This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Dangerous pair

I have been wondering what Putin hoped to get from Trump for intervening in the 2016 election on his behalf. Now I can see a quid pro quo. Last week, Trump declined to impose sanctions on Russia even though they were required under a law passed by Congress last year. The law was designed to punish the Kremlin for meddling in the election. The vote was 98-2 in the Senate and 419-3 in the House.

The lame excuse was that the penalties were unnecessary because the law was already deterring companies from doing business with Russia. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump appointee, says that Russia is already trying to influence the upcoming elections. How far will this bromance go? What other favors will Putin, our most dangerous adversary, receive?

Farewell to a wonderful man

Our community lost a true champion of justice with the passing of Phil Bond. He worked as a lawyer with the Georgia Legal Services program for many years. His clients were those who had serious legal issues but no one to advocate for them because of poverty. His mission in life was to help people. He was recognized for his service, but so much of what he did was done quietly without fanfare. Phil was a regular sight downtown as he moved around quickly in his wheelchair. He was paralyzed from a car wreck when he was in college in the 1970s, but he went on to finish college, get a law degree and devote his entire career to serving people through GLSP. He never complained about his situation in life. As someone put it, Phil had a mobility issue but he most certainly was not handicapped. Even after his retirement from GLSP, he agreed to serve on the board of the Middle Georgia Access to Justice Council where he was continuing his life mission to help poor people. We as a community are thankful for Phil’s efforts to make us a better place and we will miss him.

Clean it up

I would like to echo Fred Brown’s letter on February 4 regarding the current state of the KMBBC. I have followed The Telegraph’s recent reports outlining the conflict and political in-fighting at the commission and wondered what they are actually doing to benefit the community they supposedly serve. What is the mission? What is their track record of successful projects and efforts? What is their long-range plan to curb the litter problem in our city? These are questions that few people seem to be able to answer.

Without the efforts of neighbors in my own Shirley Hills neighborhood, our local thoroughfare, Nottingham Drive, would resemble the trash heap that Fred describes in his letter as well. I know that the solution is more than boots on the ground collecting litter; indeed, it should include education, public outreach and programs from organizations like KMBBC. I call on The Telegraph to investigate these issues and KMBBC and report it to the community. We deserve to know what’s going on at this organization and what Macon-Bibb is doing to manage this issues.

Find out yourself

Is it a lie, an exaggeration, faulty logic, wishful thinking or a combination?

What I speak of is the desperate assertion by Trump and Trump’s Fox network that the Nunes memo proves that the FBI is corruptly prejudiced, that the Mueller investigation should be ended and that the case against Trump for collusion with the Russians and obstruction of justice “is dead.”

Anyone who reads the memo rather than allowing Trump or Fox News to read it for them will see that the memo addresses only the issue of whether the FISA court should have been told more about the origin of the Steele dossier. (It is completely unconvincing on that point.) Even staunch Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy says it does not mean that the FBI is corrupt, that the Mueller investigation should end or that Trump has been proven innocent. He should know because he rather than Nunes actually read the FISA record and wrote the memo based upon it.

As for Carter Page, who was known to be a target of Russian spies as well as a self proclaimed adviser to the Kremlin, he needed to be under surveillance.

At least follow the process

You know, I am tired of hearing Democrats, politicians and amnesty groups use illegals being brought here by their illegal parents, in their political scheme of things. When illegals break laws, illegals should pay, not the tax-paying U.S. citizens. We pay the countries the illegals are from; upon arrival by bus, vans or trains, we pay immigration employees to process them; we pay judges, attorneys, doctors, nurses and testing to determine the health status of each; we pay to fly them all over the country; then after they are settled, we pay for their education, food, clothing, housing, Medicaid, their U.S. born children, on and on.

Then as to DACA, we use the excuse “that is no fault of their own” to provide them with driver’s licenses, college, work permits, etc.

Listen, today through no fault of Southern U.S. citizens taxpayers, and mainly white people, we are still paying for our ancestors who fought in the War Between the States due to slavery. In my opinion, all these ungrateful illegals, whoever they are, from whatever country, having whatever color of skin, if given legal status until adult, should at least have to take it on their on to apply for citizens along with their illegal parents and then wait in line until citizenship papers are earned. In the meantime, taxpayers are having to pay for all their U.S. born citizenship babies while they are waiting in line. And one wonders why most U.S. citizen taxpayers are worried about their status, fulfilling their dreams and providing for their own children’s dreams.

This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 1:24 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, February 7, 2018."