Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 104, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Page: 4 of 14
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OPINION
4A
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Denton Record-Chronicle
Denton Record-Chronicle
Jesus, Mary
and Joseph:
The Roy
Moore story
IF oNty THERE I4AD KEN ^Ns)
MORE MATCHES... JtX <
IF ONLY IT HAD
RAiNED MORE...
Published by Denton Publishing Co.,
a subsidiary of A.H. Belo Corporation
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//
Founded from weekly newspapers,
the Denton Chronicle, established in 1882,
and the Denton Record, established in 1897.
Published daily as the Denton
Record-Chronicle since Aug. 3,1903.
/
//
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MEDIA COMPANY
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\FcHLY_,
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
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ince The Washington Post published a
story Thursday describing Alabama
Republican Senate candidate Roy
Moore’s efforts to allegedly initiate a sexual
encounter with a 14-year-old when he was
32, the response has been... something.
What did you think
would happen?
If you thought,
‘Well, he is finished in
the party now,” you
should go back to the
coma you have obvi-
ously been in for the
past year, because this
is the New Republican
Party, where no one is
exactly certain about
what they believe, only
that R good, D bad.
Or maybe you thought that Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., alone, would say, “This
seems like grounds not to run. Please, do not
run. We do not want you,” that House Speak-
er Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would enter a quan-
tum state where, even if any reporter man-
aged to determine his location, it would still
be impossible to ask him any questions
about this, that Senate leadership would
calmly and rationally observe that if true,
these were very bad things indeed?
That Breitbart News would attempt to
scoop The Post’s account by publishing an ar-
ticle ahead of time that argued, in part, that it
was not bad that Moore had courted a teen-
ager because he had been very romantic
about it?
That Moore would announce that this
was a smear by a failing fake newspaper and
that he had to go to Congress to restore con-
servative values — specifically, the sexual
mores of 1815, but creepier?
That Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler
would say there were lots of teens with older
men in the Bible, including Mary and Jo-
seph, who later “became parents of Jesus?”
This is an actual quote that I am not making
up. That was his takeaway.
And that other Alabama GOP members
would say that, even if true, they would still
vote for Roy Moore, because — according to
one country chairman — a vote for his oppo-
nent would be a vote for the whole “Demo-
crat Party?”
If that’s what you thought, you’d be right.
I don’t know that I’m surprised that this
kind of predation isn’t a career-ender. After
all, it has already been established that
Moore is a bunch of Bibles under a judge’s
robe who does not care for the Constitution
or rule of law and thinks that Muslim faith
should disqualify people from holding office,
and people kept funneling him money and
support in spite of that.
The new GOP motto is the sorority clas-
sic: “Right or wrong, do it strong.” Still, it
makes me wonder: Is anything enough?
Suppose it were to surface between now and
the election that Moore was guilty of murder
and cannibalism.
Here is my best guess of the Republican
response:
McCain would instantly come forward to
say that he disapproved of murderers and
the man should step down. Everyone would
ignore him. Someone would snipe that, as a
former member of the armed forces, he had
no standing for disapproving of murder.
Mitch McConnell and the rest of the lead-
ership would observe that, if true, it was cer-
tainly bad, but note that the victim of said
murder had been oddly silent for the past 30
years and that they were reserving judgment
until they could question him further.
The Alabama GOP would announce that
even these tepid denunciations were far too
much and they would not listen to McCon-
nell if he told them to pour water on them-
selves because they were on fire. Further-
more, in the Bible, Cain murdered Abel, and
no one had told Cain he could not hold elect-
S
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g^HfoON-CoM
Editorials published in the Denton Record-Chronicle
are determined by the editorial board.
Questions and suggestions should be directed to the:
Denton Record-Chronicle
3555 Duchess Drive, Denton, TX 76205
Phone: 940-387-3811
Fax: 940-566-6888
E-mail: drc@dentonrc.com
ahbelo.com NYSE symbol: AHC
Trump using ‘Dreamers’
for personal gain
I
»
ktdj
Alexandra
Petri
y, my, politics in the age of Trump
can be baffling.
President Donald Trump, a
man who loves to bully and threaten, may
actually have done a huge favor to one of his
favorite scapegoats — undocumented immi-
grants — by threatening to deport them.
Specifically, he threw out the possibility
that 800,000 young immigrants who were
brought to the U.S. as
minors may have to be
deported. That has
forced some of his fel-
low Republicans to
muster some courage.
For 16 years, Re-
publicans in Congress
have rejected some
version of the
DREAM Act, which
would let undocu-
mented immigrants
brought to the U.S. as kids remain here le-
gally as long as they meet certain require-
ments. There is no good reason why such le-
gal relief should have been denied these
young people, who call themselves “Dream-
ers” after the legislation. There has been only
a bad reason: politics — the politics of divi-
siveness and prejudice that has been the call-
ing card of the hard-right GOP and of
Trump himself.
But as Trump’s public image curdles,
more moderate Republicans have found a
voice. Listen to Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.
It would be “totally unreasonable” to make
the Dreamers “go back and live in a country
that they didn’t grow up in,” he told report-
ers. ‘And we want to have all the talent and
capability we can have” in the United States.
In that short comment, Blunt articulated
a just and pragmatic view. It would be ludi-
crous to sever ties with these young people,
many of whom are either pursuing college
degrees or are serving in our military.
Blunt added that the U.S. should offer a
route to full citizenship for the young people,
and that perhaps language to that effect
should be included in the spending bill that
must pass by Dec. 8.
In many conservative circles — and Blunt
is a conservative — that’s amnesty talk, and
amnesty is anathema.
In September, Trump announced that he
would end the five-year-old program begun
under President Obama that gave a tempo-
rary reprieve from the threat of deportation
to some of these young adults. Obama creat-
ed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arriv-
als, or DACA, program by executive order
because Congress had stalled for so long.
DACA was not designed to be, nor could
it be, a permanent fix. That’s the job of Con-
gress, a point that Republicans rightly point
Editorial: Our View
out.
But the outlines and intent behind DA-
CA are unimpeachable. Americans under-
stand the fundamental injustice of expelling
people who were raised as Americans, and
who came here through no choice of their
own, and forcing them to live in a foreign
country. Thoughtful conservatives who sty-
mied the DREAM Act and lamented DACA
must know they haven’t been on the side of
the angels.
So it is ironic that it is the moral repro-
bate at the head of their party who may push
them to do the right thing.
In the meantime, the Dreamers have
been their own best advocates. Recently they
showed up at congressional offices, protest-
ing for action. More than a dozen were ar-
rested at the Hart Senate Building. Nothing
could be more American than that.
The Dreamers have studied the Constitu-
tion and civil rights history alongside their
U.S.-born schoolmates. They’ve grown up
here, believing in the promise of opportunity
our nation holds for all who are willing to
work hard, to those who stay within the law.
They want to be Americans, and only a legal
technicality prevents this dream from being
realized.
Republicans have always known this, es-
pecially the brave handful who have stal-
wartly supported legislative relief for the
Dreamers, such as Sen. John McCain.
Trump, by contrast, has swung like a
weather vane on their status, his attitude
changing according to personal whim or po-
litical advantage.
Like so many other politicians before
him, Trump has used them. When he needs
to sound benevolent, he’ll cast a kind word
or two their way. When he wants to rile his
base or distress his liberal opponents, he
bundles the Dreamers in with all the rest of
the “bad hombres.”
Some observers have speculated that, if
pushed, Trump will do that right thing on
the Dreamers. Maybe, but if so he will need
cover. Alone, a President Trump will not
continue the DACA program concocted by
his perceived arch-nemesis, Obama.
It’s long been understood that a coalition
of uneasy bedfellows would be necessary to
resolve the plight of the Dreamers.
MART SANCHEZ writes for The Kan-
sas City Star. Her column is distributed by
Tribune Content Agency.
College towns
can yield surprises
n case you had forgotten, last weekend provided a
powerful reminder that Denton is still a college town.
The University of North Texas community and its
alumni celebrated homecoming with a 45-10 blowout of
the University of Texas at El Paso Miners at Apogee Sta-
dium. Attendance was 26,000, the third-largest crowd
ever to witness a game at Apogee.
It was a good weekend for Denton merchants. Stores,
restaurants and bars were crowded with homecoming
revelers after the game. And the “after-game parties”
continued past midnight as is customary.
And, then, something really rare happened; something
that would probably happen only in a college town with a
myriad apartment complexes occupied by students who
like to party hearty on the weekend.
Let’s set the scene: It’s 2 a.m. Sunday. An estimated 30
partiers crowd into a third-floor apartment at The Ridge
of North Texas in the 2700 block of Colorado Boulevard.
Tightly packed like sardines in a can, they jump up and
down in time with the music.
All of a sudden, the floor gives way. Screams erupt as
people fall through the floor into the apartment below.
The electricity goes out and water pipes break Miracu-
lously, no one is seriously injured The whole building
shuts down, displacing about 50 residents.
Only in Denton.
I
Mary
Sanchez
Alabama voters to
judge Moore’s fitness
lot of people seem confused about allegations of
sexual assault and harassment against Roy Moore,
the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in
A
Alabama.
A fifth woman came forward Monday to accuse Moore
of assaulting her when she was a minor and he was a
district attorney in his 30s.
These things happened more than 30 years ago. If
Moore did anything criminal, it would never be possible
to prosecute him because the statute of limitations pre-
vents it. The incidents are just too old to be run through
the criminal justice system.
Instead, Alabama voters will judge Moore in the court
of public opinion during a special election on Tuesday,
Dec. 12.
The Washington Post first broke the story of Moore’s
alleged dalliances with underage teens. So far, he is deny-
ing the stories and implying that his accusers are conspir-
ing to blow up his Senate campaign.
His hardcore supporters are sticking with him while
most detached observers say the weight of so many simi-
lar allegations should disqualify him from holding office.
One woman recalling 30-year-old events can be dis-
missed as a memory-challenged outlier. Maybe even two.
But our experience tells us that five women, all telling
basically the same story, must be taken seriously and that
Moore’s true character doesn’t exactly square with his
image as an evangelical Christian gentleman.
Anyone who tires to brush off the Moore story with a
“boys will be boys” attitude doesn’t understand the world
in 2017.
Letters to the editor
Shortchanging Denton
Thanks for nothing again to the Texas
Department of Transportation for short-
changing and sticking it to us in Denton.
[“Next project: I-35E bottleneck,” Oct. 7
DRC], They built three lanes on either side
of the mall to the Mayhill Road area, but
kept only two lanes in between. This is baf-
fling, not to mention dangerous.
Our transportation director said we
couldn’t pay AGL to add three lanes and
then tear them out to lift I-35E up. Of course
not. TxDOT should have built it all at the
same time. Did this not occur to someone at
TxDOT.
Are they telling us that the busiest inter-
section in Denton (I-35E and South Loop
288) was not included in the project? How
can that be? That particular intersection
won’t be completed until late 2018 or early
2019.
SUBMISSIONS
Letters for publication must include the writer’s
name, address and telephone number.
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
ed office, which just showed that there was
precedent in the Good Book for this sort of
thing.
ers need to demand that TxDOT move those
concrete barriers over and make three lanes.
Also, what is Christianity, if not the belief
that you can devour someone’s body under
the right circumstances? Some theologians
would angrily object that this was not at all
the message, but they would be immediately
ignored.
Breitbart would publish an expose saying
that this was not a regular murder; it was a
nice murder that anyone would be honored
to have happen to them, and that unlike kill-
ers who just tossed their victims into lakes in
garbage bags, the judge had lovingly and re-
spectfully buried his eight victims and plant-
ed a garden over them, and that the sauteed
liver resulting from his act had been abso-
lutely delicious. Also, it was all a lie. (Some-
how it would maintain both of these things
at once.)
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Ave-
The pavement is there. Move the barriers
away from the two travel lanes each way.
Block them off again when you are ready to
build the bridge.
What does TxDOT have against Denton?
Can’t our elected officials (local, county and
state) get involved and refuse to allow this
mistreatment? Why does this keep happen-
ing?
What an insult to Denton. Nowhere else
from University Drive in Denton to LBJ in
Dallas do you see this short-sighted plan-
ning. All other intersections have big, wide
bridges, exit ramps and entrance ramps.
We, the citizens of Denton, and our lead-
This day in history: November 14
came the first aviator to take off
from a ship as his Curtiss pusher
rolled off a sloping platform on
the deck ofthe scout cruiser USS
Birmingham off Hampton
Roads, Virginia.
In 1925, the first group exhi-
bition of surrealistic paintings
opened at the Galerie Pierre in
Paris.
Let’s see if anyone responds.
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 14,
the 318th day of 2017. There
are 47 days left in the year.
On Nov. 14,1889, inspired
by the Jules Verne novel Around
the World in Eighty Days, New
York World reporter Nellie Bly
(Elizabeth Cochrane) set out to
make the trip in less time than
the fictional Phileas Fogg. (She
completed the journey in 72
days.)
David Martin,
Denton
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think about every day. We hope those ideas lead you to become involved in your community, both
with your commentary and your actions.
In 1940, during World War
II, German planes destroyed
most ofthe English town of Cov-
nue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose
voters,” Trump would say. “And if I could,
why not Roy?”
ALEXANDRA PETRI writes the
Washington Post’s ComPost blog, offering
a lighter take on the news and opinions
ofthe day. She is the author of A Field
Guide to Awkward Silences.”
In 1851, Herman Melville’s
novel Moby-Dick; Or, The
Whale was published in the
United States, almost a month
after being released in Britain.
In 1910, Eugene B. Ely be-
entry.
In 1944, Tommy Dorsey and
his orchestra recorded “Opus
No. 1” for RCA Victor.
— The Associated Press
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 104, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 14, 2017, newspaper, November 14, 2017; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1131507/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .