Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/776814
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: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS As an unpopular charlatan recently placed his hand on a bible (of all things) with the lowest-ever approval rating for an incoming president, and as we gird ourselves for what is likely to be the darkest era since Vietnam, we in the voting majority are grateful for whatever small victories cross our radar. Sothankyou,MonicaCrow- ley. At least somebody is deemed too sleazy to splash in Trump's swamp. His motley nomi- nees are already infamous for their flagrant abuse of ethi- cal norms, so it's nice to know that at least some kind of aberrant be- havior — in Crowley's case, shameless plagiarizing of other people's work — is con- sidered beyond the pale. It's even unacceptable to our new leader, who set a low standard in his business life by refusing to pay people for their work. Granted, the announcement last week that Crowley, a Fox News talking head, will not be appointed to the job for which she was manifestly unqualified — senior director of strategic communications on the Na- tional Security Council — still leaves the Trump swamp re- plete with creatures. Random examples: - Congressman Tom Price, the Health nominee, bought stock in at least two compa- nies that stood to gain finan- cially from legislation he sub- sequently sponsored or voted for. - Rex Tillerson, the State nominee, is an Exxon lifer whose friendly 'tude toward Vladimir Putin has been good for Exxon. - Betsy DeVos, the billion- aire Education nominee, has major investments in compa- nies that stand to gain finan- cially from her education pol- icies, and she had a Senate hearing last night without first completing an ethics report on how she plans to avoid con- flicts of interest. - Andy Pudzer, the Labor nominee, whose ex-wife ac- cused him of domestic violence acts during their marriage. - Reed Cordish, a new White House adviser who doesn't need a Senate OK, is being sued in a class action racial discrimination case. Jeff Sessions... Steve Ban- non.. You get the picture. But hey, we'll always have Monica Crowley — who, by the way, was brought down by a free and independent press. This narrative has been nearly lost in the cacophony of the past few weeks, but it deserves its noble moment because it shows that the Trump regime is not totally immune to the forces of accountability. It all began earlier this month, when she was thor- oughly busted by CNN for stealing other people's work — word for word, phrase for phrase — while writing a 2012 book titled "What the (Bleep) Just Happened." Politico and CNN Money found more ex- amples of her stealing other people's work while writing her 2000 Ph.D. dissertation. Naturally, the Trump camp's first impulse was to lash out at the press: "Any at- tempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politi- cally motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country." For a few days, Trump clung to the fig leaf of HarperCol- lins, the publisher of Crow- ley's book. The HarperCollins folks initially stood by Crow- ley, and Trump's flacks duly hailed them as "the largest and most respected publishers in the world." But that all changed when HarperCollins assessed the press' revelations and an- nounced, effective immediately, that Crowley's book "will no longer be offered for purchase until such time as the author has the opportunity to source and revise the material." This was too much even for Trump. Without nary a single rant or tweet — about "fake news" or the "dishonest me- dia" or whatever — Crowley was ejected from the swamp. Earlier last week, she de- clared her sudden disinterest in joining the National Secu- rity Council, "after much re- flection." So put your hands together for a vigilant press. Savor this small victory, which at least shows us that not all ethical norms are dead. Problem is, it still leaves us with a swamp that will not be drained. And to best describe that swamp, I will update the infamous phrasings of our Leader: Republicans are not sending us their best. Some are Russian doormats. Some are sleazebags. Some are racists. And some, I assume, are good people. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman Too sleazy even for the Trump swamp Cartoonist's take We watched the inaugura- tion of Donald Trump as Amer- ica's 45th President with some friends for the oath and swear- ing-in; we went back home to ad- mire the lun- cheon and pa- rade. For the record, I be- gan referring to Barack Obama as "President" upon his inaugu- ration; I only dropped the title when he rejected the constitu- tional obligations and laws he took an oath to "faithfully exe- cute," as in his immigration ex- ecutive orders. The same prin- ciple will apply to President Trump. His speech was refresh- ingly short on "I" and long on "we"; it served notice that his campaign promises were com- mitments to all of us. Our hearts, like many fel- low Republican Trump sup- porters (nearly 2/3rds of the voters in our county), couldn't get enough of the sense of hav- ing won; it will probably never be "so much winning" that we'll get tired of winning. After many deep sighs of relief and elation, the question had to be acknowledged: Will President Trump fulfill, reward or disap- point us in following through on the issues and promises he made while campaigned? I'm optimistic. It's been said that his sup- porters took Donald Trump "seriously but not literally" while Democrats and the news media (a redundancy) took him "literally but not seri- ously." Set aside the acknowl- edged (by Trump) regrettable things he said; we never had cause to doubt his commitment to, for instance, build a "wall." It could well be a double layer of fence but would, nonethe- less, be the physical symbol of a commitment to restore the "rule of law" to immigration. Genuine "America (meaning, 'Americans') First" change, pro- viding hope for each and every law-abiding citizen, was found at President Trump's White- house.gov under "Issues." To- wards the bottom of the al- phabetized list was "Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community" with a ringing, re- freshing emphasis on the essen- tial role that police and sheriff departments play throughout America in facilitating every aspect of a safe, abundant life. "One of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community. A Trump Administration will em- power our law enforcement of- ficers to do their jobs and keep our streets free of crime and vi- olence. The Trump Administra- tion will be a law and order ad- ministration. President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-po- lice atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administra- tion will end it." A position that will proba- bly earn the derision of some progressive, cop-hating, crim- inal-justice-warriors and (not so)"peaceful protesters," was this: "Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the ri- oter, the looter, or the violent disrupter. Our job is to make life more comfortable for par- ents who want their kids to be able to walk the streets safely. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school." I hope the 200+ rioters arrested during the inauguration (6 cops were injured) get the 10-year maximum sentence; others will think twice before likewise vio- lently disrupting civic life. I think the biggest reason so many Democrats boycot- ted Trump's inauguration— and so many Democratic may- ors loudly proclaim their intent to oppose Trump—is fear that his policies, with congressio- nal consent, will work. By suc- ceeding, Trump and his agenda will make those same Demo- crats, like John Lewis whose 3rd Georgia district includes Atlanta with its 3-times-the-na- tional-average crime rates, look really bad and very sad. "This may be the first hope- ful sign in terms of stemming the rising tide of violent crime in the cities. The era of Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch saw an unprecedented move to blame the police first and ask questions later…The majority of 'investigations' tended to cen- ter on painting all cops with the same broad brush after the discovery of a few bad apples who needed to be weeded out from the ranks." (Jazz Shaw, Hotair.com) Attendance numbers stirred debate. Reagan set the record; Obama next; then Trump, Bush and so on. Two factors affected the Trump crowds: 1) The elec- torate within driving distance for Reagan was far more Re- publican than the current Dem- ocrat-dominated Eastern sea- board; likewise, Obama had vast masses of Democrats liv- ing nearby to fill Washing- ton, DC. Trump's support- ers lived further away. 2) The threats of violent "protest" and obstructed access were seri- ous; tens of thousands simply avoided subjecting themselves to the abuse and watched from the safety of their homes. Shame on reporters touting a misleading early photo of light crowds. How convenient for the Dem- ocrat-operatives-with-bylines, the news media, that the "di- rect action" wing of the left and their planned disruptions effectively suppressed atten- dance. Hence, reporters could then gloat over crowds visi- bly smaller than those cheering Obama, 2009. Entertainment Weekly (ew. com), a Time, Inc. site, head- lined "Trump inauguration ratings second biggest in 36 years" (according to Nielsen). Trump had "30.6 million viewers across 12 networks… Barack Obama's first inaugu- ration…had 37.8 million view- ers." Both were surpassed by Ronald Reagan's 41.8 million viewers in 1981. "Trump might have been seen by more view- ers than either Obama or Rea- gan. Nielsen ratings do not account for online viewing, which has grown sharply in re- cent years…" Remember, the same polls that had Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump by 10 points or so (which I calculated over-sampled Democrats) in- cluded 35 percent more Demo- crats (Wapo/ABC) to pronounce "lowest ever" Trump popular- ity. He's more popular than agenda-driven news media will admit. Galls them; cheers me. Also, the same media swoon- ing over massive crowds of women on Sunday ignored 650,000 pro-life demonstrators in 2013. If it's not their favorite issue, your crowds don't count. 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 Real hope, real change for America Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Elizabeth made the local newspaper. Way to go Lizzie. Rod McCammon: On the Lincoln Street School Robotics Club at a Robotics Competition Well earned retirement from Sheriff's Office but he's still protecting the community by being the Fire Chief for the Mill Creek volunteer fire department. Bobby Mcmichael: On the retirement of Reserve Deputy Alson "Al" Blomquist recently. Dick Polman Don Polson 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 La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice 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 Kamala Har- ris, 501 I St., Ste. 7-600, Sacra- mento 95814, 916 448-2787, fax 202 228-3865 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, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, January 24, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6