Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/747048
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, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS TrumporClinton?Noonehasacluewho will win on Election Day. The polls are narrowing, as they always do, but they're still all over the place or within the margin of error. MaybeWisconsinwillflip to red. Maybe millions of Colora- do's potheads will vote for Trump. Maybe this time enough so- cially conservative, union-wor- shipping Reagan Democrats in western and central Penn- sylvania will vote Republican and offset the landslide that Philly and its suburbs gives the Democrat candidate every four years. Maybe the FBI, Wikileaks or the Wall Street Journal will end all the drama and drop another big one on Hill- ary Clinton's head this week- end that will expose her crude criminality to even the low- est of America's low-informa- tion voters. Let us pray. Meanwhile, some conserva- tive pundits already are say- ing that if Donald Trump loses it'll be the fault of the Never- Trumpers. Or the fault of the liberal media. Or low Republican turnout. Or an early frost in New Hampshire. They'll blame defeat on any- one or anything but the real reason — Trump himself. If he loses, it's going to be because of all the insulting or dumb things he's said for the last year and a half. Or because of his "woman problem." Or because he managed to offend or scare every Latino or Muslim in America. It won't be because John Kasich, me or anyone else in the Republican Party didn't have the stomach to endorse him. Likewise, if Trump wins, it'll be because Hillary's cam- paign has collapsed under the weight of her lies and crimi- nality while he stayed on mes- sage. It'll be because he had the right message at the right time. It'll be because millions of Americans decided it was high time to throw elite bums like the Clintons out of Washing- ton. It'll be because voters fi- nally realized that no mat- ter how bad Donald the Nar- cissist was, Hillary the Crim- inal and her gang of liars was much worse. Narcissism is no virtue, but it's not a crime, either. It's only a character flaw — at its worst, a personality disorder most common in men. To get technical, the Mayo Clinic defines its symptoms as including "an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others' feelings, an inability to handle any criticism and a sense of entitlement." OK, that sounds like Trump, all right. But some of those traits could apply to a lot of great or successful peo- ple in politics and entertain- ment. Bill Clinton. Barack Obama. Crooked Hillary herself. Every Kennedy who ran for office. Every other U.S. Senator or media personality. Every other movie star or rock star. Lots of people from Rush Limbaugh to Bruce Spring- steen to your favorite city's mayor have a little borderline narcissism in their personality. But criminality is immoral and evil. It's when you create a char- ity so you can enrich yourself and family by peddling your influence to oligarchs and des- pots around the world. Or when you help your friends or relatives get rich by helping earthquake victims in Haiti. Or when you lie to Con- gress, the media and the vot- ers to cover up your sleazy pay-to-play enterprises. On Tuesday we'll all have to choose between the Narcissist and the Criminal. I'm still choosing the Nar- cissist. 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. Michael Reagan A vote for Trump Cartoonist's take We have fallen victim to some real cliffhangers lately. As the SF Giants were not participating in this year's World Series, Bill Mur- ray, the Missus and I were pulling for the Chicago Cubs, and if that was not the best World Series ever, then I will eat my baseball cap. Baseball filberts will recall that the Cubs led off with the first runs and increased them to apparently an insurmount- able lead. But then the persis- tent Cleveland Indians came back to tie it up and force an extra inning. Then a blasted rain delay was declared that should have cancelled momen- tum building by either team. And yet, the Chicago Cubs, after more than a hundred-year World Series hiatus, prevailed. One cliffhanger satisfactorily resolved, one to go. The Mis- sus declared the Cubs win an "omen" heralding the news that our first ever woman President was going to be elected just around the corner. ••• Next Tuesday is being de- scribed as the most important election in the history of our great country. Make that our "continuing great country." It is still great for our family. We are doing well under its auspices and in its embrace. However, we regret there are many folks who feel our coun- try is no longer great, that it is broken and needs fixing. Dras- tic fixing. They feel that an "outsider," with no previous po- litical skills or connections, is needed to overhaul the system. As evidenced by the primaries, millions of people believe this and will vote accordingly. And yet, there are many oth- ers who also lament the grid- lock and stalemate and the re- fusal of Congress to cooperate across the aisles, but believe the system still works with existing checks and balances and will not break down and lead to an- archy. That said — that written — who is the next President go- ing to be? We were feeling confident with polls and media favoring a woman, and our choice, for President and then the "break- ing news" broadcast that "The FBI Director dropped a bomb- shell on Hillary Clinton." They even said it six times in one broadcast, and we began to ex- perience what the Republicans and the Trump supporters had been feeling at the hands of an apparent liberal media. Latest polls suggest a dead heat. Wow. So, once again, who is it go- ing to be? Will it be the Repub- lican nominee, whose deport- ment during the campaigns has alienated so many of his party, or the Democratic candidate, who some believe, in view of her past political performance, is a liar and therefore untrust- worthy. What a dilemma. Well, for what it's worth, here is a late refutation of D. Trump's claim that he is a "can do" busi- nessman who can "fix" our coun- try. It is from The New Yorker. "Over the course of de- cades, Donald Trump's com- panies have systematically de- stroyed or hidden thousands of e-mails, digital records and pa- per documents demanded in of- ficial proceedings, often in defi- ance of court orders. These tac- tics — exposed by a Newsweek review of thousands of pages of court filings, judicial orders and affidavits from an array of court cases — have enraged judges, prosecutors, oppos- ing lawyers and the many ordi- nary citizens entangled in liti- gation with Trump. In each in- stance, Trump and entities he controlled also erected numer- ous hurdles that made lawsuits drag on for years, forcing court- room opponents to spend huge sums of money in legal fees as they struggled — sometimes in vain — to obtain records." The foregoing article should reinforce the conclusion that Trump is a bad man and not fit for the office of the Presidency. However, millions will never- theless vote for him, convinced that our system of government is in need of repair. Tsk, tsk. ••• Speaking of voting, there are very few writers in and to the Daily News that will come out of the closet and state for whom they will vote, but that may be a prudent decision. Best to keep unpopular votes to one- self. That's why voting booths have curtains. By being secre- tive, after the election, voters can walk the streets with head held high, regardless of the out- come, knowing they had at least voted, even if not with the majority. In conclusion, I am feeling optimistic that voters will do the right thing. They did so lo- cally many years ago when they recalled three county super- visors who had failed to heed their constituents and behaved in inappropriate ways. ••• Halloween has passed, but did I ever tell you of our ambi- tious prank 70 years ago? Sev- eral of us high school juniors wanted to top our previous year's prank where we had re- moved the large white globes covering the lights in front of the Kraft Library, and broke them on the front steps of Mr. Metteer's house, a much be- loved teacher at the time. We borrowed Jack Growney's Jeep, found some logging chain and proceeded, with Jeep and chain, to bend over, paral- lel to the ground, many of the metal street sign posts on up- per Washington and Jefferson streets. A few days later, a spe- cial assembly was called at Red Bluff Union High School. Police Chief Walter Williams stood authoritatively on the stage, spoke to the student body and demanded the perpetrators of the street sign episode step forward. None did. Sometime later, all but two confessed to the crime. The two being yours truly and my pal David Sale. However, that was not the end of the story. Another assembly was sched- uled, this time by the Block R Society. The remaining pranksters were asked to step forward and take their punishment. Dave and I did as we were told. When asked about the sign destruction, Dave said he was sorry and would not do it again. I replied I was not sorry and might do it again if given the opportu- nity. Dave was forgiven and I was expelled from the society. As coda, I was elected Stu- dent Body Cheerleader the fol- lowing year and wore my Block R sweater as uniform without challenge. Ah, such fond memories, but kids, don't try this away from home. Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff. I say One cliffhanger down, one to go Maybe the FBI, Wikileaks or the Wall Street Journal will end all the drama and drop another big one on Hillary Clinton's head this weekend that will expose her crude criminality to even the lowest of America's low-information voters. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Oh how I miss this. Pamela Bowers : On coverage of Treat Street in downtown Red Bluff on Halloween I feel like the adults needs more education on safety than the children do, speeding by the school, whipping around corners, tailgating, etc. putting the kids in danger. Alyssa Tenter: On a pedestrian safety program put on at Bidwell School Robert Minch StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 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, Washing- ton 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, Kris- tina Miller, 824-7033. 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