To the Editor:

Yes, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

So, regardless of any personal position about our present administration, we all know which way the wind blows from Putin and his allies, both here and abroad. The question in these next elections, this year and in ’24, is, can we read the handwriting on the wall as to how Putin wants the U.S. to vote?

Do we vote for the continuation of the practice of this democracy, with all its stresses and freedoms, or do we vote for a new experimentation with oligarchy and its loaded and locked mentality against its own people by feeding them alternative facts and beliefs.

Yes, our emperors often have no clothes, and we are allowed to say so when we see that fact, without fear of 15-year prison terms. And when even our own democracy gets uppity and hurts its people, it also has the stop guards of protest and courts to attempt to make things right. Sometimes very successfully and sometimes not so well, but at least the wins are there.

So, facts and due diligence must also include which way the wind is blowing, and just what kind of tornado we might stir up if we are led to believe otherwise, when in our hearts we know better.

Remember, beliefs are only beliefs, not necessarily reality.

Jim Bay

John Day