Letters on Jeff Sessions, Trump tweets, Obama, humans, traffic signs

Moran, Roberts should not support Sessions

Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts have tweeted support for attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

Sessions has a record of racial bias. In a letter that became public this week, Martin Luther King Jr.’s late widow, Coretta Scott King, opposed Sessions’ 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship, saying he had intimidated elderly black voters.

Racism is a mismatch for Kansas Republicans. History tells us Kansas struggled into the Union, ad astra per aspera, as a free state – and that Republicans were on the anti-slavery side.

The U.S. Senate rejected Sessions’ nomination for federal judge in 1986, and should not confirm him as attorney general now. I urge Moran and Roberts to oppose in light of King’s letter.

She wrote: “The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished 20 years ago with clubs and cattle prods.” She further wrote that Sessions as a federal judge would “irreparably damage the work of my husband.”

Tweets are true

Columnist Davis Merritt asked the question, “Why can’t Trump accept his victory and grow up?” (Jan. 10 Opinion). It seems his definition of not growing up hinges on President-elect Donald Trump’s tweets.

Some of the tweets Merritt mentioned, with disparagingly descriptive words, needed to be brought out because there was little, or no, mention of the covered topics in the mainstream media. Those tweets are true and to the point.

After his “make America sick again” remark, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., deserved the “head clown” remark. Regarding the Russian question, the way the intelligence community presented it seemed as an afterthought to political comments made earlier, yet much later than they should have been. That is, it is only being brought up when politically expedient after letting other incidents, even those of other countries, slide by. United States and Russian relations can only improve as we diminish the “saber rattling” of President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It is good that we have a president-elect using today’s methods of communication so that we know where he really stands. Perhaps Merritt ought to do some “growing up” himself, join the 21st century and stop using demeaning descriptive words in front of the points he makes.

Who is tweeting?

I certainly wish that someone with the right resources could investigate who is operating Donald Trump’s Twitter account behind the curtain. If it is really him, we are all in trouble.

Proud of Obama

I enjoyed columnist Leonard Pitts’ tribute to the first lady (“I’m proud of how Michelle Obama conducted herself,” Jan. 9 Opinion). I would say the same for President Obama.

I have been proud to have this man of dignity, wisdom and class serve our country and represent us abroad and at home. He has worked tirelessly to help the poor, the middle class and the disadvantaged, including those without health insurance.

Obama has left this country in much better shape than he inherited from the previous administration in all measurable areas, in spite of unprecedented hate and obstructionism from the radical right. He has treated everyone with courtesy and respect and has been a great statesman and diplomat. I will be so sad to lose him.

Not inherently unique

Columnist Thomas Friedman was not fundamentally wrong in principle in his recent column about how machines are replacing many jobs that have been long-held by humans (Jan. 6 Opinion). However, he sought an answer to a very peculiar question: How to be human in an age of intelligent machines?

The universe does not owe humanity a sense of hope or purpose. Humans are not special in processing capacity, for humans have built computers to process far more than a human. Humans also are not special in an emotional capacity, for humans can observe that the animal kingdom is full of emotion.

How does one be human in an age of intelligent machines? I would argue that the answer is no different now than from any other time.

One can merely be human by laughing, crying, thinking or adventuring. Live in the moment, but plan for the whole trip.

We must stop searching for things that make us inherently unique, but search for moments and memories unique only to us. Live knowing you’ll die, and die knowing that you’ve lived – for the thing that makes a life least unique is having been alive but having never lived.

Signs are a joke

Those high-dollar trailer signs all over town telling you how long it takes to get to downtown are a joke on Joe Public. They tell me that the city has too much excess tax dollars so it has to spend it on something so it can get more.

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on Jeff Sessions, Trump tweets, Obama, humans, traffic signs."