Nix needs to get over it

Sixty-nine days after his glowing tribute to President Obama's legacy, Mr. Nix admits that he too is now overwhelmed by PTISD -- Post Trump Inauguration Stress Disorder. He notes "for weeks now" he has not 'been up to it" being "overwhelmed ... by the sheer enormity of what we're seeing."

Mr. Nix, I feel for you; I truly do. And with all respect and appreciation to you for publishing my occasional letter and frequent Sound-Offs over the last two years or so, how do you think those of us on the op-ed side feel? Except for Mr. Limbaugh and a couple of commentators on Fox News, the entire Fourth Estate is suffering as you are, and their radioactive angst is all we see and read all day long.

To be clear, as a candidate and person, Mr. Trump was an obnoxious, petulant vulgarian whose frequent malapropisms and hopeless elocution skills caused my toes to cramp without relief. But he won. And he won going away. Paraphrasing my oft used Lenny Bruce quote, "reality is what is -- not what should be." And so it is time to pay attention to the several realities that have been and are ignored every day, such as today. While the market is way up -- actually way, way up; the market rebounded today when it appeared Mr. Ryan and staff signaled they erred significantly, consumer confidence is the highest in 16 years, Ford is pouring money into plants in Michigan, Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed soon, and sanctuary cities were put on notice to straighten up. It is going to be hard to hold on the pout and anger for four years. Somewhere in the last 69 days, there had to be some good news to send to press.

Loss to us all

I learned of Rena Burkhalters’s passing last week. I had the pleasure of working with her at the shelter on Sacerdote Lane almost 35 years ago. Rena was a true animal lover and protector; she was also wonderful to work with, a very gracious person. Rena’s involvement in the animal movement has paid dividends for us today. The euthanasia rates dropped 80% in our city and animal control intake down by 50%. Taking care of our pets and mitigating the pain and suffering requires an entire community effort. Rena was able to teach me so much and we must pass this along to our younger citizens so we can eventually become a no kill community.

Hopes dashed

When I saw the headline on Leonard Pitts’ column of 3/26 (“Bottom Line: Will we have the law or the mob?”), my first thought was: “Aha! He’s finally going to address the lawless acts of the serial rioters and hired thugs leading the Black Lives Matter movement, destroying property and threatening citizens as though they were somehow ‘entitled’ to smash store windows, loot at will, and burn police cars.”

Unfortunately, he dodged that poisoned pill. Instead, he chose to chastise the Governor of Florida for removing a State Prosecutor from a case simply because she chose not to obey the law. The lawyer involved had stated, on the record, that she would not seek the death penalty authorized by statute in one particular case, or “against any other defendant.” In other words, she was abdicating her duty to enforce all the laws, equally and without personal bias, as she was elected to do. As the Chief Executive, Governor Scott had every right (a duty, even), to pull her off the case

Pitts went on to further demonstrate his ignorance by maintaining that the Governor’s action somehow “tramples on the separation of powers.” The principal to which he refers is the distinction between Executive, Legislative, and Judicial powers. What he had done is conflate prosecuting criminals with judging criminals. Prosecutors are part of the Executive Branch, fully within the purview of the Chief Executive. They have no claim on protections from executive action afforded to Magistrates, Judges and Justices.

Brother Leonard ends his rant with the admonition that, “The law exists to protect us from the mob.” Yet he seems bent on creating his own mob to protest the Governor acting lawfully to restrict actions by a subordinate who seems to have forgotten the law she swore to uphold.

Common humanity

I am a former resident of Columbus and it is my hometown.

It is no secret that we are divided. This division has been created by our leaders. It was not created by current or former administrations but began years ago.

I have been privileged to wear different uniforms as a first responder. During that time I have occasionally had to call for help. I never wondered if black, white, Muslim, Hispanic, Catholic or Jew responded. Once they arrived it never crossed my mind that if they did not look like me I would wait for someone else. I was thankful that they came prepared to shed their blood for me as I would for them.

As a soldier would know, when your enemy looks at you he sees what I wish we all would see. They do not see a race or religion. They see Americans.

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Nix needs to get over it."