A6 • inwhitleycounty.com
OPINION
YOUR VIEW IN|Whitley County posed the following question on our Facebook page on Sunday evening: Do you have rules for your children when it comes to technology? Do you allow them to have devices in bed with them at night? Do you limit their screen time? Here are your responses: Raymon G. Farris: Our boys are VERY limited to technology at home. If they are good they can play on their iPods, which are
limited to Subway Surf and Temple Run! And are allowed to message mom and dad from it.. that is it. Time limits are if, when it dies you are DONE.. And when they are allowed to play it is limited to maybe once or twice a week Danielle Smethers: Yes. Our daughter is restricted to 30 minutes a day on her tablet and that is only utilizing her Amazon Freetime App. And, no tablet time half an hour before bed and it does not go in her bedroom.
CHEERS, JEERS & WHATABOUTS To submit to this column email the editor at nminier@kpcmedia.com.
CHEERS to the American Legion posts 157 and 98 for the honor guard service at dad’s
(Joe Hubbard) funeral and the dinner after. — Paula Shrock
Have an opinion? Share it with us. Contact editor Nicole Minier at nminier@kpcmedia.com
Whitley County • May 11, 2017
Have you had the talk with your child?
We’re not talking about the birds and the bees. We’re talking about the one concerning the World Wide Web and social media. The fact is, no matter how much we try to expose our children to traditional, wholesome activities – like reading books, engaging in art and participating in music and athletic activities – technology is a part of their lives. What high school student can imagine researching an entire paper by not using the internet? We even use the internet to research stories, check facts and engage with the public. But as useful and educational as the web and social media can be, it also contains a multitude of avenues in which a child or young adult can get into trouble – even mistakenly. In today’s society, taking
photos, sending photos and posting photos is part of every day life. But, while many adults may use great discretion what pieces of their lives they expose to the public, our children may not. We can’t assume they can begin to understand, for example, the consequences a silly, drunk photo could have on their futures. Not only could photos from high school and college impact a student’s future job interview, the social media culture is likely impacting their current emotional state via likes and emojis. A Northwestern University study released last year noted that only 40 percent of parents were aware what their children saw on social media. These same parents heavily monitored television and video game usage
Our view and yet had little awareness of their children’s engagement when it came to the internet. Recently, within our own county, local young women are being exposed on a website that allows people to post photos anonymously. The pictures were sent by the girls in private messages to friends, but are now on display for the public. We don’t think the girls had any idea that this was a possibility. The situation is embarrassing for them and local law enforcement and the prosecutor’s office are looking for ways to take
the photos down. This is one example about why having a conversation about technology is so important. It is always evolving and changing. What we may never dream of as a possibility could become a nightmare. This doesn’t mean ban your children from iPads, computers and phones. It does mean, become and remain educated about the apps and programs that are targeting your kids. Have conversations about technology use with your children. As early as 2-years-old, a child can easily navigate through YouTube Kids better than some parents. We don’t think it is really ever too early to begin talking about technology use in a home and setting boundaries.
Gauging President Trump’s performance How is President Donald Trump doing at this early point? While his national approval has consistently hovered between 35 and 42 percent, Trump’s base is still on board. A University of Virginia Center for Politics poll of Trump voters shows his approval rating at 93 percent. Trump won the Indiana primary with 53 percent of the vote and had a 19 percent plurality last November. In tandem with Vice President Mike Pence, Trump remains strong in Indiana. U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, R- Shelbyville, explained, “Back home people are excited by Trump’s leadership, they’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and they are waiting to see the results from his promises. They are excited by many of the executive orders that have already come. They almost like the way he’s sparring with the media.” U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Brownsburg, who will likely face a 2018 U.S. Senate race showdown with Messer, adds, “I am all in for President Trump. He has connected to the forgotten man. The Republicans are the party of the working man. We can’t forget that.” I heard this over and over again from Hoosiers last year: Trump “tells it like it is.” He articulated
their own fears, anxieties, resentments and hope that Main Street was getting left behind, that their adult kids were still living in the basement, and heroin and meth plagues were prairie rip tides that reeked of ammonia, leaving contaminated Lowe’s buckets on highway bridges and needles dangling from limp arms. But Trump has bolted on so many issues. He’s not going to terminate NAFTA. The Paris accords are under review. In just one day in April, Trump flipped as the Washington Post observed “on a dizzying array of policies in a stunningly brief period of time: China as a currency manipulator. The future of the Export-Import Bank. NATO’s relevance. A federal hiring freeze. The Federal Reserve chair. The wisdom of low interest rates. Syria air strikes. Russia as friend or foe. Taken individually, the reversals of just the past week seem to prove the oft-stated point that Trump is not bound by even his own past words – that even Trump does not take his words literally.” Trump is a president of “no fixed ideology,” making decision based on gut instinct sans evidence. Fearing that 100th day, Trump promised tax reform. The folks at the Treasury Department were
shocked and scrambled to come up with a 209-word document that will cut taxes for the rich, somewhat for the middle class and explode the federal deficits and debt. It’s basically a whopping tax cut going on the federal credit card. The danger for Rokita, Messer and Republicans is staking a position with Trump is like campaigning alongside a band of gypsies. Wake up in the morning and they’re gone with your pants and wallet. You can be a career-long deficit hawk, only to find a Trump tax reform plan with skyrocketing deficits. On NBC’s Meet The Press, Pence found himself in a state of contortion. Will deficits go up? “Maybe in the short term,” Pence said. On Thursday, 217 House Republicans, pushed by President Trump and Vice President Pence, passed the American Health Care Act. According to analysis in Politico, the AHCA: Imposes a mandate by another name, allowing insurers to charge people who have been uninsured for about two months a 30 percent surcharge on their premiums; Gives tax breaks to the wealthy with the Tax Policy Center estimates eliminating these taxes would save the top 0.1 percent of income earners about $195,000
each year; defunds Planned Parenthood for one year; Allows older Americans to be charged more, five times as much; Allows sick Americans to be charged more as states could opt out of Obamacare’s required set of benefits or – most significantly – allow insurers again to charge some sick patients more for coverage, prompting the Upton amendment that added $8 billion in coverage, or about $120 billion short. Indiana’s high risk pool would face a $282 million shortfall; likely will mean benefit cuts for Medicaid recipients, or cause states to cough up more money. It would cut federal funding for Medicaid by $880 billion, or 25 percent, over 10 years; and could weaken employer-sponsored insurance. Missing was one of the cornerstones of the GOP repeal/replace rhetoric, which would allow health insurance to be sold across state lines. During the campaign, Trump called the U.S. a “drug-infested” nation where “Drugs, are becoming cheaper than candy bars” and vowed the solve the problem that cost 33,000 lives due to overdoses in 2015. In places like Wayne County, Indiana, 10 percent of newborn babies are addicted to opioids. But
on Friday, the Trump administration revised the 2018 budget of his Office of National Drug Control Policy proposing to slash 95 percent of its funding from $388 million to $24 million, cutting 33 employees. The New York Times reported the budget would also eliminate grant programs it administers, including the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program. The Washington Post called Trump “the most fact-challenged politician” ever encountered, earning 59 Four-Pinocchio ratings as a candidate and 16 more as president. Since he took office, there have been 488 false or misleading claims, or 4.9 per day. In Trump’s worldview, President Andrew Jackson was upset by the Civil War (he died 16 years before it began). There was praise for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who has been accused of thousands of extrajudicial murders, and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, a “smart cookie” who has nukes aimed at Seoul, Tokyo and, perhaps, Honolulu. Historian Douglas Brinkley observed, “It seems to be among the most bizarre recent 24 hours in American presidential history. It was all just surreal disarray and a confused
mental state from the president.” As for North Korea, all options are on the table, including a nuclear war. As a candidate, Trump didn’t know what nuclear triad was, explaining, “I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.” Now it’s an option he ponders. Trump, who last year said he longed for an “easy” Purple Heart, lamented in a recent Reuters interview, “I loved my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.” The frustrated President Trump tweeted over the weekend on “how tough getting things done in government is,” saying, “It’s a very rough system. It’s an archaic system … It’s really a bad thing for the country.” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough responded: “Wrong. It’s Madison and Jefferson’s checks and balances. It’s separations of power. It frustrates would-be tyrants. It’s perfect now.” BRIAN HOWEY is publisher of the Howey Political Report, a weekly briefing on Indiana politics. Contact him at 317-5060883 or at howeypolitics. com.