Border walls work: Letters to the editor, Feb. 15, 2019

History proves walls are effective

The letter submitted by Jim Clark on Jan. 28 is a perfect example of walls that work. It took full scale military assault to defeat the walls.

Jim Clark mentioned the Berlin Wall as a wall that was “pretty effective” because of the soldiers guarding it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s wall has been at least 90 percent effective in preventing terrorist attacks.

Walls around “gated communities” prevent strangers and criminals from just wandering through these neighborhoods and increasing safety. Walls work! Build Trump’s wall.

Compromise a key to governing

Nunes’ position in “Nunes, Costa, Cox react to Trump’s announcement of temporary shutdown lift” (Jan. 25) piece is disappointing. His suggestion is that the president has been “extremely reasonable.” Nunes suggests the Democrats are to blame for the shutdown based on their unwillingness to negotiate with the president. Yet, they have offered alternative solutions, meanwhile the president has refused every counteroffer and held the “Dreamers” and federal works hostage to try to get his funding for the boarder wall.

Essentially, the president is creating a problem and offering a solution to the problem he created to appear as if he is being accommodating. Negotiations are about compromising to find a solution. Not one branch holds all the power in our government, but the president is trying to, rather than compromising on his demands.

When spanking is slave treatment

Rodney Nidever’s (Jan. 12) letter reads like an 1830’s slave-owner manual, if you substitute the words “slave” for “child” and “whip lashing” for “spanking.”

Firstly, the slave owner should establish with his slave from an early age that defiance and disobedience will not be tolerated and will have consequences. Whip lashing should not be the “last” resort, but our first and only method of teaching obedience. If it is done immediately when needed, there will be no excess emotion present. Whip lashing is not done to injure the slave, but to bring a momentary sting as a consequence of the slave’s choice. Then the slave will be scolded and talked to, at which time the reason for the whip lashing is explained. It is because the slave is the slave-owner’s property.

The second aspect is to return to the issue that triggered the negative response in the first place, to teach the importance of obedience. If the slave again refuses to follow directions, she should be asked if she wants to have a whip lashing over this. If she decides to continue to be defiant, the process is without emotion done again, until the slave gets the point.

Early-child brain key to good life

Kudos to the San Joaquin Valley Town Hall program for bringing another excellent speaker recently to our community in Dr. John Medina, a nationally renowned brain scientist and author. His recent books include: “Brain Rules”; “Brain Rules for Baby”; and, “Brain Rules for Aging Well.”

During his presentation, Dr. Medina stated the earliest months are critical to a baby’s brain development and learning ability. He also noted that investing money to educate prospective and new parents on why this early time frame is so important to a baby’s future has a very high rate of return on investment — results confirmed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The reason for this is that children who have a positive conception to age 2 tend to do well in school and become productive citizens as adults, while most prisoners, drug addicts and the like had a negative conception to age 2.

So, to reduce the need to spend millions of tax dollars responding to unlawful behavior, let us invest in our young people by providing them age appropriate education showing why conception to age 2 is so critical to a child having a positive, constructive and healthy future.