Red Bluff Daily News

July 10, 2015

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FYI,myfellowAmericans. Donald Trump, a political am- ateur, has won the first Repub- lican presidential debate of the 2016 primary. It wasn't a formal scheduled TV debate. That political cir- cus doesn't debut on Fox News until next month. The debate Trump won was the one dealing with ille- gal immigrants from Mexico that he started three weeks ago when he officially an- nounced he was running for president. Trump, who didn't bother to use a prepared speech or read from a teleprompter, said blunt and unfriendly things about his fellow GOP candi- dates and their lousy leader- ship skills, which the liberal mainstream media gleefully reported. But what the pundits, many Republicans and the media re- ally went ballistic over was the way Trump characterized the country's illegal immigrants from Mexico. In case you've forgotten, he said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not send- ing their best.... They're send- ing people that have lots of problems, and they're bring- ing those problems with us (sic). They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." The 69-year-old billionaire was trying to make a point about the problem of illegal im- migrants who come here and commit crimes, but he was winging it and he messed up. Trump made his point, but he got it backwards. Most — not " some" — of the 5.9 mil- lion illegal immigrants from Mexico who live in the USA are good people. If Trump were not Trump, he should have hired someone to write a speech for him that said something like: "Though they have broken the law to enter the United States, most of the Mexi- can people who've come here are good people who want to work hard and better their lives. But thousands of them are not good people and they are committing crimes like sexual assault, rape and mur- der after they get here. "We have to prevent those bad people from getting into our country in the first place and we have to deport them or jail them immediately when they commit serious crimes." But Trump being Trump, he was more interested in calling attention to the prob- lem than being politically cor- rect. Predictably, the main- stream media went after Trump. It made him and the clumsy things he said about Mexicans the big story and reporters went around ask- ing the other GOP candidates what they thought about what Trump said, not what they thought about immigra- tion. Those candidates gave their usual crafted political an- swers, kowtowing to the main- stream media by dumping on Trump. Ironically, though, Trump got the last word. Because of him calling at- tention to criminality among illegal Mexican immigrants, the issue has become a hot media topic. Instead of ignoring or downplaying crimes commit- ted by "unauthorized" immi- grants, as the Pew Research Center now calls illegals, the mainstream media have fi- nally started reporting some of the most horrible exam- ples. The recent murder of a San Francisco woman by an immi- grant who had been deported five times has made the big- gest headlines. There's also the illegal im- migrant in Texas who killed his wife with a hammer and the one in Arizona who in- jured a mother and two kids in a hit-and-run. Both immi- grants had been deported mul- tiple times. The statistics about how many illegal immigrants com- mit serious crimes, or whether they commit more per cap- ita than U.S. citizens, are de- batable and hard to come by, largely because the gov- ernment doesn't care to tally them. But what's undebatable is that tens of thousands of this country's total 12 million ille- gal immigrants commit seri- ous crimes each year and we have to do something about it. Trump, without trying, brought attention to a major issue in a way no other candi- date could or would. While the other GOP candidates talked about him, he was talking about a major issue of the 2016 campaign. Therefore, he started — and ultimately won — the first de- bate of the GOP's 2016 pri- mary. I bet it won't be the last time he outpoints the profes- sional politicians and their consultants. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan Trumptowers in 'first debate' Cartoonist's take Last Friday's story of the fall- ing trousers generated a modi- cum of reader interest. D. McGill re- ported that her husband has ex- perienced the curse of the el- derly, namely the diminishing butt syndrome, which caused his trousers to fall precipitously until he pur- chased suspenders. And B. Bor- ror confessed he had to resort to suspenders as well…but Bill says an expanding gut is the usual suspect. In any case we will either surrender to the sus- pender solution or hitch up our belts even tighter. It is all about gravity, of course and therefore beyond our control. ••• After witnessing another loss by the SF Giants, this time be- ing swept on a recent 6-day road trip, a doctor friend sug- gests they be referred to as the SF Midgets. It is one thing to lose a close game, but to lose in the 9th inning when our take- for-granted bull pen succumbs to wild pitches and failure to "keep the ball down" is another. However, as of Tuesday last, we have the services of the hy- per active Hunter Pence, and he has installed an esprit de corps in the group, ergo they are once again truly Giants. This may not be an everyday occurrence, but hope springs eternal. ••• In his book "The Prosecu- tion of George W. Bush for Mur- der," the former prosecutor of Charles Manson, Victor Bugli- osi, accuses George W. Bush of the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth his evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses — a war that also caused the death of over 100,000 Iraqi men, women, and children and has cost the United States over one trillion dollars, thus far, with no end in sight. He also out- lines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest govern- ment officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office. However, I recall my own re- action at the 9/11 tragedy. I was so incensed over the destruc- tion of the World Trade Center that any ready target would suf- fice for revenge. Regarding next year's Presi- dential elections, perhaps a fe- male bird in the hand will be worth 3 of the Bush. ••• A recent edition of TIME was titled "The Answers Is- sue." Much of the contents were so contemporary that their an- swers to questions about music, films, the arts and so forth were of little use to elderly readers who have long lost touch with today's performers. As an ex- ample of contemporary hap- penings, on the Daily News in- side page, there are notices of the birthdays of current celebri- ties. I only have to read a name or two of the oldest at the top of the list. Other names further down might as well be in San- skrit. There was one celebrity in the TIME issue I found of inter- est, and that was Warren Buf- fett described as "the 84-year- old investor who keeps a low profile but is on the highest pedestal in the business world," I had hoped to find in this sum- mary something we had in common. As it turned out, very little. He has a net worth $69.3 bil- lion. I own property of but a fraction of that amount. How- ever much of my assets are invested in All That Jazz, a mighty fine bullmastiff, and a plethora of cats whose num- ber increase and decrease due to the heat of the climate and the females. Mr. Buffet's pri- mary residence is a 6,570 sq. ft. home in Omaha. Our — all my worldly goods are shared with the missus, of course — home is perhaps a third of the size of his, but he is in Omaha and we in the lap of luxury in the Sacramento Valley, and so our house is probably worth more than his in Omaha. Warren has 6 newspapers on his reading list. My list only two; the DN and the SF Chron. He says it takes him 180 sec- onds to decide if an investment is worth pursuing. It takes me even less because I do not in- vest except in dogs and cats. And finally, he consumes 720 calories daily from regular and Cherry Coke. I drink diet root beer which has no calories that I recall. In conclusion, as we are about the same age, would I trade places with this wise and wealthy old man? Of course not. I would have to leave Red Bluff for Omaha, and no one in their right mind would do so. ••• Imponderables: If one syn- chronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown also? ••• B. Cornelius writes a fledg- ling column with the clever title "William Tells." As he describes himself as an exceptional ath- lete, this suggests he has a good sense of humor. Most excep- tional athletes do not write for the Daily News. They have no trophies adorning the tops of their desks. They also write for peanuts, or worse, unlike their contemporary athletes who are paid big bucks for their work. The local newspapers once paid handsomely for columns of quality. The Corning Daily Observer rewarded writers for their efforts and insight. The Red Bluff Daily News did like- wise. The Redding and Chico papers may still continue that hallowed tradition, but I doubt it. The thing is that revenues are down and the egos of col- umnists are such they will work without compensation just to see their names in print. Of course they can write letters to the editor and get their names momentarily in lights, but that lacks the gravitas of a column which the reader knows has been read carefully by the edi- tor and is worthy of seeing the light of day. ••• A medieval knight and his men returned to the castle. He informed his king that they have been robbing and pillag- ing on his behalf and burning down the villages of his ene- mies to the north. The king protested, "But I don't have any enemies to the north." "Ah," replied the knight, re- alizing his blunder, "…you do now!" Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say Plunging pants prompt some reader interest, empathy Trump made his point, but he got it backwards. Most — not " some" — of the 5.9 million illegal immigrants from Mexico who live in the USA are good people. GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Robert Minch After witnessing another loss by the SF Giants, this time being swept on a recent 6-day road trip, a doctor friend suggests they be referred to as the SF Midgets. It is one thing to lose a close game, but to lose in the 9th inning when our take-for- granted bull pen succumbs to wild pitches and failure to "keep the ball down" is another. StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95973, 530 895- 4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 10, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4

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