To the Editor:
Second Opinion: Lima Beans and Gulags
Martin, enjoy your voodoo algorithm-voting-machine-switch-capabilities fantasy. Your experts are theorizing mathematical and technological outcomes, in the mathematically-risky context of human behavior, that they cannot prove. The vast majority of those who had actual authority over the election, Democrat or Republican, do not share your beliefs.
You can conjure up all the excuses you want for why every court in the land found against Trump on the elections issue. Most cases were rejected because the stated “cause of action” did not meet the legal standard (the allegations in the pleadings, or facts in support, were legally insufficient) or did not meet legal or timely filing requirements. Rules that every lawyer knows. Did Trump amend his rejected pleadings? No, he did not, because that’s all he had.
Whatever happened to lima beans?
The “bubble” of Repo politics means that many voters listen only to that which reinforces their beliefs (Fox, Newsmax, etc.), the more aggressively, the better. I await the House Select Committee on January 6 Report, but revelations emerge daily about documents and testimony, thanks to House Committee subpoenas. Documents prepared or received by the president, or his staff, are public documents, our documents. The National Archives has formally notified Trump that it’s illegal for him to rip them up, flush them down the toilet (rather than utilize the 25 fireplaces in the WH?) or ship them off to Mar-a-Lago (some of them “Classified”). If you exclusively watch a cable network that only tells you what you want to hear, and will lie to do that, you will not know that there is a wealth of revelation already out there.
I generally do not do readers’ research for them, but just this once. I recommend reading the entire article, as many include sources at the end which are also very interesting. Just to identify a few:
Re: guns cache:
www.news.yahoo.com/oath-keeper-charged-overseeing-jan-234651641.html
www.npr.org/2021/06/08/1004201155/bring-your-guns-probe-uncovers-more-al...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/oath-keepers-guns-jan-6-capitol-...
Re: guns and other weapons found or impounded:
www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/03/04/fact-check-fbi-says-bur...
www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/feb/15/ron-johnson/yes-jan-6-capitol-...
www.factcheck.org/2021/03/capitol-protesters-were-armed-with-variety-of-...
Ukraine is a former USSR state, has been independent since December 26, 1991, is not an ally of the US or member of NATO (but would like to be), which makes direct military action uncertain. It is clearly against Russia’s interests to encourage expansion of NATO.
Putin's diplomatic style has recently become exceptionally adversarial and combative. He has adopted a rude and dismissive diplomatic persona, not unlike a recent former president who did enormous damage in almost every country in the world with his ungracious treatment of our allies and “love affairs” with despots whom he often praised: www.hillreporter.com/times-donald-trump-praised-dictators-and-controvers....
In an hour-long phone call last week, President Biden told Putin that the US and its allies are committed to diplomacy in the crisis, but if Putin invades the Ukraine would respond “decisively and impose swift and severe costs.” The economic wounds to Russian oligarchs would be significant if western banks were closed to them. On the other hand, Europe wants that pipeline for Russian natural gas. And the Ukrainians are a strong, determined, and even fierce people in defense of their country, as Putin knows. Here we go.
Let’s end on a humorous note: Last week, Marjorie Taylor Greene (supporter of QAnon, promoter of Jewish space lasers as the cause of wildfires in the West, endorser of killing prominent Democrats on social media, and Republican darling) said, "Not only do we have the D.C. Jail, which is the D.C. Gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi's Gazpacho [Gestapo] Police, spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do…”
She’s right. The D.C. Goulash is bad enough, but the big threat is the Gazpacho police and their collaborators, the Vichyssoise! (borrowed from a guy on Twitter).
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
CALL TO ACTION TO FILLMORE LETTER WRITERS AND E-MAIL WRITERS.
We know that there are people who work to disrupt our way of life. We know that their goals are to destabilize and tear down our culture and society. We know that these groups of people are using “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinksy and the “Cloward and Piven Strategy” as the model for doing so.
In the Cloward and Piven Strategy, we are told that one way to bring down the American culture is to overload the system. Well, they are at it again; At the Fillmore City Council meeting on February 8th, Lynn Edmunds again stressed that a bus is needed from Fillmore to Santa Clarita and from Fillmore to Moorpark.
If this could be done at no cost, I would jump on the plan to provide this service to our community. However, at an estimated price tag of $200,000 per year (that’s every year), this plan would be unsustainable. It would cripple Fillmore, taking desperately needed funds away from the community. Before even entertaining the idea, we should make sure that all of our streets are fully and properly maintained.
The only reason I can think of for a council member to consistently pressure the city to spend this kind of money when so many years are spent just trying to figure out how to pay for basic services for our citizens is that they subscribe to the Cloward and Piven Strategy and to the Alinsky model for destabilizing a community.
Please look into the issue. Contact your council members and your city manager to get the facts and then write letters to the council members, the city manager and to the editor of the Gazette to urge the council to drop this attempt to spend money out of town when services are desperately needed here.
Tim Holmgren,
Fillmore, Ca.

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To the Editor:
I apologize for my letter of February 10. I got caught up in the rhetoric in another letter to the Editor. I want my letters to remain focused on the Biden administration. Today I turn to his foreign policy agenda, or lack thereof.
First, we saw the disastrous surrender and withdrawal from Afghanistan. Today we have to deal with Russia and their possible invasion of Ukraine. And let’s not forget our dependency on China either.
The first indication Biden lacked foreign policy experience (regardless of what he says) is evident by the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Keep in mind that Biden is the Commander in Chief. Instead of instilling “the buck stops here” he’s more famous for “passing the buck”.
Trump, Biden, and the American people wanted us to withdraw from our “longest war”. In February 2020, Trump entered into the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan”. Keep in mind the agreement was a commitment and was non-binding. Even prior to the last plane leaving the ground everyone saw the breakdown in Afghanistan. At that point circumstances changed which were grounds for termination. Further, the agreement had a “conditions-based approach” which Biden replaced with “leave regardless of the circumstances”.
As the date of withdrawal loomed, in the quiet of the night on July 2, Biden supported the removal of the soldiers from the main military base, Bagram, leaving the only route out of the country the Kabul International Airport which lacked the security measures the military base provided.
Do you remember how Biden assured us on our TV’s a Taliban takeover was “not inevitable”. He also said he’d “not leave any American behind”. Yet August 15, Biden and top US officials were stunned by the pace the Taliban took over the country. The Taliban quickly set up checkpoints outside the airport, and on August 21, Americans were told to avoid the airport for fear of an attack.
And then there was the loss of 13 American service members along with the additional loss of life and maiming of countless others.
On August 30, 2021, Gen Frank McKenzie stated, "I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans," McKenzie went on to say, "There's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure, We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out."
Afghanistan fell almost immediately to the Taliban and the State Department refused to be a part of any further withdrawal efforts of American civilians and civil servants.
Biden committed to the “stop at nothing” approach to make ISIS pay for the death of the 13 service members. So a drone strike targeting a suspected car bomb perpetrator was launched which killed the driver, nine members of one family, including six children, all of which were not a threat or associated with ISIS. McKenzie said the strike was a “mistake”.
The Afghanistan policy failure of Biden has shown our foes that his weakness has invited the foreign aggressions we see today. From the Russian military agreement with China, the Russian agreement to provide oil to China, and China’s Belt and Road agreement with Argentina which allows for stronger ties with Latin America.
Patti Walker,
Fillmore