What's really in souls
It is no secret that a good portion of those who voted Donald Trump into office define themselves as white Christian evangelicals. You saw in Trump the perfect vehicle to forward your agenda of anti-abortion and the fight against a fabricated war on Christianity.
So now that you have your supposed lackey in office, how morally repugnant does he have to be before you speak against him? Is your agenda so vital to your existence that you are willing to tolerate and support a person openly supportive of bigots, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the most repugnant of our society?
My opinion is you clothe yourselves in the guise of followers of Christ when in reality you are as racist and bigoted as the ones promoting fascist ideology.
Actions speak far more loudly than words. And your willingness to abdicate any semblance of morality, justice, humanity or actual Christian values tells me all I need to know what actually resides within your souls.
BILL ROGERS
Little Rock
Fighting Nazis again
On Saturday we watched in horror as turmoil unfolded in an otherwise quiet college town in Virginia. We then watched in incredulity as President Donald Trump delivered a less than clear condemnation of the violence. His statement seemed to equate the neo-Nazis, klansmen, and white supremacists with those who opposed them, despite the fact that it appears it was the former groups, not the latter, who took a human life.
The president did, however, make it a point to stress "the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens"--unsurprising, perhaps, since we know this president prizes loyalty to himself.
I believe what happened Saturday was as remarkable as it was tragic: Nazis committed political murder in broad daylight on the streets of an American city, and our president failed to condemn it unambiguously, nor did he disavow the connection to him that these hate groups apparently feel. Failing to condemn their actions explicitly only emboldens them to engage in such brutality again.
I would submit that unless President Trump clearly and unequivocally denounces the violence and murder committed by the Nazis and their ilk, and states clearly that he does not support these hate groups in any way, he is unworthy of the loyalty from the people that he so obviously craves.
Like many reading this letter, my father fought the Nazis in Europe during World War II. It is the president's duty to ensure his sons and grandsons do not have to fight Nazis here in America.
JOHN KAMINAR
Bryant
Couldn't plan better
I laughed, almost spitting out a mouthful of my coffee Friday morning while glancing at "Previews/New this week" in MovieStyle.
Perfect placement! Al Gore's sequel--An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power--followed immediately by Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature ...
LARRY ANDERSON
Sherwood
Race relations in U.S.
Donald Trump has told us that he would achieve excellence in all those areas where Barack Obama "failed." So Trump set a high standard for himself. One of those areas was race relations.
During the Obama years, one young black was killed in Ferguson, and subsequently, the claims of harassment of blacks was investigated, an all-white police force was eliminated, and the city has begun to heal. After a shootout in Texas where several policemen were killed, Obama spoke to the families who suffered this great tragedy. Obama spoke again where a young white supremacist killed a host of black church members in their own church. The young man was brought to justice, and there was forgiveness and healing. Charleston did not set fire to their own city.
I don't believe Donald Trump can or will ever make such an effort.
The incredible rise in mass shootings and black-on-black killing in cities like Chicago and Baltimore was not a function of race relations as much as it was a steady flow of guns to people who shouldn't have had them, including some policemen.
I don't recall one speech that Obama gave where he ignored violence or singled out some minority to discriminate against. He didn't use incendiary words; mostly, he used reason. Sometimes, he showed us how he felt as well. It seems to me that Trump and his die-hard supporters need to blame Obama for their own ignorance and apathy.
No, race relations are not good in our country. We have the guns and the rhetoric to make them worse. Let's reduce both.
BILL B. RHODES
Mountain Home
Hard to get any sleep
I am upset about just about everything. This is mostly due to reading this newspaper and Facebook and tuning in to the TV news.
It seems the Koreans are about to attack us and they have scared my wife. When the TV announces those fools have a missile that can reach Arkansas we will be forced to move east, at least to Mississippi.
There's the sorry state of our gubmint. They suck us dry by taxation and burn the money up chasing their tail. I may as well toss every third paycheck in the fire. All the donkeys want to do is obstruct the elephants, who can't decide what they want to do anyway. If the donkeys would leave them alone, the elephants would self-destruct in a week or two, for sure.
Then there's the football team. They get us all whipped up in August and you know darn well we can't beat Texas A&M nor Alabama, nor hardly nobody worth beating. It ain't right.
The blessed grass keeps growing and I am tired of mowing, but if I don't, the city or my wife will be on me like stink on a skunk. Can't blame that one on the newspersons. But I do blame them for telling me daily about the murders and shootings and stabbings and carrying on in the neighborhood. Just keep it under your hat. Maybe then I could sleep all night.
DAVID DICKEY
Sherwood
Editorial on 08/15/2017