Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 10-4-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, October 4, 2018 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
Over the past couple of weeks this nation has undergone a political nightmare, which accomplished nothing more than attempt to destroy the lives of a brilliant man — the epitome of what a man should be — and his lovely young family. He was academically first in his high school graduating class, first among his graduating class in college and first among his peers in law school.
Jon Earnest — Editor / Sports
Juanita Adame — Panorama Editor
Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.”
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989)
New murals are latest dressing up as city prepares for fall activities
The most damning thing coming out of
this was that this division of country and de-
struction of reputations was done by a politi-
cal party in the pursuit of a really seedy agenda. Brett Kavana- ugh has a reputation of being a strict constructionist of the Con- stitution, and Democrats wanted none of that! They insisted on the need of another justice of the ilk of Ginsburg, Kagan, Breyer or Sotomayor who see the Constitution as “fluid” and adaptable to political needs. The law should never be a malleable thing which can bent at will for a political philosophy.
Accusations which appeared in the 13th hour — actually be- ing brought forward after the initial Senate hearings had closed — dealt with claims which placed the proof of innocence on the accused. That articulation, coming from Democrats on the Senate Judicial Committee, is completely counter to any semblance of American jurisprudence. How would our democracy survive if simple accusations were considered proof of guilt?
My parents were hardcore Democrats who grew up and came of age during the Great Depression that gripped the country dur- ing the 1930s. They absolutely adored Franklin D. Roosevelt, the last president to serve three terms and blamed Herbert Hoover, his predecessor. Hoover, who made many economic miscalcula- tions, was serving during the “crash of 1929.”
Owing to the large numbers involved in the stock market in- volving stocks which were bought on margin, the losses were deep and painful but not necessarily the fault of President Hoover. But as Harry Truman, a remarkable Democrat, said, “The buck stops here.”
Roosevelt installed a number of government programs which were aimed at propping up a terrible — almost nonexistent — economy. The president openly
admitted that he feared that many of his quasi-welfare pro- grams were destined to become a narcotic but drastic measures were needed for millions of starving Americans. This would be a small taste of controlled socialism and a new experience for this country.
My mother and father were classic examples of what was termed, at the time, “yellow dog Democrats.” It was never in- tended as a derogatory term but rather a way of saying that the individuals would vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for a Republican. This recent phenomenon is particularly pronounced with a group which we identify as snowflakes who were non-existent back in the day. No one took umbrage at such pronouncements. Today, they do! Republicans were supposed to be rich and Democrats were working class folks, a differential which has been turned on its head in today’s America. Hollywood, the media and the elite now control the Democrat Party.
When I attended high school and college, there didn’t seem to be any teachers or professors who felt compelled to spew their prejudice to a class of students who were there to learn and pre- pare themselves for the real world. The fact is that I never re- member politics being discussed in the classroom except in the context of history. Yes, they still taught history back then. As soon as I was old enough, I cast my first ballot as a grown-up for John F. Kennedy.
Mom and Dad would have been proud!
Fast forward just a few years and everything has changed. Vietnam, it would seem, was the beginning of a change in the val- ues of America. That would also have been the era when so many having the college experience became so steeped in a misguided socialistic leaning learning experience.
That seemed to be the beginning of the liberal spore being spread far and wide. Many of youngsters graduating college be- came teachers and professors. Thus, the wrong-headed idea of socialism continued to gain traction and the proliferation became exponential.
The leading edge of the Democratic party of today identi- fies itself as socialist democrat, often with hubris. Truth be told, socialism has been an abject failure wherever it has been tried. The treasuries of once rich countries are soon decimated and the next political leader on the scene is usually a dictator.
This current hearing by the Senate Judicial Committee has essentially become a seek and destroy mission using dirty tricks and obfuscation to delay the confirmation of this Supreme Court justice. The man is extremely qualified and has already gone through six (now seven) FBI investigations.
Last week’s ambush of weak-kneed Jeff Flake by two Demo- crat activists, who had been paid by George Soros, is ugly evi- dence. Doubt it was staged? How about the convenient presence of a CNN television crew at that exact moment at that exact spot? It’s almost like wolves or coyotes hunting livestock. They always manage to cut the weakest one out of the herd and that’s exactly what Democrats did with the Arizona senator. This whole delay and besmirch tactic was planned and orchestrated.
I predict the FBI report will come back with no corrobora- tion for the allegations but the Democrats probably have another trick up their sleeve.
Improvements to Reedley’s Rails to Trails Parkway continued on Sept. 28 with the addition of three new murals painted by Reedley College art students.
Thethreemurals—“Somewhere in Time” by Abrianna Lopez, “Thank you Mr. Reed” by Julio Zanic and “The Marigold Dancer” by Erika Perez — bring the total to seven mu- rals on display on the eastern wall of the Lock & Leave Storage Facility on East Dinuba Avenue. It also means additional scenery to the Parkway trail that’s become an identifiable attraction in downtown Reedley.
Autumn is the primary season where downtown puts its best foot forward. A day before the murals dedication, the annual Taste of the Town event on G Street between 10th and 11th streets attracted another large crowd. A week from Friday, Oct. 12, begins the two-day Reed- ley Fiesta. The 53rd annual event is highlighted by the annual Fiesta
Parade on Saturday, Oct. 13, down G Street, along with the milestone 50th edition of the Frog Jump contest that afternoon.
There’s also the early morning RabobankFiestaWalkRunonOct. 13 along with plenty of food and mu- sic. Eddie Vasquez, frog jump con- test icon and longtime downtown barber, is this year’s parade grand marshal while Ron and Carol Sura- bian are the 2018 King and Queen. We’ll profile Ron and Carol in our Oct. 11 issue.
The final month of autumn in- cludes Trick or Treat on G Street on Wednesday, Oct. 31; Small Business Saturday and the annual Reedley Christmas Tree Lighting on Satur- day, Nov. 24; and the annual Elec- trical Farm Equipment Parade on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Also, for the next two weeks, Reedley residents will have animals, arts and crafts and other items on display at the annual Big Fresno
Other Opinions
Fair. The two-week event runs daily through Sunday, Oct. 14.
••• School spirit
will be on full
display Friday,
Oct. 5, as Reedley
High School and Jon Earnest Immanuel High
School host their annual homecom- ing football games. The Pirates (2-4, 0-1 North Yosemite League) take on McLane High School in a scheduled 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Sal Gonzalez Field, while Immanuel (2-3) returns from a bye week to host Liberty High from Madera Ranchos in a scheduled 7 p.m. start at Immanuel Sports Com- plex. It’s the final home game of the regular season for the Eagles.
Halftime of each game will be the traditional crowning of the home- coming queen and announcement of the homecoming court.
Fred Hall
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Time has come to abolish immigration detention
By Andrew Moss
Guest columnist
If you visit a detainee at the Adelanto ICE Pro- cessing Center northeast of Los Angeles, you’ll turn off Highway 395 onto Ran- cho Road, travel a short dis- tance, and pull into a park- ing lot squeezed between the detention facility on your left and a privately run state prison on your right. If you’re at the east facility, you’ll walk into a small lobby, give the re- ceptionist your ID and the detainee’s “A” number, and wait in a space decorated like a health clinic wait- ing room. There you’ll find cheerful nature posters, a TV set playing “Good Day LA,” a child’s play set in a corner, and Good House- keeping magazines and a Spanish-language bible hanging on a wall.
When you’re notified that your detainee is ready to see you, you leave ev- erything in a locker: pens, paper, keys, cellphone. You are buzzed through heavy metal doors into a visiting area, where you sit across from your detainee under the watchful eye of a guard and a TV surveillance cam- era. There, three or four other detainees sit as well with their family members, attorneys, or volunteer visi- tors. You have an hour to be with your detainee, to hear her stories, to offer what- ever moral support you can, and to share a hug. Then, time is up, and your detainee, along with the three or four other women in their blue, orange, or red
jumpsuits, is ushered out one door, and you through another. You look back at one another one last time.
Something seems very solid about all of this: the barbed wire outside, the heavy metal doors, the waiting room, the jump- suits. But incongruities force their way into con- sciousness: the government describes this place as pro- viding “civil, administra- tive confinement.” But you know it’s prison. And you wonder why your detainee, an Eritrean who simply asked for asylum when she came across the border six months ago, is impris- oned here. Or why another detainee you’ve visited, a father and hard worker who had a DUI years ago, was swept up by ICE to languish here for months. Some facts begin to float before the mind’s eye:
• This place, the Adelan- to ICE Processing Center, is a for-profit facility, run by a publicly traded corporation called the GEO Group, Inc., which made $2.26 billion in revenues from all its enter- prises last year.
• Of the roughly 200 detention facilities in the U.S., almost three-fourths are run by for-profit enter- prises, generating revenue from the confinement of 34,000 to 40,000 detainees per day, 400,000 per year.
• Detention facilities across the country have been cited by both govern- mental agencies and ad- vocacy groups for a wide range of human rights abuses, including physical and sexual assault, medical
neglect, and poor food and unsanitary conditions. Last year, the organization Hu- man Rights Watch released a report with findings by in- dependent medical experts that more than half the 15 deaths occurring in deten- tion over a 16-month period (December 2015 through April 2017) were linked to inadequate medical care.
• The Adelanto ICE Pro- cessing Center didn’t even exist as an immigration de- tention facility until 2011, when GEO entered into an agreement with ICE (Im- migration and Customs En- forcement) and the city of Adelanto to take over an ex- isting prison. In fact, no de- tention facilities at all exist- ed in the U.S. between 1954, when Ellis Island closed, and 1981, when President Ronald Reagan opened the first one in Puerto Rico to detain Haitian refugees fleeing political chaos and repression in their country.
• The 1980’s and 1990’s were boom years for the growth of detention facili- ties, their expansion inter- twined with a growth of mass incarceration that scholar Michelle Alexander identified as the “New Jim Crow.” Systems of racial oppression and immigra- tion detention have devel- oped hand in hand; Donald Trump’s racial discourse (Mexicans as “rapists,” im- migrants as “animals”) is the most recent soundtrack for these developments.
• There are proven, cost-effective alternatives to detention. These are community accompani- ment programs, pioneered
by organizations like Free- dom for Immigrants, that respect people’s dignity and rights when they enter this country.
One day, the contrac- tors will come back to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Perhaps, as they cut down the barbed wire, they will remodel the place and turn it into a school, or a museum like Ellis Island. Or, perhaps, they’ll raze the whole edifice and put up new housing units instead. Whatever the case, you’ll know as you drive away that a whole lot of work will have to be done in the meantime. This is the work of changing a mindset. This is the work of moving from opportunistic distortions (immigrants as threats and criminals) to genuine questions: how do we help others become productive, contributing members of our communities? How do we expand our understand- ings of our own citizenship in the process?
How do we transition from being a republic of fear to being an exemplar for other nations wrestling with issues of migration? And how, in redefining our identities as individuals and as a nation, do we come to see the border not as a site of separation and of threats, but as a place of coming to- gether, as a site of possibil- ity and creativity?
Andrew Moss, syndi- cated by PeaceVoice, is an emeritus professor at the California State Polytech- nic University, Pomona, where he taught in Nonvio- lence Studies for 10 years.
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