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Jim Banks (Ind.) but were kicked off by Pelosi, making the proceeding a Star Chamber trial, a sick joke.

Committee member Adam Schiff, is perhaps the most prolific, flamboyant, and shameless liar in all of Congress. For years he lied to everyone, especially the media, pushing false allegations about Trump colluding with the Russians. For years Schiff assured America he had the "smoking gun," "direct evidence, of collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia." His pantaloons will be forever aflame. Then, there is the lady with the malignant heart, Liz Cheney, a pathological hater of Donald Trump. Will Trump ever get his reputation back? Not if the Committee has its way.

Official FBI and Capital Police reported "NO CENTRAL PLANNING" for this (4-hour) RIOT, which was not an "insurrection," though it became the largest investigated incident in our history undertaken by our (corrupt) FBI - to what purpose?

By what metric do you call this Committee proceeding "...an exercise in democracy"? By what measure do you call the 1/6 (4-hour) incident an "insurrection”? The non-stop arson, murder, and assault which occurred during 2020 was the great Democratic Party-BLM-ANTIFA, insurrection; hundreds cops and civilians killed, billions in property damage. "Of the 633 incidents coded as riots, 88 percent are recorded as involving Black Lives Matter activists." (The Federalist, 2020).

Jul 3, 2020 - "The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, (2020) when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States ..." (NYT).

Tell me Kelly, how many House Select Committee Hearings can you show me about this circus of 2020 Dem. Party insurrections?

We should be "celebrating" when the Democratic Party-ANTIFA-BLM (and all other communist influences) are exposed, dismembered and destroyed during the next two elections. Freedom will then have another chance – God is still generous with His time.

I fear I've wasted my time on this issue. The nation is in such danger. Biden has given us bookends of historical corruption and incompetence to overcome. This Committee reflects that reality.

My deepest condolences to Richard and Carolyn Diaz upon learning of the death of their beloved daughter Arron Renee Diaz, 1966-2022. "She was born with Down Syndrome. At the time of her birth, doctors said Arron would not live past 12 years of age and placing in an institution should be considered as an option. Aaron defied those odds and remained at home all of her life enjoying camping, eating out, family road trips and an active life." She competed in many activities.

It's a hopeless job for me to try and summarize the bonds of love in the Diaz family, and presumptuous as well. I encourage everyone to read about Arron's life (Gazette, May 5, 2022).

In a world so captivated by envy, hatred, and violence, the story the Arron Renee Diaz family provides relief, filled with truth, beauty and healing love.

"God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16

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Rest in Peace Lin Thomas

"He was a teacher by trade, a preacher of the Word by purpose, and an old car enthusiast by passion." I will remember Lin as a compassionate man who leaves a powerful example of Christian life.

****

After re-reading Arron's family story It's hard to transfer my attention to that world of "hatred, envy, and violence" we deal with every day. I keep asking myself if it's worthwhile to keep harping away on the condition of the American Republic. I certainly have an historical bias here. As a conservative, Judeo-Christian citizen, I find myself at nearly complete disagreement with the new American status quo, largely due to the simple-mindedness of those self-proclaimed "progressive" geniuses who teach men can become women and mathematics is racist. This is, of course, crazy talk designed to infect weak minds.

I regret I am unable expand on this opinion due to time restraints and technical challenges. I hope, next week.

Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
A Time of Infamous Failure

Expressing sympathy for the families who lost children on May 24, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is just so inadequate it hurts. When I review the scene of the massacre and read about all of the protections that failed to protect 21 people from being slaughtered, I'm left without words.

It seems impossible today that cowardice and incompetence on such a large scale could cause such carnage. It stuns credibility.
I grieve with everyone else, and demand justice for these innocent souls.

Secure our schools in every practical way, including trained, armed, on-site personnel - people who know how to handle a front sight. Expel and segregate students who exhibit uncivilized behavior. Place cameras in all classrooms to provide evidence of dangerous or grossly disrespectful student behavior, and to cover vulnerable exterior areas.

Make all adult members of school staff criminally responsible for discovered breaches of clearly stipulated security laws, rules, and regulations.

Today's social and educational environment facilitates the growth of abnormal criminal mentalities. This is due to the absence of traditional Judeo-Christian virtues which create a normal, healthy conscience, and the now predominant demands of anti-Christian-anti-scientific programs, such as fallaciously alleged genders: "Female, Male, Intersex, Trans, Non-Conforming, Personal, and Eunuch".

The education system today is heavy with all sorts of false and dangerous racial theories which antagonize Americans, and nurture hatred, envy, and violence. It's not the gun that needs to be eliminated, it's the vile curriculum that forms the brain that incites to murder by any means.

It's 10:30 p.m. and I still can't get a grip on my ideas. The death of two of my brothers within this month has caused a lot of contradiction and confusion. Brother James was eldest, brother John was fifth in line. I told my father once that he had really raised two families, the first four siblings raised on the ranch, the other three in the city until after he passed. There was a 5-year gap between the fourth and fifth sibling, and I think a little more liberality. Our memories must be distinctly different.

With such an abrupt change I was drawn to reread the extraordinary family history authored by Cousin Tom and Arlene Leonard titled "The Legacy of James Leonard." It is filled with happy memories and extended family photos. I have to recognize the wonderful, talented, and happy group of people Great Grandfather James Leonard (1815-1893) eventually gathered together. As I look at these photos of six generations, particularly mine, until about 1959 when Grandmother Sara Ellen "Nellie" Leonard passed away, it seems almost too peaceful. The memories are colorful and sharp, far cry from my day-to-day efforts to recall names today!

The passing of the things of this world jumps out at me; how truly brief life is, even for the longest-lived. The goal is of course life eternal which shouldn't frighten us. Though cousin Tom is rightly proud of the remarkable Leonard family accomplishments, and our extended family companionship, I keep returning to the fact that most worldly events, and things of my childhood are forever gone, some to the better, some for the worst. To the best, faith and hope prevail. I see six generations have played their roll in a little more than a century, a speck in time.

Grandma's house is a great demonstration of that second law of thermodynamics. (No pretention here, I'm ignorant of physics). Nature continually falls apart. The two places on earth that anchor my memories are the ranch I grew-up on, and my grandmother’s beautiful home, built in 1909 on the Home Ranch by Grandfather James Leonard Jr. in Oxnard, on Gonzales Road. It was the most extraordinary house of its kind I have ever known, without exception.

Following my grandmother's death in 1959 the house received many new lives, at great esthetic cost and final architectural degradation. Not to get too gloomy, but the condition of the great house today reminds me of William Butler Yeats's poem “The Second Coming,” " Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;...". So, for me the great house is a metaphor for all things quietly passing in time. For the oldest of us life is short-lived, sometimes fortunately well-lived as my Grandfather James Leonard Jr. did with his angelic spouse Nellie, in the big house, with large family, on the ranch.

The house was built state-of-the-art. Today only a ramshackle remnant of memories remains on site, although it still evokes Christmas and Easter past, and Grandma's "Butter Sponge Cake with Lemon Frosting."

Recalling these things, I can't escape remembering how time consumes all things, even beautiful homes and bygone inhabitants.
The second law of thermodynamics feasts relentlessly on our democratic Republic as well, but faster even than on an old house. Its foundational Judeo-Christian structure has been abandoned and the center cannot hold much longer. The ravage of moral neglect is taking its toll. Will we also soon be left with only the skeletal remains of the greatest nation in human history?

O.K. - I'm done with personal history.

James Leonard Farrell

My brother James Leonard Farrell passed away May 18, 2022. He was 88-years old.

This must be more a reminiscence of the life of my eldest brother than an obituary. A typical obituary would be too short in recalling a few events and accomplishments. I knew him well before he graduated from high school but heard from him less after he entered military service. When I compare his life to that of any other member of the Farrell family, I find my brother Jim to be most admirable, but least recognized. He was first of all a humble, devout member of his Catholic Church, from his earliest days to the day he died. No one who knew him could doubt that. In my lifetime I never heard Jim utter a curse or swear word. Few recognized his accomplishments because of his quiet, retiring personality, never asking for anything, always generous with what he had to give.

He was, ironically, the greatest man I have known during my life. I say "ironically" because of all the Farrell family members, Jim's talents were always unnoted and unappreciated. The irony is due to the fact that despite doing everything right he grew up in a hyper-critical family atmosphere, leaving him to think everything he did was somehow flawed. This finally sacked his self-confidence. In my childhood I could see unjustified parental criticism fall upon him relentlessly and couldn't understand why. In most important endeavors Jim surpassed his six siblings, unacknowledged.

He did well in school, attending academically challenging Loyola High School in Los Angeles as a boarder. His grades were excellent. He shuttled back and forth over the old Conejo Grade between school and the ranch in a rattly Model-A our father bought for him.

Later, Jim graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Horticulture. He always had a love of growing things, like his pioneering namesakes, great-grandfather James Leonard Sr. and grandfather James Leonard Jr., who first began farming in 1859, before there was an Oxnard or a Ventura County.

Following college, Jim joined the US Marines. After a 4-year hitch he was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant E-5, difficult to achieve in the 1950s, and far superior to any rank achieved by his four siblings who served as well in the Army, Air Force, and Marines.

But Jim could not find a niche in the regular business world that suited him. Instead, he favored propagating various species of palms, berries, etc. The joy of his life was always to visit with old friends, relatives and their families, many from his grade school years. As friends and relatives faded in time, or moved away, Jim found himself somewhat isolated. Remaining single without children, his own family saw less of him. For many years he lived alone near a desert area continuing to propagate fruit and various specialties for market.

Jim visited me in Fillmore a few times over the years when in town on business. He lived an undeserved life of solitude but found great comfort in his Savior, Jesus Christ. As a member of a large family of plenty, he deserved significantly more than he received.

But I know he was received with great joy in eternity by all of his many true friends and relatives who awaited him, because "The last shall be first, and the first last” - Matthew 20:16
A Funeral Mass will be held on June 8, 2022 at 11 a.m. at Padre Serra 5205 Upland Rd., Camarillo, Ca. 93010, with reception to follow.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.

With two critically ill brothers in mind tonight, and another recently passed, it's a confusing time for me to focus on other issues. Growing up in a family of 7 siblings (6 boys and a girl), and now treading time in my eighties, I'm left with a cumbrous array of memories to examine. It's like looking through an old kaleidoscope's geometrical shapes of bright colored crystal. The view changes with the slightest turn in time.

These views show many very good, and some very dark pictures, no different from human faults from time immemorial. Though I think trust is a fickle virtue, when my time arrives, I hope to leave this earth in an abiding trust in Divine Mercy and His close friends. For me that is life's shining reality.

I've wanted to write a memoir of my family's life for quite a while. It would recall life on the ranch from 1939 to about 1960, just a snapshot of some 20-years in Oxnard and Camarillo, of my brothers and I building tree forts, slingshots, day-long "hunts" with our .22s, and numerous clod fights; a time of great freedom, adventure, and more than a few bruises.

How drastically things have changed in such a short time, how truly beautiful things were. Also, how the character of our society has been cheapened is woeful.

I hope to begin before the memory of those 7 siblings is reduced, and life in the best of times is forgotten.

So, my recollections are a little agitated tonight, distracting me from the job of writing something.

I take hope in the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

"Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you,
All things are passing,
God is unchanging.
Patience gains all;
Nothing is lacking
To those who have God:
God alone is sufficient"
St. Teresa of Avila

Well, I hate to begin this column by having to admit a careless mistake in last week's Realities. But, my last line purports to quote the Prophet Jeremiah - and the chapter and verse are incorrect. It should have been: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you...". Jeremiah 1:4-5. I don't have a clue to how this happened, but since I'm here, I should include another beautiful verse: "And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb."

****

The wretchedness of the progressive, woke, Democratic Party pro-abortionists is showing it's face again by stalking Supreme Court Justices to their homes and threatening their families. Schumer made “direct & dangerous threats to U.S. Supreme Court" justices by name.

Once again, the Democratic Party is lying, to convince people that any overturning of Roe means the end of legal abortions in the U.S. Though perhaps half of Americans would like to see this outrageous decision overturned, that could not end the practice. If Roe falls, the future of all abortion law would be placed in the hands of individual states. The states would decide whether mothers should kill their children or not. The killing of children after the infant is born would also be up for debate. Civilized societies do, of course, recognize this practice ("late term abortion") as murder. Every recognized legal authority since the founding of the Republic calls this murder by definition. Only recently have Ogres like former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (a pediatric neurologist) called for the killing of born-live infants:

"So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired [otherwise suffocated], and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother" as to whether to sever the spinal cord of that infant and offer his or her body parts to a Planned Parenthood market.

It's also instructive to return to a video of Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, ranting at an abortion rights rally, on the Court's steps, physically threatening Supreme Court Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. "I want to tell you Gorsuch; I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions." YouTube · CNN · Mar 4, 2020, youtube.com ›. (This activity taking place today!)

Democrats - this is your leadership - these are your members, and your Molotov cocktails! "May 9, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin, a pair of Molotov cocktails shattered the windows at the Wisconsin Family Action office, an-anti abortion rights group."

This is Democratic Party Wokeness, as vivid as their 2020 BLM-Antifa billion-dollar, murderous, months-long insurrection.

God save us, and our children, from Democratic Party "leadership."

An infamous Supreme Court insider (Justice or clerk) has betrayed the sanctity of that chamber's confidentiality by leaking a draft of a Supreme Court decision in the equally infamous case of Roe v. Wade. A search for the miscreant is under way. It appears that this notorious 1973 abortion case is about to be overturned - after facilitating 62 million gruesome deaths in the last 46 years - including so-called partial birth abortions.

In memoriam of those millions who should be with us today, some statistics:

According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.

The Holocaust
By Paul Murano • ChurchMilitant.com • January 22, 2021

"Abortion has become the No.1 killer of human beings on the planet.

This is according to The Worldometer, a website monitoring international births, deaths and other vital information. Its abortion stats come directly from the World Health Organization.

In the year 2020, surgical abortion killed more than 40-million preborn children. That accounts for 43% of all deaths worldwide, notes the American Center for Law and Justice.

Comparatively, 1.9 million people are dying annually from the China virus. That's less than 1/20 the rate (5%) of prenatal homicide.

In just the United States, more human beings die each year from abortion than from heart disease, stroke and accidents combined.

And these deaths are only from surgical abortions.

Chemical abortions kill 10 times the number of preborns. This includes not only the abortion pill RU-486, but also injections, the IUD and so-called birth control pills.

Human Life International reports around four times as many preborn children are killed by the common birth control pill than by surgical abortion. The secondary mechanism in the pill makes the mother's uterine lining impossible for the tiny child to attach to when conception does occur, flushing the tiny child out without even the mother's knowledge.

Dr. Bogomir Kuhar of Pharmacists for Life estimates between 8 and 13-million preborn children are killed annually in the United States alone — only some 10% percent of these are surgical abortions.

Between surgical and chemical means of killing the unborn, abortion has become, by far, the world's No. 1 killer."

As a nation founded upon (and blessed by) Judeo-Christian principles, we are not absolved from this monstrous activity by recognizing that the pagan nations of this world are guilty of even greater numbers of killings.

If Roe is overturned, the 50 individual states can decide for themselves whether the continued killing of the smallest, most defenseless of human beings is something they can live with. It will be a challenge to the individual conscience, no longer a federal mandate to hide behind.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; ..."Jeremiah 11:11

The Enigmatic 'Russian Soul' By Sergey Maidukov (American Thinker, March 28, 2014).

"Ranked at number 155 according to the Global Peace Index, Russia is one of the most dangerous countries in the whole world. It is notorious as the lawless land, where people are assassinated every 18 minutes, averaging 84 murders per day in a nation of 143 million." " A number of ... myths exist. For example, the common legend of an ancient Slavic culture. There never was, and could not be, such a concept because the term “Slavs” in all Western European languages always referred simply to “slaves” -- the pagan people who survived under the oppressive regimes of one conqueror after another." "A new poll, conducted by the independent Levada Center in Moscow, found that nearly 60 percent of Russians “deeply regret” the collapse of the Soviet Union."

I begin this REALITIES with reference to Maidukov's informative column in my search to find an explanation for the notorious Russian barbarity seen in Ukraine. In a nutshell, that's been the Russian way for a thousand years. Russia, and all of the Far East, missed out on the civilizing Hellenistic influence of Greece and Rome. They retained the savage gene of their forebears, Vikings, Mongols through tsarist regimes (guys like Ivan the Terrible, died 1584, aged 53, first Tsar of all Russia). Some of his handiwork may seem familiar:

The destruction of Novgorod: [Mariupol?] "Novgorod was Moscow’s main rival. When Ivan took the city, he burned it to the ground. About 12,000 people were mercilessly executed. Children and women were thrown into rivers. Famines followed the killings, which took as many lives. It would take centuries for the once-bustling city of Novgorod to fully recover from the famines and mass killings." (History about Tomorrow).

Russia, like China, having never been a free country, is accustomed to brutal government treatment. Russians have always lived in fear, with fear their stock-in-trade, and neighbors their commodity. During, and in the aftermath of, WWII the communist Russian Army under Stalin was notorious for raping every female person they encountered regardless of age. That historical attitude has not changed under Putin - witness Ukraine.

The West has finally come to a red line (survival of Ukraine) which, if it fails to defend, will spell its downfall. America, though late and slow to the game, is finally providing the fighting tools which can permit the small Ukrainian military to actually defeat mighty Russia. In Putin's mind, this cannot happen. Such an outcome is simply unimaginable, and the consequences would be catastrophic for world peace.

NATO, and America herself, will live in the shadow of perpetual Russian blackmail if we do not help Ukraine win this war A.S.A.P. Russia, and China as well, should be reminded that the West has ample nuclear firepower, on land, sea, and air, to destroy both of them.

Let's hope that Putin has enough logic brain cells remaining to understand this fact.

This was one of those days when I had a hard time cranking-up the column. Putin's war leaves me angry with the slow pace of our president's actions to arm our Ukrainian friends. They fight for their lives, defending against another holocaust. I witness mothers, babies, and old people being systematically slaughtered. I also watch what is shown to be one of the toughest armies in the world, trouncing the Russian Orcs, though outgunned ten-to-one. Reminiscent of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans - but with a victorious outcome.

Putin threatens to ignite WWIII, which America may not avoid without abject capitulation. That fuse might likely be the use of "tactical" (small) nukes capable of immediately annihilating inhabited areas of a few miles. An even more "unthinkable" event would be the use of "strategic" (hydrogen) nuclear weapons which could rattle our tectonic plates.

We are dealing with atheistic enemies in Russia and China, those who not only deny God, but deny as well the reality of immortal human souls and eternal life, which makes the above scenarios actually "thinkable". This is also why for a hundred years communist inspired dictatorships have sponsored the slavery and murders of hundreds of millions of innocent human beings. This is why we see systems such as forced confinement of millions of Uighurs in China today, and millions of ghosts from the Gulag Archipelago of the recent past. An excellent column appeared in the April 19, 2022 edition of American Thinker (www.americanthinker.com) "Farewell to America's military meritocracy" by James Poplar.

I have to ask, as Mr. Poplar does, what kind of military will we have when the time to fight jumps up again. Sadly, I wholeheartedly agree with his somber closing thought:

"So it appears America's ultimate meritocracy, the force that rose from like a phoenix from the ashes of Vietnam and won Desert Storm, will be no more — sadly, another victim to wokeness. Equality is the principle proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, not equity. The U.S. military, which was once a model meritocracy and model of combat effectiveness, where all were treated equally, is now embarking on the ever-slippery slope. Where will it end?"

"...last week the Pentagon rolled out its own "equity" plan. The Department of Defense is now aiming to "equalize outcomes for employees" and partners across racial and sex-based lines. In the text, the DOD explained a series of procedural changes to better align with the White House's demands for "equity." I believe this is an example of what the so-called "woke" disease has done to the entire U.S. military structure and purpose. From our beginnings, the idea of "troop individualism" has been anathema. The goal has always been cohesion, to break down the individual and reconstitute the single-minded combat unit acting together.

Our military services have gone the way of the Catholic hierarchy (I'm a Catholic), rotting from the top down. Hierarchies seem to suffer similar vulnerabilities - in following leaders even when they have lost legitimate moral authority, and compass of common sense, by abandoning foundational Judeo-Christian laws - our historical Constitutional gravity.

The report (Department of Defense Equity Action Plan April 2022) continued, "This included a focus on how extremist or dissident ideologies violate the fundamental principles of the Department" and went on to note its increased tolerance for military service by transgender soldiers. "DOD took steps to ensure transgender individuals who wished to serve in the military and could meet the appropriate standards were able to do so openly and free from discrimination."

What is completely rejected by the Dept. of Defense’s 240-years of American military and social tradition, as seen in our founding documents: the teaching of Judeo-Christian virtues and values, which has never included anti-Judeo-Christian values, until now. America's bedrock, founding values are based entirely upon Biblical Judeo-Christian principles - uniquely so. Our traditionally religious military men and women compose 95 percent of our fighting troops. It's far past time to recognize our responsibility to defend their professional expectations as members of our armed forces.

All of this novel "woke" philosophical trash is sabotaging our nation's military strength and cohesion.

Like most people, I love dogs, also cats, birds and most other of God's creatures, domestic and wild. I emphatically include in that list Crackers the Surfing Dog, Pebbles the Wonder Dog, as well as Forrest and Dahlia, the service dogs. Many of us have enjoyed them as part of our Fillmore experience.

A couple of these companions need a little help these days, a little understanding. A few people have expressed exasperation at their presence. Although their owner, Birch Greyloch, says neither Dahlia nor Forrest (Irish Wolf Hounds) have bitten, or threatened anyone, they at times have barked and complaints have surfaced, with requests to remove the dogs.

They are very large dogs, often seen carrying a saddle-bagged Chihuahua, Violet, but as I've observed, are gentle and friendly. Maybe their size alone frightens some folks. Ms. Greyloch's letter can be found in today's Gazette.

For the sake of Dahlia, Forrest and Violet, and Ms. Greyloch, can we all get along? Without getting too maudlin about the issue, I should cite the title of a book I received when I was about 5-years old: Be Kind to Animals, They Have Feelings Too. I've remembered that message ever since.

****

I have to say I'm tired of writing so many "gloom and doom-type" columns. I would much rather write about the beautiful (if rainless) weather, COVID-19 seeming to fade away - or about the two Mockingbirds that ambushed me last week with their extraordinary repertoire as soon as I got out of my truck at 10:00 p.m. I stood there spellbound for about 5 minutes. They were perched in a fruitless Mulberry tree overhanging the garage. This happened the following night as well, about the same time - 10 p.m.! On the next night I came in much later - nothing.

I don't think any other bird can compare with the Mockingbird for complex song; they are the Mozarts of the bird world. They combine and repeat all of the sounds they hear in nature, i.e. crickets, frogs, and any other bird song. And, yeah, I like trees as well. This was a refreshing break from hearing screams and explosions from Ukrainian war reports.

****

Unless someone (probably in the Russian Army) stops Putin by assassination or a coup, I think the use of nuclear weapons is probable. (Note: I am NOT a military expert, just my opinion - most of us have one.) I worry about the "small" nukes, those that can be fired from two or three miles on an otherwise conventional field of combat. We've made them suitcase small and have had them for decades. So, if the Russians fire a couple and take out a few brigades, or a small town with one shot, what choice does this leave NATO? Western nations can either run away, surrender - or respond in kind.

Putin is an unstable leader. His vanity has already been affronted by his failure to take Ukraine's capitol after weeks of fighting. He has "lost face" - of critical importance especially in the East. Putin now has no way to offer a truce, because his narcissism and arrogance compels him to fight to the death regardless of consequences (unless taken out). His paranoia was on full display recently when he flaunted to the media his nuclear code suitcase in detail - his nuclear "football." After the carnage and destruction Putin has inflicted on Ukraine, even a truce is not an option; Ukraine will resist to the last man, the classic dilemma of an immovable object against an irresistible force - almost.

Those conservatives who say America should not get involved with Ukraine are wrong. Short of using U.S. forces in the fighting, we need to immediately provide every weapon we can to help Ukraine win this war, including MiG fighters, tanks, long distance artillery and missiles. We should assume and prepare for the worst from Russia - and China. The world's order is threatened by totalitarianism. Absent a miracle, without strong leadership, we could lose our country - as we are now by inviting foreign millions through our abandoned, unprotected borders. Unlike the valiant Ukrainians, we are giving our country away - without a fight. Our enemies are prepared to pounce at this distinctive whiff of weakness.

I think America is set for epochal change of an uncertain nature.

I also think I would rather go back to talking about birds and service dogs.

A bomb threat at Fillmore High School went out to Fillmore PD, Ventura Sheriffs, and Simi Valley PD at 11:10am today, Wednesday, April 6th. Fillmore Engine 91, VC Engine 27 and an AMR ambulance were also called in. Reports of students being released to emergency contacts. More information was not available at press time. Pictures and an update will be in next week’s Gazette, April 14th edition.

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A response to Kelly Scoles' Second Opinion:

Hi Kelly,
You have painted with a very broad brush this week. But of those accusations you make concerning political and business activities of Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas, President Trump and his children, I am satisfied with your ending paragraph which reads, "I am not sure that any of the instances cited here are illegal, but they are sordid and have the appearance of wrong doing."

Of course, I emphatically disagree that the actions of Mrs. Clarence Thomas (you accuse of "participation in sedition"!), Trump or family members have been in any way "sordid." But I surely do believe in your last sentence: "If someone wants to serve in high office, their families need to know that their activities are limited" and I believe it is the height of hypocrisy to equate the Biden family's criminal "international activities" with the normal activities of Justice Thomas' wife or Trump family members. As the inflow of evidence now clearly shows, Joe Biden, the "Big Guy," Jill Biden, brother James Biden and others, have for decades, been trading with the enemy (in $Billions) using Joe's offices as Senator, Vice President, and President for bait. This scam is so well ensconced in the American political system, for so long, it seems like a perfect crime. Like the Hunter Biden laptop revelations, it's almost too big for normal citizens to understand. It (the money laundering) is the greatest crime, the greatest betrayal of American trust in our history. Yet some Americans still doubt it. This all corroborates the adage "The first victim of war is truth" and we are at war within ourselves, a nation divided.

The facts are now quickly tumbling out of the Biden family closet, despite surreptitious attempts to hide the truth since the 2020 election. These Biden family secrets (only recently admitted as factual by the Washington Post, and New York Times) also tepidly, by the usual suspects, "CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC - ignore NYT bombshell report on Hunter Biden's business deal with Chinese company". Of course, Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft continue to coordinate the cover-up (laptops) as a fifth column in our Republic. But, as another Merchant once said, "...truth will out," even if sometimes too late.

Luxurious gifts from (our greatest enemies) Russia, China et. al., a wild history of extravagant drug abuse (meth destroyed his teeth) money laundering-squandering, and perhaps worst of all, child molestation and pornography, highlight Hunter Biden's "international activities" for years, documented in living color by the thousands on his laptops. How utterly corrupt must our intelligence services, Justice Department, FBI and others be to have covered-up so long, while President Joe Biden flatly, repeatedly, on all public media DENIES knowing anything of Hunter's "international activities" or of receiving millions in dark money. FDR's Vice President John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner, once described the vice-presidency as being "not worth a bucket of warm [!@#$]." Joe Biden certainly knew better. He profited hugely from all his high offices, including Senator, V.P. and Presidency.

I don't have a hard time understanding why the Biden family betrayal of our Republic is so hard for honest citizens to believe - nothing on this scale of treason has happened before in our history.

No wonder Joe Biden has such a hard time dealing firmly with Russia and China. They have him utterly compromised. If Russia or China spilled the beans, The Family Biden would be behind bars for life. But, like Hillary Clinton and her swarm of iniquitous minions, once at the highest levels of government and politics, justice will never be done, which is a harbinger for a collapse
of the Republic. At the present time, as for the most critical issues of criminal justice, our Constitution has been captured by the radical Left, and our Republic is in jeopardy. Equal justice under law is now only a hopeful, historical theory.

Response to Kelly Scoles' "Second Opinion"

Hi Kelly,
"Theater" has always been part of political debate. The challenge is always to separate phony grandstanding from attempts to highlight critical issues. Theater can be overdone, witness Senator Cory Booker's tearful acknowledgement of Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson's virtue. But the treatment of the last couple of SCOTUS nominees (Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) was so outrageously disgraceful that I finally lost all respect for the Judiciary Committee and the process itself. This disgusting proceeding has been a Democratic "lynching" party since the 1987 rejection of the distinguished (Reagan nominated) Judge Robert Bork.

Then, there was more excruciating theater at the expense of Justice Clarence Thomas, made infamous by one Anita Hill, where Thomas accused the Committee of "judicial lynching". Remember that? But the Kavanaugh hearing was the worst, with those utterly defamatory sexual assault allegations (gang rape). Or maybe it was that Hawaiian pig, Senator Mazie Hirono, who had the insolence to ask SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett, "Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?" This swinish inquiry, of course, was Hirono's attempt to humiliate Judge Barrett. Makes me wonder whether Hirono was speaking from personal experience.

Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson will certainly be approved by this Committee because she's a ringer, a radical progressive judge who is deeply prejudiced towards criminal tolerance - in particular, tolerance of child molesters and pornographers. Most medical experts on this subject claim these felons can never be normalized, and my strong concern centers on Judge Brown's lenient sentencing for pedophiles, well under official sentencing guidelines. It's a core concern. Incidentally, Kelly, do you really doubt the existence and deadly nature of "pedophile rings"? If so, educate yourself by spending some time at our southern border where little girls are most at risk from traffickers. You think that Josh Hawley (R-MO) "showed an unusually keen interest in the details of rapes and molestations..."? "Unusually keen"? His JOB is to protect against the crimes of pedophiles and all other sex predators who aggressively ply their trade on our border.

Judge Brown really couldn't define "woman"? How difficult should that be? How about, a human being who has XX chromosomes? A quick fact check: "...also known as the sex chromosomes, determine the biological sex of an individual: females inherit an X chromosome from the father for a XX genotype, while males inherit a Y chromosome from the father for a XY genotype (mothers only pass on X chromosomes)." Brown's decisions in these cases land well below suggested judgment norms. Could her refusal to tell us what a woman is possibly hide a personal ideological conviction which rejects the scientific fact that there are only two sexes? If so, I wonder what group would benefit from such a bias.

As for the difference between the Declaration and the Constitution, the former states the reasons for seeking independence, while the latter expresses the law, the rules we follow to maintain that ideal. Together they express the foundation of our successful independence. You mock Senator Marsha Blackburn's (R-TN) education and state. I applaud her intelligence, patriotism and common sense. Much better than Jill Biden's humorous scholastic endeavors: Dec 15, 2020 Dr. Jill Biden WSJ op-ed by Joseph Epstein. This column much more authoritative than Twitter.
Lastly, you say, "We will see whether Republicans want a two-Party democratic political system..." "What you get with a one-Party system is a dictatorship. Check out Putin to see what that means." I don't have to look at Russia. I live in California! Dem. supermajority forever. Just take a look at Governor Gavin Newsom - that hair, those hands, those snappy teeth; they reek dictatorship!

Responding to Kelly Scoles’ Second Opinion
The Russian-Ukrainian war grinds on. Ukraine is winning on points despite being outgunned 10-1. The victory Putin bragged would take a couple of days is into its fourth week with soaring causalities and enormous loss of equipment.

Biden, the ever-reluctant Commander in Chief, handicaps Ukraine's progress by slow-walking the critical supplies of arms and ammunition, while the Russians decimate civilian targets. Reported a week ago, Russia has destroyed 15 hospitals, several of them children's hospitals.

Every American should understand that Russia must be defeated in this unprovoked war against an innocent, peaceful, democratic, sovereign country. If there is to be freedom for Ukraine when the war is ended, and security for the Eastern European nations, Russia must be stopped in its tracks. That means the West must stand up to Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons against us, otherwise nuclear blackmail will decide America's and NATO's future forever. We have many nuclear weapons as well. Putin should be constantly reminded of that fact (as should China, as it prepares to attack Taiwan).

Kelly, you approve of Sun Tzu's, advise, often admired as the oldest (500b.c.) and greatest military strategist, and there are many of them from before Alexander the Great to Machiavelli and Clausewitz. It should not be surprising that he advises that "it's not the hothead seeking vengeance" who wins, but the "calm, detached warrior who wins." Sun Tzu is the subtlest of tacticians. I have three editions of his "The Art of War." If he wrote that short book himself, he is truly a genius among geniuses.

But I think you misunderstand the Ukraine war situation. Any "Putin-watcher" with even modest knowledge of Russian-Soviet history would not be "stunned" to hear Putin's public statement i.e. "to crack down on internal dissent...and begin a necessary self-purification of society". Putin is a communist in the historical sense of that word. He is not a soldier, he's the protégé' of monsters like Lenin, Stalin, Feliks Dzerzhinsky, and Mao Zedong. Putin idolizes Stalin, who starved millions of Ukrainians to death.

I'm not a psychiatrist, so I can't determine Putin's mental state. But I don't have to. Any Christian paying attention to what Putin is doing to Ukraine's citizens knows he is pure evil, e.g. - destroyed 15 hospitals to date. I come closer to the truth of Putin's character by identifying him as being spiritually possessed, as were all of his communist predecessors. His pride might prevent him from deescalating the war; he has trapped himself by losing face in view of China (even India, Iran, and North Korea) and his collapsing military.

(Note) I'm running late and will have to cut this short. Not my fault. I blame it entirely on age.

A nuclear confrontation with Russia is now (in my very un-professional opinion) probable. We are beginning to hear the word "sub-kiloton nukes - tactical nukes". It's their smaller size that would tempt Putin to use them in Ukraine. The smallest U.S. nuclear bomb was the Davy Crockett, fired somewhat like a mortar, from a tripod set up in the field. The launcher systems were muzzle loading weapons.

"Although the Army had already deployed nuclear artillery systems, by the late 1950s U.S. generals wanted a battlefield system that combat units could use against Soviet troops at close range." "The initial Davy Crockett could be hand-carried and fired from its tripod by two or three soldiers. Since the Davy Crockett was meant for close-range use, the explosive power of the warhead was limited to 20 tons and 10 tons" [not kilotons] - a fraction of the explosive power of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki devices (15 kilotons) but enough for the blast to kill advancing Soviet or Chinese troops. "In the late 1960s, the Army began to remove the Davy Crockett from service." About 2,000 units had been disbursed throughout Western Europe.

I have to close. Putin must be stopped ASAP by conventional means before it will require nuclear means. The free world must provide all support Ukraine forces need, now.

A Davy Crockett at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, 1961.

Amidst the murderous slaughter of Ukrainian women, children, and elderly citizens by Putin's Russian army of Orcs, one practical thing bothers me. In the hundreds of hours I've watched video of the conflict I can't remember seeing a single bicycle.

Civilians have fled by the (three) millions to those adjacent NATO countries providing food and shelter. These millions, adults, young children, have trudged along seeking safety on bombed and strafed paved roads dragging fragments of their previous lives through sub-zero and rainy weather. Traditionally, bicycles have been highly effective emergency escape vehicles, often with attached baskets or small trailing carts. Under normal road and weather conditions a bicycle can average about 12-miles per hour. They proved extremely useful in WWI, WWII and many other wars.

The bicycle is more efficient than any other (non-motorized) method of travel - including walking. Even struggling against the Russian murder machine, in freezing weather, the bicycle can move more people and belongings to safety, cheaper and faster, especially at the onset of the fighting.

God grant victory to Ukrainians. It's time to crush Russia and Putin.

***

A response to Kelly Scoles' "Second Opinion":

Hi Kelly,
We rarely agree on essential political issues. I sometimes recall words attributed to several old philosophers: “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Artemus Ward? This week you've made my job easier for that reason.

You worry about "...the very people [Republicans] who will formulate American policy" based upon some silly metaphors by Sen. Ted Cruz. When "they" were in office was America better off due to Trump's closure of our southern border (before the 3-million unvetted squatters began pouring in)? Are we now, under Biden, better off in Afghanistan after surrendering, handing the Taliban $85-billion in military arms, abandoning thousands of American citizens behind enemy lines? Do you like the inflation (soon possibly hyperinflation)? How about the Keystone XL pipeline, cancelled by Biden, because he maintains: "No matter how you look at it, Keystone XL would be bad for wildlife, especially endangered species.”? "If the pipeline were built, it would decimate habitat these species rely on." Just like the spotted owl controversy nearly shut down the Alaska Pipeline. This (Google produced) statement is a bold lie. You claim pipelines are "environmentally-risky delivery systems, ...that the "...oil will just have to find its way to market as it always has." (FACT) Pipelines are the safest, fastest, cleanest means of transporting oil and gas, by far. Would you rather use tank trucks or train? A 36-inch pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, would "transport up to 830,000 barrels per day". Same diameter pipe used in Alaska. It's all 4-feet underground.

"Oil and gas companies do not want to drill more." (Pavel Molchanov). Mr. Molchanov must be a mouthpiece for Vlad the war engineer.

Following Biden's day-one cancellation of the permits, "The Keystone XL pipeline project was terminated in June 2021 and will not proceed." Why not continue to buy millions of barrels from Russia - even Iran? Is this more wise Democratic Party policy? Really? "Building the Keystone XL pipeline would create 10,000 good-paying American union jobs during construction. U.S. employment wages would exceed $2.2 billion under a Project Labor Agreement with four American labor unions. The pipeline's builder was ready to award over $3 billion in contracts awarded to U.S. contractors and suppliers in 2020, with all new steel pipe for Keystone XL, Made in America." “Alaska Pipeline pipe was made entirely in Japan - also delayed 5-years on…” (proven-to-be-false environmental warnings, e.g. caribou).

"Biden fulfilled a campaign promise" by denying [pipeline]construction permits...[and] "...did not close down oil, any gas drilling or delivery." But, "The Keystone XL pipeline project was terminated in June 2021 and will not proceed."

The "release of significant oil reserves " by Biden is worse than a farce. It affected NOTHING but the depletion of a critical war-emergency resource, which Trump had refilled (at a bargain price) after years of neglect!

What a waste! America's national security is at risk as never before due to the incomprehensible incompetence and corruption of Joe Biden and minions. I see the Biden-Harris administration as a harbinger of disaster. Weakness kills by inviting attack.

***

P.S. - If Biden fails to assist Ukraine with everything it needs to break the Russian onslaught (including jet fighter-bombers) we tempt, and should expect, the same fate. If Russia uses poison gas, chemical, bio-weapons, or (real possibility) nuclear weapons, we should be ready to respond immediately. God help us if Kamala is holding the nuclear codes - it could be her last chortle.

Response to Kelly Scoles' "Second Opinion"

Hi Kelly,
I just don't have any interest in sparing over political reputations, alleged comments, which have had no real time consequence (though some do). I will just accept the fact that you believe people like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) are "demented " and Tucker Carlson a coward (Carlson is not only over his skis lately, he's got them on backwards).

I'm primarily interested in policy, not theater. My admission should save a lot of otherwise wasted ink. There are other politicians, like little Adam Schiff (of the infamous, 4-year Russia-Trump "Collusion"), and (late) Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, recognized by honest Americans as undisputed pathological liars. Such discussions inevitably lead to Pyrrhic dead ends - so why bother?

I would rather evaluate the success or failure of political decisions and those who launched them. For example, was it wise of President Biden to have closed down the nation's energy industry, as he did on his first day in office? Was it wise for Biden to have destroyed security at our southern border, welcoming (and dispersing) 3-million unvetted illegal aliens from all over the world - to date? Was it wise to abandon American citizens in Afghanistan, and surrender $83-billion in war-fighting equipment, and to give the entire country over to the Taliban enemy?

These kinds of issues deserve debate.

So, let's return to the life-and-death discussion of the murderous Ukraine war, where a sovereign nation of 41-million citizens has been brutally attacked by Russia. For America, the beginning of this catastrophe was with the Obama-Biden presidency. For a year we watched the (widely announced) build-up of Russian troops and equipment without doing anything to discourage Putin's megalomania. Obama had sent blankets and MREs when Ukraine asked for defensive military help. Trump was first to send Stinger and Javelin missiles. Sending more meaningful weapons, even if too little and almost too late, can still halt the Russian advance, but much of Ukraine's beautiful structure will be destroyed. If Ukraine should lose this war, it could also turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory for Russia (Pyrrhus, king of Epirus who defeated the Romans in 279 BCE but at a devastating cost). The destruction of Russian armaments by Ukrainian forces is extraordinary, including the death of two of Putin’s favorite generals. Regardless of Putin's nuclear threats to anyone assisting Ukraine, NATO should welcome all such assistance. Otherwise, Putin's threats will succeed in turning the Ukraine stallion into a Russian gelding.

Like many Americans I've been focused on the war from the beginning. A no-fly zone should have been implemented at least a year ago and backed up with a strongly reinforced NATO defense. Now that option is being delayed by the ongoing action. The West should not be intimidated by Putin's nuclear threats. The Russian people (including its military brass) is by now aware of their President's emotional instability; the almost cartoonish "Far Side" picture of Putin sitting at one end of a 40-foot conference table, with his two generals together at the other, says it all - debilitating paranoia; he fears his own generals (recognizes his own failures). He has lost "face" with the world looking on.

If Russia's military leadership remains rational itself, they might take Putin out for the sake of national survival. I hope NATO has finally understood the imminent, expanding threat and successfully rearms in time. It makes me recall Winston Churchill's alleged comment about Americans: "... they'll always do the right thing, after trying everything else."

If so, that's a dangerous habit to repeat during a war.

A-10 ‘Warthog’ Thunderbolt II

A response to Kelly Scoles' "Second Opinion":

Hi Kelly,
With the savagery being inflicted upon the citizens of Ukraine this very minute, I won' t engage in sarcastic characterizations about Russia, Putin, Trump or their individual supporters.

Much is being said about escalating nuclear threats due to the rash judgments of Vladimir Putin. He has put his nuclear forces into “special combat readiness.” This order came only a few days after he warned the United States and other NATO powers to “stay out of the [Ukraine] conflict, adding that ‘the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history”.

In the meantime, Russia intensifies its unprovoked war with Ukraine, a sovereign, independent nation of some 41 million citizens, which is not a threat to Russia. Having badly misjudged the determination of Ukrainians to defend their country against Russian invasion, Putin has apparently panicked and turned to the use of banned weapons of war, like cluster munitions, thermobaric weapons. "The first-stage charge distributes an aerosol made up of very fine material – from a carbon-based fuel to tiny metal particles. A second charge ignites that cloud, creating a fireball, a huge shock wave, and a vacuum as it sucks up all surrounding oxygen. The [thermobaric] blast wave can last for significantly longer than a conventional explosive and is capable of vaporizing human bodies." "One of the things we know about Russian tactics is that they are willing to destroy everything." Keep in mind this weapon is being used against civilians, mothers, children, in apartment buildings.

Kelly, it is extraordinarily defamatory (though not actionable) to accuse Fox News, "Tucky", or Trump of being "pro-Putin." Ukraine has been viciously attacked by Putin's Russia. They are at war. This war threatens the entire West. This situation could have been avoided if only democratic countries would understand the extent to which Communism and socialist dictatorships are evil - and I mean that in the traditional Judeo-Christian sense. Being entirely evil, it is an exercise in pure stupidity to believe anything they may say, at any time. That is, the word "trust" should never be included in any dialogue with Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. Otherwise, we tempt national suicide by naiveté.

I'm glad, and completely surprised, by NATO's quick reaction to Putin's threat of nuclear war. Everybody is finally chipping-in, with food, money, neighborly assistance, and, especially, lethal weaponry (Stinger and Javelin missiles). We now understand that Putin's threat to one is a threat to all. The Democratic West must defend Ukraine immediately, militarily. He has already virtually bankrupt Russia by provoking the denial of SWIFT and appearing as a madman. Today, the Russian Ruble is worth a penny against the dollar, and the Russian people still don't know why. When they figure it out, Putin may go the way of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Ironically, the U.S. is actually financing Putin's war by purchasing 700,000 barrels of his oil every day, at over $200 per barrel.

In the meantime, Putin's murderous invasion of Ukraine must be stopped, abruptly, or else Western Democracies will continue to be overrun, living in the perpetual shadow of Communist blackmail.

I can't get two things out of my mind. The first, women and babies being burned alive. The second, that infamous "40-miles" of Russian armaments now creeping towards the capital of Ukraine - Kyiv, the seventh-most populous city in Europe. It's time to call Putin's bluff and join the fight or continue to shamefully cower in the face of his threats.

NATO (and America) can fix this 40-mile threat with a half-dozen U.S. Air Force A-10 "Warthog" Thunderbolt IIs - in about an hour.

Time to stand up with honor - or surrender and run away like we did in Afghanistan!

Go Warthogs!

A response to Kelly Scoles' "Second Opinion"

Hi Kelly,
I did check your websites regarding "a weapon cache and weapons confiscated in D.C." and found them irrelevant. I also ignored allegations of weapons which may or may not have been found in and around Tierra del Fuego National Park, though D.C. cannot expand beyond 10-square miles, constitutionally. I have no doubt, though can't corroborate, that firearms and other weapons, have been found "in the days before January 6, 2021, in the District of Columbia." However, the issue pertains only to the U.S. Capitol. And it is true that your allegations of weapons did indeed, in no way "alter my understanding."

For my lack of trust in the FBI (since its admitted perjury) see Director Christopher Wray's admission of F.B.I. corruption: "FBI Attorney Admits Altering Email Used for FISA Application ..." "Surveillance Court Finds FBI Repeatedly Misused FISA." Remember Steele’s fraudulent dossier on Trump’s alleged links with Moscow, and the 4-year ($40-million pseudo investigation?) refusal to investigate Hillary? In terms of our debate over the Capitol riot - nothing material has changed.

Both McConnell and McCarthy were wrong - according to F.B.I. determinations.

As for Ms. Walker's letter to you, she can speak for herself, I shouldn't be speaking for her.

As for John Durham's motion on the Democratic Russia-Trump scandal, no honest person would characterize Durham as anything but strictly honorable, strictly honest and utterly scrupulous in his investigations. He is finally issuing subpoenas -3 to date. Now the defendants can enter the grand jury, without lawyers, and answer questions under oath, and under penalty of perjury. Worried about Durham being "a Trump-era Special Counsel”? Should I have been worried about Democratic Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his 4-year investigation? But Michael Sussman's problems far exceed a mere "possible conflict of interest issue”. Facts reveal that HILLARY PAID FOR THE WHOLE THING! Careful man that he is, the Durham indictments have just begun to arrive.

****

We are at this time waiting for Putin to attack the innocent, sovereign nation of Ukraine. Though this country was in past decades a slave state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it was never a voluntary association.

I mostly agree with FOX NEWS Tucker Carlson's political opinions. But when I hear him say "Americans have been trained to hate Putin and will suffer because of it" he just sounds like a recent penitent from a Soviet gulag re-education camp, spouting Communist lies as a useful idiot. Like every other nation from Communist eastern Europe to China, Ukraine has always had serious corruption, making it hard to establish a true democracy - but has struggled mightily to succeed.

As Europe's second largest nation, which has suffered extraordinary torture under Communist (USSR) and its present so-called Russian Federation, it deserves freedom, and our help to obtain it. No Ukrainian wants to be a part of Russia, any more than Cambodia would welcome back Pol Pot, and for the same reasons. We must recall Stalin's man-made Ukrainian famine, where 4 million were starved to death. In short, Stalin killed off the peasant farmers (Kulaks) and removed all food to the cities. In the short space left to me this week, I recommend Harvard's second (1999) printing of The Black Book of Communism - Crimes, Terror, Repression. (850 pages.) "Stalin used starvation as a weapon, particularly against the Ukrainians. This policy resulted in the death of roughly 6 million people, including 4 million in Ukraine. ...Cannibalism was so widespread that the government printed posters that said: "Eating your children is an act of barbarism."

Right now, the people of Ukraine are living normal lives, shopping, sending kids to school, having meals. Putin intends to kill these people and destroy their homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals. Putin is the reincarnation of Lenin and Stalin, the mortal enemy of Judeo-Christian freedom, the epitome of satanic Communism.

The West (particularly America) has a profound moral duty to stop him, with lethal military assistance!

A response to "Second Opinion"

Hello Kelly,
After reviewing each of your links supposedly verifying your allegations of "armed insurrection" at the Capitol, none carry evidence to rebut my argument. We have gone over, in some detail, the events at the Capitol too many times, without satisfaction. I cite official FBI reports (though I no longer trust that organization) as well as Congressional records (though I no longer have much trust there either). The facts have been recorded. Scrupulosity can concentrate to a point of communication sterility, something like repeating the same word as fast as one can until it seems meaningless. I feel we are near that point, a little like a couple of 8-year-olds wrangling in verbal combat with "I know you are, but what am I?" retorts. So, I know you are a voodoo algorithmist, but what am I? About the lima beans: I'm sure most have been eaten by now - but I can't prove it.

Kelly, I'm for declaring a truce on the issue of the riot, and moving on, before our readers do. We both refuse to acknowledge the other's "facts." No time to waste - America is falling apart. Fetch your cape and I'll meet you here next week!

****

As I began this column, satellite reports stated (Vladimir Putin's troops, seeking a Third Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and more Lebensraum) were crossing into Ukraine. Later, the report was found to be false (see Phillip Knightley's "The First Casualty" -truth), with Putin's TV facial expression changed from a threatening scowl to a sunny, beneficent smile. After mustering his forces, surrounding the sovereign nation of Ukraine with more than 150,000 troops, tanks, mobile missiles, fighter aircraft, surface ships and submarines (Black Sea), he feels like a muscled Faustian Superman. After NATO's feckless response to Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014, he feels free to take what he wants again - and what he wants is a resurrection of the putrefied USSR Russian Federation. Like proud China, he could finally overreach and spark global war - exactly as Hitler did.

The American government, through 8-years of Obama, continuing with Biden, has facilitated Putin's fearless aggression by failing to assist Ukraine's military defense in any meaningful way, after our astonishing surrender in Afghanistan. While Putin insists Ukraine has always been a part of Russia (post Russian Revolution), the fabled Breadbasket of Europe (a world's top wheat exporter) is now a sovereign nation. Stalin starved it nearly to death by man-made famine. Between 1931 and 1934 at least 5 million people perished of hunger all across the U.S.S.R. Ukrainian demographers, report at least 3.9 million Ukrainians starved to death. Cannibalism was widespread. Ukraine now rejects Mother Russia, whose milk of human kindness turned rancid.

So, despite Putin's desire to stoke the stench of Soviet graveyards past, Ukrainians are now free citizens in a struggling democracy, demanding sovereignty. NATO gives little support for Ukraine's defense (though Obama sent blankets and MREs, and Germany sent thousands of helmets). Now that Russia readies for attack, the US finally provides some serious weapons. Too little, too late, as usual. For the Biden administration, the abject surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban is the model. Played in full, any Russian attack is estimated to kill 50,000 Ukrainian military, and many more civilians. Like the unspeakable disaster of America's surrender in Afghanistan, most Americans haven't a clue to the multiple disasters now lying in wait, from Russia, China, Iran, even a resuscitated North Korea.

And what is the American government (Democratic Party) most worried about? Biden and his minions worry about climate change, same-sex marriage, Black Lives Matter, White Supremacy, gender identity for 4-year-olds, transgender acceptance, Critical Race Theory, defunding the police, slavery reparations, vaxing 2-year-olds, protecting Hunter Biden family criminality, and putting the final stake through Trump's political heart. Our enemies have watched this coming for decades. And, frankly, they hold America's witless social fads and idiosyncratic science, in contempt, as much as Putin ignores Ukraine's historic Stalinist famine. They see America The Vulnerable. They eye their prey with "a lean and hungry look." Though I'm pessimistic, I'm not a pessimist. I'm a realist, trying to understand things as they really are, a difficult job as described in Phillip Knightley's 1975 book “The First Casualty" (truth). Title from Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917: "The first casualty when war comes is truth."

As I see things shaping up now, America is about to take a beating, because it has become morally debilitated (perhaps unpardonably so) and because, although created a Christian nation, we have become atheistic.

Consequences of military corruption

"Top US General Mark Milley had "secret" phone calls with China [military commanders] amid concerns about then-President Trump." This dumbfounding sedition remains unpunished, when court martial was required, and with conviction, prison. Our combat forces have been feminized (against the overwhelming objection of its men). Our leadership, military and civilian, is pathetically naive, incompetent, and corrupt.

Examples: Fat Leonard scandal. Since 2013, hundreds of people have been criminally charged in connection with the Fat Leonard bribery and corruption scandal. "According to investigators, by November 2017, more than 440 people — including 60 admirals — have come under scrutiny under the inquiry."[20][8] "WASHINGTON, D.C. – "It has been years since the Malaysian contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, aka "Fat Leonard," has pleaded guilty to bribing Navy officials with prostitutes, alcohol and expensive trips to allow contractors to dock Navy ships throughout the western Pacific." Former Wall Street Journal reporter Tom Wright.

The U.S.'s $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Has a Toilet Problem

The Gerald R Ford Class is the world's biggest aircraft carrier. "This is also just the latest toilet-related issue with the USS Gerald R. Ford. It was the first aircraft carrier to feature gender-neutral bathrooms and has no urinals." Or portholes! "In 2011 there were reports that at least twice in the carriers' first year in service all 423 toilets were out of service simultaneously. As a result, the system must regularly be cleaned with an expensive acid solution that costs $400,000 per use.” "The Navy blamed the sailors flushing “inappropriate” materials down the toilets, including feminine hygiene products..."

And by the way, this "new" $15-Billion carrier has yet to perfect its novel aircraft-launching system. "In May 2017, President Donald Trump criticized the EMALS catapult during an interview with Time, saying that in comparison to traditional steam catapults, "the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good."[23][24][25][26] In 2013, 201 of 1,967 test launches failed, more than 10 percent.

Too many problems remain: in terms of ship navigation disasters, ignorance of traditional navigation tools, refusal to obey Commander in Chief's orders, abandoning command of aircraft carrier due to virus, surrender of ship under Iranian guns, reckless operation of nuclear submarine (sunk commercial ship while showing off for elite civilian guests), etc. Don't mean to pick on Navy, but its misadventures are just the most obvious. Now, with China having the largest Pacific fleet, also the most dangerous.

A perfect cloud of incompetence and operational failure at every level hovers over our military. It is NOT the fault of our great troops; the fault is to be found in a threatening lack of LEADERSHIP, beginning with our corrupt Commander in Chief.

Again, I'm not a pessimist. I'm a realist. And the evil reality I see is global, from a corrupt Catholic hierarchy (moral/financial) - the Vatican now a communist-colluding nation state - see Church Militant online), to democracy undefended, NATO a greedy weakling, Big Banks, Big Tech, and Big Media all supporting China, America gutting its southern border, spilling millions of illegals across the nation, deliberately, permanently - little room is left for optimism, because, WHO’S GOING TO FIX THIS and WHEN?

TODAY: Finally, after 4-years of investigation, the greatest political scandal in American history is uncovered! "Durham alleges cyber analysts 'exploited' access to Trump White House server | The Hill" "Special Prosecutor John Durham's latest filing, [contains] within it the allegation that Rodney Joffe, a tech executive, at the behest of Hillary Clinton's campaign, spied on Trump, both in Trump Tower and his apartment and, later, in the White House." Though far more serious than Watergate, the question remains: Will this cloud of conspirators who so cunningly plotted this deadly sedition - especially Hillary Clinton - be punished? The answer will determine the validity of my pessimism. I think pessimism is in order on this issue. Metaphorically, let's get a rope!

The face of Facebook upon learning he’s not a god, and must give back $251Billion.

Response to Kelly Scoles "Second Opinion."

Hi Kelly,
No. I picked a lot of walnuts and hoed miles of lima beans as a kid, but no cherries. Ironically, I believe they now grow berries there.

About that election steal, I'm not asking you to prove a negative. I'm alleging proof of fraud, asking you to disprove it. It's all math and mechanics so that should be no problem. Certifying fraudulent ballot counts proves nothing. Courts, including USSC, rejected those proofs and refused to provide traditional hearings. If I'm wrong in this, please show me where. Trump's attitude is irrelevant.

"In reality, there were 28 unique cases filed across the six contested states by President Trump or others on his behalf." "So we are left with the memory of the videos of vote counters clapping as Republican observers were evicted and of covers being placed over windows." "We learned nothing from a lawsuit dismissed by a state judge in Georgia (Boland v. Raffensperger) on the basis that the plaintiff had sued an “improper party” rather than hearing the merits of why the ballot rejection rate allegedly dropped from 1.53 percent in 2018 to 0.15 percent in the 2020 general election.” By: Bob Anderson, The Federalist, March 11, 2021.

"The judge tossed it since the state’s Election Code required their request to be filed within 20 days of the alleged violation, which was Nov. 23. They filed Dec. 4. We’ll never know if that truck brought in pallets of completed ballots—an amount sufficient to overturn the state’s Electoral College vote.” Also: A lawsuit in Pennsylvania, Metcalfe v. Wolf, claimed “approximately 144,000 to 288,000 completed mail-in and/or absentee ballots” in Pennsylvania may have been illegal based on testimony from a U.S. Postal Service contractor. The contractor said he was hired to haul a truck of what he believed to be this many completed mail-in ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. The complaint also alleged there was “evidence” of ballots that were backdated at a postal facility in Erie." This is simply one of thousands of sworn (unheard) testimonies alleging systemic vote fraud.

Read also: "Bought and Sold For Big Tech Gold: How an Unprecedented Private-Public Partnership Subverted the 2020 Election. America: A Facebook Company." By Phill Kline, Director, The Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society. This is a thorough analysis of how "In effect, America purchased a complex ballot box (computer) into which its votes would be deposited but didn’t have the right to open the box and review the count. A secret ballot helps secure free and fair elections — a secret ballot box fundamentally undermines them." Read more about "The provision of Zuckerberg-CTCL [Center for Tech and Civic Life] funds allowed these Democrat strongholds to spend roughly $47 per voter, compared to $4 to $7 per voter in traditionally Republican areas of the state”. (The Federalist.) (Zuckerberg dumped $450Million into select Democratic election strongholds, facilitating massive fraud at every level.

Attempting to retrieve election fraud quotes from Gazette's archive, I found Google skullduggery, such as: "Missing: 582 ‎Dec ‎16, ‎2020 ... ‎voter ‎election ‎fraud. ‎study, ‎Dominion ‎Voting ‎System ‎Michigan." All Realities relating to election fraud in 2020-2021 have gone "missing", by Google. This complicates retrieval.

Many of these (Google) edits concern the Dominican voting machines and tabulators, used to process votes in twenty-eight states, including the swing states of Wisconsin and Georgia. I will piece together links and post them to Gazette's "Links" page - just addresses. And I'm done!

2020 Election Fraud on Steroids. By R.D. Wedge, American Thinker. Please search American Thinker under “2020 Election Fraud”.

American Thinker Note: "This search page is a convenience for our readers, but Google has occasionally censored our content. If you're unable to find something you believe is at American Thinker, we suggest that you try the following search in DuckDuckGo: americanthinker.com".

Meet the Technology That's Uncovering 2020's Voter Fraud, By Jay Valentine; American Thinker, November 29, 2021.

Dr.SHIVA Ayyadurai, PhD (MIT) - Chairman & CEO - LinkedIn

Compares the certainty of the election fraud to Joe Biden "flipping a nickel one thousand times and having all flips turning up heads." He challenges anyone to "Prove us wrong!" "The incidents of fraud are numerous, from deleting ballot images (violation of USC code 20701-20702), to vote transfers. These fraudulent vote transfers from Trump to Biden were facilitated by a computer algorithm, a Weighted Race Algorithm method, transferring a percent of votes from one candidate to another, by a weighted decimal value."

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Beware Russia. It has gone too far preparing for war to suddenly avoid it. Again, we are deliberately (?) unprepared, for both Russia and China. America nears a point of checkmate.