Letters & Opinions

Most folks think of the Elks as a social club for nice elderly folks seeking companionship, but we recently discovered the lie to that. The Hemet Elks Lodge maintains a close relationship with American Legion Post 53 and other regional chapters and always have their arms open to veterans of the armed forces of all branches and locales.

End of pandemic housing looms for homeless people Programs to house homeless people in hotels during the pandemic are beginning to close down, forcing people back to group shelters or the streets, where many feel unsafe from the virus, violence, and other risks. Federal funding for emergency housing ends in September, and while additional dollars have been promised, it’s expected there will be a gap between the end of current efforts and the start of new programs, write Kelli Kennedy and Lisa Rathke at AP.

I had just changed into my pajamas when I smelled the smoke. I had heard the fireworks earlier, but fireworks aren’t exactly unusual in Vallejo in the run-up to Fourth of July, so I didn’t think anything of it. Still, I went to the window. What I saw was a wave of embers, like a wall of glowing red, raining down from the sky. I didn’t know anything else, I couldn’t see anything else, but I slammed the window shut and started shouting.

The whole world is abuzz with news that COVID vaccines cause our bodies to become magnetized. There are countless videos on the internet demonstrating how metal objects start to stick to people who have recently been vaccinated. It is not clear if the site of injection is magnetized or we, the vaccinated ones, turn into magnets. It does, however, explain why, after receiving my vaccinations, my needle now is always pointing North. That is the basic theory behind magnets and if you don’t know it, I have to complain about our educational system.

Just when it appears that life in the United States is returning to pre-pandemic condition (I hesitate to say "normal," because, in my opinion, very little in this country is "normal" anymore), the CDC issues yet another warning about a China Virus variant. As of Tuesday, the CDC lists four "notable" variants on its website, code named Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. The CDC acknowledges that viruses "constantly change through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur." But don't get too comfortable with that fact, the CDC warns. "Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. Other times, new variants persist."