The July 9 letter from Randall Jordan just made my head spin (“Republican Party of SLO responds to ‘eradicate MAGA’ remarks”). He objects to the SLO Democratic Party that stated MAGA should be “eradicated from every corner of our democracy.”
He goes on to pontificate about believing that “democracy is strongest when competing ideas are debated openly.” Is he not aware that the leader of his party is actively prosecuting people who disagree with him?
He goes on to talk about how the “SLO County Republican Party remains committed to defending the constitutional rights of every American and ensuring that every voice has the opportunity to be heard.” This is completely at odds with the actions of the Republican Party nationally, as it moves to eliminate minority congressional districts and restrict voting rights.
Richard Neidhardt
Morro Bay
This article appears in July 16-23, 2026.
I always get a chuckle over the disconnect between statements bemoaning the supposed loss of our rights to free expression, and the extreme views openly and constantly expressed in our public forums, such as the call to “eradicate” Republicans, which truly repressive systems would prosecute as a physical threat.
Further, in a truly repressive system, the press would be tightly controlled. The idea of critiquing the regime would never be published….kind of like in Fascist Ukraine with that little Nazi Zylenski running it
According to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Ukraine ranks 55th in press freedom while the U.S. comes in nine points lower at 64th.
It seems that under Zelensky, press freedom has improved. In its report, RWB said, “Ukraine has demonstrated notable progress in the latest World Press Freedom Index, rising seven positions to rank 55th out of 180 countries. This improvement continues a broader positive trend in recent years: from 106th place in 2022, Ukraine moved up to 79th in 2023, 61st in 2024, and, after a slight decline to 62nd in 2025, regained upward momentum in 2026.”
How credible is a report from an advocacy group? Their conclusions are self-serving and easily predictable, like asking a child “would you like more candy?”. Reading media reports and public comments, I see no inhibitions on what they say.
Granted, any such “index” is subjective and, therefore, flawed. But, if you can believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by cheating Democrats, then I can believe that Ukraine ranks 55th in the world in press freedom.
Michael:
Ukraine has outlawed the Russian language, has shut down opposition press, throws young men in unmarked vans off the street to go straight to the front to die, cancelled elections, and syphoned off huge amounts of our tax money we send that corrupt regime.
Your feeble attempts to whitewash it are comedic. I can’t wait until Putin wipes Zylenskis regime off the face of the planet.
Let’s see, I wonder what would happen if, in a parallel universe, Mexico had a much larger military than us and they attacked, getting to the outskirts of Washington D.C. with tanks before somehow, miraculously being beaten back. How do you think any American leader would react? Maybe like FDR in WWII with the Japanese, by throwing all Mexicans in the U.S. into concentration camps and shutting down any Mexican press outlets.
However, I do not condone the recruiting methods of Ukraine, but I can respect the policy that has allowed younger men (18-23) to be able to leave the country. As for press freedom, I can only relate what I found in my research, which is that those freedoms are better than they were under previous leaders.
Corruption in Ukraine? Absolutely shocking. It sure never happened under the Russia friendly Poroshenko. Right?!?
Further, the corruption of Trump and his administration or that of Putin and his authoritarian regime in Russia dwarf any such equivalent in Ukraine.
Correction: I meant Yanukovych rather than Poroshenko.