Last week I touted Tucker Carlson's recent review (Aug. 16, 2022 - Fox News) on the criminality of the FBI's raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. I believe a near terminal state of corruption exists in all three branches of government, and as they say, the fish rots from the head.

It's more difficult to argue the truth of things when that truth is so grave, broad, and obvious that describing it digests the hottest hyperbole with hardly a belch. Unfortunately, the truth of government corruption here has been so deftly camouflaged by moneyed progressives it appears to be almost beyond belief, and so they would have us believe. From the Biden Crime Syndicate to the Deep State, and the Big everything, it could be America's definitive challenge.

Carlson's program on the Mar-a-Lago raid is valuable not only for its veracity and accuracy, it's important for its clarity and historic definition - he causes us to reflect upon the modus operandi of Merrick Garland's Justice Department. Carlson shows that the FBI, when not conducting surprise night raids upon older Republican citizens, forcing them into the street at gunpoint, in pajamas, applying handcuffs and leg irons, by force of scores of tactical special agents, they kowtow to Attorney General Merrick Garland. These theatrics are usually performed under the Klieg lights of a programmed Democratic media. It's all a display of a Leftist Democratic Deep State power grab, and an end to "Equal Justice Under Law."

"No honest person could believe the Trump raid was a legitimate act of law enforcement," said Carlson, and he's right.

The corruption of federal criminal law by the FBI and others is so pervasive it defies explanation in a short space. It started with Obama's determination to "fundamentally change" American government. To "fundamentally change" a thing is tantamount to destroying it. Time is of the essence to avoid that "fundamental" Leftist, Woke change - the central intent being to keep Trump out of the White House. I've done my best to avoid superlatives.

****

A response to this week's Kelly Scoles letter.

Hello again Kelly,
Clearly you have either not watched the Tucker Carlson FOX news program I've talked about, or you do not believe the truth he is proclaiming. Let me just go down your statements one by one.

First, "That an ex-president is reasonably believed...to have engaged in criminal conduct...."

This is a central point of Carlson's program, and the reason Trump wants the raid affidavit released in its entirety - to show probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant. The FBI has violated numerous Constitutional requirements, i.e. no general warrants. "Using "writs of assistance," [general warrants] the King [George III] authorized his agents to carry out wide-ranging searches of anyone, anywhere, and anytime regardless of whether they were suspected of a crime. These "hated writs" spurred colonists toward revolution, and directly motivated James Madison's crafting of the Fourth Amendment." No point rehearsing these again; they are well covered in Carlson's work.

Trump and his attorneys have ample reasons to attack the FBI; again, refer to Tucker.

There are many types of "Top Secret" documents. President Trump declassified those which were shipped to his private residence. He had the plenary (absolute and exclusive authority) to declassify any federal document (whenever, wherever, however) - and exercised that authority, as previous presidents have done.

"Defunding the police" has always been a dangerous and stupid idea of the Left. No further comment needed here.

It has been thoroughly established that Trump has always cooperated fully with the government on availability of all records in question. These records are packed and delivered by a specially designated agency of the federal government. The president does not pack his own bags.

I await, with bated breath, the discovery of any nuclear codes to be found in these cases of documents, or nuclear bomb schematics!

Without having read the all-important affidavit which launched the unlawful search, how can you say Trump has lied? You say: "The affidavit supporting the warrant was likely provided by someone close to Mar-a-Lago...". "Likely"? We're all waiting to see who signed off on that affidavit. Republicans believe there has never been the required "probable cause" to issue that document! It was done unlawfully and FBI is in habitual cover-up mode.

The "White Nationalist home-grown terrorist, being "biggest threat" to America is just humorously foolish.

Investigating Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden by way of Grand Jury would be sensationally more productive of evidence of criminal activity. Let's go there.

Tucker Carlson, Fox News

I'm not quite up to par as yet and didn't finish the column last night. So today I'd simply like to mention Tucker Carlson's commentary from last night (8-16-2022) on the Mar-a-Lago raid. He lays the facts bare to show that, "No honest person could believe the Trump raid was a legitimate act of law enforcement." The raid was simply a power grab, preceded by a long string of similar outrageous, unlawful and unconstitutional government crimes.

Yes, I know, liberal heads will explode after hearing these words. That's to be expected of Woke, Progressive Democrats because they are not prepared to accept facts. However, Carlson's words on the state of our federal government should be made mandatory fare for the nation, though I don't like mandates. Carlson proves federal government criminal misconduct is beyond dispute. He maintains that America no longer supports "Equal Justice Under Law," citing numerous examples of Justice Department criminal activity under Attorney General Merrick Garland.

This is Carlson's most important contribution in efforts to recapture our country and return it to its former democratic republic.

I regret I'm still under the weather and unable to do more than emphatically recommend this program. Listen to it a couple of times! Then compare it to the lies and misrepresentations from MSNBC, CNN, etc... I think FOX is the last breath of truth on TV.

I'm a little under the weather tonight so I have to keep this short. More next week on Russia, China/Taiwan, north Korea, Syria, and gross American defense unpreparedness and leadership.

But for this week, just a few comments on some extraordinary issues…

First a few facts from the "homeland". That term always sounded too Germanic to me - I think it was created by Democrats.

"IRS Stockpiles More Than 5-Million Rounds of Ammunition." (Darlene McCormick Sanchez, August 1, 2022. The Epoch Times). Also, spent $725,000 on bullets this year--other agencies follow suit.

That's a lot of ammo. Why would a major (civilian) government agency want or need to tuck away 5-million rounds of rifle and pistol ammo? Where is their ammo dump?

As if there were not enough "normal" paranoiacs in this world, I have to ask why our leaders and their government agencies work so hard to create millions more. Second Amendment supporters like the NRA seem prescient and reasonable to encourage civilian firearms ownership to the tune of 425-million units in our 340-million free citizenry.

This particular quandary gains momentum when we learn the Senate approved nearly $80-billion in IRS funding, with $45.6-billion for “enforcement,” raising questions about who may be targeted by future audits.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said the resources won’t increase “audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.” Well, there are 927 billionaires in the US. And they say they will sick 87,000 new IRS agents on them. Not all agents will be doing audits, but about half will. They'll need fresh meat. Of course, these big-business people all have lawyers and accountants to defend themselves - most of the rest (earning less than $75,000) don't, and this coming after the pandemic, lockdowns, inflation, and recession.

A response to Kelly Scoles' letter:

Hi again Kelly,
It's often a daunting job to answer your letters, especially those which have so many parts. I'm reminded of a famous statement from the past: "I'm writing a long letter to you because I don't have time to write a short one."

What makes matters more challenging is the fact that we do not share an understanding of the facts in question. You are an energetic radical progressive, a Woke Democrat. I am an equally energetic traditional Conservative, anti-Woke person. What makes the debate even more difficult is the fact that we often express ourselves with different logic, which can make the discussion a true "zero-sum game".

The hippo-sized problem here is that your Woke ideals are meaningless to me because they are based on ad hoc sandy foundations, instead of traditional Judeo-Christian, Constitutional laws and principles. For example, the 11 political sins you accuse Republican senators of committing by not supporting cheaper gas, cheaper insulin, child tax credits, ...voting rights, vote to uphold 2020 election, keep gay marriage legal...are all based upon beliefs held by far-Left Democrat Party leaders, not in any sense Constitutional mandates. The Democrats, as here, have always added a sort of "poison pill" amendment to bills pushing their objectives.

You are horrified by the normal works of law-making. One example of your intolerance of vote outcomes is alleged Republican "failure to keep gay marriage legal." Please find some support for such a Biblical blasphemy in our Constitution - or any tradition of tolerance for it. Do you expect ever to find total conservative support, without amendment, in our Senate? I hope not. Virtually all of your voting examples were rejected for solid reasons, often due to last minute additions and funding disbursement irregularities.

As usual, you accuse Republicans of these alleged evildoings when it is often the work of Democrats. Vote timing and methods are favorite Democrat tricks - like flooding mail-in ballots to facilitate fraudulent voting.

Ukraine support was criticized by FOX News. I usually agree with FOX, but not on this. Most of America knows Russia is the second greatest enemy of mankind, after China. America heavily supports Ukraine, as I do!

Kelly, 80-percent of the "insanely wealthy" are liberal Democrats, with their spendthrift buddies in the Media, Banks, Big Industry, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, et al… As well as money sumps like Black Rock (controlling $10 trillion).

You mention lack of baby formula. Who has been abusing the presidency for nearly 2 years now? Trump was going to give us much cheaper insulin; what has Biden done? Domestic violence and terrorism have skyrocketed since Trump left. How about inflation and selling millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves to CHINA!

We (Republicans) want to reduce taxes during a recession? You complain about that? Dems just passed a huge tax increase; Senator Joe Manchin, W.V., a sell-out (just call him Judas Joe), turned on his own state's coal industry, with his decisive vote - he's a Democrat.

Finally, you have the gall to blame Republicans for forgetting about the debt left to our children. Are you aware of the $6 TRILLION spent by Biden and his congressional spendthrift buddies during the past two years? Two years! Woe to your grandchildren's future.

Like I said up front, we can't really get anywhere in this debate without some common understanding of facts and consequences. Logic is indispensible to clarity and understanding.

****

Nancy Pelosi gets a gold star for being more courageous than her military leaders in visiting Taiwan.

Of birds, and bags, and bumble bees.

I guess I'll just wander around a few issues this week. I'm not too focused.

Well, I'm sad to report that my mockingbird friends have been chased away from their favorite nest in the fruitless Mulberry tree overlooking the garage. They had been greeting me with a burst of enthusiastic music as soon as I stepped from the car when arriving home late. They seem to need an audience. "Northern Mockingbirds continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life. A male may have two distinct repertoires of songs: one for spring and another for fall."

I regret that I neglected to record this couple when I could; they had an especially elaborate repertoire, and plenty of volume. I guess it was the power of their song that persuaded light-sleepers to chase them away. After evenings writing so many gloomy columns it was always a refreshing moment to hear them sing - even at midnight. I miss them!

****

I guess it's time for me to once again dabble in the ugly realities of the human world. I'll start with the smaller issues, like why did California prohibit those small, cheap plastic bags at supermarkets? The reason given was that they ended up clogging waterways by being carelessly disposed of.

Now that the free, thin plastic bags have been replaced by new heaver bags at 10-cents apiece, what has happened? Well, personal cloth bags are also discouraged due to unsanitary conditions from repeated use. So, the grocery stores have created a necessary new market in these 10-cent bags which they sell to their customers - tens-of-millions of dollars-worth of new revenue. Makes me wonder where all these millions of new 10-cent bags end up. Do they end up "clogging waterways by being incorrectly disposed of" like the old free bags? Show me that they are not. I'm sure that more than 100 of the new bags recently retrieved from my office closet went into city trash collection - just like the old free ones. These 100 new (now used) bags cost me $10.00. Hmm - how many millions of shoppers using the new bags have been coerced into paying how many millions of dollars? And, to what purpose other than giving tens of millions of dollars to the markets. What alleged environmental purpose was served? Another government scam? Question of the day for Democrat Party leaders: Was this Trumps fault?

****

A new California court ruling says that "if it looks like a bee, buzzes like a bee, and stings like a bee - it's a fish." ordinarily, this would require some explanation. But, seeing that this is California, where biological men can be determined women, and women men, I'll just leave it at that. "American Bumblebee Takes Step Toward Endangered Species Act Protection. “Bumblebee Once Found Across Country Has Nearly Vanished From 16 States". This item caught my eye recently. And, I have to say, as a kid I often saw bumblebees on the ranch and in garden areas but haven't seen one in years. Sad to hear that. On a quick search I discovered one species, Crotch's bumblebee, "an endangered species that was last evaluated by IUCN in April 2014. In 2019, the species' global status was listed as imperiled.” Keep an eye on that one! And that's all I have to say about that.

****

At a time when our country is threatened by true national defense catastrophes from multiple directions, I don't know why I ended up with such a frivolous beginning to Realities this week. Maybe it's because it is so frustrating to find half of America oblivious to the threats created by current "leaders".

China, in particular, as our main enemy, is daring us to take action in support of Taiwan. Our House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, has announced an official visit to Taiwan, which has China's Communist Leader Xi Jinping behaving like Rumlpelstiltskin, once upon a time. He has the insolence to forbid the U.S. to visit Taiwan! I would take pleasure reminding Xi that all of his illegally armed artificial South China Sea islands could be destroyed by a single U.S. Arleigh Burke class destroyer in a few minutes, as Trump did in Syria against 50 targets.

Xi is looking for America to kowtow - the greatest insult in Far East culture. No - Xi should kowtow to his free Western adversaries. The U.S. should continue to arm Taiwan with every missile, plane and submarine available. Taiwan must have in place thousands of missiles prepositioned, targeting key enemy sites. If China intends to attack the free, autonomous, sovereign nation of Taiwan, to enslave its citizens, as they have done to the Uighurs, let them pay the ultimate price for their pyrrhic victory, and cease all commerce with the United States.

Recently self-described "Woman" (champion of the Trans) Nancy Pelosi, needs to go to Taiwan and flaunt that new Trans testiculrity in defense of America's honor.

Say hello to Xi for me. Was in Taiwan in 1961. Freedom was great!

A response to Kelly Scoles letter.

Hi Kelly.
Allow this conservative (non politician) to answer some of your questions.

We rail against government interference because it is so often unconstitutional. We defend freedom against communism and other totalitarianism forces because we love our democratic Republic.

We endorse government intrusion into "a woman's healthcare (in this case abortion) because our constitution guarantees life in the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the states from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" (and babies in utero are very live persons. The Fifth Amendment repeats the same 11 words. The Declaration of Independence, while not law per se, describes the primary purpose of the Constitution as protecting life. Both the Declaration and Constitution are imbued with the Founder's "personal Christian beliefs" and all of them believed that our system could not work without the moral guidance of religion.

Conservatives "insist it is the government’s job to be a partner in a pregnancy" to assure that life is not destroyed by abortion, which in every case brutally kills a baby waiting to be born. Democrats shamefully use the outrageous case of this 10-year-old girl who was impregnated, for political purposes. The doctor was legally bound to report the case to Ohio police authorities and have the rapist arrested, and reportedly did not, though I'm not up to date here.

"He Gym [sic] Jordan (R-OH) smugly declared that Science has “changed in the last years" and suggested that it has settled the question of when the body is “ensouled.” It hasn’t." Wrong - it has! Without returning to several earlier columns discussing the question of "ensoulement" (an ancient term), I affirm my conclusions based entirely on modern science. At the moment when the zygote includes both XX chromosomes (female) and XY chromosomes (male) human life has begun, not before. What's a Zygote? "Fertilization is a process that usually happens within a few hours of ovulation. It's that critical point in reproduction when the sperm meets the newly released egg. At this meeting, 23 male (XY) and 23 female (XX) chromosomes mix together to create a single cell embryo called a zygote" - male or female. The ancient Greeks understood embryonic human life in 500BC and outlawed abortion by a mandatory ethical oath.

You say: "Science can detect the presence of life but not of the human soul." That's because we will never have a microscope capable of scanning spiritual things, the spirit itself not being visible. But its effects are.

Though the Church of the 13th century (Aquinas) could not understand the precision of this statement, it certainly taught that human life began with "ensoulement" - and we now know exactly when that happens. However nothing much can be done today to persuade most of the scientific community of this, being atheistic, they mock the existence of the human soul and the reality of life after death. This is the greatest threat to our civilization today.

Lastly, you complain of "these political [pro life] atrocities." "A grown man pontificates about a female child (rape victim)." Why should that shock you Kelly? Men, especially fathers, have an equal duty to provide for the safety of their children. They should be as vigilant as present day St. Josephs.

When it comes to American military security there is little good news. I guess I've made myself somewhat notorious for delivering bad news over the years. But, somebody has to take out the trash, even if the dumpster is overflowing.

First, very bad news that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday by a gunman who shot him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech. He was a true friend of America and adversary of Communist China. May he rest in peace.

****

More trash, as Washington reveals Iran is set to deliver armed drones to Russia to assist in the Ukraine war. (By ZEKE MILLER and JOSH BOAK today.)

****

France and Germany are failing to keep their promises of ammo, artillery and heavy armor assistance to Ukraine. As usual, the help is slow in coming due to Western timidity in the face of repeated threats of Russian nuclear retaliation. Billions have been spent but Ukraine awaits delivery of munitions. This fear has stymied the deployment of the most effective weapons, including jet fighters. "The U.S. weapons package announced on July 8 will include four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, bringing to 12 the total number of these systems sent to Ukraine." Ten times that many are needed for Ukraine to beat-down the Russians.

Ukraine must have a reliable, continuous flow of the best munitions from NATO nations to avoid defeat. This must include our best High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Putin's threats of nuclear attack should not change our determination to defend Ukraine. Weakness only invites continued aggression. Appeasement is a crazy, suicidal notion propagated by cowardly Western leaders afraid to take the initiative - and it INVITES continued aggression. It demonstrates weakness to the enemy and teases them to attack.

In a truth-in-advertising moment, I confess my complete disagreement with the usual conservative FOX News opinion against military and financial support for Ukraine in this Russian slaughter fest. Outnumbered 10-1 by the Russians, Ukraine is holding its own by sheer guts and tactical tenacity of its people. The entire West must help Ukraine because it is fighting valiantly for Western freedom and democracy. It is fighting our war. In fighting Russia, Ukraine is fighting China, Iran, and North Korea as well. Putin, the lowest of serial killers, must be stopped. Today, he and the others boast of our destruction. Putin is designing the game board for the hungry Communist wolf pack to study, while they proudly boast of overtaking us commercially, financially, and militarily.

By this time we should understand that Communism, and all totalitarian systems of government are not just bad - they are evil, infectious. They deny God, and reject freedom, eternity and the human soul. Faithful belief in our Judeo-Christian God is what has sustained America for 246-years. Without this faith we will fail. This is more than a religious belief, it is an historic fact.

America has always been late to the fight, and though we have had the best warriors, today we lack the best leaders. Our military has been sabotaged by the liberal, Woke "progressive" fifth column, forcing traditional Judeo-Christian men and women to co-habit the ranks with every sort of sexual-psychological deviant. Political leaders say "to Hell with religious traditionalists let the freaks have control." Traditionalists no longer determine with whom they go to war. No normal male soldier wants female military members to participate in combat, though we're running a little short of "normal" these days. This is a moral mandate before it is a clear practical necessity. This shouldn't need much explanation, but see (CO-ED COMBAT, Kingsley Browne, 2007), and "Get Over It! We’re Not All Created Equal" – "Controversial Editorial Written By Female Marine Argues Women Are Not Fit for Combat".

America is awesomely unprepared for the oncoming war. This time things will happen quickly, too fast to think of retooling our industries for guns, missiles, and planes and parts, or properly positioning defensive positions. If Taiwan is swept by Communist China, it will prove to be an unimaginable

catastrophe. Taiwan should be armed defensively to the teeth. It is a sovereign country, as is Ukraine. Taiwan was never conquered during the Chinese Communist Revolution.

Will war come, some say no. "I shall say it again and again and again. Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign war." Franklin D. Roosevelt, October, 1940.

Battle of the Philippines - MacArthur unprepared. "Half of the aircraft of MacArthur's Far East Air Force were destroyed on the ground on the first day of the Japanese attack." Dec. 8, 1941. "We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965.

But never fear, Joe Biden is leading us now, with Kamala as back-up. "Because of the negligence, the hasty and incompetent withdrawal led by this commander in chief, all of the $85 billion dollar’s worth of equipment has been..." given to the Taliban. (Jim Banks.) We no longer have "Freedom's Forge" (Arthur Herman, 2012). Read it and weep for today's America.

Examples: Current supply of Stinger (missiles). "US allies want to restock". "Pentagon searching for Stinger missiles." "DOD hasn't purchased a Stinger in 18 years." "Parts no longer commercially available (seeker head). "Stinger production line closed in 2020." Same scarcity throughout arms inventory. In time of war we will be missile, ship, and plane naked in months. "Demand for weapons such as artillery shells reveals low stockpiles and strategic complacency about threats."

The United States has relied almost entirely on China — and to a lesser extent Russia — in recent years to procure a critical mineral that is vital to producing ammunition." "The mineral antimony is critical to the defense-industrial supply chain and is needed to produce everything from armor-piercing bullets and explosives to nuclear weapons...." "FBI Director Christopher Wray called China the 'biggest long-term threat' to both the U.S. and the U.K."

America is unprepared for the coming war.

Response to Kelly Scoles letter:
Kelly, we have been over the facts and allegations concerning that 1/6/2021 (4-hour) riot too many times. I watched a few minutes of the Committee scam on a couple of days. The issue is closed for me. Your talk of "projection" is of course precisely what Republicans have accused Democrats of doing since the Biden election fraud erupted. The slick, Soviet style House Committee telecast investigating the riot, without due process (no longer called an "insurrection" by trustworthy sources), was gaslighted by Cassidy Hutchinson.

Do you recognize "hearsay" when you hear it? It's not admissible. Her testimony was a casebook example. Worse, it was a creepy replay of Christine Blasey Ford's defamatory fantasy attack on Brett Kavanaugh during his nomination hearings. That performance stained forever my opinion of the Democratic Party and its poisonous power agenda.

For the last time: You say Hutchinson said, "Trump knew his crowd was armed, and mag check [?] revealed that many weapons, including guns, knives and truncheons, were confiscated from many in the crowd." Every alleged "fact" here has been repeatedly denied by FBI, Capitol Police, and others since the event. I've published the official reports stating no weapons, particularly firearms, were found in the Capitol. If recent reports contradict original reports someone is lying, and the FBI has admitted it's lying (see Othello, "I've lost my reputation, the longest-living and truest part of myself! Everything else in me is just animal-like..."). I won't waste time talking about the Capitol Police Officer who negligently shot and killed the female US Air Force veteran in the Capitol - the only shot fired - scarcely investigated.

Official federal reports have been repeatedly filed since the riot; any new reports contradicting those findings (very thorough reports) I have to conclude are false. This conclusion also exactly agrees with my considered opinion of today's FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies, that they are corrupt.

The scheme here is to convict Trump on criminal charges to keep him out of the next presidential election. The tragedy here is that the Democratic Party, BLM, Antifa, WOKE, inc., "Progressive" institutions (Big Tech, Big Media, Big Banks and Industry) are facilitating the demise of the American Republic. It has confused our traditional Judeo-Christian culture and weakened our resolve to defend against massive atheistic totalitarian aggression. Yes, all of these bad things are manifesting within this treacherous, all-never-Trump Committee, as America teeters on the cusp of a world war against which it is poorly prepared.

This enormous cabal gave us the Joe Biden crime family policies to trigger the collapse of key government agencies, and a Harris Vice Presidency to guarantee its ultimate stupefaction. I'll bet you never suspected all of this activity, did you Kelly? Watch Ukraine closely and see how unprepared our defense industries are. Think of the deliberate calamity our surrender in Afghanistan was and its aftermath will continue to be. Think of the deliberate catastrophe the open border policy is (more than 3-million unidentified aliens so far) all needing food, employment, shelter, education-languages, and medical attention - immediately.

Think of the ruinous inflation (soon $10/gallon gas?), waves of crime, food scarcity, energy dependence again, etc. Think also of the destruction of traditional military esprit de corps, solidarity; the sense of pride, and honor among normal men and women. The forced inclusion of every sort of abnormal, anti-Christian anathema is heralded by weak, amoral "leaders”.

Those politicians sitting at that House Committee table are an integral part of attempting to kill-off Trump, the man who had fixed all of the above problems during his incredibly successful term in office. EVERY major Biden policy change was designed to destroy a beneficial Trump policy, with disastrous results. Every one! Biden and his incompetent minions are disasters on the rampage.

We are being consumed by what Barak Obama promised to be his "fundamental transformation" of the United States of America. That's why America is dying.

"If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Still true. No apologies for scripture.

The year 2022 is turning out to be what has been called in Latin "annus mīrābilis" or "miracle year", a year in which great strides have been made in advancing our understanding of important things. 1666 was one of those years, when "Isaac Newton, aged 23, made revolutionary inventions and discoveries in calculus, motion, optics and gravitation" all in that single year.

Conservatives, "originalists" and structural constitutionalists will shout Huzzah! reflecting upon this year for the watershed advancements our Supreme Court has made in deciding three cases (one after a 50-year struggle) and affirming our Constitutional truths.

First, on a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that it has no standing to decide issues of abortion. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, [here abortion] nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people". (10th Amendment) The late S.C. Justice Antonin Scalia is surely smiling on this decision. He believed our Constitution should be interpreted from its words alone, not by what judges believe those words should say. That court has now held there is no longer a federal constitutional right to abortion.

The second "mirabilis" case affirmed our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms outside the home. Again, the Court affirms the plain language of the Amendment.

The Supreme Court ruled the Constitution establishes a right to carry a gun outside the home, issuing a major decision on the meaning of the Second Amendment of our Constitution. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The Court said the authority of the Second Amendment is in no way inferior to that of the First Amendment. It establishes a RIGHT of the people to keep and bear Arms, [which]shall not be infringed.

The third "mirabilis" Supreme Court decision of the year pertains to prayer in school. "Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach from Washington and a Christian, was fired for refusing to stop kneeling in prayer after games. Today, I applaud the U.S. Supreme Court for affirming our First Amendment right to freely practice religion. Today's judicious ruling is a great victory for Americans of all faiths." (Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R).

Pro-Life believers fought for 50 years to correct the bastard decision of Roe v. Wade, now recognized as one of the worst decisions in American judicial history - right down there with Dred Scott (1857). Why? Primarily because during the time between Roe (1973) and this year when the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, stated: "the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey [Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992] are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," - SIXTY MILLION (60,000,000) innocent, defenseless babies waiting to be born have been butchered alive. Actually, this is only a small part of this super Holocaust, with abortion drugs killing untold millions more. The ancient Greeks understood the evil of this practice and obliged physicians to swear an oath of ethics (Hippocratic Oath) "... Nor shall any man’s entreaty prevail upon me to administer poison to anyone; neither will I counsel any man to do so. Moreover, I will give no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman, with a view to destroy the child."

I've run over my time and space.

Donald Trump gave us Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, who have given new life to millions of children now serenely awaiting birth into our world. This is truly a Miracle Year.

Welcome back, Kelly (letter to editor):
I hate to begin by saying that your Select Committee "facts" are extreme aberrations from reality because that's true. That's because the "committee" itself is a shameful farce. Masquerading as either "bipartisan" or as a constitutional investigative committee qualifies it for Soviet Show Trial status.

The committee denies Trump an impartial jury (it really is a trial), and the defendant is denied his right to cross-examine witnesses. The Committee is loaded with never-Trump members and Hillary financial backers; the only conservatives would have been Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Jim Banks (Ind.) but were kicked off by Pelosi, making the proceeding a Star Chamber trial, a sick joke.

Committee member Adam Schiff, is perhaps the most prolific, flamboyant, and shameless liar in all of Congress. For years he lied to everyone, especially the media, pushing false allegations about Trump colluding with the Russians. For years Schiff assured America he had the "smoking gun," "direct evidence, of collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia." His pantaloons will be forever aflame. Then, there is the lady with the malignant heart, Liz Cheney, a pathological hater of Donald Trump. Will Trump ever get his reputation back? Not if the Committee has its way.

Official FBI and Capital Police reported "NO CENTRAL PLANNING" for this (4-hour) RIOT, which was not an "insurrection," though it became the largest investigated incident in our history undertaken by our (corrupt) FBI - to what purpose?

By what metric do you call this Committee proceeding "...an exercise in democracy"? By what measure do you call the 1/6 (4-hour) incident an "insurrection”? The non-stop arson, murder, and assault which occurred during 2020 was the great Democratic Party-BLM-ANTIFA, insurrection; hundreds cops and civilians killed, billions in property damage. "Of the 633 incidents coded as riots, 88 percent are recorded as involving Black Lives Matter activists." (The Federalist, 2020).

Jul 3, 2020 - "The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, (2020) when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States ..." (NYT).

Tell me Kelly, how many House Select Committee Hearings can you show me about this circus of 2020 Dem. Party insurrections?

We should be "celebrating" when the Democratic Party-ANTIFA-BLM (and all other communist influences) are exposed, dismembered and destroyed during the next two elections. Freedom will then have another chance – God is still generous with His time.

I fear I've wasted my time on this issue. The nation is in such danger. Biden has given us bookends of historical corruption and incompetence to overcome. This Committee reflects that reality.

My deepest condolences to Richard and Carolyn Diaz upon learning of the death of their beloved daughter Arron Renee Diaz, 1966-2022. "She was born with Down Syndrome. At the time of her birth, doctors said Arron would not live past 12 years of age and placing in an institution should be considered as an option. Aaron defied those odds and remained at home all of her life enjoying camping, eating out, family road trips and an active life." She competed in many activities.

It's a hopeless job for me to try and summarize the bonds of love in the Diaz family, and presumptuous as well. I encourage everyone to read about Arron's life (Gazette, May 5, 2022).

In a world so captivated by envy, hatred, and violence, the story the Arron Renee Diaz family provides relief, filled with truth, beauty and healing love.

"God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16

****

Rest in Peace Lin Thomas

"He was a teacher by trade, a preacher of the Word by purpose, and an old car enthusiast by passion." I will remember Lin as a compassionate man who leaves a powerful example of Christian life.

****

After re-reading Arron's family story It's hard to transfer my attention to that world of "hatred, envy, and violence" we deal with every day. I keep asking myself if it's worthwhile to keep harping away on the condition of the American Republic. I certainly have an historical bias here. As a conservative, Judeo-Christian citizen, I find myself at nearly complete disagreement with the new American status quo, largely due to the simple-mindedness of those self-proclaimed "progressive" geniuses who teach men can become women and mathematics is racist. This is, of course, crazy talk designed to infect weak minds.

I regret I am unable expand on this opinion due to time restraints and technical challenges. I hope, next week.

Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
A Time of Infamous Failure

Expressing sympathy for the families who lost children on May 24, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is just so inadequate it hurts. When I review the scene of the massacre and read about all of the protections that failed to protect 21 people from being slaughtered, I'm left without words.

It seems impossible today that cowardice and incompetence on such a large scale could cause such carnage. It stuns credibility.
I grieve with everyone else, and demand justice for these innocent souls.

Secure our schools in every practical way, including trained, armed, on-site personnel - people who know how to handle a front sight. Expel and segregate students who exhibit uncivilized behavior. Place cameras in all classrooms to provide evidence of dangerous or grossly disrespectful student behavior, and to cover vulnerable exterior areas.

Make all adult members of school staff criminally responsible for discovered breaches of clearly stipulated security laws, rules, and regulations.

Today's social and educational environment facilitates the growth of abnormal criminal mentalities. This is due to the absence of traditional Judeo-Christian virtues which create a normal, healthy conscience, and the now predominant demands of anti-Christian-anti-scientific programs, such as fallaciously alleged genders: "Female, Male, Intersex, Trans, Non-Conforming, Personal, and Eunuch".

The education system today is heavy with all sorts of false and dangerous racial theories which antagonize Americans, and nurture hatred, envy, and violence. It's not the gun that needs to be eliminated, it's the vile curriculum that forms the brain that incites to murder by any means.

It's 10:30 p.m. and I still can't get a grip on my ideas. The death of two of my brothers within this month has caused a lot of contradiction and confusion. Brother James was eldest, brother John was fifth in line. I told my father once that he had really raised two families, the first four siblings raised on the ranch, the other three in the city until after he passed. There was a 5-year gap between the fourth and fifth sibling, and I think a little more liberality. Our memories must be distinctly different.

With such an abrupt change I was drawn to reread the extraordinary family history authored by Cousin Tom and Arlene Leonard titled "The Legacy of James Leonard." It is filled with happy memories and extended family photos. I have to recognize the wonderful, talented, and happy group of people Great Grandfather James Leonard (1815-1893) eventually gathered together. As I look at these photos of six generations, particularly mine, until about 1959 when Grandmother Sara Ellen "Nellie" Leonard passed away, it seems almost too peaceful. The memories are colorful and sharp, far cry from my day-to-day efforts to recall names today!

The passing of the things of this world jumps out at me; how truly brief life is, even for the longest-lived. The goal is of course life eternal which shouldn't frighten us. Though cousin Tom is rightly proud of the remarkable Leonard family accomplishments, and our extended family companionship, I keep returning to the fact that most worldly events, and things of my childhood are forever gone, some to the better, some for the worst. To the best, faith and hope prevail. I see six generations have played their roll in a little more than a century, a speck in time.

Grandma's house is a great demonstration of that second law of thermodynamics. (No pretention here, I'm ignorant of physics). Nature continually falls apart. The two places on earth that anchor my memories are the ranch I grew-up on, and my grandmother’s beautiful home, built in 1909 on the Home Ranch by Grandfather James Leonard Jr. in Oxnard, on Gonzales Road. It was the most extraordinary house of its kind I have ever known, without exception.

Following my grandmother's death in 1959 the house received many new lives, at great esthetic cost and final architectural degradation. Not to get too gloomy, but the condition of the great house today reminds me of William Butler Yeats's poem “The Second Coming,” " Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;...". So, for me the great house is a metaphor for all things quietly passing in time. For the oldest of us life is short-lived, sometimes fortunately well-lived as my Grandfather James Leonard Jr. did with his angelic spouse Nellie, in the big house, with large family, on the ranch.

The house was built state-of-the-art. Today only a ramshackle remnant of memories remains on site, although it still evokes Christmas and Easter past, and Grandma's "Butter Sponge Cake with Lemon Frosting."

Recalling these things, I can't escape remembering how time consumes all things, even beautiful homes and bygone inhabitants.
The second law of thermodynamics feasts relentlessly on our democratic Republic as well, but faster even than on an old house. Its foundational Judeo-Christian structure has been abandoned and the center cannot hold much longer. The ravage of moral neglect is taking its toll. Will we also soon be left with only the skeletal remains of the greatest nation in human history?

O.K. - I'm done with personal history.

James Leonard Farrell

My brother James Leonard Farrell passed away May 18, 2022. He was 88-years old.

This must be more a reminiscence of the life of my eldest brother than an obituary. A typical obituary would be too short in recalling a few events and accomplishments. I knew him well before he graduated from high school but heard from him less after he entered military service. When I compare his life to that of any other member of the Farrell family, I find my brother Jim to be most admirable, but least recognized. He was first of all a humble, devout member of his Catholic Church, from his earliest days to the day he died. No one who knew him could doubt that. In my lifetime I never heard Jim utter a curse or swear word. Few recognized his accomplishments because of his quiet, retiring personality, never asking for anything, always generous with what he had to give.

He was, ironically, the greatest man I have known during my life. I say "ironically" because of all the Farrell family members, Jim's talents were always unnoted and unappreciated. The irony is due to the fact that despite doing everything right he grew up in a hyper-critical family atmosphere, leaving him to think everything he did was somehow flawed. This finally sacked his self-confidence. In my childhood I could see unjustified parental criticism fall upon him relentlessly and couldn't understand why. In most important endeavors Jim surpassed his six siblings, unacknowledged.

He did well in school, attending academically challenging Loyola High School in Los Angeles as a boarder. His grades were excellent. He shuttled back and forth over the old Conejo Grade between school and the ranch in a rattly Model-A our father bought for him.

Later, Jim graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Horticulture. He always had a love of growing things, like his pioneering namesakes, great-grandfather James Leonard Sr. and grandfather James Leonard Jr., who first began farming in 1859, before there was an Oxnard or a Ventura County.

Following college, Jim joined the US Marines. After a 4-year hitch he was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant E-5, difficult to achieve in the 1950s, and far superior to any rank achieved by his four siblings who served as well in the Army, Air Force, and Marines.

But Jim could not find a niche in the regular business world that suited him. Instead, he favored propagating various species of palms, berries, etc. The joy of his life was always to visit with old friends, relatives and their families, many from his grade school years. As friends and relatives faded in time, or moved away, Jim found himself somewhat isolated. Remaining single without children, his own family saw less of him. For many years he lived alone near a desert area continuing to propagate fruit and various specialties for market.

Jim visited me in Fillmore a few times over the years when in town on business. He lived an undeserved life of solitude but found great comfort in his Savior, Jesus Christ. As a member of a large family of plenty, he deserved significantly more than he received.

But I know he was received with great joy in eternity by all of his many true friends and relatives who awaited him, because "The last shall be first, and the first last” - Matthew 20:16
A Funeral Mass will be held on June 8, 2022 at 11 a.m. at Padre Serra 5205 Upland Rd., Camarillo, Ca. 93010, with reception to follow.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.

With two critically ill brothers in mind tonight, and another recently passed, it's a confusing time for me to focus on other issues. Growing up in a family of 7 siblings (6 boys and a girl), and now treading time in my eighties, I'm left with a cumbrous array of memories to examine. It's like looking through an old kaleidoscope's geometrical shapes of bright colored crystal. The view changes with the slightest turn in time.

These views show many very good, and some very dark pictures, no different from human faults from time immemorial. Though I think trust is a fickle virtue, when my time arrives, I hope to leave this earth in an abiding trust in Divine Mercy and His close friends. For me that is life's shining reality.

I've wanted to write a memoir of my family's life for quite a while. It would recall life on the ranch from 1939 to about 1960, just a snapshot of some 20-years in Oxnard and Camarillo, of my brothers and I building tree forts, slingshots, day-long "hunts" with our .22s, and numerous clod fights; a time of great freedom, adventure, and more than a few bruises.

How drastically things have changed in such a short time, how truly beautiful things were. Also, how the character of our society has been cheapened is woeful.

I hope to begin before the memory of those 7 siblings is reduced, and life in the best of times is forgotten.

So, my recollections are a little agitated tonight, distracting me from the job of writing something.

I take hope in the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

"Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you,
All things are passing,
God is unchanging.
Patience gains all;
Nothing is lacking
To those who have God:
God alone is sufficient"
St. Teresa of Avila

Well, I hate to begin this column by having to admit a careless mistake in last week's Realities. But, my last line purports to quote the Prophet Jeremiah - and the chapter and verse are incorrect. It should have been: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you...". Jeremiah 1:4-5. I don't have a clue to how this happened, but since I'm here, I should include another beautiful verse: "And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb."

****

The wretchedness of the progressive, woke, Democratic Party pro-abortionists is showing it's face again by stalking Supreme Court Justices to their homes and threatening their families. Schumer made “direct & dangerous threats to U.S. Supreme Court" justices by name.

Once again, the Democratic Party is lying, to convince people that any overturning of Roe means the end of legal abortions in the U.S. Though perhaps half of Americans would like to see this outrageous decision overturned, that could not end the practice. If Roe falls, the future of all abortion law would be placed in the hands of individual states. The states would decide whether mothers should kill their children or not. The killing of children after the infant is born would also be up for debate. Civilized societies do, of course, recognize this practice ("late term abortion") as murder. Every recognized legal authority since the founding of the Republic calls this murder by definition. Only recently have Ogres like former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (a pediatric neurologist) called for the killing of born-live infants:

"So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired [otherwise suffocated], and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother" as to whether to sever the spinal cord of that infant and offer his or her body parts to a Planned Parenthood market.

It's also instructive to return to a video of Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, ranting at an abortion rights rally, on the Court's steps, physically threatening Supreme Court Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. "I want to tell you Gorsuch; I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions." YouTube · CNN · Mar 4, 2020, youtube.com ›. (This activity taking place today!)

Democrats - this is your leadership - these are your members, and your Molotov cocktails! "May 9, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin, a pair of Molotov cocktails shattered the windows at the Wisconsin Family Action office, an-anti abortion rights group."

This is Democratic Party Wokeness, as vivid as their 2020 BLM-Antifa billion-dollar, murderous, months-long insurrection.

God save us, and our children, from Democratic Party "leadership."

An infamous Supreme Court insider (Justice or clerk) has betrayed the sanctity of that chamber's confidentiality by leaking a draft of a Supreme Court decision in the equally infamous case of Roe v. Wade. A search for the miscreant is under way. It appears that this notorious 1973 abortion case is about to be overturned - after facilitating 62 million gruesome deaths in the last 46 years - including so-called partial birth abortions.

In memoriam of those millions who should be with us today, some statistics:

According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.

The Holocaust
By Paul Murano • ChurchMilitant.com • January 22, 2021

"Abortion has become the No.1 killer of human beings on the planet.

This is according to The Worldometer, a website monitoring international births, deaths and other vital information. Its abortion stats come directly from the World Health Organization.

In the year 2020, surgical abortion killed more than 40-million preborn children. That accounts for 43% of all deaths worldwide, notes the American Center for Law and Justice.

Comparatively, 1.9 million people are dying annually from the China virus. That's less than 1/20 the rate (5%) of prenatal homicide.

In just the United States, more human beings die each year from abortion than from heart disease, stroke and accidents combined.

And these deaths are only from surgical abortions.

Chemical abortions kill 10 times the number of preborns. This includes not only the abortion pill RU-486, but also injections, the IUD and so-called birth control pills.

Human Life International reports around four times as many preborn children are killed by the common birth control pill than by surgical abortion. The secondary mechanism in the pill makes the mother's uterine lining impossible for the tiny child to attach to when conception does occur, flushing the tiny child out without even the mother's knowledge.

Dr. Bogomir Kuhar of Pharmacists for Life estimates between 8 and 13-million preborn children are killed annually in the United States alone — only some 10% percent of these are surgical abortions.

Between surgical and chemical means of killing the unborn, abortion has become, by far, the world's No. 1 killer."

As a nation founded upon (and blessed by) Judeo-Christian principles, we are not absolved from this monstrous activity by recognizing that the pagan nations of this world are guilty of even greater numbers of killings.

If Roe is overturned, the 50 individual states can decide for themselves whether the continued killing of the smallest, most defenseless of human beings is something they can live with. It will be a challenge to the individual conscience, no longer a federal mandate to hide behind.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; ..."Jeremiah 11:11

The Enigmatic 'Russian Soul' By Sergey Maidukov (American Thinker, March 28, 2014).

"Ranked at number 155 according to the Global Peace Index, Russia is one of the most dangerous countries in the whole world. It is notorious as the lawless land, where people are assassinated every 18 minutes, averaging 84 murders per day in a nation of 143 million." " A number of ... myths exist. For example, the common legend of an ancient Slavic culture. There never was, and could not be, such a concept because the term “Slavs” in all Western European languages always referred simply to “slaves” -- the pagan people who survived under the oppressive regimes of one conqueror after another." "A new poll, conducted by the independent Levada Center in Moscow, found that nearly 60 percent of Russians “deeply regret” the collapse of the Soviet Union."

I begin this REALITIES with reference to Maidukov's informative column in my search to find an explanation for the notorious Russian barbarity seen in Ukraine. In a nutshell, that's been the Russian way for a thousand years. Russia, and all of the Far East, missed out on the civilizing Hellenistic influence of Greece and Rome. They retained the savage gene of their forebears, Vikings, Mongols through tsarist regimes (guys like Ivan the Terrible, died 1584, aged 53, first Tsar of all Russia). Some of his handiwork may seem familiar:

The destruction of Novgorod: [Mariupol?] "Novgorod was Moscow’s main rival. When Ivan took the city, he burned it to the ground. About 12,000 people were mercilessly executed. Children and women were thrown into rivers. Famines followed the killings, which took as many lives. It would take centuries for the once-bustling city of Novgorod to fully recover from the famines and mass killings." (History about Tomorrow).

Russia, like China, having never been a free country, is accustomed to brutal government treatment. Russians have always lived in fear, with fear their stock-in-trade, and neighbors their commodity. During, and in the aftermath of, WWII the communist Russian Army under Stalin was notorious for raping every female person they encountered regardless of age. That historical attitude has not changed under Putin - witness Ukraine.

The West has finally come to a red line (survival of Ukraine) which, if it fails to defend, will spell its downfall. America, though late and slow to the game, is finally providing the fighting tools which can permit the small Ukrainian military to actually defeat mighty Russia. In Putin's mind, this cannot happen. Such an outcome is simply unimaginable, and the consequences would be catastrophic for world peace.

NATO, and America herself, will live in the shadow of perpetual Russian blackmail if we do not help Ukraine win this war A.S.A.P. Russia, and China as well, should be reminded that the West has ample nuclear firepower, on land, sea, and air, to destroy both of them.

Let's hope that Putin has enough logic brain cells remaining to understand this fact.

This was one of those days when I had a hard time cranking-up the column. Putin's war leaves me angry with the slow pace of our president's actions to arm our Ukrainian friends. They fight for their lives, defending against another holocaust. I witness mothers, babies, and old people being systematically slaughtered. I also watch what is shown to be one of the toughest armies in the world, trouncing the Russian Orcs, though outgunned ten-to-one. Reminiscent of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans - but with a victorious outcome.

Putin threatens to ignite WWIII, which America may not avoid without abject capitulation. That fuse might likely be the use of "tactical" (small) nukes capable of immediately annihilating inhabited areas of a few miles. An even more "unthinkable" event would be the use of "strategic" (hydrogen) nuclear weapons which could rattle our tectonic plates.

We are dealing with atheistic enemies in Russia and China, those who not only deny God, but deny as well the reality of immortal human souls and eternal life, which makes the above scenarios actually "thinkable". This is also why for a hundred years communist inspired dictatorships have sponsored the slavery and murders of hundreds of millions of innocent human beings. This is why we see systems such as forced confinement of millions of Uighurs in China today, and millions of ghosts from the Gulag Archipelago of the recent past. An excellent column appeared in the April 19, 2022 edition of American Thinker (www.americanthinker.com) "Farewell to America's military meritocracy" by James Poplar.

I have to ask, as Mr. Poplar does, what kind of military will we have when the time to fight jumps up again. Sadly, I wholeheartedly agree with his somber closing thought:

"So it appears America's ultimate meritocracy, the force that rose from like a phoenix from the ashes of Vietnam and won Desert Storm, will be no more — sadly, another victim to wokeness. Equality is the principle proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, not equity. The U.S. military, which was once a model meritocracy and model of combat effectiveness, where all were treated equally, is now embarking on the ever-slippery slope. Where will it end?"

"...last week the Pentagon rolled out its own "equity" plan. The Department of Defense is now aiming to "equalize outcomes for employees" and partners across racial and sex-based lines. In the text, the DOD explained a series of procedural changes to better align with the White House's demands for "equity." I believe this is an example of what the so-called "woke" disease has done to the entire U.S. military structure and purpose. From our beginnings, the idea of "troop individualism" has been anathema. The goal has always been cohesion, to break down the individual and reconstitute the single-minded combat unit acting together.

Our military services have gone the way of the Catholic hierarchy (I'm a Catholic), rotting from the top down. Hierarchies seem to suffer similar vulnerabilities - in following leaders even when they have lost legitimate moral authority, and compass of common sense, by abandoning foundational Judeo-Christian laws - our historical Constitutional gravity.

The report (Department of Defense Equity Action Plan April 2022) continued, "This included a focus on how extremist or dissident ideologies violate the fundamental principles of the Department" and went on to note its increased tolerance for military service by transgender soldiers. "DOD took steps to ensure transgender individuals who wished to serve in the military and could meet the appropriate standards were able to do so openly and free from discrimination."

What is completely rejected by the Dept. of Defense’s 240-years of American military and social tradition, as seen in our founding documents: the teaching of Judeo-Christian virtues and values, which has never included anti-Judeo-Christian values, until now. America's bedrock, founding values are based entirely upon Biblical Judeo-Christian principles - uniquely so. Our traditionally religious military men and women compose 95 percent of our fighting troops. It's far past time to recognize our responsibility to defend their professional expectations as members of our armed forces.

All of this novel "woke" philosophical trash is sabotaging our nation's military strength and cohesion.

Like most people, I love dogs, also cats, birds and most other of God's creatures, domestic and wild. I emphatically include in that list Crackers the Surfing Dog, Pebbles the Wonder Dog, as well as Forrest and Dahlia, the service dogs. Many of us have enjoyed them as part of our Fillmore experience.

A couple of these companions need a little help these days, a little understanding. A few people have expressed exasperation at their presence. Although their owner, Birch Greyloch, says neither Dahlia nor Forrest (Irish Wolf Hounds) have bitten, or threatened anyone, they at times have barked and complaints have surfaced, with requests to remove the dogs.

They are very large dogs, often seen carrying a saddle-bagged Chihuahua, Violet, but as I've observed, are gentle and friendly. Maybe their size alone frightens some folks. Ms. Greyloch's letter can be found in today's Gazette.

For the sake of Dahlia, Forrest and Violet, and Ms. Greyloch, can we all get along? Without getting too maudlin about the issue, I should cite the title of a book I received when I was about 5-years old: Be Kind to Animals, They Have Feelings Too. I've remembered that message ever since.

****

I have to say I'm tired of writing so many "gloom and doom-type" columns. I would much rather write about the beautiful (if rainless) weather, COVID-19 seeming to fade away - or about the two Mockingbirds that ambushed me last week with their extraordinary repertoire as soon as I got out of my truck at 10:00 p.m. I stood there spellbound for about 5 minutes. They were perched in a fruitless Mulberry tree overhanging the garage. This happened the following night as well, about the same time - 10 p.m.! On the next night I came in much later - nothing.

I don't think any other bird can compare with the Mockingbird for complex song; they are the Mozarts of the bird world. They combine and repeat all of the sounds they hear in nature, i.e. crickets, frogs, and any other bird song. And, yeah, I like trees as well. This was a refreshing break from hearing screams and explosions from Ukrainian war reports.

****

Unless someone (probably in the Russian Army) stops Putin by assassination or a coup, I think the use of nuclear weapons is probable. (Note: I am NOT a military expert, just my opinion - most of us have one.) I worry about the "small" nukes, those that can be fired from two or three miles on an otherwise conventional field of combat. We've made them suitcase small and have had them for decades. So, if the Russians fire a couple and take out a few brigades, or a small town with one shot, what choice does this leave NATO? Western nations can either run away, surrender - or respond in kind.

Putin is an unstable leader. His vanity has already been affronted by his failure to take Ukraine's capitol after weeks of fighting. He has "lost face" - of critical importance especially in the East. Putin now has no way to offer a truce, because his narcissism and arrogance compels him to fight to the death regardless of consequences (unless taken out). His paranoia was on full display recently when he flaunted to the media his nuclear code suitcase in detail - his nuclear "football." After the carnage and destruction Putin has inflicted on Ukraine, even a truce is not an option; Ukraine will resist to the last man, the classic dilemma of an immovable object against an irresistible force - almost.

Those conservatives who say America should not get involved with Ukraine are wrong. Short of using U.S. forces in the fighting, we need to immediately provide every weapon we can to help Ukraine win this war, including MiG fighters, tanks, long distance artillery and missiles. We should assume and prepare for the worst from Russia - and China. The world's order is threatened by totalitarianism. Absent a miracle, without strong leadership, we could lose our country - as we are now by inviting foreign millions through our abandoned, unprotected borders. Unlike the valiant Ukrainians, we are giving our country away - without a fight. Our enemies are prepared to pounce at this distinctive whiff of weakness.

I think America is set for epochal change of an uncertain nature.

I also think I would rather go back to talking about birds and service dogs.