Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 7-26-18 E-edition

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, July 26, 2018
In My Opinion
Attacks on Trump have
become ironic
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
Irony is the depiction of media. Democrat
something, generally through
Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee recently voiced support
for a military overthrow of this administration.
Common sense and empirical evidence shows,
the use of words to express something different from and often exactly opposite from their literal meaning. Our old friend “common sense” is generally the best measure in defining anything written which is ironic in nature.
Irony is when an area newspaper runs a column penned by an extremely liberal New York City “news content” provider in which the writer says the conservative news media is “propping up” President Donald Trump. First
of all, it’s virtually impossible to find any form of the media that could be deemed as being conservative, with the exception of Fox News and talk radio. Their position must be an extremely lonely spot, trying to hold off everyone in the liberal media along with “never Trump” politicians and bureaucrats who are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome!
With today’s prevailing political climate, one would have to concede there is more than just a fine line between that which is ironic and that is embarrassingly stupid. Last evening I watched a guest on one of the many liberal networks attempt to explain to the host of the show how President Trump’s Helsinki press conference was somehow worse than the attack on Pearl Harbor or Kristillnacht.
Most of you will remember the enormity of those events because, until the past decade or so, history was still taught in our schools.
Want to know something even worse? The individual who was hosting the show never even challenged his guest over just how ignorant such a statement sounded. Even the most rabid Trump hater must recognize that it’s a non-starter to compare a press conference to these violentevents. I’mbeginningtofear that America’s “electronic generation” is becoming so dumbed-down as to not realize the negative impact on humanity imposed by both of those atrocities.
Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack on a Sunday morning planned to destroy as much of the American Navy as possible and kill large numbers of citizens and military men and women. Kristallnacht was a free-for-all in Danzig, resulting in murder, looting and vandalism allegedly as a response to a 17-year old Jewish boy allegedly killing a Nazi. The year was 1938.
Sadly, that sorry episode is not a singular event. On an ever rotating set of issues and false claims, this President is attacked every day and every night by politicians and the
GSiving back is a blessing
Fred Hall
definitively, that there has been
no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and yet the Mueller hearings have dragged on for a year and a half.
People, firmly entrenched with the opposition, will point out that there have been a number of indictments but none have to do with anyone colluding with anyone. Anyway, an indictment simply means that someone has been charged which is a long, long way
away from a conviction. Some of these individuals have been dogged by the Federal government until they have spent all available resources and are facing bankruptcy. Most of the charges which they face are simply process crimes and have nothing to do with the election. Essentially, what we are dealing with is a Special Prosecutor in search of a crime rather than investigating a specified wrong doing which is the norm for such an empaneled group. We are standing by and watching our government spend millions of dollars on a partisan political hunting expedition which
is dividing our country deeply and possibly irreparably.
My greatest fear that much of the anti-President rhetoric is becoming so heated and irrational with claims of treason and equally ridiculous charges that I have come to worry about the ever present danger of violence. After all, that is the greatest thing our adversaries, including Russia, could ever hope for. Their claim, forever, has always been that they will defeat us without firing a shot.
Ever since the 1960’s and 1970’s there certainly seems to a deliberate and measured shift in that direction with American politics moving ever more leftward in government and education. The people of The United States of American elected this man accordingtoestablishedrules. He seems to have accomplished more in a really short time than anyone I can remember. Leavehimaloneandlet him work!
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Sentinel.
Guest Column
DWhat's behind Trump's attack on Europe?
onald Trump didn’t fly to Europe to meet with and political customs. For instance, the NATO, European leaders, and Russian President Polish and Hungarian governments Vladimir Putin. He got there by stepping through are establishing illiberal regimes that
the looking glass.
Once on the other side, he made a series of extraordinary
statements.
He accused Germany of being “totally controlled by
Russia.” He declared that the European Union is a “foe” of the United States. He told British Prime Minister Theresa May she should sue the EU instead of negotiate with it.
And, just days after the U.S. intelligence community and special counsel Robert Mueller confirmed once again that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 elections, Trump said that he believed in Vladimir Putin’s claims of Russian innocence.
Why on earth would Trump embark on this surrealistic misadventure in foreign policy? Does Russia have some dirt on him?
Maybe. But whatever else is going on, Trump’s erratic behavior reflects a very specific worldview. Trump is attacking Europe and siding with Russia for political — and not just personal — reasons.
A segment of the U.S. right wing, which has now coalesced around Trump, has always been skeptical about Europe. It hates the social democratic ideals baked into the European system. Indeed, any U.S. politician that leans in that direction inevitably gets branded a “European socialist.”
Then there are the more pacifist inclinations of Europe. Old hawks like Donald Rumsfeld famously railed against EU stalwarts like France and Germany that opposed the U.S. misadventure in Iraq. (Remember “freedom fries”?)
These trends converge in the Euroskepticism expressed by media outlets like Fox News, a sentiment that heavily influenced the George W. Bush administration. To them, the European Union represented a kind of super-socialism that was spreading eastward and threatening U.S. global dominance.
The other major contribution to Trump’s worldview comes from Europe itself. Right-wing nationalist movements like the Brexit campaign have tried to unravel the European Union.
These Euroskeptics view Brussels as an outside force trying to impose unwelcome regulations, immigrants,
John Feffer
challenge freedom of the press, judicial independence, and the free functioning of civil society the EU demands.
But there’s another strong Euroskeptic voice: Vladimir Putin.
Under Putin, Russia has supplied rhetorical and financial support for far- right wing parties throughout Europe —
ometimes life seems to have throughout
an underlying theme. From California, and time to time, the same idea or has done a
the National Front in France, the Freedom Party in Austria, the Northern League in Italy. Putin and the Euroskeptics are anti-immigrant and anti-liberal, and they favor nationalist and law-and-order policies.
But Putin also sees opportunity in Euroskepticism.
A weaker EU won’t be able to attract new, post-Soviet members like Ukraine or Moldova. A weaker EU will be more dependent on Russian energy exports. A weaker EU would have less power to criticize Russia’s political and foreign policy conduct.
Which brings us back to Donald Trump.
The president has declared Europe an enemy because of its trade policies. But that’s just a red herring. He actually has a more systemic critique of the EU that coincides
with the worldview of Vladimir Putin, Europe’s right- wing nationalists, and Euroskeptics among America’s conservatives.
This is very bad news. If the crisis in transatlantic relations were just about trade, it could be handled by some hardnosed negotiating. If the disputes with the EU and NATO were simply about Trump’s disruptive style, then everything could be resolved by a regime change at the polls in 2020.
But Trump has launched a much larger, ideological assault on European institutions and values. What’s worse: It’s
part of the same attack on liberal values here in the United States.
Forget about NATO: Maybe we need a transatlantic alliance against Trump.
John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.
concept will repeat itself in your day to day life – like a lesson from the cosmos.
Such was the case for me last week and the lesson is worth noting, both for me and for anyone looking to find greater meaning in their life.
I spoke with several people last week, all from different walks of life, but all of them had the same thing to say. I spoke with Maribel Sorensen of the Alta District Historical Society, as she explained how she recently moved back to her hometown of Dinuba after living in places such as New York and even England. She now devotes her extra time to helping promote the
rich history of the Alta District, and spoke of the joy of giving back to her community.
I also spoke with Dinuba Police Officer Marcos Nunez, a 1998 graduate of Dinuba High School, who came back to his hometown to help serve and protect the community he grew up in. He spoke of what a privilege it is to work in his hometown.
I then spoke with Stephen “Buffy” Ruiz, a local who has spent the last
six years making sure local students have the supplies they need to start school on the right foot. He gave out 300 backpacks on Saturday to kids
in Orange Cove and will give out
300 more to students in Sultana this Saturday, where he and his family went to school. Ruiz said he tells students how important it is to return to help the community that made them who they are.
I also spoke with Pastor Horacio Aleman, the founder of Cruising for Jesus, who started the organization while pastoring at Templo Calvario in Dinuba back in 1995. He stated that though his organization has traveled
number of shows in Mexico as well, his greatest joy is in giving back to the community he calls home.
Though they all offered a different
service to their respective communities, the common
thread was obvious. There is something incredibly edifying in giving back to and serving your community, both to the community and to the one giving.
Perhaps this was life giving me an eye opener as I enter my new journey as the editor of the Dinuba Sentinel. Call it cliché, but I’m one of those who believe that everything happens for a reason.
One of the great things about community journalism is that every week is different. It presents a new window into the life we know as a city and as a culture. It also affords the opportunity to learn about your surroundings like few others do.
But more importantly, at least in
my case, it provides the opportunity to serve your community as a whole in the most dynamic way. Last week’s lesson certainly gave me a greater appreciation for the position I’m now in.
To be able to serve your community, in whatever capacity, is truly a blessing. I would encourage you to find a way to give back to yours as well. The more we give back to our community the greater our community becomes. And if you do, I’d like to hear about so I can write about it – after all, that’s my job.
Rick Curiel is editor of the Sentinel. He can be reached at editor@ thedinubasentinel.com
Rick Curiel
The Dinuba Sentinel welcomes submissions of letters to the editor on topics of local relevance. Word limit is 350. Letters are considered once per month for each submitter.
Letters must include the author’s name, phone number and address for verification. Mail to 145 South L Street, Dinuba,
CA, 93618, or e-mail to editor@thedinubasentinel.com. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Libelous letters will not be printed.
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