Credibility crisis

I read the AP story “Spicer won’t say whether Trump has confidence in Sessions” with bemusement. Mr. Trump barreled to victory by spewing drivel, reinforced with bombast, bluster and belligerence. Therefore, how valid is his vote of confidence, when his political life is adrift, and his legacy awash with lies he peddled regarding President Obama’s nationality, how many electoral college votes he garnered and the size of his inaugural crowd?

Sessions endorsed Trump early, which legitimized and energized his candidacy. Sessions fashioned himself and Trump as Siamese twins, bound by their passion to deport illegal immigrants and squelch drug use by tossing offenders in prison, and their disdain for federal scrutiny of local law enforcement officers.

Trump’s tacit approval when Sessions failed to admit he talked with the Russian ambassador is troubling and telling. It’s reminiscent of the eight clergymen who criticized Martin Luther King’s direct action campaign in Birmingham as unwise and untimely. In “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” King said, “You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” Ditto for President Trump.

President Trump fails to understand that Sessions’ behavior during his hearings determined the inevitable. For he was absolutely compromised.

Indoctrination

As the campuses are now quiescent for the summer and Ms. Griffin and Mr. Maher are duly chastened, I find myself wondering how we got to this current state of “Resistance” to President Trump and the ideological shift on campuses.

The campus evolution is somewhat easy to understand. They are sheltered environments and the ascendency of the Vietnam-era graduates to professor and administrator positions does not lend itself to open forums. But none of my associates from the ‘60s could have foreseen how some campuses now resemble the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the early ’70s where students and professors are shamed and harassed if they deviate ever so slightly from accepted doctrine, to wit, if you are white, you are saturated with Original Sin, doomed to live with the stench for all eternity.

The current “Resistance” movement (a gratuitous insult to those who were members of La Résistance in WWII) can be dismissed as sore losers, but the anger and hatred is way beyond mere soreness. For example, the “fighters” have been urged to confront and attack supporters of President Trump in any environment and at any time. A recent poll indicated that only 10% of us reside in the no-man’s land between the camps.

My confusion is this. I took a course once in Classical Political Philosophy which required reading a boatload of stuff written by Dead White Guys—people whose works are no longer welcome in many classrooms. Boiling the course down to a few words, I learned a liberal believes in the inherent goodness of man whereas a conservative believes man fell from a state of grace and has been flawed ever since.

So what happened to the inherent goodness of man? All I see are bullies with a serious lack of tolerance, respect and gracious behavior.

Climate irony

Coal is one of the biggest factors in global warming so some efforts are being made to limit its use and clean it up. There is, however, a problem and it is with China, Korea and India. The way in which they use coal is by each individual family being very frugal with every piece as it is their source of fuel for cooking and heating in their dwellings. They don't waste it and cannot afford to.

Here we have the tremendous size of China and India with billions of people greatly dependent on coal. In the Paris Accord they are giving these countries 10 years before they have to be a member but anyone who thinks the use of coal can be reduced in these countries is wrong. Their people live on very low incomes and coal is a very necessity in their lives. The United States exports coal to China.

Heartfelt thanks

The U.S. Post Office Letter Carrier’s 25th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive on May 13 was another great success this year in our community. More than 65,000 pounds of much needed food was donated by our community and will help Feeding the Valley Food Bank’s inventory throughout the summer months.

For 25 years, the U.S. Post Office Letter Carriers have organized this event across the country and it is the nation’s largest food drive. Non-perishable foods are left at the mailbox to be picked up by a letter carrier and then volunteers from the community including Fort Benning and the Feeding the Valley staff help unload food donations at the end of the day. These food donations will help Feeding the Valley food bank throughout the summer months as more of our programs are expanded, especially for children.

We thank the U.S. Post Office and letter carriers for continuing to sponsor this great event, national and corporate sponsors, volunteers, and to a very generous community for supporting the effort to solve hunger in our community.

Thank you for helping us Stamp Out Hunger!

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Credibility crisis."