To the Editor:
The inferences you drew from my last letter made no sense until I visited the site you recommended, “The Epoch Times,” where they seem to apply the Leninist, Marxist label to anyone who sees the world from a different perspective. Allow me to provide some background to my views.
My father was a decorated (Bronze Star and Purple Heart) Marine who fought in the Korean War. He despised communism and all forms of enslavement. When I was a kid, I noticed more and more people driving Japanese cars, and I asked him why there weren’t any Russian or Chinese cars on our streets. He replied, “Because what they make in communist countries is garbage.” He worked in the manufacturing sector, and had been to international trade shows. He knew that police-state governments suffocate the human soul, killing off innovation and creativity. So no, Jim and Marie Sandford did not raise no communists.
In my letter I branded your “fraud expert and statistician” Jay Valentine’s work as “junk.” In retrospect, after having viewed another of his YouTube videos (where all of his prognostications about Trump being able to overturn the election turned out to be bogus), I was too generous. His work is delusional, asinine drivel – much like the conspiracy theories he espouses.
You assumed I am a Democrat, but I am a democrat with no party affiliation.
Am I anti-religion, as you asserted? Hell no. Religion is the lens through which billions of people view their world. It gives them purpose, comfort, joy, and community. I am only anti-religion if that religion is used as a pretext to exclude, harass, persecute, or murder others.
You dismissed my assertion that “multiple statistical models” predicted a Biden victory. Then you asked what my “credentials” were. The Harvard Data Science Review (October 28, 2020) published predictions from their own and several other research universities’ Political Science Departments. Each used its own statistical modelling, but nearly all predicted a Biden victory. In Political Symposium, (October 2020) Professor DeSart stated that (per his model’s simulations) “Biden … won an Electoral College majority 99.85% of the time. This is largely the result of the fact that the model projects many more possible paths for Biden to get to 270 than it does for Trump.” So, again, this was, statistically, a fairly mundane election, unlike Trump’s 2016 victory.
As for my “credentials,” no, I am not a data scientist and I don’t have a degree in statistics. However, in earning a BA in Political Science I studied statistics and did some quantitative research. In earning my Ph.D. in Education from UCSB I took additional coursework in stats and quantitative research methods, and read and cited dozens of quantitative studies in the course of doing my own research.
So yes, I have a working knowledge of statistical methods and analysis. My most valuable credentials, however, are common sense and critical thinking. In order to perpetuate massive fraud in a presidential election being held in 50 states, how many co-conspirators would be required? Who would recruit them, knowing that any one of them could blow the whistle? Who would be willing to be imprisoned for years, lose their livelihood, their family, their reputation, their freedom, just to help Joe Biden win an election that most polls had projected him to win?
Finally, regarding the “breach” (the term favored by insurrection deniers on right wing media sites) of the Capitol, the 100 or so traitors who have been arrested so far all have extensive social media trails in which they boast of their support for Trump. No Antifa kooks have been arrested. Could there have been some infiltrators from leftist extremist groups? Certainly. But, lacking any evidence to the contrary, to put the blame on anyone other than Mr. butt-hurt Trump and his acolytes for the deadly assault on our Constitution and the rule of law is just more asinine, delusional drivel.
Thank you.
Art Sandford Sr.

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To the Editor:
I hope that you, once again, will allow me a few extra words.
Another of our iconic citizens, George Campbell, died the other day of Covid. I should say two iconic citizens, because his wife of 75 years died on the same day, at home. It seems appropriate that, as always, they would go together.
I did not know Lawanda but, like so many others, I knew George so she had to be remarkable, too. I worked with him at City Hall in the 1980's when he was the volunteer fire chief and healer of all things electrical, and I was the city clerk. I remarked once to John that Mr. Campbell, and then “George” after his definite correction, was a singularly dignified, calm, and steady person whom everyone revered. You could absolutely rely on anything George said.
Well, John took off on George Campbell. He told me that he was not only a great person, but a great flier in WWII, and a mechanical genius with incredible automotive skills which John, lamentably and admittedly, never had. George was up there with coaches of all sports, football players, some very colorful lawyers, and WWII military in John’s mind. George was a hero. And John was never given to hyperbole outside the courtroom.
George and Lawanda Campbell have an extensive family legacy in Fillmore, and they will be sorely missed.
**
We are about to start a new administration on Wednesday. Right in the middle of one of the most challenging periods of our country’s history. I have written enough, for the moment, of the current administration. The problems created by Trump and his crew are Biden/Harris problems now. And ours.
Will Joe Biden be able to solve all the problems of the nation in a rapidly changing world? No, he won’t. He’s going to try to change the way the government serves its citizens, the way it deals with the world, and the way it recognizes the concept of “We, the People.” But he is going to need some time to set the ship of state on a new course. And he cannot do it alone.
A lot of the old rules are not working any more. The expectations of the years since WWII have to be reexamined and adjusted, because history is, as always, on the move. We have been through some very trying times, and we may not be finished. But we have endured because we had a common cause: the survival and success of our democratic process and the prosperity and well-being of our people. We are going to have to be open to new, constructive, and forward-thinking ideas. Biden cannot save the nation, but all of us, committed, can. We've done it before.
Kelly Scoles
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
A few weeks ago, I wrote a plea to Fillmore residents to exercise civility when writing about our president. It would seem my words fell on deaf ears. Not only has the rhetoric become more intense, but the language has descended into hate speech. It is truly a shame that Americans cannot communicate without using insulting and disparaging language. I have no problem when readers choose to disagree with matters of policy, but when the conversation turns to insults, lies, and just plain nasty personal attacks I think we have crossed a line which will only lead to more animosity. But as bad as the attacks on President Trump have become there is in fact a more important issue we should be discussing. Ronald Reagan said "We are only one generation away from losing our freedom".
We have educated a generation of our youth to believe they are the entitlement generation and that America is a racist nation. Free college tuition, free Medicare, subsidized housing, guaranteed middle class wages etc. Socialism is the great seductive carrot used by the far left to entice people to join their cause. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Socialism works until you run out of other people's money. As Reagan said, "history will record our actions - or lack thereof' with astonishment and sorrow". Reagan also said "If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth".
Dennis Prager recently wrote a column about the "good German" a term used to describe the ordinary German who did not harm Jews during Hitler's rule but also didn't help them or attempt to stop the Nazis. We tend to hold such people in contempt for doing nothing in the face of astonishing barbarism. But Prager continues, the last few years have taught him not to judge the good German so quickly. Why? Because of "the ease with which tens of millions of Americans have accepted irrational, unconstitutional, and unprecedented police state-type restrictions on their freedoms, including even the freedom to make a living".
Did you ever think the government would forbid you from going to church, using the park, eating at a restaurant, going to a barber or hair dresser, and forcing you to wear a mask when outside your house. Did you ever think that big tech companies would independently censure your ability to communicate your political opinions on the internet? Just one final quote from Reagan, "history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening".
Dave Johnson & Huguette Johnson,
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
In days past I would use my words to wrestle with you over our conflicting political views. That seems wrong now because you appear to be in a state of shock over the results of the “stolen” November election. (Perhaps grief is a better word?) I am concerned for your well being.
My specific concern is that there can be no remedy for losing your democracy to “leftist radicals” who will disfigure every legislative policy that doesn’t promote socialism and sell out to China, and climate change hoaxers, and Antifa, and etc.,.... gun control nuts... There is no remedy for that depth of despair.
I can offer just a half-measure solution. That remedy is to follow the example of those of us who were shocked and victimized, in a similar way to how you might now be feeling, by the murder of George Floyd last March.
We took to the streets. It felt good to gather in a warm and resolute huddle in Central Park and listen to some pointed and emotional speeches. Then we chanted and marched and hollered our way down to highway 126, where motorists honked out their support. (Yeah! Love you too! Hoo-rah!) ... Finally, we ended up trampling the green grass in front of the seemingly vacant police station. (Don’t I admit it? I trampled the grass... so disrespectful we were of law enforcement, manifestly.)
Putting sarcasm aside, sir, you also might benefit from publicly demonstrating with your brothers and sisters in the local #STOPTHESTEAL community. Because, like us with Black Lives Matter, clearly your message is felt to be real and urgent: ”The election was stolen!”
Sincerely, Tom Somers