Readers write
Georgia Guard disrupted for political theater
Gov. Brian Kemp is sending 300 Georgia National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. To do what? Cut grass and pick up trash? Stand around? Because that’s what the other guardsmen who have been sent there are doing.
Kemp said he made the decision to help support law enforcement in Washington, yet data shows that crime is going down in D.C. and other cities around the country. On top of that, Guardsmen aren’t trained in law enforcement, nor is that part of their mission.
Members of the National Guard have jobs and responsibilities outside of the service, and now their lives are being disrupted for the sake of political theater. Kemp’s term is ending; maybe he doesn’t care about the repercussions and just wants a pat on the head from Trump on his way out the door.
We care, though. Decisions like this by Kemp and other governors around the country are enabling Trump’s authoritarian power grab, and it’s disgraceful. Kemp has future political aspirations, I’m sure, but he’ll be remembered as just another little quisling, vying for the favor of the worst political leader this country has ever had.
DAVID LEEDLE, ATLANTA
American consumers fuel street drug market
The current war on drugs will fail. And just like every other attempt to stop illegal drug use, there is one simple reason. The United States is a hugely profitable market for mind-altering substances.
Everyone involved in the drug trade, from the lowly street dealer up to the drug kingpin, makes a lot of money. If Americans continue to purchase their products, they will continue to flood our streets with whatever drugs they can get across the border.
Marijuana was smuggled in, but it was too bulky and is now legal, so the cartels switched to cocaine, followed by heroin. That led to today’s drug of choice, fentanyl. Eventually, another drug will pass fentanyl, and the war will continue.
As long as there are American consumers, drugs will be on our streets, generating profits for cartels, addicting users and allowing politicians to make promises they can’t keep.
DOUG BROOKS, DULUTH
Epstein victims deserve justice
There isn’t much I admire about U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political views. But her stance on the release of the findings from the DOJ’s investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities is laudable. The victims deserve justice, no matter who the perpetrators were.
I don’t subscribe to the conspiracy theories about the “deep state” in Washington, but I do believe there are names of powerful people from both parties in those files. As has long been the case, politicians in Washington, including Trump, will work diligently to protect their major donors, so it’s highly doubtful those files will ever see the light of day, and that’s a grave injustice.
FRANK MANFRE, SMYRNA
