Epstein-Trump bond makes perfect sense
Any inkling of integrity has to be destroyed by Trump. According to a longtime friend who should know because he wasn’t decent himself, Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2017 email, “I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not a decent cell in his body.” It takes one to know one.
Amazingly, Marjorie Taylor Greene found her soul and spoke out for humane basic health care and for people who were wantonly abused by super privileged rich guys. I hadn’t been a fan of this lady, yet can’t help admiring her metamorphosis.
Lucy W. Taylor
History should inform Fed policy
The Trump administration’s appointment to the Federal Reserve of easy money advocates risks higher inflation, recession and the eventual need for painful medicine — while overlooking root causes of unemployment and slow growth. Every effort should be made to preserve U.S. central bank independence, exercise prudence and avoid mistakes of the past. History is instructive.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2021 to 2022 pushed central bank governors to cut interest rates, despite rising inflation, which later reached 60%. (A recent return to monetary orthodoxy has caused the necessary pain for consumers and businesses.)
Argentine presidents for decades pressured the central bank to ease monetary policy despite soaring inflation. (President Javier Milei’s recent monetary and fiscal tightening has sharply reduced inflation while hurting household affordability.)
During the 1960s and 1970s, Presidents Johnson and Nixon compelled the Fed to keep rates low to finance war and social programs. (The meddling contributed to stagflation and required painful tightening by Fed Chair Paul Volcker.)
Now is the time to urge the Trump administration and officials to support conservative monetary policies.
Mickey Robbins
Walden
Soldiers need not violate consciences
I was drafted into the hottest and ugliest duration of the Vietnam War (Oct. 1967-Oct. 1969). During this time the “incident at My Lai” happened. The entire Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) was changed because of this one firefight.
Up until My Lai, a soldier who disobeyed a direct order under combat conditions could be shot on the spot. Lt. William Calley was given orders to rid the My Lai village of enemy insurgents. Civilians were killed, including women and children. When this was brought to light, Lt. Calley was court-martialed. He used the defense he was following direct orders from Capt. Ernest Medina and should be protected by the UCMJ. In order to shield the upstream of military sturgeon from obligation, this military tribunal convicted Lt. Calley and changed the UCMJ to allow a soldier to have a conscience (retrofit) and to not have to obey any order that violates his conscience. That remains until today.
This diatribe is not to pass judgment on anything, past or present, that is going on with our military. It’s meant to show how far our government will go to cover its own behind. Disgusting.
Allan Baggett
Trion, Georgia
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Worried he’ll be target of Trump
I am 82 years old and know a lot of history.
Some things worry me now:
1. Trump wants to dismantle and give Ukraine to Russia — it seems, like the English prime minister did before WWII with Austria and Germany.
2. Trump is using forces to stop every Hispanic — even those with no crimes (that was what caused our revolution 250 years ago). Are we going to have another revolution against Trump?
3. Trump has attacked a South American country but in a way without the permission of Congress.
Since my name will be here, I expect to be investigated because I complain about Trump.
Roger Thompson
Tullahoma