Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 163, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 2017 Page: 4 of 23
twenty three pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
OPINION
4A
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Denton Record-Chronicle
Denton Record-Chronicle
If Obama is
a Muslim
is Trump a
Russian spy?
IHe.
9MP
s'
7
Published by Denton Publishing Co.,
a subsidiary of A.H. Belo Corporation
S| Founded from weekly newspapers,
■ the Denton Chronicle, established in 1882,
^3 and the Denton Record, established in 1897.
Published daily as the Denton
Record-Chronicle since Aug. 3,1903.
a
catvr
p^rtecT
'■fcOK
Gt'.LD
TT£*Af3Li-
-we.ev'L
a
o
TO
7
onusie
vs...
tolj.
4
,
A
4
V
V
MtDt.'i rOMC.VNV
EDITORIAL BOARD
Bill Patterson
Publisher and CEO
Scott K. Parks
Managing Editor
Mark Finley
City Editor
Mariel Tarn-Ray
News Editor
PAST PUBLISHERS
William C. “Will” Edwards
1903-1927
Robert J. “Bob” Edwards
1927-1945
Riley Cross
1945-1970
Vivian Cross
1970-1986
Fred Patterson
1986-1999
!
%
\ <3a?N
y a&
■ amere
9eeive
irst, a history refresher: For the past
nine years, a smattering of Americans,
most recently led by our now presi-
dent-elect, have insisted that Barack Obama
is a Muslim bom in Kenya.
For years, Donald Tmmp was unrelent-
ing in his insistence that Obama prove be-
yond existing proof
that he was bom in Ha-
waii and not in the Af-
rican country of his bi-
ological father. That
Obama said he is a
Christian
enough to persuade
Tmmp’s followers, who L_1
apparently know a
Christian when they
see one.
Further, there is no
logical basis for assum-
ing that a young person briefly raised in a giv-
en country — say, Indonesia — necessarily
would adopt the dominant religion of that
country. He might, however, observe that
though people worship in different ways,
we’re all essentially the same. Never mind
the cmel and absurd assumption that being
a Muslim means that one is, ipso facto, a
“bad person.”
Respecting others despite differences is,
generally speaking, the hallmark of an en-
lightened soul, as well as a desirable disposi-
tion in a leader. Yet, those who sided with
Tmmp interpreted Obama’s gentle touch to-
ward the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims as evi-
dence of a hidden agenda to advance Islam
in the United States — notwithstanding
Obama’s rather robust drone operations,
which eliminated quite a few bad actors who
happened to be, or said they were, Muslims.
Noteworthy is that these same Obama
doubters weren’t bestirred to suspicion when
then-President George W. Bush visited a
mosque immediately after 9/11 Nor, thus far,
have they expressed any concern about
Tmmp’s cavalier approach to Russia’s cyber-
attack on the United States.
Given this history and recent evidence,
isn’t it about time Tmmp be declared a Rus-
sian spy?
No, I don’t really think he’s a spy because,
unlike the man himself, I’m not given to cra-
zy ideas. But what’s with this double stan-
dard? Under similar circumstances, how
long do you think it would have taken for
Obama to be called a traitor for defending a
country that tried to thwart our democratic
electoral process?
Seconds.
How surreal to realize that the man who
soon will become president was long com-
mitted to a mmor soaked in paranoia and
propagated by conspiracy theorists whose
pursuit of truth stops at the point where facts
and willful ignorance collide.
How perfectly terrifying.
And now? What is so obviously a conspir-
acy of Russian leadership, hackers and spies,
Tmmp has repeatedly dismissed as lousy in-
telligence. Why would he do such a thing? Is
it that he’s so thin-skinned he can’t tolerate
anyone thinking that he might have benefit-
ed from the cyberattack? Or is it that he
knew about it in advance and doesn’t want to
be found out? This is how conspiracy theo-
ries get started. Then again, sometimes a
conspiracy is just a conspiracy — and a fool is
just a fool.
Consider what we know: Our best intelli-
gence indicates that Russia was behind the
hacking of the Democratic National Com-
mittee. Trump, who has long expressed ad-
miration for Russian President Vladimir Pu-
tin has his doubts.
Obviously, Trump wants to preserve the
narrative that he won fair and square. And,
clearly, claims of Russian interference would
muss his ego. But is that it? Ego and narra-
tive?
TWG., j
F
a
Ri
ICJ
Is VI
Editorials published in the Denton Record-Chronicle
are determined by the editorial board.
Questions and suggestions should be directed to the:
Denton Record-Chronicle
314 E. Hickory St., Denton, TX 76201
Phone: 940-387-3811
Fax: 940-566-6888
E-mail: drc@dentonrc.com
Obama could not heal
America’s racial problems
wasn’t
/ «
Kathleen
Parker
ahbelo.com NYSE symbol: AHC
ith less than two weeks to go be-
fore Barack Obama vacates the
White House, an apparently ra-
cially motivated crime has once again ignit-
ed debate about how race relations have
changed under America’s first African-
American president.
In Chicago, four African-Americans have
been charged with kidnapping, beating and
tormenting a mentally disabled young white
man whom they bound and gagged. They
five-streamed the vic-
tim’s shockingly cruel
ordeal on Facebook.
At one point during
the attack, one of the
perpetrators cursed
“white people” and
President-elect Don-
ald Trump. Based on
this and/or perhaps his
disability or some oth-
er evidence, authori-
ties have charged the
suspects with hate crimes.
When asked by a Chicago reporter to
comment on the incident, Obama called it a
hate crime and “despicable.” Yet, in the mea-
sured tones that he has always brought to
the sensitive issue, he disagreed with the
contention that race relations have become
worse in his adopted hometown.
As anyone can attest who was around in
Chicago in 1985, when Obama first came to
Chicago, there’s no question that they have
improved. Harold Washington, Chicago’s
first black mayor and a progressive reformer,
was besieged by hostile white aldermen in
an atmosphere of frank racial animosity. A
notorious Chicago police commander was
torturing black suspects to extract false con-
fessions in a series of murder cases. Thanks
to gerrymandering, blacks and Latinos were
underrepresented in the city council.
Whatever its problems today, race rela-
tions in Chicago have come a long way since
then — which was Obama’s point to the re-
porter.
Another change is that mobile phone
cameras and social media have made the vi-
suals of various crimes and violent incidents
widely available to the public — for the bet-
ter and, perhaps in some cases, for the worse.
Violent crime rates have broadly declined in
America since three decades ago — even in
Chicago! — yet this is not apparent to many,
thanks partly to “viral” blood-and-guts news.
A similarly equivocal assessment of
“progress” applies to Barack Obama’s legacy
as the nation’s first African-American presi-
dent. Most Americans greeted his election as
a watershed for American society. And yet
the achievement came with unrealistic ex-
pectations for what he could do for America
under that label.
It was unfair to expect that Obama’s elec-
tion signaled a massive turning point to
America’s past racial divides — as if the event
was a stopping point, a culmination, rather
than a milestone on along historical journey.
This is the fantasy of America as a post-
racial society. And people of all races, argu-
ably goaded by media, bought into it. We
liked the sound of hope and change.
It was also unrealistic to believe that a
black man waking up every day in the White
House and going about the presidential du-
ties was going to sudden lift all minority-led
households.
Many black people, especially those at
the bottom economic rungs, became fed up
with the lack of change under his watch.
They’d bought into the idea sweeping
change might come to their fives under Oba-
ma. But the problems at the root of the angst
— poverty, the state of many urban school
districts, gang and drug violence, fragment-
ed and dysfunctional families — started long
before he took office and cannot be solved
with a stroke of the president’s pen.
There is a second, equally delusional no-
tion that Obama somehow caused race rela-
tions to fester and boil. As if his very pres-
ence is the reason that Americans are sens-
ing higher racial tensions.
For many, especially white conservatives,
anytime Obama weighed in on the mistreat-
ment of black people by police, he was “play-
ing the race card.”
It was during Obama’s time in office that
these events resonated in the news: the kill-
ing of Trayvon Martin; the riots in Ferguson,
Mo., and endless other cases of police shoot-
ings followed by unrest; the Black lives
Matter movement; and the horrific assassi-
nation attacks on police.
It’s naive to believe Obama flipped some
switch for these events to occur. As if the
problems between police and urban black
communities aren’t far more complicated,
more long-standing and entrenched. It’s of-
fensive to both police and those communi-
ties to see it any other way.
Obama never should have been expected
to heal all racial grievances in America. And
if that is what you expected, well, sorry, but
the last eight years obviously haven’t suf-
ficed.
W
Editorial: Our View
Digital era changes
how we connect
he internet is a wonderful thing. You can find a
used car to buy. You can be watching a movie and
instantaneously find out everything about who
directed it, who starred in it and the year it was made.
Or you can keep up with your “friends” on Facebook
Denton Record-Chronicle business writer Jenna Dun-
can informs us in a story Tuesday that “sugar babies” and
“sugar daddies” can hook up on a dating site called Seek
ingArrangement.com.
Accompanying Duncan’s story is a photo from the
website. It shows an attractive blonde in evening attire
sitting on a couch. In the background is a slim guy in a
suit. A marketing slogan superimposed over the photo
says, “Relationships on your terms: Where beautiful, suc-
cessful people find mutually beneficial relationships.”
My, how the world has changed. Whatever happened
to meeting someone at church or in English class?
Duncan reports that more than 400 University of
North Texas students, the sugar babies, use the website to
find sugar daddies, mostly older men, to help pay their
tuition and other bills. Just to be clear, this goes on at
universities throughout the nation. More than 700 Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin students maintain profiles on
the site.
SeekingArrangement.com has given the phrase “col-
lege scholarship” new meaning.
A cynic might allege that this is just a gussied-up form
of prostitution. But let’s give the babies and daddies the
benefit of the doubt. Developed relationships could take
many different forms.
Maybe the daddy is just looking for arm candy for a
dinner party and does not expect sex in return for buying
that $140 chemistry textbook
Maybe the baby is short of family members to advise
her on love and fife. So, she is looking for a 50-year-old
businessman to serve as a mentor while pursuing her
degree in logistics. He pays $4,000 for spring tuition for
the right to mentor her.
Maybe we should call it just another form of network-
T
Mary
Sanchez
Obama’s real and lasting impact on race
relations in America will be seen in less sen-
sational policy decisions: who he brought to
the federal benches, his efforts to protect the
Voting Rights Act, measures to expand ac-
cess to health care and quality schools. None
of this can be easily measured at this point.
MARY SANCHEZ writes for The Kan-
sas City Star. Her column is distributed by
Tribune Content Agency.
mg.
We encourage our intrepid business reporter to scour
Denton for a sugar baby to interview. We are dying to
hear a real-life story about the ups and downs, or the ins
and outs, of a relationship that sprang from a meet-up on
SeekingArrangement.com.
It ought to be quite a story about modem life in the
digital era.
This day in history: January 12
Letters to the editor
remainder of the term of her late
husband, Thaddeus.
In 1945, during World War
II, Soviet forces began a major,
successful offensive against the
Germans in Eastern Europe.
Aircraft from U.S. Task Force 38
sank about 40 Japanese ships
off Indochina.
In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr.
founded Motown Records (orig-
inally Tamla Records) in De-
troit.
Today is Thursday, Jan. 12,
the 12th day of 2017. There are
353 days left in the year.
On Jan. 12,1910, at a White
House dinner hosted by Presi-
dent William Howard Taft, Bar-
oness Rosen, wife of the Russian
ambassador, caused a stir by re-
questing and smoking a ciga-
rette — it was, apparently, the
first time a woman had smoked
openly during a public function
in the executive mansion.
In 1773, the first public mu-
seum in America was organized
in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1828, the United States
and Mexico signed a Treaty of
Limits defining the boundary
between the two countries to be
the same as the one established
by an 1819 treaty between the
U.S. and Spain.
In 1915, the U.S. House of
Representatives rejected, 204-
174, a proposed constitutional
amendment to give women na-
tionwide the right to vote. The
silent film drama A Fool There
Was, which propelled Theda
Bara to stardom with her por-
trayal of a predatory vamp, pre-
miered in New York.
In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway
became the first woman elected
to the U.S. Senate after initially
being appointed to serve out the
Scary comments
It looks like we will have a government
run by tweets. Every day we awake to see
what Trump tweeted duringthe night. Many
of his comments seem to be gleaned from
the fake news published by his buddies in
Russia, Breitbart or the National Enquirer.
It would be laughable if not so scary. Is
this what we must expect from the new lead-
er of the free world?
Trump continues to attack his detractors
with defamation, but when he gains control
of the FBI, we could have another J. Edgar
Hoover on our hands. As Trump vilifies his
opponents, files could be kept on individuals
or companies who offend him for blackmail
purposes or denigration.
We hope he doesn’t take his pal Putin’s
lead in closing newspapers and banishing
those who offend him. Hoover only con-
SUBMISSIONS
Letters for publication must include the writer’s
name, address and telephone number. Au-
thorship must be verified before publication.
The Record-Chronicle reserves the right to edit
letters for length.
Letters should be typed or legibly handwritten
and be 250 or fewer words. We prefer email
submissions.
Send to: drc@dentonrc.com.
Otherwise, fax to 940-566-6888, or mail to:
Letters to the editor
P.0. Box 369
Denton, TX 76202
Consider further: Trump would rather
make common cause with our fiercest geo-
political adversary (hat tip Mitt Romney)
than take the word of our best people. More-
over, hehassaidhe won’t receive daily securi-
ty briefings and reportedly plans to reduce
our security agencies.
Pray tell, whose side is this man on?
When was the last time you had to ask that
question about a president-elect?
Last week, Trump met with real Amer-
ican spies and others who attempted to ex-
plain things to him, leaving open the ques-
tion: Can Trump learn? From his statement
following the meeting, it doesn’t seem so.
Recently, James R. Clapper Jr., the direc-
tor of national intelligence, told the Senate
Armed Services Committee that the agency
is “now even more resolute,” and that Trump
is damaging American intelligence. To top
things off, former CIA director James Wool-
sey recently quit Trump’s transition team in
protest against being bypassed.
In sum, when the president-elect persists
in a state of denial, siding with the enemy
against his own country’s best interests, one
is forced to consider that Trump himself pos-
es a threat to national security.
In Russia, they’d just call it treason.
KATHLEEN PARKERS column is
distributed by Washington Post Writers
Group.
In 1966, President Lyndon
B. Johnson said in his State of
the Union address that the U.S.
military should stay in Vietnam
until communist aggression
there was stopped. The TV se-
ries Batman, starring Adam
West and Burt Ward as the Dy-
namic Duo, premiered on ABC,
airing twice a week on consecu-
tive nights.
In 1971, the groundbreaking
situation comedy All in the
Family premiered on CBS tele-
vision.
trolled the FBI, but Trump will control the
CIA and NSA as well.
OMG.
John T. Weber,
Denton
Denton Record-Chronicle mission statement
We believe a free society, with all its privileges and opportunities, is partially successful because of
a free press that is supported by the community at large.
Our mission every day is to give you unbiased, wide-ranging news of Denton and the larger Denton
County community. We appreciate your subscription or your purchase of this newspaper. By doing
so, you are supporting an independent look at your community, its leaders, its business people, and
its residents.
Without that, we believe that our communities would suffer from a lack of analysis, a lack of in-
formation, and a lack of oversight of taxpayer money. We want to give you something to think
about every day. We hope those ideas lead you to become involved in your community, both with
your commentary and your actions.
In 1976, mystery writer
Dame Agatha Christie died in
Wallingford, England, at age 85.
In 1986, the shuttle Colum-
bia blasted off with a crew that
included the first Hispanic-
American in space, Dr. Franklin
R. Chang-Diaz.
— The Associated Press
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 13 places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 163, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 2017, newspaper, January 12, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131670/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed May 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .