Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/696762
HillaryClintonmayhavebeenbetteroff wearing the Emperor's New Clothes during her victory speech a er the New York pri- mary, rather than what she chose to wear and her aides managed to overlook. Clinton,whohasdecriedin- come "inequality" through- out the nation during her cam- paign, stood before the assem- bled —— and carefully screened —— crowd wearing a $12,495 Giorgio Armani jacket. What she paid for the coat —— assuming it wasn't a party favor from her Gold- man Sachs speech —— is just a bit less than the amount the average first time home buyer is required to post as a down payment for his dream home, or as The Washing- ton Free Beacon calculates, "roughly 40 percent of what the average American worker makes in a year." She's fortunate the price tag wasn't dangling from her outfit like that of Minnie Pearl. This is beyond tone deaf. It's a combination of oblivi- ousness and hypocrisy on a truly Clintonian scale. If Hillary was sashaying down the runway at a Paris fashion show, there might be a justification for wearing a jacket that cost 12K, assum- ing she gave it back after the show. But to own this One Percent Wear is something else entirely. During her speech Hill- ary proclaimed, "In this cam- paign, we are setting bold pro- gressive goals backed up by real plans that will improve lives, creating more good jobs that provide dignity and pride in a middle class life, raising wages and reducing inequal- ity, making sure all our kids get a good education." How does one talk of "in- equality" and then wear an outfit where a single piece of the ensemble costs the equiva- lent of 833 hours of labor —— about five months —— at her new $15/hour minimum wage? Maybe one of those "good jobs that provide dignity" is cleaning her coat with twee- zers, Q-tips and the tears of virgins. No one expects Hillary to campaign in Walmart over- alls, although it might pro- vide an arresting visual, but is it too much to ask this tri- bune of the people to save her Armani for Wall Street speeches and Davos dinners? She can probably find something flattering and just her size at Ann Taylor, and with the money left over she can splurge and take the en- tire campaign staff to lunch at her nearest Chipotle. 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 Hillary Clinton's expensive jacket Cartoonist's take No one expects Hillary to campaign in Walmart overalls, although it might provide an arresting visual, but is it too much to ask this tribune of the people to save her Armani for Wall Street speeches and Davos dinners? 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, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS If the goal is to cause both sides of the political spectrum to quiver, twitch and shake like a raccoon cling- ing to the out- side of a cement mixer speeding through a rail- road yard, just ca- sually throw out the term, "gun control," and step back. The left con- siders all guns the reprehensible tool of warriors, criminals and primitives, while in most of red state America, the definition of gun control is using two hands and hitting the target. Then some addled-brained, flippo-unit actually uses those techniques to take out a bunch of innocent people, and the blow- back starts with a debate about how big our guns should be, fur- ther restrictions on who can pur- chase them and whether we need to know the identity and shoe size of the purchasers. Yes, we do. For crum's sakes, you need to present identifica- tion to apply for a card to take a book out of a library. Admittedly, in the right hands, a book can be more dangerous than a gun, but they hardly ever put holes in peo- ple's bodies that the blood leaks out of way too quick. With increasing frequency, these body counts shoot north into double digits, which trig- gers a discussion of banning these high-powered, personal weapons of destruction. For a minute. Then the Republi- cans kowtow to the perverted wishes of their cruel masters, the NRA, which thinks the best way to avoid school shootings is to ban schools. This same NRA commanded their lapdogs to prevent research into gun-related deaths. That's right, Republicans have refused to allow the funding of govern- ment-related, gun-death re- search. Which is a shame, since America has a surplus of raw data. You could say we are dead solid center of the gun-related death universe. It's like talking about sandwiches in Philadel- phia but prohibiting any men- tion of the cheesesteak. As Hol- land is to tulips, the U.S. is to gun deaths. In the wake of these horrific tragedies, conservatives then pre- dictably go straight to the hand- book of NRA generated talk- ing points to say the same things over and over. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families." "None of this would have happened if the gay Hispanic dancers were armed." "Assault weapons can be used as legitimate hunting rifles." Really? That's your argu- ment? Because, okay, it makes a sort of sense. You can also use a chainsaw to cut butter, thought it might get a little messy around muffin time. Come to think of it, a hand grenade will signal the end of recess. Door- bells can be rung with 12-pound sledgehammers. Once. They're called "assault weap- ons" for a reason. They're not "tucking kiddies into bed" ri- fles. They're for assaults. Yes, the Second Amendment guar- antees a well-regulated militia the right to bear arms, but at the time our Founding Fathers were talking about citizen-sol- diers wielding one-shot mus- kets, not terrorist-wannabees brandishing HK MG4s capable of shooting 800 .45 caliber bul- lets in under a minute with a range of a half a mile. Hunting weapons? Seriously? What are you hunting? Tanks? A herd of triceratops? Can you imagine someone putting a full clip into a deer at 30 yards? You'd end up with venison jerky. In noun and verb forms. Jerky be- ing the operative word here. Will Durst is an award- winning, nationally acclaimed columnist and comedian. Go to willdurst.com for info about his new one-man show "BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG," and the documentary "3 Still Standing." Will Durst A bit of common sense on guns B. Crow has loaned me one of the most important books I have ever read about Red Bluff during the late '20s through the 1940s and beyond. The title is "Clair Engle: The For- mative Years" and it deals with Clair through his mod- est beginnings in Gerber, 1918-1922, Los Robles 1922-1928, through his Red Bluff High School years 1924-1928 and subsequent years at Chico State and Hast- ings Law 1930-1933. Along the way Clair became District At- torney for Tehama County, a State Senator in Sacramento and finally a Congressman in Washington D.C representing the 2nd Congressional District in California 1943-1944, only to succumb to a brain tumor at the young age of 52. It was thought by many that if his life had not been abbreviated, he might have been encouraged to run for President of the United States. This 400-page book was written by Stephen Paul Sayles as a thesis presented at Chico State University in the spring of 1973 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for his Mas- ter of the Arts in History. Bill had purchased the book from the Tehama County Library at a surplus book sale, and loaned it to me knowing of my and my father's admiration for the en- ergetic Engle. What I didn't know, until af- ter reading the book, was of the players along the way of Engle's formidable rise in pol- itics in Red Bluff and Corn- ing. Many people of stature in our fair cities come to the fore- front of this story one way or another…from the attorneys to the postmaster, the printers, the barkeeps, the minor and major politicians and even such unsuspecting matters are re- vealed — i.e., Judge Curtis Wet- ter's utter dislike of the dy- namic Clair Engle. Even Sena- tor D. Jack Metzger's presence is felt along the way. This book deals with an era in which I grew up and knew well the players. Initially I was too young to understand the role each played, but the book has brought them all to life once again in venues in which they excelled. Not all read- ers will share my enthusiasm but I will try to give you ex- cerpt from time to time that will make the Blue Ribbon Café, Trede Brothers Saloon and the Tehama County Court- house in all its pre-air condi- tioned glory come alive. The book even mentions such trivia as when courthouse tenants, with windows nearly level with the front steps, cranked them wide open to lessen the heat of the day, which allowing them — the District Attorney's of- fice for example — to step di- rectly into their offices with- out benefit of the large heavy front doors. I tell you, the book is the next best thing to having been there. ••• Speaking of Clair Engle, I still think the new courthouse on Walnut should be named in his honor. ••• Walmart now goes by the name "Walmart" and offers a printed a map of their new cav- ernous store on Luther. Ask for it as you enter and you will more easily find the plethora of mer- chandise now offered by the gi- gantic firm. They now offer gro- cery items in the Super Store, but shoppers may still prefer the helpful assistance of the clerks at Raley's and their established brand name products. ••• It's OK that the other team won the professional basketball championship this time. After all, sources say the Cavaliers have been denied the title for decades. However, I hate see the games morph into football rules where the biggest player is allowed to run to the bas- ket without a dribble, which is traveling, without action from the officials. ••• A recent full page ad in the DN indicated two women were now open for business, Heidi Mist MD and Sarah Whita- ker PAC, but did not indicate where they had set up shop to perform their services. Ad writers should remember the old Real Estate adage: "Loca- tion, location, location." ••• A frank and candid acco- lade by Billy Snedden, a mem- ber of Parliament, spoken and recorded in Australian news- papers: "Well, first of all I'd like to thank the good ladies of the branch here for providing such a scrumptious repast, and old Jack here for fixing up the hall, and Fred for getting us the sound system, and well, I'm sure there are other people I've forgotten, but who gives a f…." ••• Pope Francis has loosened up a little regarding Catholic Church doctrine, but he let a bit of superstition slip into his decision making when he re- jected a donation in pesos (1.2 million) that Argentina's Pres- ident made to an educational foundation backed by the Pope, because he disliked the 666 in the sum. C'mon Francis, it's just a number from the Book of Revelations. What's the harm? ••• Yes, Jean Barton's memo- ries of Honeylake Valley in the 1930s, as printed in the DN, are marvelous and instructive of the hard life in the cow busi- ness in the old days. ••• The institute of marriage needs a champion. In 1960, sources say 75% of adults, 18 and older, were married. By 2014 the figure is only 50%. The balance made up of 6% widowed, 14% divorced and 30% never married. Con- versely, who is staying mar- ried? Women stay in their first marriage if they marry after 26. Also, 69% of college grads are still in their first marriage, 38% of those who did not finish high school, 47% of blacks and 51% of Hispanics. Note: the lat- ter can be of any race. And la- dies, this word of caution: Marriages to divorced men are less likely to last. ••• You know you are a red- neck if your dad walks you to school because you're both in the same grade, you think the stock market has a fence around it, you think paprika is a 3rd world country, your house has wheels and your car does not, your pocket knife is referred to as "exhibit A" and when a sign reads "Say No to Crack" it reminds you to pull up your pants. 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 Book on Engle is a must read for local s Robert Minch Will Durst By Michael Reagan OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 24, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4