OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015
Introducing Donald Trump, diplomat
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
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warning, even here
on the ‘wet-side’
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ome of the western red cedars on Long Island, Wash., in
the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and on neighboring
mainland hills are thought to be 800 years old, their longevity
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The way it’s going, our descen-
dants will be exceptionally lucky if
the ancient cedars are still around
eight centuries from now.
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Oregon and Washington this sum-
mer, a person doesn’t need to be a
pessimist to fear a day in our own
lifetimes when local forests follow
the tragic patterns playing out east
of the Cascades.
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ter all, the Tillamook and Clatsop
State Forest burns achieved the sta-
tus of “folk memory” in this region
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311,000 acres.
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coming almost common.
In an Aug. 9 story (tinyurl.com/
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makes numerous thought-proving
points about this problem that is ex-
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• “These infernos, once rare, are
growing to sizes that U.S. Forest
Service Chief Tom Tidwell describes
as ‘unimaginable’ two decades ago.
Five alone have consumed more
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Alaska since June. Washington,
Oregon, California, Arizona, New
Mexico and Colorado also experi-
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seven years.”
• “The main driver is climate
change. Rising temperatures ex-
acerbate drought, spread beetle
infestations and melt the snowpack
earlier. Early snowmelt alone has
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are going to become more wide-
spread,’ says Craig Allen, a U.S.
Geological Service forest ecologist
in Los Alamos, New Mexico. ‘The
drought itself is part of the natural
variability here. What’s different is
it’s a hotter drought than anything
in the Northern Hemisphere in the
last thousand years.’”
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burn twice as much land every year
now as they did 40 years ago.”
• “58 million acres of national
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there is only enough funding to clean
up 11.3 million acres.”
The end result of these colossal
blazes are landscapes permanently
transformed in terms of both plants
and animals. They burn so hot
and are so extensive that former-
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themselves at home. One scientist
quoted in the story said that if he
wants to continue specializing in
the same type of forest, he should
plan to move a couple hundred
miles north.
What does all this mean for the
counties of the Lower Columbia
River, which haven’t witnessed
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more than two generations? This
very dry summer, at least, the an-
swer is that we should be talking
about it and more actively including
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of civic discussions.
For example, if national forests
are poorly maintained in terms of
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to surmise that state forests are even
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County’s forestland in Washington
is predominantly owned by large
corporations ensure less build-up of
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Do federal and state agencies on the
“wet-side” give adequate time and
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in places like the previously safe na-
tional wildlife refuge?
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whiff of things to come as we in the
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warmer temperatures and without
reliable snowpacks to see us through
the summer. Intelligent, appropriate-
ly funded counter-measures can help
make the difference.
Jessica Lehrman/The New York Times
Donald Trump, the business mogul and Republican presidential candidate, with sports memorabilia at his
office in New York on Friday. The belt on his shoulder is Mike Tyson’s championship belt, the one in his lap
bearing his name is from World Wrestling Entertainment, where he has made frequent guest appearances.
food and the best high
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chair?
enough to win over voters
“Honestly, I don’t think
who think he’s crude and
onald Trump gives me his cartoonish?
people change that much,”
Grumpy Cat look.
Trump said. “I’m a solid,
How does he tone it
,¶P VLWWLQJ LQ KLV RI¿FH LQ7UXPS down when he’s proud of
stable person.” Knocking
Tower high above Fifth Avenue, next his outrageous persona, his
on the wooden restaurant
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to a wall plastered with framed mag- ¿HU\ ZHHKRXUV 7ZLWWHU DU
man of great achievement.
azine covers giving the effect of an rows and campaign “gus-
I win, Maureen, I always
LQ¿QLW\PLUURUKLVIDFHHQGOHVVO\PXO WR´DQGJUDWL¿HGE\WKHZD\
win. Knock on wood. I
WLSO\LQJ²LQFOXGLQJDQROG3OD\ER\ he can survive dissing John
Maureen
win. It’s what I do. I beat
with the real estate mogul slyly smil- McCain and rating Heidi
Dowd
people. I win.”
ing next to a comely bunny.
Klum when that would be
No insecurities?
“I could put up 40 of those walls,” a death knell for someone like Scott
“I don’t know how you would de-
he says. “I have covers in warehouses. Walker?
It’s crazy.”
“Sometimes I do go a little bit far,” ¿QHLQVHFXULW\DVLWSHUWDLQVWRPH´KH
I’m trying to tell the freshly mint- KH DOORZHG DGGLQJ DIWHU D PRPHQW replies.
He does have a germ phobia and
ed pol that Megyn Kelly had the right “Heidi Klum. Sadly, she’s no longer
carries packs of germicidal disposable
to ask him a question in the debate on a 10.”
how he talks about women, and that
+HFRXOGDFWPRUHUH¿QHGKHPXV wipes. He describes how a man came
she should be tough on the front-run- es over spaghetti and meatballs, with out of a restaurant bathroom the other
ner.
a side of pulled pork, in the Trump night with wet hands wanting to clasp
He’s not buying it. In fact, in his Tower restaurant, as fans gawk and his hand. “So what do I do?” Trump
stubborn “I win, you lose” way, he has ZDLWIRUVHO¿HVEXWWKDWZRXOGPDNH asked. “I don’t eat. That’s OK.”
I note that many people still think
an assistant come over to hand me a for a boring lunch.
printout of Gabriel Sherman’s NHZ
He relishes giving me a play-by- his bid is more runaway Macy’s
YRUN magazine piece headlined “How play of the Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell Thanksgiving Day balloon than a run
Roger Ailes Picked Trump, and Fox donnybrooks as though he’s talking on meaningful issues.
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News’ Audience, Over Megyn Kelly.” about Pacquiao-Mayweather. He
But the 69-year-old is trying hard beams with pride when he talks about with Carl Icahn yesterday and I said,
not to bare his claws at any women Rush Limbaugh marveling about how ‘Carl, if I get this thing you are going
to represent me on China. Maybe I’ll
right now. His wife, Melania, and much “incoming” he can take.
daughter Ivanka
“I’m a counter- even give you China and Japan.’ You
have told him they
puncher,” he said. know, the money they are ripping
It’s hard to
don’t want him to
“I can’t hit people from us.”
He is trying to be a bit more low
come across as a
who don’t hit me.
misogynist when imagine Trump Maybe that’s my key. He says he thought it would be
they don’t see him
Perry “cool” not to put his name on his
implementing weakness.
that way.
started it. Lindsey “Make America Great Again” caps.
“I have many
Graham started it. But it’s hard to imagine Trump imple-
impulse
women executives
This moron Rand menting impulse control.
control
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and they are paid
Paul just started it
at least as much as
because he is mired clear tweet at Vladimir Putin insulting
the men,” he said.
in 12th place and his pecs or Kim Jong Un calling him a
“fat little slob”?
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he’s a U.S. senator.”
“I’ll only do it for a purpose,” he
The billionaire braggart known for
He said Rosie was a bully and the
VD\LQJXQ¿OWHUHGWKLQJVLVWU\LQJWREH only way to beat bullies is to smack said. “I have total control. I will get
along great with these people. I’m a
diplomatic. Sort of.
them in the nose.
It has suddenly hit Trump that he’s
So he doesn’t think of himself as dealmaker. I’m the best dealmaker
there is.”
OHDGLQJWKH5HSXEOLFDQ¿HOGLQDUDFH a bully?
How will he deal with Carly Fio-
where many candidates, including the
He looks hurt. “Oh, no, the oppo-
two joyless presumptive nominees, site,” he said. “In fact, I’ll go a step rina, who is being hailed as the one to
are sputtering. He’s got the party by further. The way to do best with me is slay Trump after she excoriated him,
interpreting his blood “wherever” re-
WKHWDLO²VWLOODSXQFKOLQHEXWQRWD to be really nice to me.”
joke.
I mention that George Will has mark as being about Kelly’s period. (I
TKH :DOO SWUHHW -RXUQDO huffed written a column demanding that Re- GRQ¶WWKLQNKHPHDQWLWWKDWZD\
“Carly has to be a little bit careful,”
that Trump’s appeal was “attitude, not publican leaders renounce Trump as
substance,” and the nascent candidate a cynical opportunist “deranged by he warned.
What if he bursts into Trumpian
LVVWLOO¿JXULQJRXWWKHSHVN\OLWWOHGH egotism.”
tails, like staff and issues, dreaming up
“So George Will came to Mar- analysis of how Carly and Hillary
his own astringent campaign ads for a-Lago 10 years ago and made a look?
“Oh, I would never talk about
Instagram on ISIS and China.
speech,” Trump said. “I refused to go
The other candidates, he says, because he’s a boring person.” Trump their looks,” he replied primly. He
“have pollsters; they pay these guys said he stayed on the patio and had did, however, imitate how his ears felt
$200,000 a month to tell them, ‘Don’t dinner and that offended Will. (Will ³(HHHHHHHHH´ZKHQKHKHDUV&DUO\¶V
say this, don’t say that, you use the says he has “other and better reasons “staccato bing, bing, bing” voice and
wrong word, you shouldn’t put a com- for thinking it might not be altogether delivery.
How important are women’s looks
ma here.’ I don’t want any of that. I wise to entrust him with the nation’s
istory is never neat and clean. LVJRLQJWRYRWHWROLIWWKHWUDGHHP have a nice staff, but no one tells me QXFOHDUDUVHQDO´
to him?
He said he has found looks can
I tell Trump that he has transcend-
But some watershed moments bargo if they’re not moving with re- what to say. I go by my heart. The
hold
you back, that “some of the
combination
of
heart
and
brain.
When
ed
the
level
of
narcissism
common
in
are especially emblematic of change spect to issues of conscience,”
Hillary gets up there she reads and a profession full of narcissists. He is, great-looking men and women,
in the relationship of nations. Last
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then goes away for three days.”
after all, wearing a red tie with a label they’ve never had a problem getting
)ULGD\¶VÀDJUDLVLQJDWWKHQHZ86 in Havana matters for reasons well
As he headed off this weekend to by “a wonderful guy named Trump,” a date, they’ve never had a problem in
embassy in Havana contained doses beyond the borders of that island VHHWKHEXWWHUFRZLQ,RZD²³,RZDLV as he wryly puts it, with his Brioni life, now they get into a world which
of sentiment and realism.
nation. To all of Latin America, very clean. It’s not like a lot of places suit. In the latest Time, Jeffrey Kluger, LVDFUXHOSODFHDQGWKH\GRQ¶W¿JKWDV
“This was a decision to stop be- this symbolizes a new attitude in where you and I would go, like New the author of TKH NDUFLVVLVW NH[W hard.”
I ask Trump if he can at least ad-
ing the prisoners of history,” said :DVKLQJWRQ ,W LV VLJQL¿FDQW WKDW <RUN&LW\´²7UXPSLVSX]]OLQJRYHU DRRU, said “people at ease inside their
DFRQXQGUXP+RZGRHVKHFXUEWKH skin just don’t behave the way Trump mit that President Barack Obama was
Secretary of State John Kerry, noting Pope Francis, an Argentinian, was a merciless heckler side of himself, the does.”
born in this country.
WKDW ¿YH GHFDGHV RI D IUR]HQ GLSOR catalyst in brokering the deal that led side that has won over voters who
The Grumpy Cat face comes back.
I ask if he was always like this,
matic relationship would thaw.
to Friday’s event.
think he’s a refreshing truth teller, so boasting that he had the best baby “No comment,” he murmurs.
“Cuba-American relations,” he
Over 150 years, America’s rela-
said, “were suspended in the amber tionship with Cuba has been as tan-
of cold war history.”
gled as any two nations manage. For
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici :HE ZZZZ\GHQVHQDWH State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
It is a good thing that President Americans who wonder where Fidel (D)5D\EXUQ+2%:DVKLQJ gov
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Obama has moved our relationship Castro came from, T.J. English’s WRQ'&3KRQH
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D)6WDWH (PDLO VHQEHWV\ MRKQ
with Cuba off dead center. While it 2008 book HDYDQD NRFWXUQH HRZ )D[ 'LVWULFW &DSLWRO&RXUW6WUHHW1(+ VRQ#VWDWHRUXV:HEZZZEHWV\MRKQ
is true that Fidel Castro is the sort WKH 0RE OZQHG &XED DQG TKHQ LRVW RI¿FH 6: 0LOOLNDQ :D\ 6DOHP 25 3KRQH VRQFRP 'LVWULFW 2I¿FH 32 %R[ 5
of despot that America claims to IW WR WKH RHYROXWLRQ offers a historic 6XLWH %HDYHUWRQ 25 :HE ZZZOHJVWDWHRUXVZLWW 6FDSSRRVH 25 3KRQH
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despise, that calculus did not hold perspective on a fascinating era.
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• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D) RI¿FHSKRQH
President Richard Nixon back from
It is not just U.S.-Cuban relations gov/
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
• Port of Astoria([HFXWLYH'LUHF
opening a relationship with what was that can move to a new and more
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) 25 3KRQH tor, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Astoria, OR
then called Red China.
productive place. Breaking this long +DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ :DVK (PDLOUHSGHERUDKERRQH#VWDWHRUXV 3KRQH (PDLO
Acknowledging the impediment impasse can liberate elements of the LQJWRQ'&3KRQH 'LVWULFW RI¿FH 32 %R[ &DQ DGPLQ#SRUWRIDVWRULDFRP
• Clatsop County Board of Com-
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QRQ %HDFK 25 3KRQH
of Castro’s penchant for jailing po- Cuban culture and economy. That
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): :HE ZZZOHJVWDWHRUXV missionersFR&RXQW\0DQDJHU
litical prisoners, Secretary Kerry told will be good for all of the Western 'LUNVHQ 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ boone/
Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR
reporters “There is no way Congress Hemisphere.
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• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D) 3KRQH
H
By MAUREEN DOWD
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D
Door swings open for
‘prisoners of history’
Where to write