Presidential immunity undermines balance of powers
Whatever happened to “checks and balances?” It was once a hallmark of governance in this country.
Arguments favoring presidential immunity express a fear that a future president could be constrained because the executive branch would always be looking over its shoulder without it. I would hope so. The president and attendant advisors should every minute be evaluating the legality of every action taken. A grant of immunity undermines an important check on executive power.
MICHAEL JABLONSKI, ATLANTA
Easy to understand law enforcement shortage
A sign of the times -- “Four officers killed, four wounded in shootout at North Carolina home,” AJC, April 30.
Officers are killed, officers wounded, and constantly accused of ‘brutal’ tactics, while lawbreakers are considered righteous. Law officers are fired, jailed, suspended, and considered villains every time they act on behalf of those of us who obey the law. Instead, they should be commended.
Oftentimes, we read or hear in the news about a shortage of police officers, guards and other law enforcers, and immediately we know the reason for the shortage. They can earn a higher salary working in a fast-food restaurant without being accused of Gestapo behavior. Fry cooks live longer than police officers.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
Candidates ignore truth to stay loyal to Trump
In last week’s debate, all five Republican candidates for the Third Congressional District continued the outrageous claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. These are grown men with the intelligence to know that is untrue.
Sadly, they lack the political courage to put the truth above their loyalty to one man. They ignore their Republican governor and secretary of state and all the recounts, audits, lawsuits, and investigations by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Have you ever wondered why they never say who engaged in the alleged voter fraud? Not a single Georgian has been convicted or even arrested for a plot to steal the election from Trump. In fact, the only person whom a judge recently found to have voted illegally was none other than an executive of the Georgia Republican Party.
Our children and grandchildren will look back at this sordid episode in our history in utter disbelief.
DON HACKNEY, ATLANTA
Increased global warming demands radical change
Global warming is really up in our grill now. Whether the insult comes in the form of intensifying heat, floods, fires, or tornadoes, we are paying the price for the prolific burning of fossil fuels.
What’s called for is a government program to radically change the way we live and work, a Manhattan Project 2.0. However, because of market forces (that is, the top cats who own the political system insisting that their feed bowls be kept full), nothing is happening, nor will it.
So, we remain stuck in traffic while we wait for the complete collapse of society. We are too complacent to demand any action and too afraid to challenge the authority of the economic hierarchy.
DEAN POIRIER, LILBURN
New to Georgia? Keep state ‘red’
On this, the first week of early voting, I ask all of you who have just moved to Georgia, who may have voted for Democrats in the state and city you are moving from, to do all of us Georgians a big favor. If you plan to vote this year, please do not vote for Democrats and turn our state into the blue state dumpster fire from which you just escaped.
We love our state and would prefer to make it even better instead of worse. As a wise man once said, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” is the definition of insanity. Help us keep our great state great— vote Republican.
SHEPARD S. AVERITT IV, CUMMING
