Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, November 2, 2017
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Emergency scanners a
critical tool for public
Police scanners have been the
background noise in newsrooms
as long as the technology has been
available. And journalists have long
been tasked having one ear tuned to
them, speeding out the door as soon
as the fire department is dispatched
to a blaze or police and medics are
dispatched to an accident scene.
Once on scene, we do our best
to stay out of the
way of emergency
crews, while being
witness to the event
and passing along
the story, photo
and video to our
customers once we
have verified facts
and information.
We’re not the
only non-law
enforcement
officials who listen
to emergency
scanners, however.
For decades, many
private citizens
have used the scanners to stay
apprised of emergency chatter.
Social media has changed the power
and reach of those people, as well as
others who can listen remotely via
online scanner apps.
Some of those people could be
criminals, using the scanner for
nefarious reasons. A person could wait
to hear when police are in another
section of the county for instance,
then commit a crime. Though no
evidence of this happening in Eastern
Oregon has been brought forward,
radio and data districts are hoping to
encrypt scanner traffic, so that police
can communicate over non-public
airwaves.
We’re opposed to that plan.
It raises taxpayer costs while
providing negligible benefit to
emergency crews. Law enforcement
has long had workarounds to the
public scanner, including two-way
radios and the
ever-present cell
phone technology.
We understand
that sometimes
scanner traffic
is the enemy of
good police work.
We don’t expect
officers to use
it when setting
up a sting, or to
communicate
their position or
strategy in a SWAT
environment.
But the
minutia of police
activity requires scrutiny. When
an emergency situation arises, it
is critical to get factual important
information disseminated as quickly
as possible. Oftentimes, emergency
responders and responsible media
are partners in that endeavor,
warning people to get out of the way
of a wildfire, or avoid a road that
has been closed due to an accident.
Police scanners help keep the
public apprised of the actions of our
emergency responders. It should
remain that way.
Police scanners
help keep the
public apprised
of the actions of
our emergency
responders. It
should remain
that way.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
The New York attack:
Terror by the ton
The Chicago Tribune
only his own twisted thinking drove
him to choose this day, this celebration,
to attack New Yorkers on this trail in
magine the scene along Chicago’s
a neighborhood laced with residential
lakefront path on a typical weekday
buildings and clotted with people traffic
afternoon. Cyclists cruising in both
— the ultimate soft target.
directions, past runners and darting
We’ve seen enough of these car
children just released from school.
and truck attacks — in London, Nice,
Now imagine a rental pickup truck
Stockholm, Berlin — to know they are
barreling down the path, smashing
all but impossible to predict or prevent.
bicycles and pedestrians for a mile or
Early news reports had Islamic
more.
State voices cheering the attack. If so,
It happened in Lower Manhattan on
they’ll awaken to the realization that an
Tuesday, not far from the World Trade
onslaught in New York
Center memorial.
— the deadliest attack
A driver bent on
mayhem sped
Hamas terrorists had since 9/11 — doesn’t
diminish the swift and
down a bike path
been so successful formidable victory of
beside the Hudson
forces
River, sending
with vehicle attacks U.S.-backed
against Islamic State
bodies and bicycles
against Israelis that, in Iraq and Syria. To
flying. He struck a
contrary, any terror
school bus outside
in 2014, an Islamic the
attack on the West
a neighborhood
landmark, Stuyvesant
State official urged affirms that the job of
eradicating this group
High, before crashing
similar attacks
and others like it isn’t
the truck. Leaping
finished.
from his vehicle, he
across the West.
Defeating
brandished a pellet
Islamic State on
gun and a paintball
the battlefields of
gun and was shot by a police officer.
Mosul and Raqqa has to be followed
Even as they scrambled for safety,
by a victory in the treacherous terrain
some people wondered if this was a
of cyberspace. Islamic State can spew
Halloween prank. Others reached for
hatred and draw terrorist wannabes to
their cellphones, capturing snippets
its savage cause. It doesn’t cost much to
of the chaos on video: A figure that
appears to be the driver, trying to escape brainwash and recruit adherents on the
internet.
on foot. The wreckage of the truck.
Our hope is that as Islamic State
Crumpled bicycles. Lifeless bodies.
becomes more desperate to avenge its
So the pattern established oceans
losses to superior forces in its former
away now visits America. Hamas
caliphate, that the appeal of the group
terrorists had been so successful with
will fade. That’s the hope.
vehicle attacks against Israelis that, in
The reality is that terrorists humbled
2014, an Islamic State official urged
in one place can regroup in other
similar attacks across the West. This
countries — in Libya, elsewhere
resort to terror by the ton — cheap and
in Africa. That’s why the Trump
easy to execute — is a paradoxical
administration recently pledged $60
tribute to the sophisticated protections
million to help five African nations build
that have denied extremists many of
a counterterrorism force.
the conventional weapons, and the
The New York attack underscores
easy access to air transport targets, they
what we’ve always known: This is
enjoyed at the turn of this century.
a war that will be fought not by one
We don’t know if this suspect was
generation, but by this and other
heeding an Islamic State call to attack
generations to come.
trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Or if
I
The plot against America
been expecting. An obscure figure in
n Monday morning, after
foreign policy circles, Papadopoulos
the United States learned
was one of five people who Trump
that Donald Trump’s former
listed as foreign policy advisers
campaign chairman, Paul Manafort,
during a Washington Post editorial
and Manafort’s lobbying partner, Rick
board meeting last year. A court
Gates, had been indicted and turned
filing, whose truth Papadopoulos
themselves in to federal authorities,
affirms, says that in April 2016,
the president tried to distance himself
from the unfolding scandal. “Sorry, but Michelle he met with a professor who he
this is years ago, before Paul Manafort Goldberg “understood to have substantial
connections to Russian government
was part of the Trump campaign,” the
Comment
officials.” The professor told him
president wrote in one tweet. A few
that Russians had “dirt” on Clinton,
minutes later, he added, in another,
including “thousands of emails.” (The
“Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta
At almost the exact same time, news
had been hacked in March.)
broke suggesting that the FBI has evidence
In the following months, Papadopoulos
of collusion. We learned that one of the
and his supervisors emailed back and forth
Trump campaign’s foreign policy aides,
about plans for a campaign trip to Russia.
George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to
According to the court filing, one campaign
lying to the FBI about his attempts to solicit
official emailed another,
compromising information
“We need someone to
on Hillary Clinton from
communicate that D.T.
the Russian government.
is not doing these trips.”
Despite Trump’s hysterical
D.T. clearly stood for
denials and attempts at
diversion, the question is
Donald Trump. The email
no longer whether there
continued, “It should be
was cooperation between
someone low level in the
Trump’s campaign and
campaign so as not to
Russia, but how extensive
send any signal.”
it was.
Thanks to an August
In truth, that’s been
Washington Post story,
clear for a while. If it’s
we know that this email
sometimes hard to grasp
was sent by Manafort.
the Trump campaign’s conspiracy against our
Some have interpreted the exchange to mean
democracy, it’s due less to lack of proof than
that Manafort wanted a low-level person to
to the impudent improbability of its B-movie
decline the invitation, not to go to Russia.
plotline. Monday’s indictments offer evidence But the court filing also cites a “campaign
of things that Washington already knows but
supervisor” encouraging Papadopoulos and
pretends to forget. Trump, more gangster than “another foreign policy adviser” to make the
entrepreneur, has long surrounded himself
trip. Papadopoulos never went to Russia, but
with bottom-feeding scum, and for all his
foreign policy adviser Carter Page did.
nationalist bluster, his campaign was a vehicle
So here’s where we are. Trump put
for Russian subversion.
Manafort, an accused money-launderer and
We already knew that Manafort offered
unregistered foreign agent, in charge of his
private briefings about the campaign to Oleg
campaign. Under Manafort’s watch, the
Deripaska, an oligarch close to President
campaign made at least two attempts to get
Vladimir Putin of Russia. The indictment
compromising information about Clinton
accuses him of having been an unregistered
from Russia. Russia, in turn, provided
foreign agent for another Putin-aligned
hacked Democratic emails to WikiLeaks.
oligarch, former Ukrainian President Viktor
Russia also ran a giant disinformation
Yanukovych. Trump wasn’t paying Manafort, campaign against Clinton on social media
who reportedly sold himself to the candidate
and attempted to hack voting systems in
by offering to work free. But he intended to
at least 21 states. In response to Russia’s
profit from his connection with the campaign, election meddling, Barack Obama’s
emailing an associate, “How do we use to
administration imposed sanctions. Upon
get whole?” If there were no other evidence
taking office, Trump reportedly made secret
against Trump, we could conclude that he
efforts to lift them. He fired FBI Director
was grotesquely irresponsible in opening his
James Comey to stop his investigation into
campaign up to corrupt foreign infiltration.
“this Russia thing,” as he told Lester Holt.
But of course there is other evidence
The day after the firing, he met with Russia’s
against Trump. His campaign was told that
foreign minister and its ambassador to the
Russia wanted to help it, and it welcomed
United States, and told them: “I faced great
such help. On June 3, remember, music
pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
publicist Rob Goldstone emailed Donald
We’ve had a year of recriminations over
Trump Jr. to broker a Trump Tower meeting
the Clinton campaign’s failings, but Trump
at which a Russian source would deliver
clawed out his minority victory only with
“very high level and sensitive information”
the aid of a foreign intelligence service. On
as “part of Russia and its government’s
Monday we finally got indictments, but it’s
support for Mr. Trump.” Trump Jr. responded
been obvious for a year that this presidency
with delight: “If it’s what you say I love it
is a crime.
especially later in the summer.”
■
The guilty plea by Papadopoulos indicates
Michelle Goldberg became an Op-Ed
what information Trump Jr. might have
columnist for The New York Times in 2017.
O
At the same
time, news broke
suggesting that the
FBI has evidence
of collusion.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.