To the Editor:
The failure of the “red wave” resulted in great part from “Trumpfunk,” the sheer exhaustion of many voters at the unrelenting toxicity of extremism, fear, and anger delivered up by the Republican Party and the incessant baseless attacks of election deniers. Add to that SCOTUS overturning Roe and the failure of Congressional Republicans to offer explicit GOP policies beyond “impeach Biden.” While the Democrats are by no means perfect, they actually have passed legislation that will improve the lot of the American people.
Some of the Republican candidates were so offensive, so incompetent and phony, that candidate quality was clearly irrelevant. The fervent Republican support for the likes of truth-challenged abortion enthusiast (only if it’s his) Herschel Walker in South Carolina, snake oil salesman Mehmet Oz in PA, puppet candidate Blake Masters in AZ, or election denier and political dreg Doug Mastriano, was astounding.
Why do you have such a heat on for Senator-elect Fetterman, Martin? Because he thrust “his arms into the air after his win?” Singularly outrageous! His stroke affected his power of speech and auditory processing as is common in stroke victims. He has a mechanism which reduces speech to written form. His thought process is unimpaired. It may pacify you to recall that Stephen Hawking could not utter a single word and somehow managed to do his job fairly well.
It’s good to know you recognize that, in politics,” it’s all money now.” You can thank a 2010 conservative-majority SCOTUS decision which reversed a century of law designed to prevent corruption in elections and opened the floodgates for special interests.
In Citizens United v. FEC, conservative SCOTUS held 5-4 that “independent political spending” by corporations was a First Amendment expression and did not create a substantive threat of corruption (because everybody knows that corporations are incorruptible). They can spend unlimited funds on campaign advertising if they “do not coordinate” with a specific candidate’s campaign. Also, contributing nonprofit groups are not required to disclose their donors.
Obama and the Democrats desperately warned against the dangers of financial and political exploitation inherent in the case. Our worst fears have been substantiated. Welcome aboard.
No major election complaints, except from Kari Lake who bitterly denounced the voting process in AZ that she and other Republicans there had fashioned and implemented post-2020. No making some people happy.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
Thanks again for all your hard work in the campaign. Tim Gurrola is collecting signs. If yours has not been picked up, please reply to this email so Tim can come by to get it.
Thanks,
Amy Gurrola,
Fillmore, Ca.
**The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the US Air Force, Department of Defense or the US Government**

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To the Editor:
The Democrats in the two weeks prior to the election claimed that Republicans intended to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare. In fact, at no time did any Republican, candidate or elected, make such a claim.
Democrats said that Republicans were threatening to use debt ceiling to make cuts to “the programs (sic. Social Security and Medicare). What they actually said was “focus has got to be on nondiscretionary-it’s got to be on entitlements” (Rep B. Carter). Or that Sen. Ron Johnson said SS and Medicare was to be renegotiated every single year. What he actually said was “discretionary spending” should be reviewed during the budget cycle. Of course they turned to Sen. Lindsey Graham who they proclaim said that reforming these two programs was a “must”. Actually he said “entitlement reform is a must”.
So what are the types of federal entitlements? These range from rights granted to citizens and non-citizens. They’re programs that are contributory or non-contributory which are benefits available without regard to whether the recipient contributed any funds to the programs.
Social Security and Medicare, along with Unemployment Insurance are a part of the entitlement programs. These are contributory programs. Currently, Medicare has approximately four more years until the program is broke. Social Security has a mere seven years until it can’t fulfill it’s financial responsibilities.
Others, SNAP (food stamps), Earned Income Tax Credit program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, CHIP, Pell Grants, are examples of non-contributory programs. These are federal programs that are mostly managed by the states, which thereby result in different thresholds regarding qualification.
It isn’t unfair to be asking the question regarding this nondiscretionary entitlement spending when taking into account the additional 4.5 million who have crossed over the border in the last 18 months and who do not have a social security card but are granted housing, medical care, food and education.
Patti Walker,
Fillmore