∙The city has released its long-awaited report on the Thomas Fire (article on the cover). I found the small amount of information covering the lack of water to fight the fire a little disappointing in the 25-page report.
The report says: “During the Thomas Fire, the City’s water system operated as designed. No urban water system is designed to operate under or protect against a massive, unstoppable wildfire.” Hmm, perhaps it should be.
Previous Ventura councilmember, and current Ventura County Supervisor, Steve Bennett has expressed the same concerns.
∙The Breeze has always had a little problem receiving an abundant amount of comments and opinions from readers, but once I criticized Trump (and published a political cartoon that did the same) we are finally receiving lots of opinions. This is good and makes me very happy. Please keep them coming in support of, or critical of, Trump. And other opinions are appreciated as well, of course.
∙On Nov. 6, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” If the President says so it must be true. Maybe it is the time to take action to make sure that the loser of the election is never made President of the United States.
∙A Pennsylvania church administrator stole $1.2 million that he and his wife used to pay for vacations, sports tickets and other personal expenses. David and Connie Reiter are charged with theft, forgery and receiving stolen property. The money was stolen from the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair over the course of about 17 years. David Reiter had been the church’s administrator since 2001. Will they still go to heaven?
∙Isn’t it about time for Congress to pass an update to the National Emergency Act? The Act needs a much clearer definition of the conditions under which a President (several have done this) can declare a national emergency. Isn’t the measle epidemic becoming a national emergency? If I were President, it would be. And we would also have a national holiday for left-handed people to show their amazing contribution to society.
∙Health officials identified another measles case in Clark County. There are now 65 confirmed cases in the outbreak.
Officials say 57 of the patients were not immunized, and six are not verified to have had the vaccine, and two patients had only one dose of the MMR vaccines.
The CDC says one dose of the MMR vaccine is 93 percent effective, while having two doses of the vaccine is 97 percent effective.
I know that there are people who, based on religious beliefs, don’t believe in immunizing their kids. Perhaps when we colonize Mars they can all move there and can deal with the problem that they have created. Chickenpox has also greatly increased as well in a North Carolina school where many families claim religious exemptions from vaccines. Does the Bible say immunization is immoral?
∙A Catholic priest in Michigan is facing criticism after he presided over the funeral of 18-year-old Maison Hullibarger, a straight-A student who killed himself. The priest told mourners at the service that the teen may be (but not for sure?) kept out of heaven due to the way he died.
The parents want the priest who presided over his funeral removed after they say he disparaged and condemned their son during the service. Removal may not be enough.
∙The “dark” side of the moon isn’t really darker than the “light” side of the moon. But that far side gets colder at night. Data from the Apollo missions had already revealed that the moon’s sunlit surface can climb to 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) during the day and drop to minus 280 F (minus 173 C) at night. Maybe plan your space trip to another place in the sky.
∙The children of lesbian women who conceived through sperm donations had no more
behavioral or emotional problems than did a representative sample of others their age.
Conclusion is that it is the quality of the parenting and not their sex creates stable children.
∙ Even though no one has been conscripted into the United States military in more than 40 years, the Military Selective Service Act requires all American men to register when they turn 18. Men who do not register can be fined, imprisoned and denied services like federal student loans.
Judge Gray H. Miller of Federal District Court in the Southern District of Texas has ruled that because women can now serve in combat roles, it is unconstitutional for the United States to draft only men for the military.
He quoted the Supreme Court’s 1981 ruling that the exclusion of women from the draft was fully justified because women then were not allowed to serve in combat. But the Pentagon abolished those restrictions in 2015, opening the way for women to serve in any military role for which they could qualify.
“While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft,” Judge Miller wrote in his ruling. “If there ever was a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’ that time has passed.”
∙People who puff electronic cigarettes every day have twice the risk of heart attack, and the odds increase almost fivefold for those who use them along with traditional cigarettes, a new study suggests. “Using both products at the same time is worse than using either one separately,” said senior study author Stanton Glantz director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.
Most adults who vape continue to smoke tobacco cigarettes, he added. About 66 percent of the nearly 2,300 current e-cigarette users in the study also smoked tobacco cigarettes.
