Letters for September 26, 2019

The truth is out there

Re “Space invaders” (The Conspiracy Issue, by Matt Bieker, Sept. 19):

Kudos to the CN&R for publishing an article about recent activity around Area 51 in Nevada. Matt Bieker has written for the paper on many diverse topics, but I could find no others on ufology in his author archive. He has done a good job with the limitations of this article, delving into the history of Area 51 and its secrecy.

The 2018 documentary he mentions, Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers, is certainly revealing about Lazar’s work on an anti-gravity propulsion system at the base in 1989. There are two recent films, also by Jeremy Corbell, that expose details of Lazar’s examination of a basketball-sized anti-gravity device taken out of a crashed saucer. One is called Anatomy of a Flying Saucer and the other is Behind the Scenes.

Everything Lazar has said about his work at Area 51 has come across as a sincere effort to explain the advanced technology he witnessed and its implications for all earthlings. Efforts to debunk his story have fallen away as the consistency of Lazar’s testimony has held up over 30 years.

Thomas Carey and Donald Schmitt’s 2013 book, Inside the Real Area 51, offers the history of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. This is where extraterrestrial beings are being kept.

Benjamin Hills

Chico

Way to go, CN&R, on depicting us conspiracy theorists as sci-fi wackjobs and Area 51 groupies! A conspiracy is a “confederacy between two or more persons formed for the purpose of committing by their joint efforts, some unlawful or criminal act.” Does this sound familiar in the wake of the media storm surrounding POTUS and his disregard for constitutional law and common sense?

A more obvious government conspiracy came to light in 2013 when Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency had been collecting everybody’s digital data from computers and cellphones. His whistle-blowing efforts resulted in a Supreme Court decision denying this meta-data collection by U.S. spy agencies.

The gorilla-in-the-room of all conspiracies currently altering the entire biosphere is climate engineering. Many of you have looked up to see our once deep-blue skies to see only a silvery blue haze and often crisscrossed with jet trails. The origins of this activity above our heads is the U.S. military, as outlined in its mission statement in the early 1960s to control the weather by 2025.

Without including the effects of climate engineering into the conversation and protests over climate change world leaders may continue to ignore the scientific facts laid down around the Paris Climate Accord.

Carl Schultz

Chico

Editor’s note: Conspiracies absolutely exist. However, many of today’s popular conspiracy theories aren’t based on science or in reality for that matter.

Youth unite on climate

Re “Striking for the planet” (Greenways, by Andre Byik, Sept. 19):

Last Friday morning (Sept. 20), tears came to my eyes as our young people came pouring into Chico’s City Plaza for the Global Climate Strike. So many kids—the youth of our city, our daughters, our sons, our future.

How have we failed them that they must take on the burden to fix the world we brought them into? How can we hide behind our fears and ambiguities, while they speak truth to what must be done? And how can our leaders—who must be parents, have grandchildren and love their families—not act to protect what older generations have so carelessly endangered?

Yes, we must start this long road toward healing; these are our children. There is no longer a question of the reality of climate change, only the question of honesty … and don’t we at least owe them that?

Marvey Mueller

Chico

Editor’s note: For a snapshot of Chico’s Global Climate Strike event, check out page 11. Also, be sure to read our Covering Climate Now stories in this issue.

Three on mayoral drama

Re “Hot seat” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga) and “Barely mayor” (Second & Flume, by Melissa Daugherty, Sept. 19):

We humans tend to be distracted with one drama after another. This penchant for drama is being exploited by the right wing, especially via social media, where they successfully inflame hysteria over “safety” (at its core, a temper-tantrum-type reaction to the presence of visible poverty—homelessness—40 years in the making and the direct result of federal and state policies promulgated by “conservatives”).

A dedicated contingent continues to undermine public confidence in the Chico City Council with well-targeted activism. This we see in outraged-mommy safety protests, recall antics and Rob Berry’s marshaling of 15 or 20 wannabe vigilantes during business from the floor. Whatever was its pedigree, the Sept. 17 toppling-of-Mayor-Stone-drama was a theatrical grand slam for the authoritarians.

Our best hope lies in the current council, with its “liberal majority,” finding its way to solid progressive values and action—with our citizenry showing up to lend support. Right now, we have a “middle of the road” council. And, as Ambrose Bierce said, “We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.”

Mr. Berry will be happy to bring the steamroller.

Patrick Newman

Chico

I commend Councilman Karl Ory for rebuking Councilman Sean Morgan’s charade, and Councilmembers Ann Schwab and Scott Huber for stepping outside the herd with honesty about Mayor Randall Stone, a self-proclaimed grenade thrower. It’s not that Stone has the “warmth of a dead fish,” it’s that he often treats people the same way and it stinks.

I also commend Morgan for admitting to his poor example of leadership while mayor and welcome his call for civility and ending shenanigans like the ruse Stone/Ory recall effort.

It sure seems like the civil thing for Stone to have done was to have offered a sincere apology as well, or at least a level-headed acknowledgment to his shortcomings as mayor. Flippantly stating the whole council needs to change was a deflection from reflection and a poor way to address the healthiness of the council understanding the only person you can change is oneself.

Bill Mash

Chico

Regarding Melissa Daugherty’s column (“Barely mayor”), I’d also point out that in the CN&R’s May 24, 2018, primary endorsements article, the newspaper said this about Stone on his run for county assessor: “To put it bluntly, Stone lacks the maturity this management post requires.”

Clearly, you were prescient in not endorsing him then. Now we are reaping the whirlwind.

Anthony Watts

Chico

‘We are not criminals’

Re “Protect the kids” (Letters, by Loretta Ann Torres, Sept. 19):

Ms. Torres, please don’t be afraid. I like marijuana. I have used it for nearly 60 years. In that time I was married for 50 years, bought four homes and held mostly union jobs, so am comfortably retired.

I will patronize the marijuana stores that open in Chico and the taxes paid by us patrons will help Chico and Butte County’s budgets. In an excellent March 30, 2017, article in the CN&R, “Fact vs. Fiction,” Meredith Cooper writes about the $860,000 added to Shasta Lake’s budget in 2015, with the added plus of 30 good jobs in the local economy. Hopefully Chico won’t have to foolishly spend $150,000 of those proceeds on a special election.

We are not the other. We are not criminals. We are not the scary, wild-eyed kids of Reefer Madness you would like to paint us as. We are your neighbors. I have no interest in your children, though I have heard that if fed gingerbread, cooked in a wood oven, and seasoned just right they can be yummy.

Rich Meyers

Oroville

Highlight the veggies!

Still no vegetarian, much less vegan, section or icon-notes by restaurant entries in the annual 2019-2020 CN&R Savor dining and nightlife guide. How out of touch can you be? Ironically, there is an article, “Vegetarian delights.” But still no veg(etari)an section or icon-notes by restaurant entries. Maybe in 2025?

Bill Donnelly

Chico

Corruption, part I

It’s bad enough having to pay taxes for Trump to fly around the country on Air Force One with his crew of bandits. On a weekly basis, Trump is at a MAGA hat campaign rally, or a casino magnate billionaire fundraiser, all at the expense of Joe taxpayer.

However, when Trump admitted to colluding with former stand-up comedian and current Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump reached an all-time low.

They dare not call it treason for an American so-called president to coerce a foreign leader into finding dirt on his political opponent—aka Joe Biden—by withholding $250 million in military aid to said foreign leader’s country (i.e., Zelensky).

I guess the only thing Trump has ever said that rings with the slightest bit of truth is that he “could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.” Attorney General William Barr bailed Trump out on obstruction of justice over Russian collusion, and judging from the feckless Democrat-controlled Congress, he’ll get away with it again with Ukraine, even after admitting to doing it.

Why do I as a taxpayer have to pick up Trump’s tab for such corruption?

Ray Estes

Redding

Corruption, part II

The corruption in Washington, D.C., extends beyond Trump. There are old-time Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi who are blocking impeachment. Why?

Abe Sanchez

Berry Creek

Editor’s note: The two letters above were submitted before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi opened an official impeachment inquiry.