Bookman wasted talents supporting liberal Dems
I’ll miss Jay Bookman. His liberal negativism toward everything most of us hold sacred did inspire rebuttal and make conservative juices flow. Likely he ventured so far left, he ran out of invectives for Trump and had nothing else to complain about. Bookman is a learned wordsmith, but he wasted his talent supporting Democrats who support socialism: that runs counter to a belief in personal responsibility. I look forward to reading his replacement’s views that will represent a more seasoned writer.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
Evangelicals have long ignored moral failings
In the 1840s, the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote scathingly about white churches' hypocrisy: "In America, Bibles and slaveholders go hand in hand. The church and the slave prison stand together, and while you hear the chanting of psalms in one, you hear the clanking of chains in the other." Today, the same churches that preached slavery and segregation were God's will either support the GOP's persecution of refugees or stay silent. Reminded of the injunction to welcome the stranger, they respond: "I am not my brother's keeper." They do nothing when our long-time neighbors are warehoused indefinitely in remote, privately run detention centers. They turn away when fellow Christians fleeing gang threats and domestic violence are deported to their deaths. They celebrate Christmas while ICE rounds up the Marys and Josephs among us. The real war on Christmas is our relentless, completely unprovoked war on refugees. STEVE BABB, LAWRENCEVILLE
Bookman’s writing voice will be missed
I’m a daily reader of the AJC and have been for many years. I start on the front page and scan my way back to the op ed section. I have been concerned over the last couple of years with the loss of important writers in this section. First, I missed the loss of David Brooks. Then, I was disappointed to see Kyle Wingfield leave. Then, the op-ed page was eliminated on Saturday and Monday. Last week, I read that Jay Bookman, the person who, in my opinion, has been the most accurate critic of the Trump administration, is leaving. I like Clarence Page, the commentator replacing Bookman, but he does not have the Atlanta perspective Bookman brought to the discussion. I hope Mike Luckovich stays. Losing him would be the last straw for me.
ERIC F. ANDERSON, ATLANTA
Media ignores Trump victories at their peril
The mainstream media, in their feigned hysteria, predict Trump will be locked up for some “unknown” crime, or impeached for “something” yet to be discovered or revealed by the special counsel in the Russian investigation. They denied the existence of a caravan of migrants, while actually showing photos during their nightly broadcasts of the caravan to prove how poorly Trump was treating the migrants in the caravan. On the other hand, President Trump’s supporters are enjoying a pay raise due to the tax cut, heading to the malls to boost the retail market, changing jobs for higher pay, or are finally gainfully employed. Businesses are expanding, unemployment is historically low, and he got another conservative judge appointed to the Supreme Court. The mainstream media needs to compare their network TV viewer ratings with those of Fox News, and then give some thought to reporting the news versus trying to impress each other with contorted theories, while preening in smugness over what they think is their own higher intelligence.
BECKY SMITH, ROSWELL
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