Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
Sometimes in politics, things just don’t go your way. The common reaction is to blame opposing voters for being misinformed and being easily manipulated. What is not common is to blame the voting process and to claim voter fraud without a shred of supporting evidence. This was the reaction taken by Linda Silverman (Letter: “Believes voter photo IDs should be required”) Nov. 14.
I wonder if Silverman would be crying wolf if her candidates had won, but alas, I don’t think any of her candidates made it. Democrat Josh Harder defeated four-term Republican Jeff Denham, Democrat Gavin Newsom is the new Governor, the California Legislature is now veto-proof in favor of Democrats. Democrats now have something like 46 House Seats to 7 for Republicans, flipping long held bright red Republican districts previously known as Reagan and Nixon strongholds. Locally Ben Cantu is poised to be the new mayor over Steve DeBrum. The City Council will see new faces. I am sure if Silverman’s husband had run, he too would have been defeated. In any case his days are numbered, especially since he showed his true colors with his sarcastically juvenile letter aimed at the new mayor elect Cantu about a simple suggestion involving a street signal light.
Silverman warned of “strangers” handling your ballots. I don’t know about you but I didn’t know any of the “atrangers” working my polling place. She stated her hope that everyone voted “With Knowledge”, questioning those who somehow might have illegally been duped. For not voting her way, I assume. A thinly veiled voter fraud claim without any evidence, A la trump, who just said today, people were voting then going out to their car, changing hats and voting again. Silverman, like Trump, is calling for Voter Photo IDs. Just today Trump claimed you need an ID when you buy a box of cereal. I assume Silverman agrees since she backs him up 100%. I don’t know about you but the last time I bought cereal, nobody asked questions.
I noticed Silverman now has some kind of Republican title, like the one Frank Aquila used to add to his name, as if that gives their opinion some sort of super power over every other personal opinion. The thing about making false claims, thinly veiled as they are, is that by using a title of any organization, your opinion is applied to every member of the organization you claim to represent. I am more than sure that every single member does not necessary support your personal opinion.
In another letter from Silverman, she claims I am a racist because I dared to question Aquila’s claim of having, what I called an imaginary friend who was African American. Silverman referred to that imaginary friend as a “Black” friend. I am not at ease using that term to refer to African-Americans, to me it is akin to referring to Asians as “Yellow” or Hispanics as “Brown” or Native Americans as “Red”. Maybe it’s acceptable and I might have been guilty of using that term myself, but it just doesn’t sit well with me, maybe because I am Hispanic and my wife is Native American. Apparently Silverman doesn’t understand the term “Racist remarks”. Let me enlighten you Linda, racist remarks are something like:
1. Calling Mexicans, rapists and murderers and South American immigrants MS-13 members.
2. Claiming Americans first African American President was born in Kenya.
3. Claiming “Laziness is a trait of Blacks.
4. Complaining about “Blacks handling his money”.
5. Urging the death penalty for five black and Latino teenagers (Central Park Five) more than 10 years after DNA evidence had exonerated them.
6. Constantly referring to African Americans who disagree with him, as “Low IQ”.
7. Constantly talking over or interrupting African American reporters, mostly women.
8. Claiming a Mexican-American federal judge would be biased against him because the judge is a “Mexican”.
9. Claiming immigrants from Haiti “all have AIDS” and calling for a ban on all Muslim immigrants.
10. Referring to Puerto Ricans who criticized his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria “politically motivated ingrates.”
11. And finally, one word “Charlottesville”.
That’s just a few off the top of my head, Google “Trump’s Racist remarks” and you will get almost as many hits as if you Google “Trump Lies” which now are in the thousands. Sorry Linda, but Trump is the perfect example of “Racist”. If you don’t think so, then ask yourself this, after you google Charlottesville, why do Racists think he is a Racist?
Larry Baca
Manteca
