OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015
#You Ain’t No American, Bro
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
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
New York Times News Service
T
wo weeks ago, I was in
Kuwait participating in an
IMF seminar for Arab educators.
For 30 minutes, we discussed the
impact of technology trends on educa-
tion in the Middle East.
And then an
Egyptian edu-
FDWLRQ RI¿FLDO
raised his hand
and asked if he
could ask me a
personal ques-
tion: “I heard
Donald Trump
say we need to
close mosques
Thomas L.
the United
othing looms larger for the Astoria City Council than Heritage in
Friedman
States,” he said
Square and the prospect of building a new library or reno- with great sor-
“Is that what we want our kids to
vating the old one. Councilors reckoned with both topics in two row.
learn?”
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I tried to assure him that Trump
would
not be our next president — that
There are understandable rea- makes things happen.
America’s
commitment to pluralism
sons why the council is strug-
It is easy to be cowed by the runs deep. But
the encounter was a brac-
gling with these choices. Even choices in front of the council, es- ing reminder that what starts in Iowa
with 11 months under their belts, SHFLDOO\WKH¿QDQFLDORQHV$WWLPHV VKRZVXSLQ.XZDLW¿YHPLQXWHVODWHU
the working relationships among like this, it can be useful to bring Trump, by alienating the Muslim world
with his call for a ban on Muslims en-
the councilors remain a work in larger players into the discussion.
tering the United States, is acting as the
progress. Two of the councilors –
Some 25 years ago when the Islamic State’s secret agent. ISIS wants
Cindy Price and Zetty Nemlowill Clatsop County Fairgrounds were every Muslim in America (and Europe)
– are freshmen, and Mayor Arline being vacated, city leaders includ- to feel alienated. If that happens, ISIS
won’t need to recruit anyone. People
LaMear is in her inaugural year. ing Edith Henningsgaard, Willis will just act on their own.
(YHQ PRUH VLJQL¿FDQWO\ WKLV LV D Van Dusen and Skip Hauke in-
ISIS and Islamic extremism are
very big choice the council faces, vited Portland developers, such 0XVOLPSUREOHPVWKDWFDQRQO\EH¿[HG
Muslims. Lumping all Muslims to-
with a number of moving parts.
as Bill Naito, to spend a few by
gether as our enemies will only make
Especially startling, as Derrick hours here discussing what could that challenge harder.
DePledge reported Tuesday, was KDSSHQ RQ WKDW SURSHUW\ 3DFL¿F
But if Trump is wrong, is President
the high price tag of a project with Power helped make it happen by Barack Obama right? Partly. He’s right
the only way you can sustainably
all of the options — from $29.7 À\LQJ WKH 3RUWODQGHUV KHUH RQ D that
defeat ISIS is with a coalition. We need
million to $38.7 million.
corporate plane. The result was the moderate Sunni Muslim forces to go
Here are a few ideas could be Gateway Zone, with a movie the- house to house against ISIS in Iraq. We
useful in moving forward:
ater, Aquatic Center and Oregon need Sunni spiritual leaders to go heart
to heart and delegitimize the ISIS mes-
• The hole in Heritage Square is State University facilities.
sage everywhere. And we need Iran to
not an acceptable long-term strate-
The city needs at least one make clear it supports an equitable
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partner and maybe two to make power-sharing agreement in Iraq be-
• A 21st century library, which a semblance of these possibilities tween Sunnis and Shiites, so moderate
6XQQL$UDEVZLOO¿JKW,6,6UDWKHUWKDQ
Mayor LaMear promotes, would happen. While vetting is essential, seeing it as their shield against Iran.
be the kind of asset that marks a credible players are out there.
What Obama also has right is that
old
saying: “If you’re in a poker game
community that wants to beckon a
At times like this, it is useful
and you don’t know who the sucker
smart workforce.
to remember the admonition that is, it’s probably you.” That’s the game
• Combining library space with Goethe offered: “Whatever you we’re in in Iraq and Syria. All our al-
workforce housing in a downtown can do or dream you can, begin it. lies for a coalition to take down ISIS
setting has enormous power.
Boldness has genius, power and want what we want, but as their second
choice.
• Finding a private developer magic in it!”
Kurds are not going to die to liber-
ate Mosul from ISIS in order to hand
it over to a Shiite-led government
in Baghdad; they’ll want to keep it.
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Others can help
council with choices
N
Time to scrap
outmoded pot laws
T
he Chinook Observer ¿QGV
itself in the position of being
caught between the U.S. Justice
Department and U.S. Postal
Service when it comes to adver-
tising legal marijuana in Coast
Weekend.
Due to a question/complaint by
DSRVWPDVWHUHOVHZKHUHLQ3DFL¿F
County, Long Beach Postmaster
Mark Scarborough was similarly
VWXFN EHWZHHQ DQWLTXDWHG ÀDZV
that put marijuana in the same
category as heroin, versus the fact
that marijuana is now a legal prod-
uct in Washington, Oregon and an
expanding number of other states.
Since the so-called “Cole
Memo” of August 2013, the U.S
Justice Department’s position has
been “federal government wouldn’t
intervene as long as legalization
states tightly regulate the drug and
take steps to keep it from children,
criminal cartels and federal prop-
erty,” according to the Associated
Press. Most assumed other agen-
cies will take the same stance, since
Justice interprets the law and makes
enforcement determinations.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is
OHDGLQJ WKH ZD\ LQ ¿QGLQJ RXW
ZK\3RUWODQGRI¿FLDOVDSSHDUWREH
throwing up a new obstacle to nor-
malization of the legal marijuana
business.
As it stands, the Observer felt
obliged to leave this week’s Coast
Weekend out of copies of its paper
mailed to about 2,000 subscribers.
(The Observer is somewhat un-
usual in selling most copies via lo-
cal stores to non-subscribers, who
did receive their Coast Weekend.)
Based on new indications that
ORFDO SRVW RI¿FHV ZLOO QRW EH H[-
pected by supervisors to make en-
forcement decisions on this matter,
insertion of Coast Weekend in all
Observer copies probably will re-
sume next week.
Beyond this immediate con-
troversy, it is time for Congress to
scrap federal anti-marijuana laws in
the face of a clear and widespread
social movement toward legaliza-
tion. The de facto law that exists
in today’s reality is that legal mar-
ijuana is left to the discretion of in-
dividual states. Federal law should
explicitly recognize this fact.
It’s no wonder the Postal
Service is confused, considered
the contradictory situation that ex-
ists in terms of federal statutes and
enforcement.
Newspapers are adjusting to a
digitized world, but they need to
be operating on a level playing
¿HOG ZLWK ,QWHUQHWEDVHG FRPSHW-
itors, especially when it comes
to advertising. New businesses
trying to reach a large number of
local doorsteps are perfect candi-
dates for newspaper advertising.
But if longtime local companies
are banned from doing what some
of the largest and most powerful
corporations in the world can do
online, their ability to compete will
be greatly diminished.
This small issue is just one
more reminder that state-by-state
legalization will be fraught with
problems as long as federal au-
thorities have a completely differ-
ent understanding of marijuana.
It’s time to end this charade.
Mic Smith/AP Photo
A protester is escorted out by a police officer, in glasses, top right, as
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks
during a rally coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day at Patriots Point aboard
the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday.
The Turks primarily want to block while we know that the violent jihadis
the Kurds. The Iranians want ISIS are a minority among Muslims, the no-
crushed, but worry that if moderate tion that they’re a totally separate and
Sunnis take over its territory they distinct group is not true. ISIS ideology
could one day threaten Iran’s allies in comes directly out of the most puritan-
Iraq and Syria. The Saudi government LFDO DQWLSOXUDOLVWLF 6DOD¿VW VFKRRO RI
would like ISIS to disappear, but its Islam, which promotes a lot of hostili-
priority right now is crushing Irani- ty toward “the other” — Shiites, Jews,
an-backed rebels in Yemen. And with Hindus, Christians. Clearly, some peo-
ple are taking permission
1,000 Saudi youths hav-
and inspiration from this
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What
puritanical Islam to murder
— and with Saudi Arabia
sow mayhem. I can’t
leading the world in pro-
starts and
reform it, but a movement
ISIS tweets, according to
a recent Brookings study in Iowa of Muslims must, because it
is isolating their whole com-
— the Saudi government is
shows munity.
wary about leading the an-
There are some good
WL,6,6¿JKW7KH5XVVLDQV
up in
signs. NPR reported Mon-
SUHWHQG WR ¿JKW ,6,6 EXW
that “when a man
they are really in Syria to
Kuwait day
wielding a knife stabbed
protect Bashar Assad and
three people at an East Lon-
defeat his moderate foes.
five
don subway stop on Satur-
It’s not exactly the
D-Day alliance. It’s a deck minutes day evening and shouted,
‘This is for Syria,’ as he
full of jokers, none of whose
later.
was being handcuffed ... an
priority is defeating ISIS
onlooker yelled, ‘You ain’t
and replacing it with a mul-
tisectarian democracy in Iraq and Syr- no Muslim, bruv!’ using slang akin to
ia, which is our goal. And yet, I worry: ‘bro.’ ‘You’re no Muslim. You ain’t no
These ISIS guys are smart and wicked. Muslim,’ he repeated.” The man who
The longer they control territory, the made the statement has not been iden-
more likely they’ll acquire something WL¿HG EXW WKH KDVKWDJ µ<RX$LQW1R-
MuslimBruv’ began trending world-
really scary, like a dirty bomb.
6XI¿FLHQW86JURXQGIRUFHVFRXOG wide,” no doubt propelled by Muslims.
easily crush ISIS, but the morning af- That’s what we need more of.
As for Trump, well, he may be a
ter — when we try to put in place a
decent local government to replace our dealmaker, but he’s no poker player
troops — we’d face those mixed mo- UHDG\ IRU WKH 0LGGOH (DVW ¿YHFDUG
tives of all of our coalition partners. So stud sharks. His xenophobic rheto-
ric and unrealistic, infantile threats of
what to do?
I’d do a bit more of everything: Ap- massive bombing make up the kind
ply more pressure on our Sunni allies to of simplistic hand you’d play in “Go
MRLQWKHDQWL,6,6¿JKWZLWKWURRSVRQ Fish” — not in this high-stakes game.
the ground; call on the Saudis and oth- Beyond playing into ISIS’ hand by
er Sunnis to loudly delegitimize ISIS; denigrating the U.S. presidency and
deploy more U.S. and NATO Special our democratic ideals, Trump is doing
Forces; make clear to Iran that we real damage to America’s ability to
might have to put the nuclear deal on lead a coalition, the only vehicle that
hold if Iran is not a more constructive can effectively address this problem.
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partner in Iraq and Syria; and stress that
Liberalism’s gun problem is where it ends
chin-Toomey bill that failed
immediately relevant to the
in 2013 in the Senate. It
mass shooting debate.
was also, though, the basis
Does that make “getting
to Australia” a compelling
do not own guns, and the last for two major pieces of gun
long-term goal for liberal-
WLPH,GLVFKDUJHGD¿UHDUPZDV legislation that passed in the
1990s: The Brady Law re-
ism? Maybe, but liberals
on “Second Amendment Day” at a quiring background checks
need to count the cost. Ab-
conservative journalism program for handguns and the assault
sent a total cultural revolu-
tion in America, a massive
many years ago. (Yes, dear reader, weapons ban.
Both
measures
were
gun collection effort would
that’s how conservative journal-
IDFH VLJQL¿FDQW UHVLVWDQFH
promoted as common-sense
Ross
ism programs roll.)
even once legislative and ju-
reforms — in the case of the
Douthat
My political commitments are Brady Law, by none other
dicial battles had been won.
more communitarian than libertarian, than Ronald Reagan. But both failed to The best analogue is Prohibition, which
I don’t think the Constitution guaran- have an appreciable impact on homi- GLGKDYHPDMRUSXEOLFKHDOWKEHQH¿WV
tees a right to bear every kind of gun cides — even as other policies, like hir- but which came at a steep cost in terms
LQJPRUHSROLFHRI¿FHUVSUREDEO\GLG of police powers, black markets and
or magazine, and I think of myself as That double failure, some gun control trampled liberties.
modestly persuadable in the gun con- supporters will tell you, has to do with
I suspect liberals imagine, at some
trol debate.
the loopholes those two laws left open level, that a Prohibition-style campaign
Of course that doesn’t mean I real- — particularly the fact that individuals against guns would mostly involve bust-
ly am, since we’re all tribal creatures selling guns aren’t required to run back- ing up gun shows and disarming Rob-
and gun rights advocates are part of my ground checks when they sell within ert Dear-like trailer-park loners. But in
strange and motley right-wing tribe. their home state.
practice it would probably look more
But at the very least I understand why
But that claim’s very plausibility like Michael Bloomberg’s controversial
the idea of strict gun control has such a points to the problem: With 300 mil- stop-and-frisk policy, with a counterter-
following, why it seems to many peo- lion guns in private hands in the Unit- rorism component that ended up heavily
ple like the obvious response to mass HG 6WDWHV LW¶V YHU\ GLI¿FXOW WR GHYLVH targeting Muslim Americans. In areas
shootings — whether the perpetrators a nonintrusive, “common-sense” ap- where gun ownership is high but crime
are ISIS sympathiz-
proach to regulating rates low, like Bernie Sanders’ Vermont,
ers, mad right-wing-
their exchange by in- authorities would mostly turn a blind eye
Liberalism
ers, or simply mad
dividuals. Ultimate- to illegal guns, while poor and minority
— and why the sor- often lacks a ly, you need more communities bore the brunt of raids and
rowful public piety
than
background ¿QHVDQGMDLOWHUPV
of Republican politi-
clear sense checks; you need Here the relevant case study is
cians after a gun mas-
many fewer guns in probably not Australia, but France.
of which
sacre drives liberals
circulation, period. The French have the kind of strict gun
into a fury.
To their credit, many laws that American liberals favor, and
That fury, though, actions might gun control support- they have fewer gun deaths than we
needs a little more
ers acknowledge this do. But their strict gun laws are part of
actually
cool reasoning be-
point, which is why a larger matrix of illiberalism — a mix
KLQGLW,W¶V¿QHWRGH-
address the there is a vogue for of Bloombergist police tactics, Trump-
mand actions, not just
citing the Australian like disdain for religious liberty, and
problem.
prayers, in response
experience, where a campus-left-style restrictions on free
to gun violence. But
sweeping and man- speech. (And then France also has a
today’s liberalism often lacks a clear datory gun buyback followed a 1996 lively black market in weaponry, which
determined terrorists unfortunately
sense of which actions might actual- mass shooting.
ly address the problem — and, just as
The clearest evidence shows that VHHPWRKDYHOLWWOHGLI¿FXOW\DFTXLULQJ
Despite their occasional sympa-
important, a clear appreciation of what Australia’s reform mostly reduced sui-
those actions might cost.
cides — as the Brady law may have thies for Gallic socialism, I don’t think
Sometimes, it’s suggested that all done — while the evidence on homi- American liberals necessarily want to
we need are modest, “common-sense” cides is murkier. (In general, the evi- “get to France” in this illiberal sense.
But to be persuasive, rather than just
changes to gun laws: Tighter back- dence linking gun ownership rates to
JURXQGFKHFNVQHZZD\VWRWUDFH¿UH- murder rates is relatively weak.) But a self-righteous, a case for gun control
arms, bans on the deadliest weapons.
lower suicide rate would be a real pub- needs to explain why that isn’t where
This idea was the basis for the Man- lic health achievement, even if it isn’t we would end up.
By ROSS DOUTHAT
New York Times News Service
I