To the Editor:

Last week’s political and legal events were cautionary. In substance, the Presidential Debate was a contest between two elderly candidates for president, one who was overprepped and did not do a good job explaining his administration’s accomplishments on behalf of ordinary Americans, and a surprisingly semi-disciplined ex-president who unsurprisingly lied at every turn, who felt it necessary to insist he “did not have sex with a porn star (a unanimous jury found otherwise), who insisted on debating golf handicaps, and who must have gotten to the makeup tray first so there was little left for Joe. At Biden’s rally the next day when he vowed to do better, one could only wish that guy had shown up the night before.
While half the Democratic operatives lost their cookies the rest of us, while very surprised and unhappy with our candidate’s performance, know that debates are not a hard basis for success, and a lot is going to happen between now and November 5.

Some of the Democratic political class, busy wilting like violets, probably didn’t tune into Fox (and should occasionally) when Shannon Bream said, “He [Biden] had one bad night. He was sick. You know, it’s ancient history.” It is noteworthy that Biden did not offer any excuses, unlike Mr. Trump who always whines whenever he doesn’t like the outcome.

What is far more concerning are the decisions from SCOTUS this term. There is no way to describe each of them in just this LTTE because of length, but they have the potential to change America in a way that is not supportive of the rights of individual citizens. They are nearly all in favor of the government, and the “have’s” as opposed to the “have-nots.”
Every one of them is consistent with Project 2025, the Republican blueprint for remaking the government so that only the president, and his political operatives, will control the functioning of the government for a “one man rule,” also known as a dictatorship. Moreover, this SCOTUS is making itself central to even Congressional legislative authority. Checks and balances are quickly being eroded. This is not the America we have known. I will go through some of those cases next week, and then on to Project 2025.

On Monday morning SCOTUS, which has deliberately and strategically dragged its feet since December 2023 on the case US v. Trump, found that a president’s core actions and official actions (without defining them) are immune from criminal prosecution. Be aware that, unless you believe you have committed a crime, you do not need such an accommodation. No other president in 250 years has asked for or needed such protection, but Trump is the exception to that rule because of his criminal conduct and obvious disdain for the Constitution.

Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca