Thank you, Kelly Scoles and Jean McLeod, for your letters. I’m afraid I’ll write less than usual this week. After starting
the column, I was called to a 5-car accident on Hwy. 126, sailed back to the office, late for the regular Fillmore City
Council meeting, then back to the office for a brief meeting with PIO Angel Esquivel who covered the accident. So, I’m a
little disorganized at this late hour.

Jean, I’ll let your letter speak for itself from a loyal, conservative point of view.

Hi Kelly,

There’s little point in talking about the criminal activity of Joe Biden (the “Big Guy”) and his clan (see Bobulinski
testimony), his son Hunter, Uncle Jim, and the tens of millions in foreign bribes, if you don’t admit that reality. If you
don’t admit that the boxes of classified documents the Big Guy had tucked away in his garage (after so much publicity) you
must suffer from some sort of invincible ignorance. Do you understand that Joe Biden stole many of those documents when he
was in the Senate, when he was not entitled to have them, and that this was a crime? Of course, he will never be indicted,
because he was classified as a dignified elderly gentleman with a weak memory, too sympathetic to expect a jury to convict.
Hillary did much worse with 30,000 classified documents from an illegal personal system, but who wants to go through that
charade again?

Rather than debate the issues in P2025, let’s just let the Supreme Court identify and deal with those alleged
unconstitutional issues you find so obvious.

Secure, timely overseas military voting should be a primary concern! That system requires only honest, competent oversight.
Trump has said that “only he can determine what the Law is”. He has also said that Ukraine started the war, and that
Zelenskyy is a “dictator”. He tends to make frequent inaccurate statements when shooting from the hip. I give him high marks
on most domestic issues, and low marks on many foreign policy issues. And I give myself zero marks as an “influencer”.

Kelly, considering the global calamity we are about to experience, the issues we debate here are comparatively minuscule. I
can’t escape focusing on what appears to me both inevitable and imminent – war that may well set our civilization back
several centuries. Including, for example, a blackout affecting most of North, Central, and South America, accompanied by a
host of apocalyptic horrors. But this belief of mine is founded upon personal religious convictions which perhaps should be
kept to myself. On the other hand, I may have a duty to share. If I’m wrong the world can soon have a good laugh. If right,
and I remain silent (about current threats to humanity), I would be guilty, if silence means I consented, almost like a
coverup.

I know this sort of stuff can be insufferable to those who reject the reality of God and eternal life. I can only say it may
be time to suffer the insufferable. But I will continue to follow the most prominent, honorable and traditionally faithful
leaders of my church. It’s great to have the power to reject, accept, or ignore all beliefs, it’s called free will.

As to my old friend Bill Buckley, Jr. – he deserves more respect. Many people remember his reminding us, with good humor, of
that important proposition: “Don’t immanentize the eschaton.” I don’t see where he was “snotty, elitist, nasal, prissy, or
condescending”. However, all these derogatory characterizations clearly apply to Buckley’s contemptable nemesis, Gore Vidal.
In a famous 1960s TV debate, Vidal continually referred to Buckley as a “crypto Nazi.” Finally, Buckley responded, “Now
listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the god*amn face, and you’ll stay plastered”. That
doesn’t sound “snotty”, “prissy”, or “condescending” to me.

Rest in peace, Bill.