Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/661984
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD 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 What's important to remember about Don- ald Trump is that our aspiring tinpot despot is wildly winging his presidential campaign. It's like he's the star of his own improv show. Trump'sJustWingingIt, and That Should Scare Every- one The problem is that every time Trump flaps his infamous yap, he loses audience share. A recent national poll says that he's now viewed favorably by just 23 percent of American women, and that poll was con- ducted before Wednesday's rhetorical detonation about women being criminally pun- ished for having an abortion. What's truly pitiful (and what so vividly illustrates his unpreparedness for of- fice) is he made those com- ments during a "town hall" ex- change with Chris Matthews while flying by the seat of his pants. This is not someone who has thought deeply about the kinds of policies that actu- ally affect human beings. This is someone who, when backed into a corner, riffs off the top of his head, in impolitic ways that reveal his true character. Basically, Trump boldly goes where no politician has gone before. He is the Captain Kirk of misogyny. Trump has been parading himself as an anti-abortion guy (because his market is the Republican right), so Mat- thews asked, "You're running for president of the United States....Do you believe in pun- ishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?" Trump: "The answer is there has to be some form of punishment." Matthews: "For the woman?" Trump: "Yes." Matthews: What type of punishment? And for how long? Trump: "That will have to be determined." Matthews: "What about the guy who gets her pregnant?...Is he responsible under the law for these abortions?" Trump: "I would say no." Riffing by instinct, he reached his nadir. Women get punished, men are off the hook. That stance was so out there even the anti-abortion women were slapping their foreheads. The oft-stated view of the pro-life right is predominantly male doctors should be pun- ished, not the women who have abortions. Jeanne Man- cini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said in a statement that Trump is "completely out of touch with the pro-life move- ment — and even more with women who have chosen such a sad thing as abortion....No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has cho- sen abortion. This is against the very nature of what we are about. (We want) paths to healing, not punishment." Trump blundered into a po- litical no-no. The best way for a Republican to address the punishment issue is sim- ply to dodge it. Way back in 1988, candidate George H. W. Bush, an anti-abortion convert, was specifically asked whether women who have abortions should be jailed. His fuzzy re- ply, during one of the debates, was, "I haven't sorted out the penalties....I'm for the sanctity of life, and once that illegal- ity is established, then we can come to grips with the penalty side, and of course there's got to be some penalties to enforce the law, whatever they may be." But Trump, being an im- prov amateur, went full misog- ynist — and then tried to re- verse himself within hours, releasing a new statement say- ing that the doctors should be punished, not the gals. We'll see how that plays in Wiscon- sin, which votes next Tues- day; a Marquette University poll, released Wednesday, says Trump is drawing only 23 per- cent of Republican women. Like most voters, they don't mind a little pandering. But pandering plus ill-prepared- ness is a surefire loser. Stephanie Cegielski should get the last word. A communi- cations specialist and adjunct NYU professor who worked last year for Trump's now-de- funct super PAC, she saw the guy up close. Now she writes, "I don't think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don't even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all. He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver's seat, and nothing else matters....The Donald is his own biggest enemy." We're seeing that now, on a tragically daily basis. The big question is what the abject GOP intends to do about it. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman Trump's just winging it, and that should scare everyone Cartoonist's take I was remiss last week to have omitted informing read- ers of the annual Republican "Red, White and Blue Dinner," held last Saturday at the Elks Lodge. It was dedicated this year to "hon- oring Tehama County Law En- forcement" and featured demon- strations by the K-9 unit. We in Tehama County are blessed to have outstanding law enforcement personnel riding the highways and byways, pa- trolling on foot or vehicle, run- ning down leads or wayward suspects—always toward the sounds or signs of trouble and danger, never away. At a time when many such brave and ded- icated protectors have collective targets on their backs, I sense that people in these parts, and certainly those attending the Republican event, are keenly aware of the need for those in uniform—and undercover among the scofflaws—to never let down their guard. The bad men and women who violently and destructively pass through our collective lives rightfully live in fear of detec- tion and apprehension by the tan, blue or olive green-clad warriors of the Red Bluff Police Department, the Corning Po- lice Department, the Tehama County Sheriffs Department and the California Highway Pa- trol. Add in the inter-agency task forces focused on drug or gang activity. Thankfully, there is little of the anti-cop senti- ment present locally, because our law enforcers exhibit high levels of professionalism and dedication. Moreover, we law-abiding folks know that our law en- forcers are "the thin blue line" between us and the crimi- nal class—those who are dedi- cated to property theft, ill-got- ten gains, drug abuse and sales, and violent behavior. We accept as a given that the criminal un- derclass make many choices that earn and deserve the stern attention of our sentinels of law enforcement. We and our police are not burdened or harassed by the anti-cop, pro-criminal, leni- ency-obsessed interest groups that are seen in many urban ar- eas. They're seen and heard on our televisions as they bemoan the supposed injustices inflicted on poor little Johnnies and Jills, misfortunate in life, driven to drugs and crime, or born with a skin color that makes them tar- gets. Need any more be said of such apologists for crime? Only this: The groups I refer to have succeeded in creating an at- mosphere that has threatened, and killed, lawmen and law- women, prosecutors and judges, and even citizens that come for- ward to assist in apprehending criminals. That Tehama County is less infested with defenders of the indefensible makes the killings of both novice and vet- eran officers in distant locales no less outrageous or heart wrenching. I shook the hands and thanked as many of the atten- dant police, deputies and pa- trollers as I could. Obviously, only a fraction could attend or the hall would have been stand- ing room only, and our county would have been bereft of pro- tection. Those present repre- sented their units splendidly; the atmosphere was infused and permeated with a sense of dedication and seriousness only achieved through selfless ser- vice interacting with the dregs of society—so that we don't. The K-9s demonstrated tech- niques for subduing criminals when: 1) they are in a non-com- pliant, threatening position, 2) they make the foolish, even po- tentially deadly, decision to at- tack an officer, and 3) they at- tack the dog. The occasion- ally wagging tail indicated that what was serious work to us two-leggeds was nearly play- ful for them—playfulness that, nonetheless, involved hundreds of pounds of pressure delivered by their jaws. Many who have served in the military can attest to the essen- tial, often life-threatening, work performed by their K-9 "sol- diers." Subduing suspicious peo- ple and bomb sniffing are in- dispensable, as it is for customs operations dealing with drugs or other contraband. We have often seen the K-9 members of mountain ski patrols accom- panying the "ski cops" on exer- cises and training, with exuber- ance and elation not readily as- sociated with law enforcement. The name of one of the Shepard-mix K-9 dogs was fa- miliar from the crime log. A button on the board at the KBLF/KRAC morning show plays "Who let the dogs out?" while Cal has added Hillary Clinton barking like a dog on cue. It's not possible to ignore the political and policy implica- tions for law enforcement and citizens that accompany edicts from Sacramento and Wash- ington. By edicts I include those issued by judges (arbi- trarily limiting, and thus free- ing, prisoners), our governor and legislature (through soft- hearted, empty-brained "re- forms," pardons, commutations, early releases and sentencing reductions), and voters (falling for phony "Safe Streets…" ini- tiatives). Emperor Obama has simi- larly issued commutations for supposedly "nonviolent" drug offenders, dozens of whom have had weapons violations accom- panying their drug sentences, as discovered by Sen. Richard Shelby and reported by Barbara Hollingsworth, CNS News. They include "possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug traf- ficking crime," "possession of a firearm by a felon," and "use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offence." Corning Police Chief Jere- miah Fears and Red Bluff Po- lice Chief Kyle Sanders spoke of the serious increases in lo- cal crime, violent or not, that have accompanied legislative "realignment" of hard crim- inals into the local jail sys- tem, forcing lesser criminals back onto our streets secure in the knowledge that lower level crimes (like vehicle theft) will, at worst, earn light sentences. The political and economic elites, secure behind gated neighborhoods with protection from private security, care lit- tle about the distraction, de- struction and devastation that befalls the rest of us. Fortunately, those on "the thin blue line" do care. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Salute the 'thin blue line' Don Polson Words matter. Especially words, which when spoken can save lives. But without action, words are empty... worthless...meaningless, es- pecially when we're talking about genocide. Such are the words of the Obama administration, an administration so pre- occupied with majoring on minor things like wag- ing a war prescription drug abuse, it barely has time to notice the things which re- ally matter. So after biting its tongue for way too long, the administration finally mustered-up the energy to choke out a few concilia- tory words, acknowledg- ing that the mass killing of Christians in the Middle East is indeed genocide. It's hard to say why it was so grueling for the ad- ministration to speak up and say the word "geno- cide." After all, the Eu- ropean Parliament, the United States Commis- sion on International Reli- gious Freedom, the Kurd- ish and Iraqi governments, German Chancellor An- gela Merkel, Pope Francis and the U.S. Catholic bish- ops had already called it by its proper name. Back in November, even Ted Cruz openly acknowledged that ISIS was primarily subject- ing Christians to genocide in the Middle East. Why was it so hard for the Obama administra- tion to be straight with the American people about what's happening in the world? Obviously, it still is. To wit, on Easter Sunday, courageous Christian fam- ilies innocently gathered at a park in Lahore, Paki- stan to celebrate the resur- rection of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when an Islamic suicide bomber chose to blow himself up, killing more than 70 people and injuring multiple hun- dreds more, according to Reuters. A group connected to ISIS, the Pakistani Tali- ban, quickly acknowledged they targeted this particu- lar crowd because of their Christianity. Guess what? In its initial statement re- leased in response to the attack, the State Depart- ment left out the most im- portant detail, that the vic- tims were Christians cel- ebrating Easter. It wasn't until after it was repeat- edly criticized that the State Department eventu- ally garnered enough cour- age to make the correction. What's wrong with these people? If the Obama admin- istration hasn't the appe- tite to use the right words, there's little hope it will fol- low through with much- needed action. Accord- ing to ABC News, "a senior aide to [Secretary of State] Kerry said it does not nec- essarily mean changing military strategy" in re- sponse to the State Depart- ment's declaration of geno- cide. And who is surprised? While calling it genocide is a step in the right direc- tion, the declaration re- ally amounts to a big, fat, juicy nothing-burger — un- less it's followed up by tak- ing action. Susan Stamper Brown can be reached at writestamper@gmail.com. Susan Stamper Brown Declaration of genocide is a big, fat, juicy nothing burger OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, April 5, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6