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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Thursday, February 22, 2018 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OTHER VIEWS What kind of nation do we want to be? By Baker City Herald T his isn’t the country we want it to be. Surely we can all agree on that much. We don’t want America to be the country where places are known not for their people or their scenery but for their mass shootings. We don’t want Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed last week at a high school, to join Las Vegas and Sandy Hook and Umpqua Community College on the grim roster. What we don’t want to be, unfortunately, is the easy question to answer, the easy platitude to repeat. The infinitely harder part is deciding what we’re willing to do, as a society, to make our country what we want it to be. Because we will have to make changes — and almost certainly significant changes — if we are to make meaningful progress in reducing the frequency of these massacres. To make it more difficult (which, to be clear, is not the same thing as preventing) for people such as Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old suspect in the Florida shooting, from acquiring a semi-automatic rifle, or indeed any gun, we need to change laws. But which laws? Congress could reinstate the federal ban on the sale of “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines. But that would have no effect on the millions of existing semi-automatic guns, both rifles and handguns. The sheer number of these guns makes it illogical to believe that anything but government confiscation would greatly limit their availability, legal or not. This option has obvious constitutional connotations. As for Cruz, media reports describe him as a “troubled teen who posted disturbing material on social media.” He had been expelled, for disciplinary reasons, from the high school where he reportedly admitted opening fire, police said. If we believe any of these actions should prevent a person from legally buying or owning a gun, then we will need to change federal, and probably state, laws. This raises constitutional issues as well. But let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that those difficult issues needn’t be raised if we are serious about making a significant difference. Despite implications to the contrary from politicians, pundits and others, we see no compelling evidence that easy legislative solutions exist — which is to say, solutions that don’t require that we dramatically alter how we deal with people and with the availability of guns. It’s not enough to say, as many people say after every mass shooting, that we need to improve mental health services. Of course we should do so. But officials said Cruz had been treated at a mental health clinic and that he stopped attending more than a year ago. The question is whether we’re willing as a society to mandate therapy for people who are “troubled” and who post “disturbing material” on social media, but who haven’t been convicted of a crime. And if we want the maximum protection from the possibility that such people will Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star via AP Millbrook High School students demonstrate against gun violence outside their school in Frederick County, Va., Wednesday following a school shooting in which over a dozen people were killed in Parkland, Fla., one week ago. commit murder, then merely requiring them to meet with a therapist will never be sufficient. We would need to incarcerate them. The deadly combination common to each of these tragedies is a person who procures guns and ammunition. Our challenge is to try to prevent that lethal link. Stricter enforcement of existing gun purchasing and possession laws, and passing more stringent laws such as those requiring background checks, could occasionally keep a dangerous person from legally acquiring a gun (there are, of course, illegal means). These laws don’t infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners — which is almost all gun owners, after all. Last February President Donald Trump signed a bill that canceled a federal regulation, which had yet to take effect, that was designed to make it more difficult for people to buy guns who receive Social Security checks for mental illnesses, or who have been deemed unfit to handle their financial affairs. The law would have added about 75,000 people to the database used for background checks. This is a sensible precaution and it should be reinstated and used. Cruz, we learned not long before our deadline, allegedly made comments about becoming a “professional school shooter,” threatened classmates and possibly was identified by teachers as a danger. All of this might not have qualified Cruz for the federal database. But it should have constituted ample reason for police to have paid him a visit before he showed up at school with a rifle. That’s the aggressive approach local police took in late January when they learned that a man who had recently been in Baker City said he “might go shoot up a school.” Fortunately, his was an empty threat. OTHER VIEWS A non-alarmist reading of the Mueller Russia indictment T YOUR VIEWS Investment in community colleges pays big dividends By CAM PREUS AND CHRIS BROWN Blue Mountain Community College B lue Mountain Community College is joining Oregon’s 16 other community colleges in a legislative request that will allow it to maintain momentum in supporting students to complete their programs and prepare more people for local jobs. The alternative could be cuts in student services and other programs, or larger increases in tuition. Both slow down our mission to prepare local people to contribute to the economic vitality and cultural richness of our community. It is clear that no one — including our legislators — intended for this situation to occur. Last July, the legislature added $70 million to Public University Support Fund to limit tuition increases and maintain student support at four-year schools, and $6 million in state funds were added to the Community College Support Fund for the same purpose. Unfortunately, the amount for community college was $32 million short of accomplishing the same level of support for community college students as compared to students at four-year universities. It forces most community colleges to choose between large tuition increases or significant cuts to programs and services. The community college funding formula is complicated, relying on revenues from both state and local sources. It is possible that some confusion about this contributed to the situation as the state budget came together at the 11th hour last July. Now we need action by the Legislature during its 35-day session, which began Feb. 5, so that community college students — and our communities — do not suffer a setback to local economic prosperity and student success. A recent Emsi study has shown that for every $1 invested in an education at BMCC provides a $3.70 return on investment to a student over their working career — that’s a greater economic return to local communities than any other public investment. Community colleges work in partnership with K-12, four-year universities, and local industries to ensure the best outcomes for both students and the community. A $32 million statewide investment in community colleges will pay huge dividends in momentum for our local economy. Please ask our local legislators to support BMCC and community colleges in Oregon. ■ Cam Preus is president of Blue Mountain Community College and Chris Brown is chair of the BMCC Board of Education. It is clear that no one intended for this situation to occur. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. here’s been no shortage of then President Clinton — with a breathless reaction to Trump- modern, social-media version of Russia special prosecutor old-fashioned Soviet disinformation Robert Mueller’s indictment of campaigns. 13 Russians and three Russian The indictment is vague on what organizations for their efforts to the Russians spent. In terms of influence the 2016 presidential what the Russians paid for social election. “An attack that — but for media ads, the indictment just says the loss of life — is as bad as Pearl “thousands” of dollars every month. Byron Harbor,” tweeted veteran journalist The sums amount to mere York Jonathan Alter. rounding errors in a race in which Comment That’s one way to look at the Clinton and Trump campaigns it. Another is that, combining spent a combined $2.4 billion. the 37-page indictment with testimony Facebook officials gave more details from social media executives before to the Senate and House intelligence congressional intelligence committees, the committees a few months ago. First, Russian operation, while warranting serious Facebook said the Russian operation bought about 3,000 ads, spending about $100,000 U.S. punishment, emerges as a small, on Facebook and Instagram combined. poorly funded undertaking with a level of That is compared to about $81 million the effectiveness that is impossible to measure Clinton and Trump campaigns spent on but could be near zero. Facebook and Instagram combined. The Russian project has been discussed Facebook said that of ad “impressions” almost exclusively in terms of Donald -- that is, how many times an ad appeared Trump, but it did not start out that way. on screen in a person’s news feed -- just 44 According to the indictment, it began percent came before the election, while 56 in May 2014, months before Trump percent came after the election, and thus did began campaigning, with “the purpose not affect its outcome. And about 25 percent of interfering with the U.S. political of the ads were never seen by anyone, and electoral processes, including the Facebook added. presidential election of 2016.” Looking at key states, the total spent on The group’s work was done through ads targeting the super-important state of social media -- Facebook, Instagram, Pennsylvania was just $300, according to Twitter. Most of it consisted of buying ads the Senate Intelligence Committee. or posting messages and keeping track of The indictment says Russians used the their spread through the social media world. fake Facebook accounts they created to The indictment quotes an unspecified team with unwitting Americans to stage Russian document saying the goal was a few real-world, pro-Trump events in to create “political intensity through Florida, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. A few supporting radical groups,” focusing on days after the election, the Russians staged angry fringes and hot-button issues like two rallies in New York -- one to support immigration, the Black Lives Matter the president-elect and another headlined movement, and religion. “Trump is NOT my President.” When attention turned to the 2016 race, All Americans should be grateful the Russians at first focused on denigrating that Mueller has gone after the Russian Hillary Clinton, and also Ted Cruz and interference project. Russia needs to be Marco Rubio, and supporting Bernie prevented from doing it again, and also not Sanders and Trump. allowed to get better at it. The intensified focus on Trump came, But that doesn’t mean the Russian not surprisingly, as Trump emerged as the interference outlined in the new indictment likely Republican nominee to challenge amounted to a lot. It didn’t. Clinton. “From at least April 2016 through Of course, there’s more to the 2016 November 2016,” the indictment says, Russian effort than the conduct outlined “defendants and their co-conspirators, in the new indictment. The charges do not while concealing their Russian identities cover, for example, the Russian hacks of the and organization affiliation through false Democratic National Committee and John personas, began to produce, purchase and Podesta, which could become the subject of post advertisements on U.S. social media future indictments. and other online sites expressly advocating So there is more to learn. But as far as for the election of then-candidate Trump or the new indictment is concerned, there is expressly opposing Clinton.” good reason to stay calm. It’s not Pearl There’s no evidence the Russians Harbor, in any way, shape or form. thought Trump had a chance to win, just ■ like no U.S. political experts thought Byron York is political correspondent for Trump had a chance to win. The goal was The Washington Examiner. to harass Clinton — candidate Clinton and 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. 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.
