Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 19, 2019

9

OPINION: 

Mountain View News Saturday, October 19, 2019 

STUART TOLCHIN


CAN PEOPLE REMAKE 
HISTORY?

MOUNTAIN 
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Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

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John Aveny 

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CONTRIBUTORS

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Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

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Rev. James Snyder

Dr. Tina Paul

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

 
I always 
prefer actual 
human 
interaction 
over dealing 
with 
machines or 
taped voice 
messages. 
Before 
my wife 
assumed the 
management 
of most of our financial responsibilities 
I customarily went directly to the bank 
or the telephone company or the phone 
company to pay bills. It always seemed 
to me, and still seems to me, that 
actual human interaction is necessary 
to reliably affect anything and has the 
power to do everything. Consequently, 
on Monday, October 14, 2019 I hurried 
to the bank at 9:00 a.m. to deposit some 
checks and make a cash withdrawal. 
Upon arrival I was surprised to learn 
that the bank was not open for business 
and although I probably could have used 
the ATM machine I have never done 
so and went somewhere else to have 
breakfast.

 During breakfast I wondered 
why the Bank was closed and thought 
about it and finally realized that this 
October 14 was probably a holiday 
commemorating the landing in the 
Americas by Christopher Columbus 
which I seemed to recall was generally 
agreed to have occurred on October 
12, 1492. Who knows when and where 
it actually happened but people had 
probably agreed that October 12 was the 
right date and now I reasoned that People 
had the power to agree to change that 
date when the holiday fell on a weekend 
to allow the holiday to be celebrated on a 
Monday. In fact, I recalled a Columbus 
Day when I was in New York and 
had happened upon a big Columbus 
Day parade that honored the Italian 
explorer Christopher Columbus who 
was working for Spain at the time. His 
discovery marked the beginning of the 
domination of the Western Hemisphere 
by Europeans and lead to the eventual 
destruction of the cultures of the People 
that already lived here. I already knew 
this history and could remember a time 
in Elementary School when we were 
being told that Columbus “discovered” 
America and some smart aleck student, 
I hope it was me, had asked the teacher 
how Columbus could have “discovered” 
America if there were already people 
living here. This occurred probably in 
about 1952 and by her look one could 
tell that the teacher resented the question 
and thought the impertinent student 
was some sort of Communist and made 
it clear to us that these other People 
didn’t count and the true facts were that 
Columbus “discovered” America in 1492 
as he sailed the ocean blue. There was 
a song that I now can’t remember that 
testified to the proof of this fact.

 The next day in Court I 
happened to overhear a lawyer talking 
about how surprised he was that Monday 
was an off-day as he had forgotten that 
that it was Columbus Day. Someone 
else sort of chuckled and told him that 
it really wasn’t Columbus Day anymore. 
Magically, it was now some other 
holiday called Indigenous Peoples Day. 
I heard the name of the new holiday 
and didn’t know what they were talking 
about. Notwithstanding my previously 
mentioned distaste for machines the 
next day I used my google-machine or 
IPhone or whatever you call it to look 
up something which I didn’t understand 
(which I do about fifty times a day ) and 
learned the following:

 Gavin Newsom announced on Monday 
that the state would honor Indigenous

Peoples Day, celebrating Native 
Americans on a holiday usually 
associated with Italian explorer 
Christopher Columbus. 

 Governor Newsom had further 
commented that “nobody taught me 
empathy, sensitivity or understanding 
as it relates to what really happened. 
This was the original genocide. It was 
about white supremacy.” The governor 
added that he also had created a Truth 
and Healing Counsel to further remedy 
the evils that had been committed by the 
genocide and to present a more accurate 
and healing historical record. 

 Okay if it it’s that simple and if people 
really have the power to heal and corrct 
past historical mistakes and replace the 
bad stuff with good stuff let us all unite 
to issue the following:

 By Proclamation we the People hereby 
declare that the election of Donald J. 
Trump is hereby negated and rendered 
unlawful for the reason of its illegality 
and immorality all actions taken by him 
shall be vacated. A Truth and Healing 
Counsel shall be established to further 
the process of healing and correcting 
this historical error and Hilary Clinton 
shall now be entitled to rightly act as 
President of the United States Eligible 
for re-election in the year 2020.

It shall be recognized that we are a 
nation of Laws but as the illegal and 
now forgotten administration has 
demonstrated; laws can be altered and 
ignored by men and actions may be 
taken completely indifferent to these 
laws and history can be molded by the 
actions of men.

 Well I hope everyone had a pleasant 
Indigenous People’s Day and I further 
hope that President Hilary Clinton can 
be RE-ELECTED.

WOULDN’T IT BE NICE OF THE PAST 
COULD SO EASILY BE CORRECTED. 



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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

CARL GOLDEN

MICHAEL REAGAN


CNN BLOWS ANOTHER DEBATE

“NEWSPAPER EDITORS ARE MEN 
WHO SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM 
THE CHAFF AND THEN PRINT THE 
CHAFF.” WHOSE WORDS?

President Trump? Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders? California 
Sen. Kamala Harris? Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren?

No… It was uttered by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai 
E. Stevenson in 1952.

Using the media as a whipping boy is, of course, nothing new.
Trump may have raised it to an art form – “fake news… enemy 
of the people” etc. – but criticism of the media has been as 
much a part of campaigning as lawn signs, posters, straw hats and balloons.

More history? Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy both were critical of the me-dia 
and, in the late 1960s and early 1970s,Vice President Spiro Agnew spent most of his 
time and energy berating the media with colorful alliterative phrases like these: “Nattering 
nabobs of negativism… effete corps ofimpudent snobs,” etc.

Lest there be any doubt, the atmosphere today is immeasurably more poison-ous.Past 
criticisms seem almost quaint and gentlemanly.

In earlier decades, the power and influence of the print media was supreme, considering 
newspapers were virtually the only trusted source of news.It con-trolled the field, 
and attacks on it could be shrugged off or ignored altogether. Attacking the New York 
Times, for instance, was likened to throwing spitballs at a battleship.

The revolution in communications technology shattered those norms, loosening the 
grip of the print media on the public discourse.The vacuum was filled by an unfettered, 
undisciplined, unregulated amalgam of groups and individuals who drove political 
debate at a dizzying, nearly incomprehensible pace.

“I read it on the internet” became the default position in promoting or disputing a 
point of view. In-depth analyses of complex policy issues were replaced by Twitter, 
Instagram, 60 seconds on YouTube. Success is now measured by the number of one’s 
Twitter followers.There’s no need to appear insightful or un-derstanding – just keep 
those thumbs working on a handheld keyboard.

No one has mastered this environment better than the president.He unleashes a daily 
barrage of Twitter messages – half truths, untruths, distorted historical al-lusions, 
conspiracy theories and exaggerations.

He has framed the public debate,forced the media to follow his lead, chase down his 
latest tirade, defend itself, and attempt to provide context and meaning to rapidly 
moving events.

In the process, too many have fallen into the trap of engaging Trump directly and 
personally, an understandable impulse but one which plays directly into the president’s 
hands.

As tempting as it is to respond in kind, it is a mistake for reporters to give in to 
it.Trump enjoys home field advantage and swapping insults with him is a losing game. 
There is no upside for the media to gamble its reputation simply because it desires the 
temporary inner satisfaction of getting the better of an exchange with the president. 

The media’s responsibility is to cover him, report what he says and does, point out 
the flaws and the foibles, explain the impact of his actions and their meaning to the 
American people.In other words, do what reporters have always done. 

Competitive pressures – the demand to get it first has erased the need to get it right 
– has undermined public confidence in the media.News judgment and the inherent 
skepticism which led to more intense questioning of sources have been overlooked. 
Errors are magnified, mistakes admitted, and stories retracted, all feeding Trump’s 
obsession with heaping humiliation on the offenders as evi-dence of a media to de-
legitimize his election.

It is Trump, though, who has demonstrated his nimbleness in navigating the media 
landscape while compiling political points with his base. A handful of candidates for 
the Democratic presidential nomination – most notably Sanders – have discovered 
there is advantage to be gained and attention attracted by turn-ing their wrath on the 
media.

The media has been dragged into what is arguably the most highly charged po-litical 
environment in recent memory, subjected to accusations of sloppy and bi-ased 
coverage,focusing on the trivial, taking the path of least resistance and ig-noring 
issues.

Candidates routinely grumble and grouse about media coverage but it’s degen-erated 
into public shouting matches and allegations of the most vicious personal sort. As 
unseemly as it is, it’s likely here to stay and worsen.

There’s no incentive to behave otherwise. 

It almost makes one pine for the good old days – separating the wheat from the chaff 
while listening to the nattering nabobs of negativism and the effete corps of impudent 
snobs.

Twelve presidential wannabes standing in a row on stage for three 
hours.

Three friendly liberal journalists under-handing softball questions 
to them.

Tons of BS about free government healthcare and why Trump 
should be im-peached.

Until the personal shock I got at the end of the Democrats’ debate 
on CNN woke me from my stupor, I wasn’t sure I wasn’t watching 
a rerun of last month’s de-bate.

It was the same uninspiring lineup of leftwing political featherweights, 
plus a self-made billionaire in a hideous tie named Tom Steyer.

And this time instead of ganging up on poor old Joe Biden, everyone was picking a fight 
with Elizabeth Warren.

They were trying to get the former Native American to admit the truth she would not 
speak – that her “free” Medicare-for-All Plan is going to be paid for with higher taxes on 
the middle class.

Otherwise, the CNN debate was another in a series of three-hour ordeals featur-ing the 
usual Trump bashing, false promises, canned answers and left-wing Democrat talking 
points.

No one excelled. No one stood out from the 12-pack of mediocrity.

Joe Biden was sad to watch as he continued his slow death spiral.

Bernie looked healthy, but he’s stalled in the polls. The angry socialist will never win the 
nomination, even with the endorsement of AOC and the rest of her Squad.

Sen. Warren was her usual unlikable self – a Professor Know-It-All with dozens of big 
detailed federal plans that won’t work, will cost trillions and will turn America into a bigger 
Swedish welfare state than it already is.

She also showed she’s not too good at taking a punch – or a bunch of slaps – from her 
fellow lefties.

Mayor Pete did well because in a crowd of goofballs he actually sounded rea-sonable now 
and then.

He and impressive congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii were standouts, but they 
have no more chance of winning the right to lose to Trump than Harris, O’Rourke, Booker 
and the rest of the 2 per-centers.

As for the debate itself, what a joke.

CNN’s questioners were too biased to ask tough questions of their soulmates.

Plus, they completely avoided several radioactive subjects that would have forced Democrats 
to admit that President Trump has some successes he can take credit for, such as the 
booming economy, low unemployment and trade negotia-tions with China.

Stranger yet, there wasn’t a single question about the hottest news topic of the moment – 
China and its tiff with the NBA.

Maybe CNN was afraid China would black out its newscasts like they did the NBA games.

If I were really cynical, I’d suspect CNN of clearing its debate questions before-hand with 
the Democratic National Committee.

The result of CNN’s institutional incompetence and permanent liberal tilt was a debate 
that slogged on and on and got nowhere. No wonder the ratings tanked.

If I were CNN’s execs, next time I’d put a BS Meter at the bottom of the screen. Watching 
its arrow spike twice a minute at least would have provided a little fun for intrepid viewers 
like me who stuck it out for three hours.

How bad was the Democrats’ third debate? Well, the biggest winner of the night again 
was obviously President Trump, who’s still the front-runner.

In what has to be the strangest twist of all, the most-Googled name of the night after the 
debate was not Biden, Sanders, Warren or Gabbard. It was not even a Democrat.

It was a Reagan.

My brother Ron ended up being the most Googled thanks to the old commercial that 
CNN ran right before the final question.

The TV ad, shot about six years ago, featured Ron saying something like, “I’m a lifelong 
atheist and I’m not worried about burning in hell.”

The sudden appearance of my brother endorsing atheism on my TV was shock-ing, to 
say the least.

Maybe it was the only ad CNN could find, or maybe CNN aired it for free.

But for me it was a crummy reward for watching their horrible debate all the way to the 
end.

Mountain Views News

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