Letters to the Editor

by Jim Buckley

The Willful Ignorance of the Press

Since the founding of our country, never has there been a time when news of current events spread so quickly. No longer is print our main source of information; now social media by computer or smart phone bombard us with the latest news, almost before it happens.
    Our challenge is discerning truth from mis- or dis-information and outright lies. When government, mainstream media (in print or television or radio), Hollywood, and Silicon Valley align with one agenda, it becomes difficult to learn the truth.
    If someone says they’ve “checked many sources,” and all those sources agree, maybe it comes down to ‘Wikipedia says.’ When every station uses the same language, it sure looks like one script was given to everyone.
    When we are told not to believe what we see with our own eyes, that what we think we have seen must have been AI generated, are we more likely to distrust every source?

We learned too late that Covid lockdowns were causing permanent damage. Small businesses were destroyed, families were separated, churches were shuttered, children lost two precious years of learning.
    No longer do we trust pharmaceutical companies, shielded from repercussions for their malfeasance. Vaccines, promoted and mandated for so many, have caused death and ongoing health problems.
    During and since the Covid lockdown, parents learned that their children were being indoctrinated with doubts about their sexual identity, and schools kept parents in the dark as they divided our young into oppressors and oppressed.
    Why are so many ignorant about the thousands of illegals coming across our borders every day? Is Fox News the only station that tells the truth? And is the truth reported about rapes and killing caused by illegals? The ‘illegal’ description is almost always omitted. Thousands are getaways, criminals who don’t want to be caught, now scattered across our entire country.
    Truth about what is happening can keep us awake at night. When we try to tell family and friends about reality, they don’t want to hear. They choose not to search until they find the truth; it’s so much easier to go with the approved message. And we who choose truth are outsiders, maligned as bigots, racists, homophobes….
    TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) causes blindness and hearing impairment, maybe caused by a lifetime of devotion to the Democrat Party. Is family bondage to a party unbreakable, regardless of reality? Over time, the political parties have changed the bases to whom they cater. Wealthy businessmen and elites who were once Republicans have now become Democrats, and the working class and salaried, supposedly less educated, are the new Republican Party. They have become the party of common sense, in search of truth. Because these new conservatives live in the real world, their eyes have been opened, and they are eager to learn the truth.
   Now they know that what their eyes are telling them is true, as in the first presidential debate. Living with the consequences of what happens in D.C., they are concerned about the future of our nation and their descendants.  They have made the decision to no longer be willfully ignorant.

Gretchen Kieding

Solvang

(Editor’s note: We’ll know soon enough whether so-called “journalists” in the mainstream press will continue to shake the White House tree or return to the comfortable safety of their liars’ lairs. My guess is that most of those celebrated and over-paid note-takers and news readers are awaiting word as to what stance they should take from the folks who really are in charge in the Biden administration. – J.B.)

Ready-Made Accidents Waiting to Happen

There was a CAB- (Cars Are Basic) predicted e-motorcycle vs auto accident at 3 pm on outer Sate St and Five Points today, 3 July. It was not a bike-mangled event, nor was there major damage with the car.

The biker was averaging about 20 mph in the bike path. The car was exiting the parking lot at about 5 mph. Just as CAB predicted, the narrow profile of the e-motorcycle in the bike path made it almost impossible for the driver to see or judge the
travel of the bike.

This is one of the reasons it is necessary to license mopeds. Riders also need to be required to have a DMV-issued license, that they not drive in the bike lanes, and that every moped driver carry insurance.

In order for an accident to be reported to the police, there must be a bodily injury; the biker was up walking and clear talking. To be reported, there had to have been a "tow-away" incident, and it was clearly not. It was a knock-over, not a "collision."

How many of these near "reportable" accidents have to happen before the
City cracks down on dangerous and illegal actions?

E-Bike Riders with Middle-Finger-Attitudes

That same day on Arrellaga, I was on my way to the freeway onramp. A female on
an e-bike doing at least 20 mph – with a child in a seat – blew through three Stop signs/lights. All it would have taken is one auto with the right-of-way not seeing the bike that was intentionally breaking safe driving laws, and both could have been killed.

The following day, at about 2 pm, I drove the 1200 block of State St. There were about eight or nine e-motorcycles driven by what appeared to be pre- and early-teenagers. They were popping wheelies and keeping me from driving up the street. Transitioning to the 1300 block, three or four of them intentionally moved to the
traffic lane about two feet and basically dared me to hit them.

This is going on regularly. Kids operating what amount to motorcycles. Adults driving electric motorcycles. Driving in irresponsible manners and with a middle finger attitude.

Because of my profile and position with CAB I drive defensively every time I leave the property. Without sound and reasonable DMV laws and enforcement, it is only a matter of time.

Scott Wenz

Cars Are Basic

(Editor’s note: Observing how little attention is paid to standard traffic laws by so many bicycle riders has always been a subject of fascination and horror. You are certainly right to drive defensively, as so many of those on two wheels certainly do not. – J.B.)