This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 25, 2016
No sucker
National news services are reporting that Iran again threatened to walk away from the nuclear agreement reached last year with global powers, hours after the country breached international agreements by test-firing ballistic missiles. Iran's most recent ballistic missile test, which violates current U.N. Security Council resolutions, comes a day after the international community's nuclear watchdog organization disclosed that it is prohibited by the nuclear agreement from publicly reporting on potential violations by Iran.
So Iran is holding the rest of the world on edge with threats of scrapping this agreement even though they don't abide by its restrictions. And by agreement the watching world is not even allowed to know that the Iranian government is not to be held accountable regarding their violations. The current administration is proud of this legacy accomplishment, but this is exactly the kind of bad deals Donald Trump has been railing against. Does the word "loser" come to mind? I don't think The Donald will be suckered into such a contract.
— Dan Topolewski
Kathleen
Hypocrisy
Republicans questioned President Obama's legitimacy to be president, claiming that he was born in Kenya. Tea party darling and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the most vocal "birther." That is, until he presented his Canadian birth certificate. Cruz supporters say that although he was born in a foreign hospital his mother was an American citizen. That satisfied the "natural born" requirement of the Constitution. Wait a minute. Everyone knows that Obama's mother was an American citizen. That would have made him an American citizen even if he had been born in Kenya. No one wants to say that what's OK for Cruz would also have been OK for Obama, and Obama was born IN the United States. Can you say hypocrisy?
— William D. Carter
Bonaire
Third party?
I read with no particular interest that Erick Erickson would not support Trump for president. This is from the same fellow who supported Herman Cain four years ago. So, his lack of endorsement may help rather than hurt Trump.
Erickson was seemingly not put off by Cain's complete lack of vision for America's foreign policy or even current international events. Cain was and is his buddy, a fellow Bortzian pundit who, incidentally called for a third party (not led by the Paul clan) because "... the Republican Party no longer represented the interests of conservatives in the United States" and that it didn't have "the ability to rebrand itself," so a third party, "not Ron Paul and the Ron Paulites," but "a legitimate third party, would be needed to replace it."
So, Erickson, trying to position himself as a conservative Republican loyalist in the face of the Trump onslaught doesn't really work. Tying your tail on someone else's kite is seldom a good idea. As for the likable and verbose Cain, he continues to toe the tea party line, with a few tangents into Never-never land, on his daily talk show. Not surprisingly, he has recently been named a "contributor" to Fox News. Maybe they should look at his endorsement of Forbes in '04 and Romney in '12 as an indication of his powers of prognostication.
— Bob Carnot
Warner Robins
A twofer
First, racist demagogue Little Albert Sharpton, threatens to leave the USA if Trump is elected. Now, Raven-Symoné, (who I'm told is on some TV show), has said she would move to Canada if a Republican is even nominated. Wow, a twofer. Get rid of a couple of aggravating whiny agitators and increase the national IQ all in one swoop. I was not a Trumpist before this, but I am now. All enough of us have to do is vote Trump and these two losers will voluntarily take their racist complaints, their injustices and their crappy attitudes to a different latitude. Good luck to "Rev. Al finding another country to put up with his bovine excrement and refusal to pay taxes. As for Symoné, maybe she could share a pad with fellow traveler Cynthia McKinney over in the West Bank or wherever she's hiding out these days. Adios Amigos.
— John Brogden
Warner Robins
No animal acts
It would seem the Cherry Blossom Festival could provide a variety of activities without stooping to the antics of Ringling Brothers circus acts which stresses animals in captivity and being transported on trucks and trains for most of their lives, and being forced to perform acts that are not natural to them. If this was being done to humans, it would be called slavery. The Bengal Tigers and horses deserve better than what is being done to them.
Please do not attend these events and send a message to the uncaring Cherry Blossom executives that insist on supporting these unsavory people who use animals for their monetary gain. I am sure the Cherry Blossom executives make enough money that removing these animals from their line up of acts will not make a drop in their huge profits made from many Middle Georgia families.
— Judy S. Veal Lawrence
Milledgeville
Fearmonger
It is time to point out the shallowness of Donald Trump. His call tonight for us to legalize torture shows many things about him and none are good. Trump is either ignorant of the law or thinks the American people are ignorant. Torture is illegal according to international law, not just American law. We cannot just pass a law to make torture legal. He also is ignorant of the goal of terrorists. Terrorists want us to respond to fear by becoming like them. This aids their recruiting by showing our lack of values. Torture is not a reliable way to gather information since an individual will say almost anything to stop the torture.
We need a leader who understands the law, terrorists goals and respects the American people. The person is not Donald Trump. He plays on people's fears to gain votes without sound or legal positions.
— Clarence Berry
Warner Robins
This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 9:48 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 25, 2016 ."