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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2007 When it comes to landing fish, Astoria has been putting on pounds. The Astoria commercial fishing port — which includes Warrenton and Hammond landings – claimed 164.1 million pounds of fish last year, the fourth highest of any West Coast port and No. 9 nationwide. Astoria’s 2006 haul was just a little lighter than that of Los Ange- les, which landed 164.5 million pounds. Both were a ways behind the top Alaska ports in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, which landed 911 million pounds and 372 million pounds respectively. They’re out there. One hundred miles off the Oregon Coast, leatherback sea tur- tles, who many call “the Earth’s last living dinosaurs,” are feed- ing on thousands of jellyfish. Unbeknownst to many land dwellers, these large reptiles — which can grow to more than 6 feet long and tip the scales at 2,000 pounds — come from as far as Indonesia to cruise our jel- lyfish-rich waters from late July through November. But turtle lovers shouldn’t break out their Nikon cameras just yet: Their distance puts them well beyond the average beachgoer. Four of the seven Clatsop County planning commissioners rejected the advice of county staff Wednesday in three split votes that turned the tide for Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas project developer Northern- Star Natural Gas Co. The three votes reversed staff conclusions on the project’s size, dredg- ing Clifton Channel and rezoning 5 acres of wetlands for industrial development. And in the end, the changed the conclusion from “deny” the Northern- Star land use application to “approve with conditions.” 50 years ago — 1967 Celebration of the Astoria Regatta, this year in its 47th year since origin back in 1894, has been temporarily discontinued four times over this span, twice as result of world wars. Each time, however, the fes- tivities were revived, just showing that you can’t keep a good Regatta down. The Daily Astorian/File Longest gap was a 15-year Eleven persons in this period, from 1917-1932, when crumpled station wagon World War I forced cancellation of survived an 80-foot plunge the festival. It was not until more over a cliff near Indian than a decade had passed that Beach Thursday. Astorians’ thoughts turned once again to the marine celebration. It revived with organization of the Astoria Yacht Club in 1931 whose leaders went to work. In 1932 the Regatta was once again a reality, with Marie Simmons ruling all of Regattaland. Port- lander Phil Jackson was that year’s admiral. Eleven persons survived an automobile’s 80 foot plunge down a cliff near Indian Beach in Ecola State Park Wednesday afternoon. The car plunged off a curve on the winding, hillside road between Ecola Park and Indian Beach when the accelerator apparently stuck as the station wagon was approaching the curve. The station wagon landed upside down at the foot of the cliff. Most of the passengers suffered cuts and bruises but only one, Florence Harrison, 41, was hospitalized. Ten years ago midnight tonight hundreds of Cannon Beach, Seaside and Gearhart residents gathered on the beach to witness the end of an era. At 12:01 a.m., September 1, 1957, lightkeeper Osward Allik, now retired and living in Portland, turned off the powerful Tilla- mook Rock lighthouse beam for the last time. 75 years ago — 1942 The fourth and final carload of daffodil bulbs, Clatsop Plains chief agri- cultural crop, was shipped from here last week. The bulbs are now selling at an average of $200 a ton. The Astoria Port Commission, in a brief session, last night deeded additional ground on the Port’s Clatsop airport to the Navy for expansion of plane facilities and offered more space on the docks’ middle pier for use of the 13th naval district. Porpoise has wide possibilities as canned food. This is the conclusion reached by Dr. E.W. Harvey of the state food industries laboratories here. Harvey is continuing his investigation of the procedure followed in pack- ing porpoise as a result of initial tests by the members of the Oregon fish commission and the Washington Department of Fisheries. Last spring at a breakfast held at food laboratories, these members of the two states’ fishery departments were served canned porpoise and found it much to their liking. Once used to batter Yankee forces in the mud-soaked battle- fields of the first World War, the old German cannon that has slumbered in quietness of the courthouse lawn since 1929 will be melted down and reforged into weapons to kill Germans, if the recommendation of the county court is followed. Col. R.W. Yates, director of the ninth service command sup- ply division, has requested the county commissioners to give up all cannons, cannon balls, iron rails and fences or similar items for use in manufacturing weapons for war. Items of definite his- torical or antiquarian value will not be taken, however. How Trump kills the GOP By DAVID BROOKS New York Times News Service I t’s ironic that race was the issue that created the Republican Party and that race could very well be the issue that destroys it. The GOP was founded to fight slavery, and through most of its history it had a decent record on civil rights. A greater percentage of congressional Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act than Democrats. It’s become more of a white party in recent years, of course, and adopted some wrongheaded positions on civil rights enforce- ment, but it was still possible to be a Republican without feeling like you were violating basic decency on matters of race. Most of the Republican establishment, from the Bushes to McCain and Romney, fought bigotry, and racism was not a common feature in the conservative moment. Between 1984 and 2003 I worked at National Review, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and The Weekly Standard. Most of my friends were Republicans. In that time, I never heard bla- tantly racist comments at dinner par- ties, and there were probably fewer than a dozen times I heard some veiled comment that could have suggested racism. To be honest, I heard more racial condescension in progressive circles than in conserva- tive ones. But the Republican Party has changed since 2005. It has become the vehicle for white identity politics. In 2005 only 6 percent of Republicans felt that whites faced “a great deal” of discrimination, the same number of Democrats who felt this. By 2016, the percentage of Republicans who felt this had tripled. Recent surveys suggest that roughly 47 percent of Republicans are what you might call conservative universalists and maybe 40 percent are what you might call conser- vative white identitarians. White universalists believe in conservative principles and think they apply to all people and their white identity is not particularly salient to them. White identitarians are conservative, but their white identity is quite import- ant to them, sometimes even more important than their conservatism. These white identitarians have taken the multicultural worldview taught in schools, universities and the culture and, rightly or wrongly, have applied it to themselves. As Marxism saw history through the lens of class conflict, multicultural- ism sees history through the lens of racial conflict and group oppression. According to a survey from the AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto Monday in the East Room of the White House. Public Religion Research Institute, for example, about 48 percent of Republicans believe there is “a lot of discrimination” against Christians in America and about 43 percent believe there is a lot of discrimina- tion against whites. I’d love to see more research on the relationship between white identity politics and simple racism. There’s clear overlap, but I suspect they’re not quite the same thing. Racism is about feeling others are inferior. White identitarianism is about feeling downtrodden and aggrieved yourself. It may someday be possible to reduce the influence of white identity politics, but probably not while Trump is in office. In the PRRI survey, for example, roughly as many Republicans believe Muslims, immigrants and trans people face a lot of discrimina- tion as believe whites and Christians do. According to a Quinnipiac poll, 59 percent of those in the white working class believe white supremacist groups are a threat to the country. But three things are clear: First, identity politics on the right is at least as corrosive as identity politics on the left, probably more so. If you reduce the complex array of identi- ties that make up a human being into one crude ethno-political category, you’re going to do violence to your- self and everything around you. Second, it is wrong to try to make a parallel between Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter. To pretend that these tendencies are somehow comparable is to ignore American history and current realities. Third, white identity politics as it plays out in the political arena is completely noxious. Donald Trump is the maestro here. He established his political identity through birtherism, he won the Republican nomination on the Muslim ban, he campaigned on the Mexican wall, he governed by being neutral on Charlottesville and pardoning racial- ist Joe Arpaio. Each individual Republican is now compelled to embrace this gar- bage or not. The choice is unavoid- able, and white resentment is bound to define Republicanism more and more in the months ahead. It’s what Trump cares about. The identity warriors on the left will deface stat- ues or whatever and set up mutually beneficial confrontations with the identity warriors on the right. Things will get uglier. And this is where the dissolution of the GOP comes in. Conservative universalists are coming to realize their party has become a vehicle for white identity and racial conflict. This faction is prior to and deeper than Trump. When you have an intraparty fight about foreign or domestic issues, you think your rivals are wrong. When you have an intra- party fight on race, you think your rivals are disgusting. That’s what’s happening. Friendships are now ending across the right. People who supported Trump for partisan rea- sons now feel locked in to support him on race, and they are making themselves repellent. It may someday be possible to reduce the influence of white identity politics, but probably not while Trump is in office. As long as he is in power the GOP is a house viciously divided against itself, and cannot stand. WHERE TO WRITE • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 439 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225- 9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil- likan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Senate Office Building, Wash- ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224- 3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden. senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986- 1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state. or.us District office: P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/ boone/ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john- son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy- johnson.com District Office: P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280. • Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto- ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Com- missioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.