Peters’ mistaken belief

I grow weary of MAGA party members whining about poor Tina Peters. She continues to erroneously believe that Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2020. She apparently thought that she would be able to prove that by allowing unauthorized access to Mesa County voting machines.

It is difficult to see how fraud would be proven in Mesa County, a county Trump carried by 61%. As a result of her illegal activity she is a convicted felon. She allowed those unauthorized persons to copy the voting machines’ hard drives. The voting machines were decertified and replaced at a cost of about $600,000 born by Colorado taxpayers.

A recent Gazette correspondent cited Colorado Secretary of State 8 CCR 1505-1-20.5.3(b) as supporting Peters allowing unauthorized access to voting machines. The cited rule prohibits external network connection for voting machines. It does not allow access by unauthorized persons.

Peters’ mistaken belief that Trump won in 2020 is not a defense to her illegal actions.

Joe E. Smith

Colorado Springs

Choose diplomacy over domination

I do not align with the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, nor do I ignore the profound suffering, repression, and hardship experienced by the Venezuelan people. Those realities are real and demand accountability, healing, and a just path forward shaped by the people themselves.

And still, we must reject the current course of action being advanced by the Donald Trump Administration.

Bombing campaigns, threats of forced capture, and declarations that an external power will “run” another nation are not acts of justice or liberation. They are violations of sacred balance. They place domination above human life and reduce a sovereign people to pawns in a geopolitical struggle.

In “Sharks and the Sardines”, Juan Bosch reminds us that the world has too often been ordered by predators and the vulnerable—by those who take and those who endure. This imbalance is not strength; it is harm, and it always carries consequences.

Our spiritual and ancestral teachings tell us that power must be exercised with humility, restraint, and reverence for life. No nation earns moral authority through destruction. No government can impose righteousness through force.

The people of Venezuela are not objects to be managed or territories to be controlled. They are human beings with ancestors, prayers, and futures. Their destiny must be shaped by their own hands.

May we choose diplomacy over domination, restraint over retaliation, and wisdom over arrogance. May we turn away from the logic of the shark and protect the sacred dignity of the people—for the sake of peace, and for the generations yet to come.

Nita Gonzales

Colorado Springs

No Hollywood action film

General Dan Caine, AKA, ‘Raisin’ Cain,” joined the President and his military team to address the operational details of the capture of Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro for drug and other offenses.

The extraction of Maduro from his Caracas city home involved entrance to a country and a highly-populated city with a minimum of disruption. Caine told the story from beginning to end and it read like a Tom Cruise movie.

His recounting of the finer details of the United States’ entrance sector by sector was nothing short of gob-smacking, even more dangerous and thrilling than the largest of budget Hollywood spectacles.

Make no mistake, in the news conference held in Mar a Lago, while the reports sounded fairly cut-and-dried for the extraction team, the exact opposite was the case. Had the operation at any time gone south many, many soldiers’ lives were at risk.

Certainly, this was no Hollywood action film. It was real, perfectly executed, and reflective of the extreme bravery of those who were involved. God bless them all.
If you missed General Caine’s report, get a box of popcorn for yourself, and Google it!

Karen Cacy

Colorado Springs

A kinetic assault and occupation

The President’s recent actions in Venezuela represent a pivot away from “America First” toward “Empire First.” By launching a kinetic assault and planning a long-term occupation of Venezuela without Congressional approval, the administration is disregarding the clear limits of Article II.

Rep. Lauren Boebert recently criticized the President for vetoing a bipartisan water bill for rural Coloradans, calling it a betrayal of his supporters. If she truly believes in putting our citizens first, she should be the first to oppose an unauthorized, expensive military venture that violates international law and our own Constitution.

It is time for Congress to stop being a rubber stamp for executive overreach and start following the rules-based order that protects us all.

Robyn Leone

Colorado Springs

A common misconception

Re; Leo Bently’s letter of January 4. The Year AD does not mean After the Death of Christ.

This is a common misconception. Many mistakenly think A.D. means “After Death,” but this would leave an estimated 33 years unaccounted for.

AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord,” marking years after the estimated birth of Jesus Christ, while BC stands for “Before Christ,” marking the years before this event. These systems count years forwards with AD (AD 1…AD 2026) and backwards with BC (1 BC, 2 BC, etc.), with no year zero.

Some now use the secular alternatives CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era) and it’s is becoming more common in academic and international contexts for impartiality, though both systems refer to the same years (e.g., 2026 AD is 2026 CE).

Marge Baker

Colorado Springs