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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2018)
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 2 O P I N I O N ‘Real U.S. persons’ By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief I went home with a waitress The way I always do How was I to know She was with the Russians too? — Wa r re n Z e v o n , “Lawyers Guns and Money” Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: In the Letters section of the February 14 Nugget, Terry Weygandt, in referring to Craig Rullman’s Bunkhouse Chronicle of February 7, seemed to make some pretty bold claims that seem questionable. Initially Terry claims, “there is absolutely no evidence that Democrats attempted to influ- ence the election in favor of Hillary Clinton.” I would suggest that millions of Bernie support- ers would argue the real evidence says differ- ent. And, with ongoing investigations still in progress it may be a bit premature to use terms like “absolutely.” Continuing on, Terry says that Mr. Rullman “could do a little research” and suggested he listen to Pod Save America. Being curious I got online and listened to the February 1, 2018 session mentioned. The Pod Save America site where Terry calls the hosts “funny and smart” turns out to hosted by far left, foul-mouthed, former Obama staffers full of hate for Trump. If the Dems run on a platform “Elect Us Because We Hate Trump” in the midterms I’m not sure that will be effective. It certainly hasn’t done anything for the credibility of Hillary’s mainstream press. Jeff Mackey s s s To the Editor: I would like to put in my two cents regard- ing snow removal in the City of Sisters. Sunday morning, we all woke up to sev- eral inches of snow in town. As a retail shop employee, part of our opening duties are to help shovel the sidewalks, decks, and even See LETTERS on page 28 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Chance Snow Chance Snow Mostly Sunny Chance Snow Chance Snow Chance Snow 30/14 29/12 37/25 40/25 40/27 41/24 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Graphic Design: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partners: Patti Jo Beal & Vicki Curlett Accounting: Erin Bordonaro Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2018 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. The sense that Russia — and more specifically its president, Vladimir Putin — were the big winners in the 2016 U.S. presidential elec- tion is only enhanced by the indictment of 13 Russians handed down by special counsel Robert Mueller last week. These bad actors and a Russian Internet troll farm — none of which are likely to ever see the inside of a U.S. courtroom — undertook an array of nefarious and fraudulent practices to “sow discord” in the United States and “spread distrust towards the candidates and the politi- cal system in general.” The operation was a suc- cess, regardless of its sub- stantive impact on the out- come of the election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein noted last week that “There is no alle- gation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 elec- tion.” OK. But there’s really no way to know that — how can you measure the impact of discord and distrust on hearts and minds? In any case, swaying the election one way or another was not a requirement for this asym- metric psy-op to earn a few trolls a medal or two. All the Russians had to do to make Uncle Vova smile that oily, predatory smile was to roil the American waters. And roiled they are… severely. The indictment is both good and bad for Donald Trump. On the good side, the indictment offers no indica- tion that there was collusion between his campaign and Russian actors. “There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity,” Rosenstein said. All “real U.S. persons” who interacted with Russian provocateurs did so as “unwittingly” as Warren Zevon in his choice of wait- ress companions. How were they to know? There may be another shoe yet to drop, but this indictment provides no fuel to the collusion narrative. On the other hand, Trump’s persistent com- plaints that the whole Russia investigation is a “hoax” or “fake news” are no longer sustainable, even for his most ardent supporters. “Good or bad for Donald Trump” has always been the president’s sole measur- ing stick, but that should not be the focus. Given that the Russian actions amount to “information warfare on America,” there’s something more significant at stake here. The president should act decisively to defend his country. Instead, he’s point- ing fingers at everybody but Russia and taunting Oprah Winfrey. The great revelation of the Russia investigation so far is just how ripe the American electorate is for exploitation. There’s a lot of anger out there, soaked in the rocket fuel of fear and resent- ment; it doesn’t take much of a spark to make it go up in flames. Our fingers are itch- ing on our keyboards, quick to fire off a killer meme or retweet an insult, but reluc- tant to drill down on issues, policies and candidates. We’re all too credulous about “information” — accurate or not — that confirms and vali- dates our biases and often too lazy to do our homework and draw our own conclusions. We bunker up in our cho- sen media silos, unwilling to listen to another perspective and always ready to believe the worst about those who see things differently than we do. Friendships and family relationships fracture along political faultlines. And Uncle Vova smiles. Here in Sisters, we’re still a small enough and tight-knit enough community that we can have real conversations with other “real U.S. per- sons.” It takes a little work, and it can be a little intimi- dating stepping out of our echo-chamber and hearing something we may not like from somebody we do like. But that’s the only antidote to the hostile bunker mentality we’ve allowed to take root in our country, which bad actors who mean us harm can and will — as this indictment shows — exploit. So go have a cup of cof- fee with your neighbor who stands on the other side of the political fence. You may have more in common than you think — and you’re sticking it to Uncle Vova just a little. Which can’t be a bad thing. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
