Letters to the Editor
January 13, 2021

To the Editor:
I want to thank Mr. Farrell for continuing to publish the Fillmore Gazette and, I hope, this letter.
With all due respect, Mr. Farrell, I read some of the work of “fraud expert and statistician” Jay Valentine. His work is junk. It’s not science. Scientists do not start with a conclusion, and then go searching for evidence to support it. Multiple statistical models predicted a narrow Biden victory, a few models predicted a Trump win. There was nothing “statistically impossible” about Biden’s win, and the only thing stolen in the 2020 election was the money that Trump et al. duped their supporters out of as part of their grift operation known as “Stop the Steal.”
To quote that radical leftist, atheist, communist Senator Mitch McConnell, "If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. We'd never see the whole nation accept an election again."
McConnell’s co-conspirator, Senator Lindsey Graham opined, “If you’re a conservative, the idea that Vice President Mike Pence could reverse the results of the election (as President Trump had urged him to do) “is the most offensive concept in the world.”
Of course, Donald Trump, that very stable genius, is not now, nor has he ever been, a conservative. He has no ideology. He lacks the maturity to be a man of principles. He’s a demagogue, per Webster’s, “a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of people rather than by using rational argument.”
And now, sadly, (at least) five people are dead as a result of his conceit, his greed, his gullibility, his recklessness, and his delusions of grandeur. Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." It’s time to condemn all forms of violent extremism and live in the real world. The challenges facing this country can only be met through thoughtful, civil discourse and rationale, well-planned actions.
Art Sandford Sr.

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To the Editor:
As a Valencia orange grower in Bardsdale and a stockholder in Southside Improvement Company, I am very disturbed by the Company's Board of Directors' approval of a "Trump" flag flying at its reservoir on Bardsdale Avenue. I wrote to the Board over two weeks ago requesting they remove this flag, as this blatant political statement is not shared by all of the members of the Southside Improvement Company. Apparently they have chosen to ignore my letter, because the flag is still there. Whoever erected the flag should display it at his own private residence, not on property belonging to a non-profit corporation. Especially after the events at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, that this flag continues to fly at the reservoir is an insult to Southside's stockholders who were outraged at the disrespect, destruction, and death they witnessed on television that night. Southside Improvement Company should remove the "Trump" flag immediately.
Marjie Bartels
Bardsdale

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To the Editor:
Impeachment.
Promise kept: on day one of his presidency, Trump warned of an American Carnage. You have to give him credit when due.
Now, the consequences. What is the highest good for our country? (1) allowing the President of the United States to incite a riot, without consequence, by endorsing his lawyer's call for "hand-to-hand combat," and admonishing his fanatical minions to march to the halls of Congress and “take back our power” to reverse his loss in the presidential election, or (2) impeaching the president for the incitement of insurrection so that no future president will be similarly tempted?
Many of the Republican members of Congress, of both House and Senate, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Kevin McCarthy, et al., encouraged the falsehood that the election was somehow improper when no court could find a cause of action or any proof thereof. They supported every obstacle to the peaceful transfer of power, bellowed their right to spread their lies, and hid from their marauding constituents, some of whom carried zip ties, as they ransacked the Capitol. But now they are calling for "unity" and for "moving on" without impeachment or invoking Article 25,
They want Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer to call off impeachment “for the good of the country.” If those Republicans had really cared about the good of the country, they would not have allowed a clearly mentally fragile, narcissistic, and vengeful president to create the false scenario of a stolen election, confine his presidential duties to daily golf excursions, and lie to and incite his followers to move against the constitutional government he took an oath to protect.
Graham explained that he was with Trump all day Friday, and Trump is sorry about the vandalism and is preparing a speech "outlining all his accomplishments." Roy Blunt informs us that the "president touched the hot stove on Wednesday, and is unlikely to touch it again," reminiscent of Susan Collins' assurances that "Trump has learned his lesson" after the last impeachment. They treat him as a child, and while he probably is emotionally just that, they are every bit as responsible for this national disgrace as he is. They enabled, excused, and extolled him. And then, finally, they beg for “peace and unity" when he finally morphs his unshackled self-adulation into sedition.
The decision to impeach is not about removing Trump from office. The people have spoken and they have chosen Biden to lead the country for the next 4 years. Impeachment in this instance is not about politics, it is about national security. Threats not just from unfriendly nations, but from the precedent that a president can act against the interests and most revered principles of our nation and pay no price for his treachery.
Kelly Scoles