This is Viewpoints for Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015
Setting the record
Before the news people move on to the next big story, let's get the facts correct on Donald Trump's rally in Macon. The crowd was much closer to 8,000 than 6,000. The total protesters were closer to 20 than 30 and only a few left early to beat the crowd. The parking lot at the Coliseum was packed. Donald J. Trump 2016. Hope for change in one hand and vote for change in the other hand and see which one fills up first.
— Mike Wolff
Macon
Cute babies
Donald Trump's shameless bravado, disdain of facts and lack of contrition may be refreshing in a candidate, but they would be frightening in a president. Remember, babies are cute until they don't get their own way.
— Neal Snyder
Warner Robins
Interesting times
It is always interesting when presidential primary season rolls around, in the same sense that a carnival of old brought the clowns, freaks and midway hawkers. Last night's visit of Donald Trump to Macon was no exception. The man in the Panama hat and his imaginary cane promising amazing sights and sounds behind the tent flap was none other than "The Disappearing Man" himself, Herman (Brain Fart) Cain.
The front page article in The Telegraph (12/1) ably reported with help from Mercer journalism students, offered interviews with a variety of the awestruck: Tracy Sweet offered that Trump "cannot be bothered by anyone." She might have correctly added that he is unfettered by history, facts and truth; Tripp Seda, a 25-year-old Republican from Milner, said he was impressed that Trump could talk so long without a Teleprompter.
His speech lasted about an hour and 10 minutes. No big feat here, as long as you are talking about yourself with no specifics that someone may actually check. Or, as Trump himself said this weekend, "Am I going to check everything ...(I say?); Griffin resident Joseph Standridge, 17, "I just really wanted to come down and see what it's all about," strangely echoing the same phrase countless 15-year-olds uttered when their well-thumbed copy of Penthouse was discovered by mom.
Trump's message, full of "I" and hardly a "we," was his usual "hate this, fear them" demagoguery we have heard too much of already. While there were no surprises in the news pages Tuesday, the Viewpoints section brought John G. Kelley's letter, "Trump will perform." Unfortunately, that is extremely likely, with his carnival replaced by a three-ringed circus temporarily — one would hope — set in Washington, D.C.
Picture Trump in a top hat. Kelley takes Editor Charles Richardson to task for offering prospective Republicans a couple of sound (read sane) alternatives to Trump: Bush and Rubio. Richardson doesn't need my help in explaining the obvious: Republican politics, at this early juncture, offer more sound and fury than substance.
Whenever someone tries to conduct a reasonable conversation with the American voter, along comes Trump with his latest xenophobic, fact-less (81 percent of Whites are killed by blacks) diatribe and our short collective attention span is preoccupied by the theater of the absurd.
As for Kelley's assertion that a presidential contest that could conceivably pitch Clinton against Trump would be "exciting," may I remind him of the ancient, supposedly Chinese, some say, Irish curse: "May you live in interesting times."
— Bob Carnot
Warner Robins
'Existential threat'
Once again President Obama is being quoted as saying "ISIL is not an existential threat to the United States." For once he may be correct. President Obama is the existential threat to the United States.
— John T. White
Kathleen
Mercer fan
I want to applaud Coach Bob Hoffman and the Mercer University basketball team for their excellent play this year but also for the past few years. Coach and his players truly exhibit a high level of basketball skills, but most importantly, the highest level of teamwork and sportsmanship. They are a class act in all aspects of the game.
I'll be the first to admit that I am biased since I am a member of the Class of 1953, played for the Bears all four years of school, and was part of the group that was recognized by the university officially a few years back as a participant of the "Golden Age of Mercer Basketball," but I can't help but wonder why the men's basketball team doesn't get prominent sports coverage in its hometown newspaper. The University of Georgia does, Georgia Tech often does, others do, and yet the Mercer Bears get a box score or a short write-up in the sports section; sometimes on page 2 or 3.
Come on guys, Mercer University and the Mercer Bears, represent and exhibit the very best of Macon and Middle Georgia.
Please give the university and its teams first class publicity in their hometown newspaper. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
— Emory M. Wilson
Perry
Immigrants no longer needed
Tuning in to the radio while driving, the newscaster announced that the U.S. will accept thousands of Syrian refugees. During the commercial break, Reba McIntyre was voicing a commercial for the thousands of children who go hungry in this country every day. What is wrong with this picture?
Our nation is nearly $19 trillion in debt and yet there are Americans who agree that we should bring in more immigrants. We have millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and 48 million on food stamps.
We must consider that we are a finite land mass with finite resources. These additional people strain our natural resources and infrastructure. Our welfare system, medical system and the free breakfast and lunch programs in schools are going to implode.
Department of Homeland Security data reveals that the United States already admits more than a quarter million Middle Eastern Muslims every year. This does not include the millions of people from Mexico and Central America who have come over the southern border illegally.
Further, the immigrants who chose not to come here legally and those who are coming in as refugees are not being assimilated. Our culture and our language are being decimated and our society fragmented. We can look at the destructive results of multiculturalism in so many European nations.
In the early years of the industrial revolution, we needed immigrants to work in our factories. However, that is no longer the case. So many Americans are currently out of work or being displaced by foreign workers who are often paid less. We must put America first or there will be no America.
— Kathy Solomon
Perry
U.N. power grab
I was thinking about the multiple layers of governing bodies that affect the citizens of Macon. There's the combined Macon-Bibb County Commission, the state of Georgia, the U.S. government in Washington, and now the U.N. The U.N. has an agenda for America. It is called, "Transforming Our World." That sounds harmless enough, but what is in it?
According to the U.N., Agenda 21 must, ensure access to the land of all households and, where appropriate, the encouragement of community and collectively owned and managed lands." And by "managed" they mean under U.N. direct control. The U.N. believes it would be preferable and environmentally not as harmful if cities could develop in height, rather than in width.
I enjoy living in my own home. I don't want to live in a poorly maintained multi-story residential complex where the elevators don't always work and inconsiderate neighbors urinate in the halls. I relish the bounty of the earth and plant tiny tomato bushes in my small garden so that I can enjoy their luscious fruits.
Cramming into a more densely populated area would simplify the control of citizens. So, the U.N. proposes a Wildland's Project that calls for approximately 50 percent of the United States to be set aside as wildlands where no human can enter. The U.S. Senate has never ratified this project but Washington has plans to quietly acquire millions of acres of privately held land.
Additionally, this international body now demands that Americans share the product of our hard work and sacrifices with the whole world. I say, "no."
— Hill Kaplan
Macon
This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 9:10 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 ."