Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 5-9-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, May 9, 2019 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION
Jon Earnest — Editor / Sports Juanita Adame — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.”
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Have you ever wondered if some of these “progressive” politicians truly realize just how dumb and unrealistic their ideas are, or are they just so propped up and sur- rounded by sycophants that the truth of their ignorance is shielded from them? Frankly. it’s easy to feel embarrassed for them until one realizes that what is pouring from their mouths is exactly what our own children have been taught in school and university over the last several decades.
Law enforcement makes aggressive push to suppress gang activity in city
Fred Hall
At some point, we are going to be forced to realize that the seed of failure and destruction of our lifestyle has been sown and has begun to take root. I, personally, see it as a huge threat to about everything that become known as American but can, and should be, reversed by sending more sober people to our capitols!
We’ve seen how quickly one weed can become dominant and soon take over an entire plot of land. Socialism and Communism offer great promises to the people of the country which they in- fest and once established it usually results in the entire economic collapse of the entire nation. Venezuela is a current glaring ex- ample of that premise. Those great promises are little more than great lies used in the seduction of gullible voters.
Our forefathers envisioned a free press as a guardian against lies and misinformation but the American media have been “miss- ing in action” over the past couple of decades. Sad to say, it has become even worse over that past three years, with few signs of objective reporting. Not only are they shirking their duty, they have become so opinionated and compromised that they have formed an allegiance with one of major political parties. Outside of clearly identified opinion pieces, that is an absolute no-no.
The job of an effective press corps is to inform the public, provide them with pertinent information and then let them make up their own minds. We have a major problem when America’s press corps begins to feel they are smarter than anyone else and must provide the “great unwashed with instructions about how and what to think. It certainly was never intended for a group of privileged writers, reporters, editors and news producers to carry the water for the current crop of corrupt public officials.
Our greatest concern is that bunch of kids from the 1960s and 1970s have graduated college, entered the field as educators and are now in a position to teach current youngsters in the socialistic views they shared in school. In my opinion, the 1960s and 1970s was the era when our country came closer than ever in history to being consumed in anarchy. Thugs alongside professors and students participated in and led the ensuing riots. Academia ruled the roost and “if it felt good, do it.” Everyone was exhorted to rise up and defeat “the man.”
The pendulum of events normally is self-correcting in that it normally will only swing so far before self adjusting in the op- posite direction. The American people are not stupid — contrary to what many of the politicos have come to believe. We believe that over the past three years the reality of the situation is such that most people realize that ever-increasing government is not the answer to a strong country and a vibrant nation. I know that it often seems that we overuse the term “common sense,” but it increasingly seems that a return to common sense for the elector- ate has begun to arrent that over
swinging pendulum. Several areas and states like the entire “left coast” and the New England area leave one to shake one’s head at the silliness that still is occurring in elections and gov- ernance. Once again, there is ample evidence that a lazy press corps and a corrupt political system have combined efforts to further exacerbate the erosion of good government. California are you listening?
We believe the real answer is as simple as controlled immi- gration, elections that are fair and closely scrutinized for irregu- larities such as ballot harvesting and a voting public that is well read and educated on the real issues which are involved. Use and belief in that which is garnered from social media further erodes any hope of having an aware citizenry. Nothing appearing on so- cial has been checked or otherwise edited for content or veracity.
The time to control our own destiny and return government to the original parameters of our Constitution is now. The old saying in sports is that the ball is in your court. Begin right now to become the arbiter of good government!
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Last week’s multi-agency gang sweep through Reedley was a clear signal that the Reedley Police De- partment is committed to putting a dent into violence in the community — at least among those affiliated with or who have suspected ties to gangs, violence or drugs.
Working in partnership with 12 law enforcement agencies in Fresno County, RPD targeted 50 locations around the city and ultimately made 11 arrests during a May 1 operation. But what really was telling was the haul of weapons — 33 firearms and 100 rounds of various caliber of ammunition. While many of the weapons are legal to possess by the everyday citizen, the 20 found at David Yama’s residence did not fall under that category. Police Chief Joe Garza said that Yama is a convicted felon and a known gang member, and those weapons he possessed were in clear violation to terms of his proba- tion.
As a result, Yamad was arrested on a variety of felony charges. Ten other Reedley residents also were taken into custody, all for various charges. Garza was candid about the operation, saying the cache of weap- ons seized was the most he had seen in one house in his 30 years with the
Reedley police. It also was the big- gest one-day hauled he’s experienced in his law enforcement career.
Action was justified, as the city has seen too much violence in re- cent months including two shooting incidents in a single day. “That was a signal to us that we needed to do something about the violence that was taking place here,” Garza said.
For the most part, residents seem to be in agreement. At least on social media. The police and law en- forcement received a fair amount of praise on The Exponent’s Facebook Page.
Any law enforcement that can increase the security and peace of mind from the public is welcomed and appreciated. Good work, police and other law enforcement and first responders.
•••
It’s been a busy spring for local
first responders; not only in crime but with accidents and various mis- haps. Just in the past week, the city and surrounding area has had two notable vehicular crashes and a high- speed pursuit. One of the crashes, in the early morning hours on May 6, knocked out power to many resi- dents for a few hours. It was a DUI- related crash at Reed Avenue and 7th
Street shortly af- ter 3 a.m. when an 18-year-old Sanger man crashed into a pole and sheared off a transformer and caused power lines to fall into the street.
One would assume there is some sort of
pain associated with being completely void of cogent thought. A short list could be compiled of virtually all of the announced Democratic candidates for president, as well as Alexandria Oc- asio-Cortez, Mazie Hirano, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, Maxine Waters, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and all of the commentators at CNN and MSNBC.
Later that
morning, a three-
vehicle collision at the intersection of Manning and Alta avenues injured four people, two of them seriously. One man had to be airlifted to Fres- no with life-threatening injuries. It’s an ongoing message to always be de- fensive and alert behind the wheel particularly at rural intersections even if there are stop signs or traf- fic controls. Given the annual trage- dies on Central Valley highways and roads, it’s a message that never can be stressed enough.
•••
Now that May is here, it’s the
stretch run for high school seniors and Reedley College sophomores. Graduation season has arrived. To all those young people tying up the final loose ends to get their high school diploma or associate’s degree, early congratulations are in order. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Jon Earnest
Should we panic over the measles outbreaks?
By Jane M. Orient, M.D.
Guest columnist
In general, it is not a good idea to panic about anything. The panic itself often causes more harm than the original threat.
Crisis situations, real or contrived, lead to new intrusive laws that the public would never accept otherwise. We supposedly cherish freedom, but if we believe that the world will end if we don’t act NOW, then we may clamor for the government to save us. Cynical politicians bent on increasing their power never let a crisis go to waste.
Something like the Green New Deal — the end of our comfortable, pros- perous lifestyle — takes a truly apocalyptic threat. But to eliminate our free- dom to decline a medical treatment, the threat that “millions will die” of mea- sles is evidently enough. Or if not millions (most older people had measles and recovered fully), a few especially vulnerable children, who can’t be vac- cinated themselves, might catch measles and die.
There are several hundred cases of measles nationwide, more than in 2014, and bills are being pushed through state legis- latures to eliminate all but very narrow exemptions to the 60 shots now mandated for school attendance.
In New York City, people are receiving sum- monses based on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s emergency order. Everybody, adult or child, who lives in four ZIP code areas must get an MMR shot or prove immu- nity, or face the prospect of a $1,000 fine ($2,000 if you
Other Opinions
don’t appear as ordered). Your religious exemption is overridden. The threat of 6 months in prison and the prospect of forcible vaccination were removed before a hearing on a law- suit brought by five moth- ers. The judge dismissed the case.
Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said that the purpose of the fines is not to punish but to encourage more people to proclaim the message that vaccines are safe and effective. Get it? If you say something to avoid a fine, that makes it true.
It’s about the need for herd immunity, they say. We need a 95 percent vac- cination rate for herd im- munity to measles. With only 91 percent or so we are having outbreaks! If we could just vaccinate another 4 or 5 percent!
Mayor De Blasio has a point about vaccinating everyone. Adults are get- ting measles because their shots have worn off. It is likely that we have sur- vived for decades with a large part of the adult population vaccinated — but not immune. So where do the mandates stop?
Outbreaks have oc- curred in populations with a near-100 percent vacci- nation rate. Was it vaccine failure? Or was the vac- cine not refrigerated prop- erly? Or was a claimed outbreak real? One in Ann Arbor, Mich., was called off when a special test, a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed a vac- cine-strain measles virus rather than a wild-strain
measles virus. Some 5 percent of vaccinees may get an illness that looks like measles, but it is just a “vaccine reaction.” Can they shed live virus? Yes. Should you keep your im- munocompromised child away from recently vacci- nated people? Just asking.
Like all medical treat- ments, vaccines are nei- ther 100 percent effective, nor 100 percent safe. Read the FDA-required, FDA- approved package inserts. Arizona defeated a law that would have required mak- ing these available to par- ents in obtaining informed consent. (You can get them on the internet.) Vaccine Court has paid out about $4 billion in damages — recently for two children with severe brain dam- age from encephalopathy (that’s brain inflammation) after a fight lasting about 15 years. Just incidentally, they had an autism diag- nosis also. Parents bring their severely injured children to hearings. You won’t see these children on tv, only pictures of babies with measles. No “fear-mongering” allowed about “rare,” possibly co- incidental problems from vaccines.
There are trade-offs with vaccines: risks and benefits. But in the panic about measles, the right to give or withhold informed consent—fundamental in medical ethics as well as U.S. and international law — is being sacrificed. And so is free speech. The AMA wants to censor “an- ti-vaccine” information on social media. I happened on a factual article by in- vestigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, but was not able
to retweet it because it had been removed.
The threat of infec- tious diseases is real and increasing. We need more robust public health mea- sures, better vaccines, and improved public knowl- edge and awareness. De- ploying vaccine police and shutting down debate will erode trust in health au- thorities and physicians, although more people may get their shots. But such heavy-handed measures will not defeat the en- emy—measles and worse diseases.
Jane M. Orient, M.D. obtained her undergradu- ate degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1974. She com- pleted an internal medi- cine residency at Park- land Memorial Hospital and University of Arizona Affiliated Hospitals and then became an Instructor at the University of Ari- zona College of Medicine and a staff physician at the Tucson Veterans Ad- ministration Hospital.She has authored a number of books. More than 100 of her papers have been pub- lished in the scientific and popular literature on a va- riety of subjects including risk assessment, natural and technological haz- ards and nonhazards, and medical economics and ethics. She is the editor of AAPS News, the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Newsletter, and Civil De- fense Perspectives, and is the managing editor of the Journal of American Physi- cians and Surgeons.
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