Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 1-27-22 E-Edition

Thursday, January 27, 2022 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
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
In my OPINION Biden's 'overachieving' an
overblown self-evaluation
Having listened to President Joe
Biden's self analysis of his first year
in office reminded me of the old ad-
age about putting lipstick on a pig. The
adornment is superficial and changes
none of the other elements. A bad situ-
ation is still a bad situation no matter
how much political spin is applied.
The president tells us that everything
he has “accomplished” during his first
year in office has made life better for
all of us. What unmitigated gall, or a complete disconnect with reality does that statement require?
Taking inventory of the Biden/Democrat-generated crisis, it's quickly apparent that the president's claim of “overachieving” is one of the worst self-evaluations ever. He boasts of reducing the unemployment rate and even that is misrepresented by using false conclusions. People are, in fact, going back to the jobs which they were forced to abandon by the bureaucrats as their way of dealing with the pandemic. We can't identify any new jobs which have been created in the first year of his administration. Gov- ernment had nothing to do with growing employment ex- cept for getting out of the way of the American economy.
As a matter of fact, government can be credited with the shortage of people now willing to work because of the extraordinary benefits doled out to deal with COVID. That, in and of itself, represents a huge step toward so- cialism which appears to be the ultimate goal for increas- ingly radical left wing of the Democratic Party.
A check list of government created problems facing this country include inflation created by dumping mas- sive amounts of money into the marketplace; the stam- pede of immigrants from countries all over the world at our Southern border; the ever increasing flow of drugs into the United States; progressive agencies which are turning this into a lawless nation; projections of weak- ness from leadership that places us in jeopardy of a “hot” war with Russia and China; and one of the most colossal screw-ups in military history in our withdrawal from Af- ghanistan. DuringthatwithdrawalfromtheMiddleEast, we not only left Americans behind but abandoned $85 billioninarmament andmilitarysuppliesfortheenemy.
A list which this administration provided the Taliban is now resulting in Christians in that country being tracked down and murdered. The world, as well as Americans, can't afford any more of the poor decisions being made by this administration's “diversity” corps! There simply are too many cabinet positions and other advisors who have no relative experience to the jobs they hold. Pete Buttigieg, Alejandro Mayorkas and Xavier Becerra come immediately to mind. It's a stretch too far to go from be- ing mayor of a small city, or spending four years suing Donald Trump, to their current positions of authority.
Although, as a general rule, while affecting our daily lives the politicization of the Justice department is be- coming problematic with the nation's major law enforce- ment agency targeting parents and a broad spectrum of patriotic Americans. Another assumed duty by this Jus- tice Department seems to be cleaning up after the presi- dent's son, Hunter, on a regular basis. Some of Merrick Garland's proclamations sound more like those issued by third world countries. It now appears that the entire Biden family is being protected.
Making this an even more bitter pill to swallow is the fact that very little rational thought went into the actions. Almost everything the current administration has done was based on reversing policy put in place by Donald Trump and his people. A couple of the Biden moves took place by Executive Action on day one, indicating how little thought went into the decisions. Attacking energy producers to satisfy the climate changers now has Ameri- cans paying well over a dollar per gallon more for fuel. Flinging open our Southern border is going to create job competition for low income Americans, and a record number of deaths due to Fentanyl Americans are paying a high price after being misled in the last election!
But, as always, that's only one man's decision.
Providing news in a COVID-era setting has had its challenges
Fred Hall — Publisher
Jon Earnest — Editor
Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day.”
— Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)
Fred Hall
Bringing the news to you, the loyal readers of The Mid Valley Times, has provided plenty of challenges since the arrival of COVID-19 to the scene in March 2020.
That first year was an ex- ceptionally difficult one, not only to our region's economic well-being but to our industry as well. The months-long clo- sure of schools and the result- ing transfer to online learning for most of 2020 and parts of 2021 was a definite blow, as it took away a good portion of our news story ideas and events coverage. The lack of scheduled activities, sports and partial closures of many businesses had its fallout near the end of 2020. We had to
reduce editorial staff at The Times down to just two; my- self and Juanita Adame, our features editor. Sadly, we also had to close our Dinuba office at that time.
Trying to cover three cit- ies became a real chore once schools reopened to class- room instruction, high school- community college sports returned and may annual events got back on the calen- dar. Amazingly, we've been able to give you, the reader, a little bit of normalcy in these unprecedented times.
But the unexpected still pops up. This past week, Juanita contracted a mild case of COVID-19, and had to quarantine for five days. I'm
happy to say she's well on the road to re- covery.
Still, we
proceed unde-
terred. We re-
main dedicated
to do our best
to keep the readers abreast with happenings in Dinuba, Reedley and Sanger. And we again encourage you to let us know of community happen- ings and story ideas. We'll do all we can to report on what's important to you.
In the meantime, stay well and continue to follow your dreams and passions.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
Jon Earnest
Lessons from a war-torn garden
Walking home from dinner, we heard an explosion. It wasn’t close, so we didn’t worry. The next morning, we learned a de- mobilized Serbian soldier had committed suicide in his garage with a grenade. That happened a lot.
Two weeks later, I was walk- ing home by myself. The setting sun gilded the neighborhood. I stopped to admire a bloom- filled garden. Suspicious of me, the baba (grandma) emerged to investigate. In halting Serbian, I complimented her garden. She swooped down, picked an arm- ful of dahlias, and handed them to me with a smile.
I was stunned. How could I reconcile this kindness with the atrocities committed so nearby?
It was April 1997, and I was supporting Bosnia-Hercegov- ina’s first post-war municipal elections. With 20 other volun- teers, I went to a Serbian town that had held some of the war’s worst concentration camps.
Decades later, I’m still re- flecting on that spring. Recent neuroscience and psychology have helped me understand parts of those Bosnian conflict stories — and our new Ameri- can ones.
Key is the fact that certain
social situations trigger the same threat and reward circuits in our brains as do physical situ- ations. Leadership guru David Rock summarizes these social needs as “SCARF”: status, cer- tainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness.
If these needs are met in so- cial situations, our reward cir- cuits light up. We feel relaxed and able to engage construc- tively with others. By compli- menting the Serbian baba, I had affirmed both her status and our relatedness, and she responded generously.
However, our threat circuits go off when the opposite occurs. We feel menace if someone be- littles us, keeps us in limbo, or takes away our autonomy. We also sense danger if we feel iso- lated or treated unfairly.
This happened with the de- mobilized soldiers. Though out of physical danger, they felt threatened socially. They were not breadwinners, so they felt they had lost status. Their coun- try had changed around them, so uncertainty was high. Their families did not understand their experiences, so they felt disconnected. Those social sit- uations set off the same threat circuits the war had.
This has been extensively studied. Psychologist John Gott- man found that, to keep their marriage, couples must have five positive interactions to compensate each one negative one. Other studies have found similar ratios for school and work settings.
What does this mean for us, in our angry and divided coun- try? We can use SCARF to cre- ate conditions for constructive engagement – in our families, schools, workplaces, and even on social media. Those posi- tive interactions aren’t hard: a smile, shared laugh, praise, or thanks. We just need to remem- ber that this “SCARF work” needs to be constant and con- sistent – five good interactions for every one negative.
That’s a lot of work, paying attention to how we communi- cate with everyone around us. But I think of the baba’s kind- ness in her war-torn garden, and I know it’s a worthwhile start.
Melinda Burrell, PhD, syn- dicated by PeaceVoice, is a hu- manitarian aid worker who stud- ies polarization and trains on the neuroscience of communication and conflict. She is on the board of the National Association for Community Mediation.
Correction on Reedley library's closure
The Reedley Library will in- deed be reopening on Monday, Jan. 31. However, I would like to address that the closure was not due to asbestos, as mentioned in the article from Jan. 20.
The Reedley Branch Library was closed in March 2020 along
with all other Fresno County Public Library branches due to COVID-19. During this closure, the Library administration took the opportunity to address a persistent odor in the Library. The Library remained closed while several environmental tests were conducted to ensure the safety of the building.
Now that testing is com-
plete, we can open our doors again. We appreciate the Reed- ley Community Center for lending us space to continue to offer limited services while the Library building was closed, and we look forward to provid- ing our full services once again.
Raman Bath County Librarian, Fresno Co. Public Library
Letters from readers