This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Why?

If those countries are not s--tholes,why do they have to get billions of dollars in aid from the United States every year to feed their citizens. Maybe the real question is why a country that is thousands of years old has to get aid from one that is only a few hundred years old.

Miracle drug

President Trump recently referred to two countries, that many of our ancestors came from, in a vulgar term meaning an outhouse. On Friday, our very own Sen. David Perdue and another senator stated “I cannot recall” him saying that but by Sunday, both had a miraculous improvement of their memory and both stated “He did not say it” even though the president bragged to his friends that he said it to fire up his base.

Sen. Perdue, please let folks like myself, who’s memory is not so sharp anymore, know what miracle drug you took to improve your memory so quickly.

Automation

Banks are next in line for massive closings. In view of the rapid increase in advanced technologies, many formerly exclusive banking activities are now being performed online or through apps on cell phones. I no longer have to visit my local bank in order to deposit checks or perform other related banking activities. I use my cell phone to take a picture of the front and back of my checks and they’re immediately deposited.

Additionally, ATM machines alone can perform many banking functions without going inside — this, coupled with alternative banking via cell phones and online significantly diminish the need for branch banks, etc. I guess that is why Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust and many other banking giants are closing numerous branch banks across America. If you work in the banking industry take note. Postal workers, time to seek safe harbor, everyone, including UPS, FedEx, online statements, email, etc., are just a few activities cutting into their profits.

The projected job losses associated with the closures are imminent. Converting from human based activities to robotic like functions are here to stay creating a “double-edged sword,” a continual rise in the stock market and a decline in jobs.

Job well done

Imagine a man brings a bomb to the South Macon Mall. He shows it to three people. They don’t tell. Hours later, a store employee overhears a witness talk about the bomb. He immediately alerts mall security and calls 911. The man with the bomb and the three witnesses are arrested. Mall shoppers are outraged with mall staff. The staff failed to keep shoppers safe. “He/she (person with the bomb) had hours to do whatever he or she wanted to,” a man complains. “The staff and security is not providing a safe place for us. I trust that when I shop here, I will be safe,” another cries. “I’m afraid they will not do anything to improve the safety of shoppers until something tragic happens,” gripes another.

Shoppers’ concern over what could have become a disastrous situation is understandable, but who’s responsible? Why didn’t the staff know sooner? Did staff or security fail to respond appropriately? The angry shoppers above agree the staff should have known sooner. It’s their fault.

My fictional story sounds much like what happened last week at Rosa Taylor Elementary School. A fourth grader brought a gun to school. That’s bad. Other children knew but didn’t tell. That’s bad, too. The teacher who overheard children talking about the gun responded immediately. That’s good. Even so, parents are angry that administrators failed to keep their children safe? One parent lamented that the child had “eight hours to do whatever he/she wanted to.” That isn’t the staff’s fault. Administrators don’t want to wait for a tragedy to happen to foster a safe school environment. They want to live, too.

As a parent in Bibb County, I would like to commend the staff of Rosa Taylor for a job well done. We appreciate you.

Thanks

I have just seen and read the story written about my father, Georgia’s oldest state trooper from August 25. The story written by Stanley Dunlap was a beautiful piece written about a man that loved being a trooper. Our family wants to thank him and The Telegraph for the story.

Two neat teams

Watching the Army / Navy basketball game Sunday, one thing that stood out to me was the lack of scruffiness of the players, compared to the majority of the average college player. I didn’t see a single tattoo among either team and every player had a neat hair cut, instead of having a head that looked like a dust mop, Just sayin’.

Mann was correct

During his lengthy rant, David Mann managed to be correct on one point; I voted for Trump and I’m getting exactly what I deserve. President Trump gave me a Supreme Court justice who reveres the Constitution and rules based on law.

In one year President Trump has removed the shackles that held our military back and ISIS has been roundly defeated on the battlefield. President Trump has put the world on notice that he doesn’t apologize for the United States and will act in our own national interests.

The new tax law will give 90 percent of Americans, the majority who are not rich, a tax break. As the stock market continues to ascend like a rocket, I look at my IRA and just smile; OK, a BIG smile. The economy is better than it has been in decades with record lows in unemployment and more new jobs being created every day.

I had to tolerate eight years of a president who doubled the national debt with nothing to show for it, reduced our military to a dangerous level, oversaw a pathetic economy and a world that laughed at his ineptness. I won’t even go into how he politicized the various government departments to spy on the American people and use their power to suppress people and organizations he didn’t agree with. So Mr. Mann can surely suffer through the prosperity that President Trump is bringing to the nation.

This story was originally published January 15, 2018 at 9:03 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, January 16, 2018."